Bridgeside Books announces One Town, One Book reading project title
April 25, 2024 | By Waterbury Roundabout
Author Annie Selyer with her book, 'The Wisdom of Winter' outside Bridgeside Books. Courtesy photo
In time for an author visit on Independent Bookstore Day this Saturday, Bridgeside Books has named the debut novel “The Wisdom of Winter” by Annie Selyer its 2024 One Town, One Book selection.
Launched by Bridgeside Books in 2022, One Town, One Book is a town-wide book club that aims “to get readers in town on the same page – literally,” organizers at the book shop explain. Set in Vermont, Seyler’s novel offers themes of resilience in rural childhood that translate to a life of growth and self-discovery.
“‘The Wisdom of Winter’ is about life in the biggest and most simplest ways. Watching a child in rural Vermont put the pieces together of loss, love, hope, growth and life only to grow up and find those same puzzle pieces waiting for her in adulthood,” said Bridgeside bookseller Jenna Danyew about the choice. “Vermont is a setting, a feeling, and a ghost in Beatrice's life and it is a visceral read experiencing the world alongside her.”
The announcement comes ahead of the 11th annual National Independent Bookstore Day this Saturday, April 27. Seyler will be one of seven Vermont writers at the store’s Indie Author Fair from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Promoted by the American Booksellers Association, Independent Bookstore Day is observed on the last Saturday in April to emphasis the value of independent bookstores in their communities. The Waterbury bookshop is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with other promotions and sales taking place in addition to the authors’ event. Find more online about Saturday’s author schedule and activities at Bridgeside Books here.
'The Wisdom of Winter,' cover image, Atmosphere Press
In addition to being the local book club pick, “The Wisdom of Winter” has won numerous awards and nominations. It’s the 2023 Fiction Book of the Year and Best in Literary Fiction by Independent Publishers of New England, a finalist in Women’s Fiction by the National Indie Excellence Awards, a Gold Readers Choice Award-winner from Feathered Quill Book Awards, and a Gold Contemporary Novel winner by Firebird Book Awards.
Bridgeside Books owner Katya d’Angelo calls the book “easily relatable” in its storytelling around home and family. “The story takes some unexpected turns, and there are so many beautiful lines and passages that I just had to stop and pause and reread,” she said.
“The Wisdom of Winter” is available for purchase in the book shop and online at BridgesideBooks.com. Copies also are available to borrow from the Waterbury Public Library. As people read the book, copies also may pop up in the numerous little free libraries around Waterbury.
Readers are encouraged to start their own conversation groups around the novel in their neighborhoods and circles of friends. A larger culminating discussion will be scheduled later in the year at the book store, organizers said.
Bookstore staff say the the annual book club is an opportunity to call attention to independent authors published by small presses. The previous two selections for One Town, One Book were the novel “The Treehouse on Dog River Road” by Catherine Drake in 2022 and the collection of essays, “Vermont Perspectives,” by Anne Averyt in 2023. One Town, One Book’s choices can be fiction or non-fiction with a Vermont setting or theme. The author need not be a Vermont author.
More information about One Town, One Book is online at BridgesideBooks.com