The Silver Unicorn Bookstore

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Memoir Event: Maureen Stanton and Sharon Lamb

Monday October 28 | 7:00PM - 9:00PM

We are so lucky to have two fantastic memoirists living in our area! If you're looking for engrossing reads about the intersections of womanhood, motherhood, expectations, and the opioid crisis that is sweeping the nation, look no further than these two books. We are proud to have Maureen Stanton, author of Body Leaping Backward: Memoir of Delinquent Girlhood and Sharon Lamb, author of The Not Good Enough Mother in our store to talk about their books and the stories behind them.

Described as "sharp, candid, and deeply felt" by the Boston Globe, Body Leaping Backward is a haunting and beautifully drawn story of a self-destructive girlhood, of a town and a nation overwhelmed in a time of change, and of how life-altering a glimpse of a world bigger than the one we come from can be. Set in 1970s Walpole in the shadow of the maximum security prison, the book follows Maureen's life through her parent's divorce, her mother's significant changes as she attempts to raise seven children on her own, and the emergence of Angel Dust, a homemade form of PCP sweeping through her town. A professor at UMass Lowell, Maureen has been awarded the Iowa Review prize, a Pushcart Prize, the American Literary Review award in nonfiction, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Not Good Enough Mother brings a modern story, clinical perspective, yet empathetic voice to the opioid crisis. A psychologist and expert witness, Sharon evaluates parents, particularly in high-stakes cases concerning the termination of parental rights. The conclusions she reaches can mean that some children are returned home from foster homes. Others are freed for adoption. Well-trained, Lamb generally can decide what’s in the best interests of the child. But when her son’s struggle with opioid addiction comes to light, she starts to doubt her right to make judgments about other mothers. In its starred review, Booklist says of the memoir, "this honest look at how society judges parents, mothers in particular, deserves a wide audience." Alongside her credentials and duties as a therapist to children and families, Sharon is a professor of counseling psychology at UMass Boston.

We look forward to this important discussion and these two intersecting viewpoints on this significant concern that is impacting families and communities across our state and country. We hope you'll join us!

Middle-Grade Book Club: Sal and Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

Tuesday November 12 | 6:00PM - 8:00PM

Carol Hernandez's book asks the question: What would you do if you had the power to reach through time and space and retrieve anything you want, including your mother, who is no longer living (in this universe, anyway)?

More about Sal and Gabi Break the Universe:

How did a raw chicken get inside Yasmany's locker?

When Sal Vidon meets Gabi Real for the first time, it isn't under the best of circumstances. Sal is in the principal's office for the third time in three days, and it's still the first week of school. Gabi, student council president and editor of the school paper, is there to support her friend Yasmany, who just picked a fight with Sal. She is determined to prove that somehow, Sal planted a raw chicken in Yasmany's locker, even though nobody saw him do it and the bloody poultry has since mysteriously disappeared.

Sal prides himself on being an excellent magician, but for this sleight of hand, he relied on a talent no one would guess . . . except maybe Gabi, whose sharp eyes never miss a trick. When Gabi learns that he's capable of conjuring things much bigger than a chicken--including his dead mother--and she takes it all in stride, Sal knows that she is someone he can work with. There's only one slight problem: their manipulation of time and space could put the entire universe at risk.
A sassy entropy sweeper, a documentary about wedgies, a principal who wears a Venetian bauta mask, and heaping platefuls of Cuban food are just some of the delights that await in this mind-blowing novel gift-wrapped in love and laughter.

Led by local author Rebecca Caprara (The Magic of Melwick Orchard) -- readers can enjoy and discuss great mid-grade reads. Rebecca will also challenge participants to talk about their own stories and story ideas, and engage with them in writing exercises as well.

In Framingham: Book Covers at Amazing Things Arts Center

Thursday November 14 | 7:00PM - 7:00PM

We'll be out in the wild at the Amazing Things Arts Center for their Book Covers event, featuring local authors Whitney Scharer, author of The Age of Light, and Mira T. Lee, author of Everything Here is Beautiful, among others.

From the Amazing Things Art Center's website:

We’re piecing together interesting readers…to read interesting pieces together. Come enjoy an evening of literary entertainment as you listen to selected works – from classic to contemporary, all revolving around the theme of “Home” – read aloud by members of our community. A moderated conversation about reading and “home” – including how we sometimes feel “at home” in the pages of a book – will follow.

The event is free! Come see us!

About The Age of Light, which Booklist said is "intoxicating" in their starred review:

A captivating debut novel by Whitney Scharer, The Age of Light tells the true story of Vogue model turned renowned photographer Lee Miller, and her search to forge a new identity as an artist after a life spent as a muse. "I'd rather take a photograph than be one," she declares after she arrives in Paris in 1929, where she soon catches the eye of the famous Surrealist Man Ray. Though he wants to use her only as a model, Lee convinces him to take her on as his assistant and teach her everything he knows. As they work together in the darkroom, their personal and professional lives become intimately entwined, changing the course of Lee's life forever.

Lee's journey of self-discovery takes took her from the cabarets of bohemian Paris to the battlefields of war-torn Europe during WWII, from inventing radical new photography techniques to documenting the liberation of the concentration camps as one of the first female war correspondents. Through it all, Lee must grapple with the question of whether it's possible to stay true to herself while also fulfilling her artistic ambition--and what she will have to sacrifice to do so.

About Everything Here is Beautiful, which was called a "promising debut" by Publisher's Weekly:

Two sisters—Miranda, the older, responsible one, always her younger sister’s protector; Lucia, the headstrong, unpredictable one, whose impulses are huge and, often, life changing. When their mother dies and Lucia starts hearing voices, it is Miranda who must find a way to reach her sister. But Lucia impetuously plows ahead, marrying a bighearted, older man only to leave him, suddenly, to have a baby with a young Latino immigrant. She moves her new family from the States to Ecuador and back again, but the bitter constant is that she is, in fact, mentally ill. Lucia lives life on a grand scale, until, inevitably, she crashes to earth.

Miranda leaves her own self-contained life in Switzerland to rescue her sister—but only Lucia can decide whether she wants to be saved. The bonds of sisterly devotion stretch across oceans—but what does it
take to break them?

Middle-Grade Author Event: Elly Swartz in Conversation with Barbara Dee

Sunday November 17 | 2:00PM - 4:00PM

We are delighted to offer another discussion between two fantastic middle-grade authors at our store! Massachusetts author Elly Swartz will be discussing her newest work, Give and Take, alongside author Barbara Dee, author of Maybe He Just Likes You.

Give and Take is a touching middle grade novel about family, friendship, and learning when to let go. Family has always been important to twelve-year-old Maggie: a trapshooter, she is coached by her dad and cheered on by her mom. But her grandmother's recent death leaves a giant hole in Maggie's life, one which she begins to fill with an assortment of things: candy wrappers, pieces of tassel from Nana's favorite scarf, milk cartons, sticks . . . all stuffed in cardboard boxes under her bed. Then her parents decide to take in a foster infant. But anxiety over the new baby's departure only worsens Maggie's hoarding, and soon she finds herself taking and taking until she spirals out of control. Ultimately, with some help from family, friends, and experts, Maggie learns that sometimes love means letting go.

Maybe He Just Likes You is a novel that explores #MeToo in a thoughtful, age-appropriate way. For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it’s his birthday, and asks her for a “birthday hug.” He’s just being friendly, isn’t he? And how can she say no? But Callum’s hug lasts a few seconds too long, and feels…weird. According to her friend, Zara, Mila is being immature and overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like?

But the boys don’t leave Mila alone. On the bus. In the halls. During band practice—the one place Mila could always escape.

It doesn’t feel like flirting—so what is it? Thanks to a chance meeting, Mila begins to find solace in a new place: karate class. Slowly, with the help of a fellow classmate, Mila learns how to stand her ground and how to respect others—and herself.

Both books inspire young readers to dig deep in themselves and find answers to the questions they may be asking themselves. They also illuminate hard truths about the world we live in and how to cope in the face of difficulties. This is going to be a deep discussion that you and your middle-grade reader won't want to miss!

Author Event: Jackie MacMullan and Matthew Goodman in Conversation

Tuesday December 03 | 7:00PM - 9:00PM

If you love Basketball, this is the author event for you! We cannot wait to have Massachusetts author, journalist, and commentator Jackie MacMullan in our store alongside New York Times bestselling author Matthew Goodman! They will be in conversation about their two books, Basketball: A Love Story and The City Game: Triumph, Scandal, and a Legendary Basketball Team.

Described as a "powerful and heartbreaking" must-read for hoops fans by Slate, Basketball: A Love Story is the literary counterpart to the ABC/ESPN documentary series that aired in 2018. The filmmakers conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with a staggering number of basketball greats. They talked to hundreds of legendary players, such as Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Magic Johnson. They spoke with renowned coaches, including Phil Jackson and Mike Krzyzewski, as well as numerous executives, commissioners, and journalists.

But when it came time to create the documentary, there was a problem: there was far, far too much great material to fit it all on-screen. It became increasingly clear that to do this story justice would require more than just a documentary—this story cried out for a book. At once a definitive oral history and something far more literary and intimate, this is the never-before-told story of how basketball came to be, and about what it means to those who’ve given their lives to the game.

Hailed as "a marvelous, vibrant recounting of a bit of sports history in which the backdrop of New York dominates" by Booklist in their starred review, The City Game tells the story of a college basketball team who carried an era’s brightest hopes—racial harmony, social mobility, and the triumph of the underdog—but then took the rap for one of the greatest gambling scandals in U.S. history.

The unlikeliest of champions, the 1949-50 City College Beavers were extraordinary by every measure: City College was a tuition-free, merit-based college in Harlem known for its intellectual achievements and political radicalism rather than its athletic prowess. Only two years after Jackie Robinson broke the major league baseball color barrier (and the NBA was still segregated), every single member of the Beavers was either Jewish or African American. Yet this scrappy, come-from-nowhere team thrived in the highly competitive era when college basketball fans dwarfed the numbers that followed the professional teams.

Then, less than a year after winning both the NIT and NCAA basketball tournaments in the same season—still the only team to ever have done so—the team’s starting five were arrested. Charged with colluding with gamblers to shave points, these celebrated young men became symbols of disillusionment and corruption. Their dramatic story is set against the larger backdrop of post-war New York when gangsters controlled the city’s illegal sports gambling, the police were on their payroll, and everyone was getting rich—except the young men actually playing the games. Yet they were the ones who took the fall when the party finally ended.

You do NOT want to miss this opportunity to see these two experts of the game speak about their excellent books. Mark your calendar now!

Feast of Fiction: Adrienne Brodeur, Rachel Kadish, and Mimi Lemay at Orange Door Kitchen

Thursday January 23 | 8:00PM - 9:00PM

Feast of Fiction at Orange Door Kitchen returns in January with a special slate of courageous women telling personal stories that cut through the noise and go straight to the heart.

Adrienne Brodeaur, author of Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me, will be joined by Rachel Kadish, author of The Weight of Ink, and Mimi Lemay, author of What We Will Become: A Mother, a Son, and a Journey of Transformation.

Adrienne's memoir, Wild Game, is a daughter’s tale of living in the thrall of her magnetic, complicated mother, and the chilling consequences of her complicity. It has been named to many Best Book lists this fall, was called "vivid" by BBC and "shocking. poignant, [and] unputdownable" by People Magazine.

Rachel's novel, The Weight of Ink, is set in London of the 1660s and of the early twenty-first century. The story is the interwoven tale of two women of remarkable intellect: Ester Velasquez, an emigrant from Amsterdam who is permitted to scribe for a blind rabbi, just before the plague hits the city; and Helen Watt, an ailing historian with a love of Jewish history. It won the National Jewish Book Award and was a USA Today Bestseller.

Mimi's memoir, What We Will Become, is a mother’s memoir of her transgender child’s odyssey, and her journey outside the boundaries of the faith and culture that shaped her. From the age of two-and-a-half, Jacob, born “Em,” adamantly told his family he was a boy. While his mother Mimi struggled to understand and come to terms with the fact that her child may be transgender, she experienced a sense of déjà vu—the journey to uncover the source of her child’s inner turmoil unearthed ghosts from Mimi’s past and her own struggle to live an authentic life. The memoir has been hailed as "engrossing and compassionate…This fascinating, heart-wrenching memoir offers invaluable insights into issues of gender identity," by Publishers Weekly in their starred review.

Save the date now and stay tuned for ticket, pricing, and menu information in the coming weeks!