Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a pandemonium of parrots. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just a little and quote a single representative sentence from, yes, page 32.
Hidden History of Lake Champlain
Jason Barney and Christine Eldred, the History Press, 176 pages. $24.99.
The bridge remains hidden in the past, shrouded by the depths of the beloved lake.
The “beloved lake,” naturally, is Lake Champlain, whose 450 million-year prehistory is covered in Hidden History of Lake Champlain‘s first seven pages before the book dives into the arrival of the region’s early human inhabitants.
In Hidden History, northern Vermonters Jason Barney and Christine Eldred tell the story of the people of this region and how their lives were shaped by the long, deep, narrow waterway running through it. They guide us through the area’s history, from the Revolutionary War to the arrival of canalboats, steamships and railroads in the 19th century.
What feels missing from an otherwise sturdy history is a statement of purpose and a narrative thread to tie it all together, particularly the “hidden” component. But the book does a good job of bringing to light much that’s just below the surface — sometimes literally, as in the case of the lake’s 300-plus shipwrecks. The authors show that glimmers of our past are all around us, if we simply take the time to notice them.
— Ken Picard
Sunshine, Moonshine
Bonnie Christensen and Emily Herder, Onion River Press, 276 pages. $14.99.
It didn’t look like much from a distance, but I was willing to give it a chance.
A universal truth: Moving sucks. Regardless, 11-year-old Sunshine attempts to see the silver lining in her family’s fresh start after the bank forecloses on their Oklahoma home. Sunshine, Moonshine opens in the hills of Lark Springs, N.C., where the new beginning isn’t the end of the family’s troubles.
This book for middle-grade readers is more than a coming-of-age story — it’s a tribute to a beloved mother and award-winning author. This is Emily Herder’s first publication and Bonnie Christensen’s last. Their mother-daughter collaboration was completed after Christensen’s 2015 death.
In her author’s note, Vermont-born, New York City-based Herder explains that her mother had a long career in publishing, illustrating 12 books during her time in the Green Mountain State and writing four herself. Herder dreamed of working alongside her mother, and while a posthumous project wasn’t what she had in mind, she used the skills Christensen taught her to bring the final manuscript to print. The heartwarming tale captures the countryside’s rolling hills and the twang in each line of southern dialogue.
— Gillian English
The Sweet Tooth Dilemma
Andrea Grayson, Create Change Lab, 246 pages. $19.99.
I don’t want to miss out on bonding with people over food.
Social bonding is one of the ways sugar lures us into addiction, Andrea Grayson writes. After confronting her own dependency on sugar and carbs, the Charlotte author taught herself to quit. Then she created a program to help others do the same. She spells it all out in language that’s easy to digest, even for a nonscientist. A behavior change communications consultant who teaches at the University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine, Grayson explains sugar’s effects on the body — inflammation, for one, which can lead to brain fog, fatigue, heart disease and dementia. “Bottom line: human bodies just aren’t built to eat refined sugar and flour,” she writes.
Grayson unmasks the physical, social and emotional factors that keep us coming back. (Sugar lights up more pleasure sensors in the brain than cocaine, for example.) Then she devotes the final two-thirds of her book to a week-by-week plan to break free. Checklists, menu plans, journal prompts, an eating-out guide and craving hacks are found in a section titled “You Can Do This!”
— Mary Ann Lickteig
Notes From the Porch: Tiny True Stories to Make You Feel Better About the World
Thomas Christopher Greene, Rootstock Publishing, 142 pages. $29.99.
I tried to get Hugo to ignore her … when suddenly I realized she was singing.
Hugo is Thomas Christopher Greene’s Labrador retriever and the namesake of his Montpelier restaurant. He never barked at people — until he spotted an elderly woman in the woods. The author snapped a photo of her, which later turned out to show nothing but trees.
“The Ghost in You” is one of 44 tales in Notes From the Porch: Tiny True Stories to Make You Feel Better About the World. The founding president of the Vermont College of Fine Arts and self-described “relentlessly social extrovert” penned these vignettes during lockdown. “Covid-19 stole so much,” Greene writes. “But one thing it couldn’t steal was the power of stories.”
Greene’s tales have more than a splash of whimsy. Despite the title, not all are cheerful: “Our Girl Jane” recounts the death of his 6-month-old daughter. Throughout, Greene finds inspiration and meaning in the seemingly mundane, whether it’s a heron soaring overhead or a foul ball caught at Fenway Park. A quick yet satisfying read.
— K.P.
The Seller of Secrets: A Memoir
Kathleen Rose Morgan, She Writes Press, 252 pages. $17.95.
Mother was not available, whether she was physically present or not.
In this emotionally raw memoir, author Kathleen Rose Morgan reckons with unsettling revelations about her childhood after her mother confesses a disturbing secret. She must confront that she was a victim not only of emotional and sexual abuse but also of a parent who enabled it.
Morgan takes readers through her journey to find some semblance of closure in adulthood. She seeks relief by embracing nature — including moving from New York City to Vermont — becoming a practitioner of the Japanese energy healing practice Reiki and enlisting the help of a medium. While Morgan occasionally flirts with pseudoscientific treatments, the narrative is more about finding resilience in the face of adversity than about the author’s specific methods.
Page 32 of this newly released book is blank, so our excerpt comes from page 31. Though its subject is dark, The Seller of Secrets also imparts hope for the possibility of finding happiness and healing in the aftermath of trauma.
— Hannah Feuer
This article appears in Jun 12-18, 2024.
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