For those who have read and enjoyed Adriana Trigiani’s series of novels set in Big Stone Gap, Va., this week’s title will allow the reader to experience the nonfictional side of living in a town known best for its fictional portrayal.
It had long been the dream of Wendy Welch and her husband, Jack Beck, to open a bookstore. I, too, have this fantasy, and I’m sure that many other readers and library patrons fantasize about a life among books. Once you begin reading “The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap,” it won’t take long to discover that “little” is a misleading term — inventory, money issues, the day-to-day realities of running a business all tend to balloon in scope. The takeaway for those of us who are starry-eyed about running a bookstore is that it might be better to live vicariously through the experiences of others.
When Wendy, her husband, their two dogs and two cats moved to Big Stone Gap, Va., running a bookstore was still just a pleasant thought — the kind you pull out now and again when the heavy hand of life bears down. The bibliographic adventure began when instead of continuing to work in what she calls “the Snake Pit” (no names or job descriptions are given, but I’m pretty sure the reader can imagine or perhaps relate to such a term), Wendy decided to accept a “low-profile job running educational programs” in Big Stone Gap. Moving from “Pitsville” to Virginia would allow her family to “return to a gentle life with friendly people who had less to prove and more honesty in how they proved it.”
What they didn’t count on happening so soon after arriving in “The Gap” was moving into a turn-of-the-century Edwardian home that for all intents and purposes commanded its new owners to convert it into a charming, country bookstore.
