Our Monthly Reads
Discover the books we’re diving into each month, along with a little glimpse into why we chose them. When you shop through Bookshop, you’re not only grabbing your next great read—you’re also supporting local bookstores. It’s one more way we can be intentional about how (and where) we read, because every small choice adds up to something meaningful.
September
A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner
September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries...and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. What she learns could devastate her—or free her. September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers...the same day a stranger reached out and saved her. But a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf may open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life.
Why we chose this book:
This month, we’re reading a story that weaves together two women living a century apart, each connected by grief, hope, and a single scarf of marigolds. A Fall of Marigolds was first recommended to me by a friend, and the more I learned about it, the more I knew it belonged in our September lineup.
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Since part of the story unfolds in the wake of 9/11, this feels like a deeply meaningful read for this month—one that gives us a chance to reflect, remember, and connect through the power of story. Susan Meissner is known for writing beautifully layered novels, and this one promises themes of resilience, healing, and the way our lives intertwine across time.
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I truly believe this will be one of those reads that stays with us long after we close the last page.
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xo,
Whitnee