The little bookstore of Big Stone Gap a memoir of friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book
(Large Print)

Originally published: New York : St. Martin's Press, 2012.

Wendy Welch and her husband had always dreamed of owning a bookstore. When the opportunity to escape a toxic work environment and run to a struggling Virginia coal-mining town presented itself, they took the plunge. They chose to ignore all the talk about the "death of the book," of the closing of bookstores across the nation, and of the difficult economic environment. Six years later they have carved a bookstore and a life out of an Appalachian mountain community. A story of beating bad odds with grace, ingenuity, good books, and single malt, this memoir chronicles two bibliophiles discovering unlikely ways in which daily living and literature intertwine. Their customers come to the shop looking for the kind of interactive wisdom electronics don't spark. There, they find friendship, community, and the uncommon pleasure of a good book in good company.