With her heartwarming and bestselling novels, author Darcie Chan has invited us into the enchanting town of Mill River, and taken us into the lives of her characters. Now she extends a warm thank you to librarians for all that they have done for her books, and for what they do for readers every day.
This past summer, my first two novels, The Mill River Recluse and The Mill River Redemption, were published by Ballantine Books. Both are set in the cozy fictional village of Mill River, Vermont, and will be followed by a third Mill River novel in fall of 2015. I was absolutely thrilled to see that my books now appear in the catalogs of many, many libraries nationwide, and I wanted to express my appreciation and thanks.
I grew up in small towns in several states. A truth common to all of the little communities in which I lived is that there weren’t many places to buy books, even for the few people who could afford to do so, but there was a public or school library in every single one of them. Still, as much as I loved to read and visit those libraries as a child, I don’t think I fully understood their importance.
Things are different now.
I’m the mother of a little boy who is just now learning to read, and seeing his eyes light up during our Wednesday morning trips to our local library completely warms my heart. As a writer in the early stages of building a career as an author, I’ve met countless people who read only library books. And, of course, I’m an avid reader myself. I still marvel at the sheer number of books at my local library—more there, even in a relatively small branch, than I could read during my lifetime—and it’s still entirely too easy to get lost among those quiet shelves of stories. All of these things reinforce for me the importance and value of libraries in providing a tangible world of imagination and knowledge for children, for introducing readers to new authors, and for helping foster and fortify a culture of literacy in our country.
If I may be of service to your patrons by participating in any sort of Skype or social media discussion of my books, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I love meeting and interacting with readers! And again, please accept my heartfelt thanks to you, your staff members, and your administrative boards for inviting my Mill River novels onto your shelves.
Best wishes, and happy reading!
Darcie Chan