Join us at Lake Forest Book Store in welcoming local author Donna Urbikas, author of My Sister’s Mother

Books available for purchase and signing

Register at 847-234-4420

Donna Solecka Urbikas grew up in the Midwest during the golden years of the American century. But her Polish-born mother and half sister had endured dehumanizing conditions during World War II, as slave laborers in Siberia. War and exile created a profound bond between mother and older daughter, one that Donna would struggle to find with either of them. In 1940, Janina Ślarzynska and her five-year-old daughter Mira were taken by Soviet secret police (NKVD) from their small family farm in eastern Poland and sent to Siberia with hundreds of thousands of others. So began their odyssey of hunger, disease, cunning survival, desperate escape across a continent, and new love amidst terrible circumstances. But in the 1950s, baby boomer Donna yearns for a “normal” American family while Janina and Mira are haunted by the past. In this unforgettable memoir, Donna recounts her family history and her own survivor’s story, finally understanding the damaged mother who had saved her sister.

Donna Solecka Urbikas was born in Coventry, England, and immigrated with her parents and sister to Chicago in 1952. After careers as a high school science teacher and environmental engineer, she is now a writer, realtor, and community volunteer. She lives in Chicago with her husband.

Join us as Lake Forest Book Store hosts a luncheon with Rene Denfeld, celebrating her most recent novel THE CHILD FINDER at The Deer Path Inn

A haunting, richly atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl. "Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or--is it possible--you are still alive?"

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon's Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now--if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as "the Child Finder," Naomi is their last hope. Naomi's methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too. As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison's disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life? Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.

Rene Denfeld is an author, journalist, and death penalty investigator. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, the Oregonian, and the Philadelphia Inquirer, and is the author of four nonfiction books. The Enchanted received the Prix du Premier Roman Etranger in France. Rene lives in Portland, Oregon, where she is the happy mom of three kids adopted from foster care. Author photo credited to Gary Norman

Join us for a Tea and Talk with Northshore resident Charlotte Adelman, co-author of Midwestern Native Shrubs and Trees at the Deer Path Inn

Wednesday, September 27, 2017 at 2:00 PM

The Garden Room at the Deer Path Inn, Lake Forest, IL

$65 includes Afternoon Tea and book

Space is limited so call Lake Forest Book Store at 847-234-4420 to reserve your place

The Cleveland Plain Dealer writes "One of the most important recent reference books recently published is Midwestern Native Shrubs and Trees: Gardening Alternatives to Nonnative Species... An extraordinary amount of information is found in this guide, including extensive descriptions of hundreds of non-native plants and their native alternatives to plant in your yard."

In this companion volume to the bestselling The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Plants, Charlotte Adelman and Bernard L. Schwartz offer another indispensible guide to replacing nonnative plants with native alternatives. This time, their subject is the native woody species that are the backbone of our gardens and landscapes. Among other ecological benefits, native shrubs and trees provide birds and butterflies with vital food and reproductive sites that nonnative species cannot offer. And they tend to be hardier and easier to maintain. The authors provide a comprehensive selection of native woody alternatives that, season by season, provide effects similar to those of nonnative shrubs and trees used for ornamental purposes and shade. These plants are suitable for all garden styles, provide blooms and fall color, and have the same cultivation requirements as their nonnative counterparts. Nature notes alert readers to the native species' unique ecological roles.Unlike other gardening guides, Midwestern Native Shrubs and Trees goes beyond mere suggestion to provide gardeners with the tools they need to make informed, thoughtful choices. Knowing which native species to plant for desired effects empowers landscapers and gardeners to take on a greater role in protecting our midwestern environment.

Join us at Lake Forest Book Store for the Release Day party for Katherine Reay and her new novel, The Austen Escape

Thomas Nelson $15.99  (In paperback, due November 7th)

Thursday, November 9th at 6:00 PM

Register to attend Katherine's book "birthdate" at 847-234-4420

Birthday cake and refreshments will be served

Falling into the past will change their futures forever. Mary Davies finds safety in her ordered and productive life. Working as an engineer, she genuinely enjoys her job and her colleagues - particularly a certain adorable and intelligent consultant. But something is missing. When Mary's estranged childhood friend, Isabel Dwyer offers her a two-week stay in a gorgeous manor house in England, she reluctantly agrees in hopes that the holiday will shake up her quiet life in just the right ways. But Mary gets more than she bargained for when Isabel loses her memory and fully believes she lives in Jane Austen's Bath. While Isabel rests and delights in the leisure of a Regency lady, attended by the other costume-clad guests, Mary uncovers startling truths about their shared past, who Isabel was, who she seems to be, and the man who now stands between them. Outings are undertaken, misunderstandings play out, and dancing ensues as this company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation, work out their lives and hearts.

Katherine Reay has enjoyed a life-long affair with the works of Jane Austen and her contemporaries--who provide constant inspiration both for writing and for life. She is the author of three previous novels, and her debut, Dear Mr. Knightley, was a 2014 Christy Award Finalist, winner of the 2014 INSPY Award for Best Debut, and winner of two Carol Awards for Best Debut and Best Contemporary. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University and is a wife, mother, runner, and tae kwon do black belt. After living all across the country and a few stops in Europe, Katherine and her family recently moved back to Chicago.

Lake Forest Book Store welcomes Camille Bordas, author of How to Behave in a Crowd

Tim Duggan Books $26.00 (due August 15th, 2017)

Wednesday, August 30th at 6:00 PM

Books available for purchase and signing

Register at Lake Forest Book Store 847-234-4420

Refreshments will be served

An absorbing, darkly comedic novel that brilliantly evokes the confusions of adolescence and marks the arrival of an extraordinary young talent. Isidore Mazal is eleven years old, the youngest of six siblings living in a small French town. He doesn't quite fit in. Berenice, Aurore, and Leonard are on track to have doctorates by age twenty-four. Jeremie performs with a symphony, and Simone, older than Isidore by eighteen months, expects a great career as a novelist--she's already put Isidore to work on her biography. The only time they leave their rooms is to gather on the old, stained couch and dissect prime-time television dramas in light of Aristotle's Poetics. Isidore has never skipped a grade or written a dissertation. But he notices things the others don't, and asks questions they fear to ask. So when tragedy strikes the Mazal family, Isidore is the only one to recognize how everyone is struggling with their grief, and perhaps the only one who can help them--if he doesn't run away from home first. Isidore's unstinting empathy, combined with his simmering anger, makes for a complex character study, in which the elegiac and comedic build toward a heartbreaking conclusion. With How to Behave in a Crowd, Camille Bordas immerses readers in the interior life of a boy puzzled by adulthood and beginning to realize that the adults around him are just as lost.

Camille Bordas is the author of two previous novels in French, Les Treize Desserts and Partie Commune. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker. Born in France and raised in Mexico City and Paris, she now lives in Chicago.

Join the staff of Lake Forest Book Store in celebrating the 50-year anniversary of the Chicago Picasso sculpture and welcoming Chicago area local Patricia Stratton, recent author of The Chicago Picasso: A Point of Departure. 

Ampersand, Inc. $24.99

August 24th, 2017 from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Books available for purchase and signing

Please register at 847-234-4420 

Refreshments will be served 

The Chicago Picasso made its debut in downtown Chicago in August 1967 and was immediately recognized as a supreme achievement in monumental sculpture and civic art. The capstone to Picasso's long and fabled career as a sculptor and modernist, the sculpture has defined the city of Chicago for generations and stands as a peerless example of the union of modern art and civic architecture. Art historian Patricia Stratton tells the inside story of the sculpture for the first time in The Chicago Picasso: A Point of Departure, published to coincide with the 50th anniversary celebration of the famous unveiling. Relying on exclusive archival interviews and extensive research, all the controversial possibilities of the sculpture's inspiration are explored. The Chicago Picasso: A Point of Departure tells the full story of monumental achievement in all of its historical and artistic glory.

Patricia Balton Stratton was born in Cincinnati and received both her undergraduate and graduate education at Northwestern University, where her masters thesis in art history concentrated on the acquisition, construction, and iconography of the Chicago Picasso. She served as a docent and guide for a number of regional art museums, as well as a volunteer and board member of the Chicago Public School Art Society (later known as Art Resources in Teaching) that was an affiliate of the School of the Art Institute. She divides her time between Chicago and Naples, Florida. Her daughter and four grandchildren live in Arlington Heights, Illinois. Author photo by Caronchi Photography

Presenting her two new cookbooks, No-Bake Desserts: 103 Easy Recipes for No-Bake Cookies, Bars and Treats and Family Favorite Casserole Recipes: 103 Comforting Breakfast Casseroles, Dinner Ideas and Desserts Everyone Will Love, Addie Gundry visits Lake Forest Book Store

 Wednesday, August 9th at 6:00 p.m.

St. Martin's Griffin, $20.00 each

Books will be available for purchase and signing

Register at Lake Forest Book Store 847-234-4420

Addie Gundry shows you how to combine your favorite flavors, from fruit and chocolate to nuts and caramel, into 103 easy no-bake cheesecakes, pies, fruit tarts, candies, cookies, bites, bars, fruit desserts, frozen desserts, gelatin desserts, puddings, and adorable single-serving desserts in a jar. And each dessert is no-bake, so there's no need to take up space in the oven. Combining her professional French culinary training with her love of easy entertaining solutions, Addie translates classic favorites from tiramisu to banana cream pie into easy go-to recipes that you'll use all year round. Learn how to whip up Chocolate Eclair Cake, Mini Lemon Meringue Pies, Strawberry Shortcake in a Jar, and Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bites with ease in Addie's No-Bake Desserts.

From Cinnamon Roll Casserole to John Wayne Cowboy Casserole, the 103 casserole dishes in this cookbook are simple and stress-free, but each is packed with flavor, making them your go-to family favorites to whip up any day of the week. In 103 Family Favorite Casserole Recipes, Addie Gundry shows that a dish doesn't have to be complicated to be creative. You don't need multiple pots and pans to find flavor. And with the proper tools, tips and techniques, anyone can cook memorable meals. She teaches you how to whip up everything from Potato Chip and Chicken Casserole to Strawberry Icebox Casserole to Skinny Cheeseburger Casserole. A casserole is something to be shared--something warm, rich, and worthy of a gathering on its own. Every recipe is paired with a beautiful finished dish photograph that will make readers jump at the idea of casserole night.

Come and enjoy!  Addie will be offering samples of some of her favorite recipes. 

Addie Gundry received her masters in culinary arts at Auguste Escoffier in Avignon, France. She has worked for chefs including Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Martha Stewart on management, restaurant openings, brand development, editorial, marketing, and sales. In 2015, she won Cutthroat Kitchen on The Food Network. As the executive producer for RecipeLion, Addie creates culinary content for multiple web platforms and communities. She excels at making easy recipes elegant. Her books include Everyday Dinner Ideas, Family Favorite Casserole Recipes, and Festive Holiday Recipes.

Join us at Lake Forest Book Store as we host accomplished suspense writers Wendy Walker, author of All is Not Forgotten, and Mary Kubica, author of The Good Girl, in Conversation.

Thursday, September 21, 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

Register at Lake Forest Book Store 847-234-4420

Books Available for Purchase and Signing

EMMA IN THE NIGHT, Wendy Walker (due August 8th, 2017) , St. Martins Press, $26.99

"Both twisted and twisty, this smart psychological thriller sets a new standard for unreliable narrators." -Booklist, Starred Review

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.

Wendy Walker is a former commercial litigator and investment banker who now works at home in Connecticut writing and raising her children. She is the author of the novels Four Wives, Social Lives and All is Not Forgotten, and is the editor of Chicken Soup for the Soul: Power Moms, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom, and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Dad.

EVERY LAST LIE, Mary Kubica, Park Row Books, $26.99

New York Times bestselling author of THE GOOD GIRL Mary Kubica is back with another exhilarating thriller as a widow's pursuit of the truth leads her to the darkest corners of the psyche.

Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident...until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon.

Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out--and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara's investigation and Nick's last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date--one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.

Mary Kubica is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Good Girl and Pretty Baby. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in History and American Literature. She lives outside of Chicago with her husband and two children and enjoys photography, gardening and caring for the animals at a local shelter.

Join us in welcoming Annie Hartnett, author of RABBIT CAKE to Lake Forest Book Store

In paperback by Tin House Books. $15.95

Friday, September 8th at 6:00 pm

Refreshments will be served

Register for this special event at 847-234-4420

Elvis Babbitt has a head for the facts: she knows science proves yellow is the happiest color, she knows a healthy male giraffe weighs about 3,000 pounds, and she knows that the naked mole rat is the longest living rodent. She knows she should plan to grieve her mother, who has recently drowned while sleepwalking, for exactly eighteen months. But there are things Elvis doesn't yet know--like how to keep her sister Lizzie from poisoning herself while sleep-eating or why her father has started wearing her mother's silk bathrobe around the house. Elvis investigates the strange circumstances of her mother's death and finds comfort, if not answers, in the people (and animals) of Freedom, Alabama. As hilarious a storyteller as she is heartbreakingly honest, Elvis is a truly original voice in this exploration of grief, family, and the endurance of humor after loss.

Annie Hartnett was the 2013-2014 winner of the Writer in Residence Fellowship for the Associates of the Boston Public Library and has received awards and honors from the Bread Loaf School of English, McSweeney's, and Indiana Review. Hartnett received her MFA in Fiction from the University of Alabama, an MA from Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English, and currently teaches at Grub Street, an independent writing center in Boston. She lives with her husband and their beloved Border Collie in Providence, Rhode Island.

Presenting her two new cookbooks, No-Bake Desserts: 103 Easy Recipes for No-Bake Cookies, Bars and Treats and Family Favorite Casserole Recipes: 103 Comforting Breakfast Casseroles, Dinner Ideas and Desserts Everyone Will Love (due July 3rd, 2017), Addie Gundry visits Lake Forest Book Store

 Wednesday, July 12th at 6:00 p.m.

St. Martin's Griffin, $20.00 each (due July 3rd, 2017)

Books will be available for purchase and signing

Register at Lake Forest Book Store 847-234-4420

Addie Gundry shows you how to combine your favorite flavors, from fruit and chocolate to nuts and caramel, into 103 easy no-bake cheesecakes, pies, fruit tarts, candies, cookies, bites, bars, fruit desserts, frozen desserts, gelatin desserts, puddings, and adorable single-serving desserts in a jar. And each dessert is no-bake, so there's no need to take up space in the oven. Combining her professional French culinary training with her love of easy entertaining solutions, Addie translates classic favorites from tiramisu to banana cream pie into easy go-to recipes that you'll use all year round. Learn how to whip up Chocolate Eclair Cake, Mini Lemon Meringue Pies, Strawberry Shortcake in a Jar, and Peanut Butter Cheesecake Bites with ease in Addie's No-Bake Desserts.

From Cinnamon Roll Casserole to John Wayne Cowboy Casserole, the 103 casserole dishes in this cookbook are simple and stress-free, but each is packed with flavor, making them your go-to family favorites to whip up any day of the week. In 103 Family Favorite Casserole Recipes, Addie Gundry shows that a dish doesn't have to be complicated to be creative. You don't need multiple pots and pans to find flavor. And with the proper tools, tips and techniques, anyone can cook memorable meals. She teaches you how to whip up everything from Potato Chip and Chicken Casserole to Strawberry Icebox Casserole to Skinny Cheeseburger Casserole. A casserole is something to be shared--something warm, rich, and worthy of a gathering on its own. Every recipe is paired with a beautiful finished dish photograph that will make readers jump at the idea of casserole night.

Come and enjoy!  Addie will be offering samples of some of her favorite recipes. 

Addie Gundry received her masters in culinary arts at Auguste Escoffier in Avignon, France. She has worked for chefs including Daniel Boulud, Thomas Keller, and Martha Stewart on management, restaurant openings, brand development, editorial, marketing, and sales. In 2015, she won Cutthroat Kitchen on The Food Network. As the executive producer for RecipeLion, Addie creates culinary content for multiple web platforms and communities. She excels at making easy recipes elegant. Her books include Everyday Dinner Ideas, Family Favorite Casserole Recipes, and Festive Holiday Recipes.