Tuesday 10/27/2026 at 11:00 AM
Carolyn Hooker
(Leaving Edgefield: Carrie Butler’s Story) at Litchfield Country Club
An English teacher for over 30 years at both the high school and college levels and native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, Carolyn W. Hooker received a B.S. Degree in Education and an M.A. Degree in English from the University of South Carolina. It was at USC graduate school where she developed a love for literature under such notable professors as Donald J. Greiner and James Dickey. "Leaving Edgefield: Carrie Butler’s Story" is a work of historical fiction that reimagines a story silenced by time. Set in 1948 in the poverty ward of the Philadelphia General Hospital, "Leaving Edgefield" introduces Carrie Butler, the mother of Strom Thurmond's secret bi-racial daughter. Carrie is dying of renal failure at age thirty-eight while, at the same time, Thurmond is running as the Dixiecrat segregationist candidate for President of the United States. Carrie has asked the eminent Philadelphia attorney, Mrs. Sadie T. M. Alexander, whom Carrie met in her job as a seamstress, to document her story to ensure that Thurmond will keep the promise he made to pay for their daughter's education. Because Carrie is dying, her urgency to tell her story propels the novel from beginning to end. After Thurmond died in 2003 at the age of 100, his biological daughter, Essie Mae Washington Williams, publicly revealed her father's identity. The author relied on extensive information available about Thurmond and his family, as well as on the limited information available on Carrie Butler and her relatives, to try to piece together the events of her life and imagine the interaction that occurred between the two. While no one will ever know the true nature of their relationship,"“I am inclined to believe that the complete imbalance of power between Thurmond, the 22-year-old son of a powerful, white Southern family, and Butler, a 16-year-old black maid in the Thurmond household, would have made such a relationship unlikely and have taken that stance in the novel."
$40

Wednesday 11/11/2026 at 11:00 AM
Ellery Adams
(The Liars Book Club) at Tide to Table, Litchfield Beach
Ellery Adams is the USA Today & New York Times bestselling author of over 40 mystery novels. Ellery grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound but now writes from her home in central North Carolina. She considers herself "baked in the North and buttered in the South." In this ninth installment of A Secret, Book and Scone Society mystery series, as clouds gather over the Great Smoky Mountains, an absent groom, a stolen historical document, and a book club coming apart at the seams stir up a different sort of storm in this engaging mystery. How far will one book lover go to keep a secret? As the townsfolk of Miracle Springs, North Carolina, know all too well, water can be healing — or devastating. With a big storm coming, residents are stocking up on essentials. Hoping to beat the storm, Nora is sitting in the Unitarian Church with her fellow wedding guests, all of whom belong to Sheldon's Blind Date Book Club. As rain hammers the stained-glass windows, the bride, Jess, waits in the back of the church—but where is the groom? When a branch crashes through a stained-glass window, Jess finally tells the guests to go home. With the help of her friend Sheldon, Nora escorts Jess to the Lodge. It's now become clear that Jess's fiance Ravi is missing. But there's no searching for him now, as the Miracle River has flooded and they’re stuck on this side of town. By morning, they awaken to widespread devastation and a call from Sheriff McCabe. A body has been pulled out of the river, dressed in a tux. On top of this tragic turn of events, Jess returns home to find her house has been spared from the raging water, but ransacked, with an extremely valuable folio from an illuminated manuscript now missing. As Miracle Books becomes the community hub for information, shelter, and hope, Nora and the Secret, Book, and Scone Society put their heads together to solve the murder and the theft. But then a second body is pulled from the river...
$40

Wednesday 11/18/2026 at 11:00 AM
Christi Quance
(A Gift for All Time) at Caffe Piccolo
For more than seven years, Christi Quance has snapped spontaneous photos of the Nativity Fest, an Advent tradition at her church, Christ the King in Pawleys Island. Growing from the initial vision to create something beautiful to spotlight the true reason for the Christmas season and inspired by annual displays of nativities, such as the crèches at Mepkin Abbey, the event has expanded with each passing year through the efforts of untold numbers of volunteers. Decades of leading women’s bible studies and her personal calling to share this joyful celebration led Christi to create "A Gift for All Time," a photo journey through the Nativity Fest illuminated by relevant scripture, thoughtful interpretation, and inspiring prayer. A book blessing arriving just as we are preparing to count ours.
$40

Wednesday 12/02/2026 at 11:00 AM
Maura Kenny & Lee Brockington and Betsy Teter
(Annual Holiday Moveable Feast) at The Village House, Litchfield
The Annual Holiday Feast at The Village House features Maura Kenny & Lee Brockington's "Out of Hobcaw" and Betsy Wakefield Teter's "A Carnival of Crimes,"PLUS gift books for everyone! A work in progress for a very long time, but so worth the wait!!! Labeled a "lyrical duet" by historian and curator Dale Rosengarten, "Out of Hobcaw" is a nostalgic recall – visually and verbally – of the land that continues to provide inspiration to artist Maura Kenny and defined historian Lee Brockington's professional life. The work created during Maura's teaching sabbatical from Coastal Carolina University forms the nucleus of her simultaneously serene and vibrant paintings, while Lee's "remembrance of things past" through research, recollection, and interviews weaves compelling history and sentiment, without the sap. Together their longstanding friendship, mutual professional admiration, and shared love for Belle W. Baruch's legacy bring the hidden treasure that is Hobcaw Barony into our sensory and cognitive awareness. Through ten interconnected true-crime stories, this historical account captures a South Carolina county's most violent decade—a time when bullets felled a mayor, a police chief, and a beloved bookseller, each in separate shocking incidents. lllustrated with dozens of photographs, "A Carnival of Crime: Murder, Mischief, and Malice in 1890s Spartanburg" delves into the exploits of a crooked local attorney who became one of the nation’s most slippery con men, the controversial hanging of a teenaged girl, and the bedlam unleashed when a governor tried to crush the moonshine trade. All this chaos and more unfolds amid Spartanburg's first economic boom, as cotton mills multiply across the county and the community becomes one of the South's rising industrial powers, generating many great fortunes. A native of Spartanburg, Betsy Wakefield Teter graduated from Wake Forest University with a degree in history and began a journalism career that took her to four newspapers across the Carolinas. She served as business editor and Sunday columnist for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and later co-founded the Hub City Writers Project. In two decades as its executive director, she edited and published more than 80 books, including several important Spartanburg community histories. She is a recipient of the South Carolina Governor's Award for the Arts.
$40

Wednesday 12/09/2026 at 11:00 AM
Lynn Seldon
(Pat Conroy's Lowcountry) at Caffe Piccolo
Discover the landscapes, culture, and communities that shaped one of the South’s most beloved literary voices through an immersive journey across South Carolina's storied Lowcountry. From the tidal marshes and historic streets of Charleston to the quiet charm of Beaufort, readers are invited to explore the places that inspired a lifetime of storytelling by Pat Conroy. This engaging history and travel narrative highlights the region’s rich heritage, coastal beauty, and vibrant culture while tracing the author's deep personal connection to the communities he called home. Follow the path through beloved Lowcountry destinations including Fripp Island, St. Helena Island, and Daufuskie Island?locations that appear frequently in Conroy's novels and memoirs. The journey also explores formative chapters of his life, from his time as a cadet at The Citadel to his years teaching in Beaufort County schools and on remote coastal islands. Blending literary history, regional storytelling, and practical travel inspiration, this richly detailed guide offers readers a unique perspective on the South Carolina Lowcountry. Along the way, it highlights historic landmarks, Gullah Geechee heritage, scenic waterways, renowned coastal cuisine, and authentic local experiences that continue to define this extraordinary region. Author Lynn Seldon, a veteran freelance travel journalist with more than 1,000 published articles in over 500 publications, details this unforgettable literary and historical journey through the places, people, and traditions that shaped Conroy's enduring connection to the Lowcountry.
$40