Blue Bicycle Books

Join best-selling author, Mary Laura Phillpott (I Miss You When I Blink) for a lunch and launch of her new memoir Bomb Shelter: Love, Time and Other Explosives, Wed. Apr. 20, 12 pm at Halls Signature Events, 5 Faber St., downtown Charleston.

Tickets are $39 for the three-course lunch, or $66 with a signed copy of Bomb Shelter (Atria, hb., 288 pp). Click here to buy tickets!

Doors open at 11:30 am, lunch served promptly at noon, with talk to follow.

Books provided by Blue Bicycle Books.

Can’t make it? Order a signed copy here.

About Bomb Shelter:

A lifelong worrier, Mary Laura Philpott always kept an eye out for danger, a habit that only intensified when she became a parent. But she looked on the bright side, too, believing that as long as she cared enough, she could keep her loved ones safe.

Then, in the dark of one quiet, pre-dawn morning, she woke abruptly to a terrible sound—and found her teenage son unconscious on the floor. In the aftermath of a crisis that darkened her signature sunny spirit, she wondered: If this happened, what else could happen? And how do any of us keep going when we can’t know for sure what’s coming next?

Leave it to the writer whose critically acclaimed debut had us “laughing and crying on the same page” (NPR) to illuminate what it means to move through life with a soul made of equal parts anxiety and optimism (and while she’s at it, to ponder the mysteries of backyard turtles and the challenges of spatchcocking a turkey).

Hailed by The Washington Post as “Nora Ephron, Erma Bombeck, Jean Kerr, and Laurie Colwin all rolled into one,” Philpott returns in her distinctive voice to explore our protective instincts, the ways we continue to grow up long after we’re grown, and the limits—both tragic and hilarious—of the human body and mind.

About the Author:

Mary Laura Philpott’s first book was the national bestseller I Miss You When I Blink. Her essays that examine the overlap of the absurd and the profound in everyday life ad have been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Real Simple, and more. A former bookseller at Nashville’s Parnassus Books and a Davidson grad, she is a life-long visitor to the Charleston area. She lives in Nashville with her family.

“a writer of singular spark and delight” — Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love)

Join historian and journalist Andrew Lawler on Thurs., December 9 at 5:30 pm for a an evening of discussion about his new book, Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City (Doubleday, 464 pp., hb., $32.50).

About the book:

In 1863, a French senator arrived in Jerusalem hoping to unearth relics dating to biblical times. Digging deep underground, he discovered an ancient grave that, he claimed, belonged to an Old Testament queen. News of his find ricocheted around the world, evoking awe and envy alike, and inspiring others to explore Jerusalem’s storied past.

In the century and a half since the Frenchman broke ground, Jerusalem has drawn a global cast of fortune seekers and missionaries, archaeologists and zealots, all of them eager to extract the biblical past from beneath the city’s streets and shrines. Their efforts have had profound effects, not only on our understanding of Jerusalem’s history, but on its hotly disputed present. The quest to retrieve ancient Jewish heritage has sparked bloody riots and thwarted international peace agreements. It has served as a cudgel, a way to stake a claim to the most contested city on the planet. Today, the earth below Jerusalem remains a battleground in the struggle to control the city above.

Under Jerusalem takes readers into the tombs, tunnels, and trenches of the Holy City. It brings to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape. With clarity and verve, acclaimed journalist Andrew Lawler reveals how their pursuit has not only defined the conflict over modern Jerusalem, but could provide a map for two peoples and three faiths to peacefully coexist.

About the author:

Andrew Lawler is author of the bestselling The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and the acclaimed Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. He is a contributing writer for Science and a contributing editor for Archaeology. Lawler’s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.

Join Kevin Mitchell and David Shields on Sat., December 4 at 1 pm to celebrate the release of of their new cookbook, Taste the State: South Carolina’s Signature Foods, Recipes, and Their Stories (University of South Carolina, 248 pp., hb., $34.99). 

About the book:

Taste the State presents the cultural histories of native ingredients and showcases the evolution of the dishes and the variety of preparations that have emerged. This is true Carolina cooking in all of its cultural depth, historical vividness, and sumptuous splendor—from the simple home cooking of sweet potato pone to Lady Baltimore cake worthy of a Charleston society banquet.

About the authors:

Kevin Mitchell is the first African American chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston in South Carolina. He has culinary arts degrees in occupational studies and management from the Culinary Institute of America and a master’s degree in southern studies from the University of Mississippi, where he studied Southern foodways, the preservation of Southern ingredients, and the history of African Americans in the culinary arts. In 2020 Mitchell was named a South Carolina Chef Ambassador.

David S. Shields is Carolina Distinguished Professor of the English Language and Literature Department at the University of South Carolina and the chair of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. He is the author of numerous books, including Southern Provisions: The Creation and Revival of a Cuisine and The Culinarians: Lives and Careers from the First Age of American Fine Dining, and the recipient of the Southern Foodways Alliance’s Ruth Fertel Keeper of the Flame Award.

Join Carrie Morey, entrepreneur behind Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit and star of How She Rolls, for a biscuits, beverages and books launch of her new cookbook, Hot Little Suppers (Harper Horizon, 288 pp., hb., $35), Wed., Nov. 3, 2021, 5 pm. Carrie will be in conversation with Matt Lee co-author of Hotbox and The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen, in the Blue Bicycle Books courtyard, 420 King St., downtown Charleston. Book signing to follow.

Can’t make it? Order a SIGNED Copy Here. 

Hot Little Suppers isn’t simply a book about cooking for families — it’s a guide for cooking with families. And nobody is better equipped to tackle the subject of incorporating family into the process than Carrie Morey, who grew up cooking with her mother and whose daughters have worked side-by-side with her in her kitchen and business.

Structured by seasons, the 120 recipes are divided into easy-to-prepare weeknight meals and slightly-more-involved weekend dishes. From a tangy Thai chicken salad on a summer weeknight to a savory pork ragu with pappardelle for a cozy winter weekend meal, Carrie incorporates beautiful, bright flavors from a range of culinary traditions.

Carrie Morey founded her handmade biscuit business in 2005, with the goal of making the tender, buttery, made-by-hand biscuits of her mother accessible across the country. Over 15 years later, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit is widely recognized as an iconic Southern brand with national retail exposure, four grab-and-go eateries in Charleston, Atlanta, and Charlotte, a food truck, and a cult-like following. Carrie is the author of two cookbooks, Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions and Hot Little Suppers, and is currently starring in a PBS culinary docuseries, How She Rolls, about biscuits, business, and balance in her life as an entrepreneur. She lives in Charleston with her husband and three daughters.

Join Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times author of Golden Girl (Little, Brown and Co., hb., 384 pp., $19) and many other books, Friday, Oct. 29, 5 – 7 pm here at the store for a book signing. This event is free and open to the public! For more information please call us at 843-722-2666.

About Golden Girl: On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.

From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her. With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other.

Elin Hilderbrand is the proud mother of three, a dedicated Peloton rider, an aspiring book influencer, and an enthusiastic at-home cook (follow her @elinhilderbrand to watch her Cringe Cooking Show). She is also a grateful seven-year breast cancer survivor. Golden Girl is her 27th novel. She is also a contributor to Reunion Beach: Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank (William Morrow, hb., 416 pp., $28)