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Upstate - by  Kim Van Alkemade (Paperback) - 1 of 1

Upstate - by Kim Van Alkemade (Paperback)

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$19.99

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About this item

Highlights

  • From New York Times bestselling author Kim van Alkemade comes a story of love, loss, and healing that speaks to our present moment while richly evoking the past.
  • Author(s): Kim Van Alkemade
  • 416 Pages
  • Fiction + Literature Genres,

Description



Book Synopsis



From New York Times bestselling author Kim van Alkemade comes a story of love, loss, and healing that speaks to our present moment while richly evoking the past. A grieving writer who sets out to revive an abandoned bookshop in upstate New York discovers forgotten letters that reveal the shop's secret sapphic history.

Thirty-four-year-old writer Audrey Beacon is grieving alone during lockdown when a post about a bookshop for sale in upstate New York pops into her social media feed like a lifeline. Enthralled by the historic house and the massive barn bursting with books, Audrey impulsively makes an offer. Soon, she's cashing out her savings, loading her possessions into her dead husband's van, and fleeing Manhattan for the village of Schuywich, determined to outrun the ghosts of her past.

In 1956, it's love at first sight when Schuywich librarian Hazel McIntyre meets dashing magazine writer Evelyn Cabot at a summer camp in Maine that discreetly promises a "different vacation for professional women." By summer's end, Evelyn has left Greenwich Village to move into an old farmhouse she's bought in Hazel's hometown. In her new column, "The Upstate Dispatch," Evelyn writes about her adventures renovating a house, tending to sheep, and opening a bookshop in her barn with help from the woman readers know only as her "roommate." Privately, Hazel chronicles their six-decade love story in a series of letters that abruptly end when they're forced to abandon the bookshop in 2015.

Reopening the bookshop in the summer of 2020 attracts a quirky community of villagers who continuously interrupt Audrey's solitude: An unemployed Broadway set designer. An ambitious teenage entrepreneur. A story-telling Adirondack grandmother. Then there's Sam Rensselaer, the distractingly handsome representative of the agriculture extension. Past and present begin to converge when Audrey finds "The Upstate Dispatch" in a stack of old magazines, but it's the discovery of Hazel's letters that brings hidden love and long-buried family secrets to light. Will Audrey find the courage to heal the wounds of the past--including her own?



Review Quotes




"In The Upstate Dispatch, expert storyteller Kim van Alkemade deftly weaves together the voices of three extraordinary women, each looking for love, meaning, and a way to make their shattered families whole again. This page-turner has it all: starting over in midlife, sapphic longing, a dreamy bookstore - even a flock of sheep. I couldn't put it down, and cried more than once! By turns tender and unflinching, The Upstate Dispatch is the kind of novel you can wholeheartedly recommend to every reader you know." - Amy Shearn, author of Animal Instinct


Dimensions (Overall): 8.0 Inches (H) x 5.31 Inches (W) x .94 Inches (D)
Weight: 1.0 Pounds
Suggested Age: 22 Years and Up
Number of Pages: 416
Genre: Fiction + Literature Genres
Publisher: William Morrow & Company
Format: Paperback
Author: Kim Van Alkemade
Language: English
Street Date: October 27, 2026
TCIN: 1011319876
UPC: 9780063438033
Item Number (DPCI): 247-01-0819
Origin: Made in the USA or Imported
If the item details aren’t accurate or complete, we want to know about it.

Shipping details

Estimated ship dimensions: 0.94 inches length x 5.31 inches width x 8 inches height
Estimated ship weight: 1 pounds
We regret that this item cannot be shipped to PO Boxes.
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Return details

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Q: What is the main theme of the book?

submitted by AI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
  • A: The book explores themes of love, loss, and healing, connecting past and present experiences.

    submitted byAI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
    Ai generated

Q: What significant discovery does Audrey make in the bookshop?

submitted by AI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
  • A: Audrey discovers forgotten letters that reveal a secret sapphic history of the bookshop.

    submitted byAI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
    Ai generated

Q: What historical period does the story cover?

submitted by AI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
  • A: The narrative spans from the 1950s to the present day, intertwining past and present events.

    submitted byAI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
    Ai generated

Q: Who is the protagonist of the story?

submitted by AI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
  • A: The protagonist is Audrey Beacon, a grieving writer who revives an abandoned bookshop.

    submitted byAI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
    Ai generated

Q: What type of community does Audrey encounter in Schuywich?

submitted by AI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
  • A: Audrey meets a quirky community, including an unemployed set designer and an ambitious teenager.

    submitted byAI Shopping Assistant - 11 days ago
    Ai generated

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