Vermont Books

Misty Valley Books is known for its excellent selection of books by Vermont authors as well as books on Vermont history. Recent additions to our collection include:

Linda Cunningham, Small Town Girl

When Lauren Smith begrudgingly returns to the small Vermont town where she grew up to arrange for the sale of her late grandmother's old farmhouse, she has everything she's always worked for. Lauren drives a Mercedes. She's engaged to one of the most powerful businessmen in the country and wears a three-carat diamond ring to prove it. She lives in a penthouse on Central Park West. Yes, Lauren has everything she considers important. She is smugly prepared for any eventuality in dealing with these country people so Lauren isn't surprised when the hot water isn't working at the old house. No problem. She simply looks in the phone book and calls the local plumber. The moment Caleb Cochran steps through the old screen door to fix the hot water, the glittery facade that masquerades as Lauren's life begins to crumble around her. Though she tries hard to deny their mutual, magnetic attraction, Lauren is finally forced to reevaluate her focus and come face-to-face with her true self. Small Town Girl is a story of discovering the true meaning of life and love

Ethan Allen: His Life and Times by Willard Sterne Randall

While Ethan Allen’s legend has endured through four centuries of American history, he remains, perhaps, the least understood of America’s founding fathers. Willard Sterne Randall, author of Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor, finally gives a three-dimensional portrait to this venerated leader of the Green Mountain Boys, a man whose fame was so great that he became a mythical figure, even in his own lifetime. Randall chronicles Allen’s upward struggle from precocious, if not unruly, adolescent to commander of the largest American paramilitary force on the eve of the Revolution. He traces Allen from his modest beginnings in Connecticut and illuminates his deeply rebellious nature, his attraction to deism, his dramatic defense of smallpox vaccinations, and his early support of separation of church and state. Allen emerges as a fascinating public spirited leader but also as a self-interested individual, often no less rapacious than his archenemies in the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys.

The Call by Yannick Murphy

The daily rhythm of a veterinarian’s family in rural New England is shaken when a hunting accident leaves their eldest son in a coma. With the lives of his loved ones unhinged, the veterinarian struggles to maintain stability while searching for the man responsible. But in the midst of their great trial an unexpected visitor arrives, requesting a favor that will have profound consequences—testing a loving father’s patience, humor, and resolve and forcing husband and wife to come to terms with what “family” truly means.

A Dream of Dragons by Willem Lange. Illustrated by Mary Azarian

The Viking Age began over a thousand years ago when the ancient Norse perfected their swift-sailing, dragon-headed longships. Young men, and later whole families, left Norway's rugged fiords in search of open land, trade, treasure, or fame. Many others took to the unknown sea simply because something vague and irresistible beckoned to them. They settled islands all across the North Atlantic and landed in North America over four hundred years before Columbus. Their exploits are recounted in the ancient Norse sagas.

Revolutionary Westminster by Jesse Haas

The Battles of Lexington and Concord have long been considered the beginning of the American Revolution. However, Vermonters know that the first blood was actually shed in Westminster in March 1775. Over a month before Lexington and Concord, Westminster Whigs endured an attack from their own Loyalist sheriff and his men that left two dead. In response, the county rose in revolt in what became known as the Westminster Massacre. This bloody event set the stage for Vermont's separation from New York and its position as a mainstay of American independence throughout the entire war. Jessie Haas and the Westminster Historical Society vividly retell the story of the real first battle of the American Revolution and Windham County's important role throughout the war.

Springfield (VT) by Rosanne E. Putnam

Although Springfield was chartered in 1761, residents did not begin taking advantage of the waterpower on the Black River until the 1800s. Once dams were built to harness the water, mills and factories followed. Innovation could not be stopped, and for the next 150 years one invention or improvement after another emerged from this little town. Things like the spring clothespin and sandpaper were invented in Springfield as well as world-famous tool-making machines such as the turret lathe and gear shaping and grinding machines. Improvements were also made to textile-processing machinery. A combination of the right people at the right place and time allowed Springfield, the "little town that did," to transform from an agrarian and mill town to the home of a world-renowned machine tool industry.

Fat People by Bill Schubart

For most of us, food is a source of sustenance and pleasure. But for some, it is their only friend and main source of comfort. and it may become their addictive nemesis. Bill Schubart, a man of girth, is a keen and sympathetic observer of those whose lives become defined by their obesity. Fat People adds to our understanding of how easily food can overwhelm a life. Schubart’s fourteen stories are poignant and evocative, touching on all aspects of obesity-addictive behavior, the pressure of prejudice, how food comes to rule a life, and the intimate psychological development of people for whom food becomes both companionship and family. Schubart is a regular commentator on Vermont Public Radio. He lives in Vermont with his wife and family.

A Year on the Bus by Dan Close

On any given day in the United States of America, there are approximately 480,000 school buses on the road. They transport 26 million students. Not too many people care about these statistics. The school bus comes. It picks up the kids. It drops them off at school. It picks them up after school and drops them at home. It disappears into the evening dusk, not to be seen again until the next morning. But there’s more to it than that. Here’s the story of one bus driver’s first year driving a bus. His name is Phil. Phil retired at 66 when the real estate market tanked and got his Commercial Driver’s License. This is his story.

Almost Utopia: The Residents and Radicals of Pikes Falls, Vermont, 1950.

This is a book of photographs taken in Southern Vermont in the summer of 1950 by Rebecca Lepkoff, a native New Yorker, known for her photographs from the Lower East Side in the 1930s and 1940s with text by Greg Joly.

In Almost Utopia: The Residents and Radicals of Pikes Falls, Vermont, 1950, Lepkoff captured the lives of the local Vermonters and the people "from away" at work and play during this historic time, as the Korean War made national headlines. Many of Lepkoff's photos chronicle the lives of former urbanites Scott and Helen Nearing, who had purchased land in Jamaica, Vermont, with the vision of creating a homesteading lifestyle and teaching others to live simply in a troubled world. The Nearings later published Living the Good Life in 1954, documenting their homesteading experiences and lifestyle philosophy of non-exploitation, and the book became a classic.

Paisley Pig by Willow Bascom

A delightful ABC book by this creative Vermont author/artist. Growing up in Saudi Arabia and Panama, Willow Bascom was exposed to different cultures and art. She was amazed by the way people loved to not only decorate themselves but their places of worship and vehicles. A survivor of Lupus, Bascom took her fascination with multicultural art styles, using it as inspiration for her drawings.

Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch

A new book from acclaimed author of Finn, Jon Clinch. His latest novel is the story of three elderly brothers living together on a farm in upstate New York. When the oldest, Vernon, dies in his sleep, questions arise as to whether one of the other brothers might be behind it. Telling the story in alternating voices that span a generation, Clinch' gives us a host of compelling characters that seem to have stepped out of a strange and remote agrarian past. Jon Clinch has been an English teacher, a metal worker, a folksinger, housepainter, and advertising executive. He and his wife, Wendy, live in Plymouth, VT with their daughter.

The Last Station by Jay Parini

In 1910 Count Leo Tolstoy, the most famous writer in the world, is caught in the struggle between his devoted wife and an equally devoted acolyte over the master's legacy. Sofya Andreyevna fears that she and the children she has borne Tolstoy will lose all to Vladimir Cherkov and the Tolstoyan movement, which preaches the ideals of poverty, chastity, and pacifism. Jay Parini has created a stunning portrait of an enduring genius and a deeply affecting novel.

Secrets of Eden by Chris Bohjalian

The 12th page-turning novel from Chris Bohjalian follows territory familiar to those who know his breakthrough novel "Midwives": a young mother's death in a small Vermont town, an investigation raising troubling questions, a teenage girl trying to make sense of it all. Alice Hayward, the town of Haverill knows, is a battered wife, struggling to find meaning in her life with her brutal husband. The same day that she is baptized by the town's minister, Stephen Drew, she is murdered by her husband, who then turned a gun on himself.

Double Black by Wendy Clinch

Wendy Clinch’s debut novel is the literary equivalent of a perfect powder day: small town Vermont, characters who feel like old friends, and enough suspense to make closing the book before you’ve finished the last page nothing short of impossible. Set in the resorts of Vermont’s Green Mountains, it is full of old money, new money, locals on the make, and scuffling ski bums. A perfect whodunit for winter nights after a long day of skiing.

Not Too Awful Bad: A Storyteller's Guide to Vermont
by Leon Thompson

Vermont writer and journalist Leon Thompson delivers up a "guide" to the Green Mountain State as only a real insider can. The reporter and award-winning humor columnist for the St. Albans Messenger tackles his home state's history, culture, seasons, attractions, vernacular, and much, much more.

Minor Memoir, An Anecdotal Autobiography of a Country Doc
by Warner E. Jones, M.D.

The fascinating story of a Springfield area physician who practiced internal medicine for 46 years. He simultaneously achieved his goals of being a pilot and an Air Force officer, reaching the rank of Colonel as well as Chief Flight Surgeon and Commander of his military unit.

Amateur Barbarians by Robert Cohen

The intersecting and diverging paths of these two men take them from the grids of New York City to the domesticated gardens of New England to the wildest, most unstructured landscapes of all -- the bedroom, the classroom, the darkroom, and the far reaches of East Africa, where Teddy at last finds something akin to what he seeks.

Saber's Edge by Thomas A. Middleton

Thomas A. Middleton will tell the true story of a guardsman at war in Ramadi, Iraq. Saber’s Edge is the story of a middle-aged Vermont firefighter called to be a soldier in one of the worst places on earth- Ramadi, Iraq. This is war experienced from the ground up and a unique wartime perspective of our guardsmen.

The Brothers Boswell by Phillip Baruth

Baruth (The X-President) shows his versatility with this chilling literary thriller. In 1763 London, John Boswell, the resentful younger brother of Samuel Johnson's future biographer, is stalking Boswell and Johnson, who have recently become friends. John bribes the boatmen who ferry his quarry on the Thames for the smallest details of their conversations. As he remembers the past, John reveals a personal link with the great lexicographer, with whom he once shared a brief, close relationship. The psychological motivations of rivalrous siblings are compellingly portrayed in this meticulously researched book.

Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian

In January, 1945, in the waning months of the Second World War, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives: an attempt to cross the remnants of the Third Reich, from Warsaw to the Rhine if necessary, to reach the British and American lines. Among the group is 18-year-old Anna Emmerich, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats; her lover, Callum Finella, a 20-year-old prisoner-of-war brought from the stalag to her family's farm as forced labor; a 26-year-old Wehrmacht corporal who the pair know as Manfred - but who is, in reality, Uri Singer, a Jew from Germany who managed a daring escape from a train bound for Auschwitz, and who has been sabotaging the Nazi war effort in every way he can ever since. Bohjalian's best yet.

The Lamoille Stories by Bill Schubart

“Schubart’s Vermont Stories of a mostly forgotten time and place are fresh, authentic, funny in places, sad in others. He knows his corner of the Green Mountains inside and out and writes with honesty and grace about its people.” Howard Frank Mosher

Write Naked by Peter Gould

Write Naked is the story of sixteen year old Victor, a thoughtful loner who tries to live his life "under the radar" and wants to test out the saying "You have to be naked to write". When he sneaks off with an old Royal typewriter to his uncle's cabin deep in the Vermont woods and strips off his clothes, he discovers a face in the window watching him-Rose Anna, a spectacular, home-schooled free spirit with an antique fountain pen and a passion to save the planet. Of course they fall in love, and this beautiful story challenges the conventional, stripping down the barriers and fears that shield us from vulnerability, reminding us of how very important it is to be thoughtful and brave.

Vermont Seasonings by Steve Delaney

Delaney, a former NBC correspondent in Tel Aviv who has covered wars on three continents, has turned to Vermont years and ways, opening with the March traditions of Town Meeting and ruminating on terms such as” flatlander”, “downcountry”, and “from away” with delightful, humorous twists, often from his own life.

Pearls, Politics, and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead by Madeleine M. Kunin

Former Vermont governor, Madeleine Kunin provides a guide for women at all levels who might seek to enter public life. She analyzes the challenges women face in their bids for elected office and offers real life, practical lessons on the nuts and bolts of politics.

Kingdom Mountain by Howard Frank Mosher

The story of Miss Jane Kinneson, an endearing as she is odd librarian, bird carver, avid hunter and fisherman, and her heroic attempts to save her ancestral mountain from development. Delightful!






Searching for Thoreau: On the Trails & Shores of Wild New England by Tom Slayton

Slayton has written ten vivid essays that transport the reader to places in New England which were important to Thoreau. He retraces Thoreau’s steps from Cape Cod to the deep Maine Woods while attempting to encounter and understand Henry David Thoreau through place. “An unfailingly entertaining literary memoir’, says Howard Frank Mosher. At the bookstore.

Go With Me by Castle Freeman, Jr.

Newfane , Vermont author Freeman has written a gripping tale of determination set in the Vermont hill country. The local villain, Blackway, is making life hellish for Lillian, a woman from away. She finds unlikely allies- Lester, a crafty old-timer, and Nate, a powerful, naïve young man. A fascinating fable-like story of a community and the nature of choices. At the bookstore.

A Peculiar Grace by Jeffrey Lent

A touching story of Vermonter Hewitt Pearce, a 43 year-old blacksmith living alone,safeguarding his late father’s small art collection. With the arrival of a troubled young woman, Jessica, Hewitt is forced to confront his own dark history, his lost love, and comes to a realization that redemption is within reach. One of Lent’s best yet.

Last Flag Down: The Epic Journey of the Last Confederate Warship by Ron Powers and John Baldwin

Powers (Flags of Our Fathers, Mark Twain) has written (with John Baldwin) another true tale that reads like one of the best novels. This is the story of the Shenandoah, a Confederate raider whose mission was to sink as many Yankee ships as possible in a desperate attempt to shatter the U.S. economy. The shocking discovery: after many moths of successful raiding, the captain and his crew learned that the war had been over for months. A poignant portrait of courage, nobility, and comradeship during one of the most difficult times in our nation’s history.

Everyday Herbs in Spiritual Life: A Guide to Many Practices by Michael Caduto

A Chester resident and co-author of the Keepers of the Earth series, Caduto invites the reader to share in the creative power of herbs through hands-on suggestions of rituals, ceremonies, and aplications across many traditions. An inspiring journey through the ancient and modern world of sacred herbs. With an introduction by Rosemary Gladstar.

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

When college sophomore Laurel Estabrook is attacked while riding her bicycle through Vermont’s back roads, her life is changed forever. She withdraws into her photography and begins to work at a homeless shelter where she meets Bobbie Crocker, a man with a history of mental illness and a box of photographs he won’t let anyone see. When Bobbie dies, Laurel discovers that although he was homeless, he had been a successful photographer who had worked with Robert Frost, Chuck Berry & Eartha Kitt. A literary thriller and Bohjalian at his best.

The Notebooks of Robert Frost, edited by Robert Faggen

This exceptional book offers Frost’s notebooks, transcribed and presented in their entirety for the first time and gives unprecedented insight into Frost’s complex and often contradictory thinking about poetics, politics, education, science, religion, Marxism, World Wars, Yeats, Pound, Santayana & William James. Edited by the preeminent Frost scholar Robert Faggens.

The Outside Story. Chuck Wooster, editor

A wonderful collection of essays by local writers (including Grafton’s own Nora Lake) exploring the nature of Vermont & New Hampshire. From Northern Woodlands magazine.

Still As Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Taylor’s fourth Sweeney St. George mystery finds our heroine caught between solving a mystery & moving to London to be with her beau, Ian. When a museum housekeeper is found murdered and valuable piece of Egyptian jewelry is missing, Sweeney gets to work on the case which may be related to an unsolved murder of a museum intern back in the seventies. There’s also the problem of her attraction to detective Tim Quinn!

Weathersfield Tales edited by Steve Aikenhead

A delightful collection of stories of Weathersfield. Real Vermontiana.

Burr Morse, Sweet Days and Beyond

Seventh generation Vermonter Burr Morse is a maple sugarer par excellence and a storyteller who brings crowds to his East Montpelier sugarhouse. His handsome illustrated book is a compilation of distilled Vermontiana- as sweet as his syrup-tales of his sugarhouse experiences.

John Morton, A Medal of Honor: An Insider Unveils the Agony & Ecstasy of the Olympic Dream- a novel

John Morton has participated in seven Winter Olympic Games as Nordic athlete, coach, and biathlon team leader. He uses his experiences to draw readers into the crushing disappointments and euphoric victories that are part of the Olympic dream.







Vermont Gathering Places by Peter Miller. Author and photographer Peter Miller completes his Vermont trilogy with this collection of 38 stories of Vermonters and their gathering places.

A Guide to Fiction Set in Vermont
by Ann McKinstry Micou 

A comprehensive summary of descriptions of novels and short stories set in the Green Mountains from 1835 to today. Micou has produced an overview of the fiction inspired by the mystique that is Vermont. An invaluable resource.







Letters to a Young Doubter
by William Sloane Coffin

Modeled after Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, Coffin's latest book is in the form of letters to a young student, Tom, and offers Coffin's cumulative wisdom from his tenure as minister at Riverside Church in New York City and as chaplain at Yale University during the tumultuous 60's.

Sarah Stewart Taylor
Judgment of the Grave

Gravestone expert Harvard art professor Sweeney St. George arrives in Concord, MA to study an 18th century stonecutter. Touring the burial site of Revolutionary War victims, she meets Pres Whiting, a precocious young boy who seems to know a lot about battlefield reenactment.On the way home, they come across a dead man clad in a Revolutionary War-era soldier's uniform. As in all of Sarah Stewart Taylor's novels, there are eerie coincidences for which only Sweeney St. George can find explanations. Stewart Taylor's best yet!

Marc Estrin
The Education of Arnold Hitler

A brilliant and imaginative satire in which Estrin introduces a baby boomer unfortunately named, who must navigate an absurd world of activists, academics, street warriors, and their meaningless words. Estrin's cutting intellect along with his powerful sense of humor examines the darkest issues of the age: the persistence of war and racism, the intractable forces of history and the lies that words conceal. Estrin is the author of Insect Dreams, Rehearsing With Gods, and is a cellist and activist as well as a successful writer.

The Art of Teaching by Jay Parini

Middlebury professor and author, Jay Parini, looks back over his decades of trials, errors, and triumphs in an intimate memoir that brims with humor, encouragement, and hard-won wisdom about the teacher's craft. He explores facets of teaching that include the theatrical, the sartorial, and the political. An eloquent look at teaching and its role in our civilization.

Life With History, John Morton Blum

A splendid memoir by one of America's most distinguished historians and
an Andover, Vermont resident as well.

All Those in Favor, Rediscovering the Secrets of Town Meeting &
Community by Susan Clark and Frank Bryan

A timely book that explores ways for improving and preserving town
meetings across the state.

Chris Bohjalian
Before You Know Kindness

A nightmarish accident tests the values and changes the lives of the members of this privileged family. Bohjalian is a master at exploring family loyalty and love.

Howard Frank Mosher:
Waiting for Teddy Williams

In this funny, heart-felt book Mosher has the Red Sox beat the Yankees and then the Mets to win the World Series. E.A. (for Ethan Allen), a Vermont home- schooled boy in northern Vermont, longs to play baseball and find his long-lost father. When a drifter named Teddy shows up at the farm, he teaches E.A. to pitch and more. Another rollicking, not to be missed Mosher book.

Gael Shephard:
Tranquil Vermont

Shephard’s pastels of Vermont capture the exquisite beauty of our state.

Sarah Stewart Taylor:
Mansions of the Dead

Taylor’s second novel promises to be as good as O’Artful Death, with Sweeney St. George and funereal jewelry!

Ronald Simon & Marc Estrin:
Rehearsing with Gods: Photographs
& Essays on The Bread & Puppet Theater

A wonderful tribute to The Bread and Puppet Theater with stunning photographs by Ron Simon and essays by Marc Estrin.

Freedom & Unity, A History of Vermont
by Michael Sherman, Gene Sessions,
& P. Jeffrey Potash

At last, a readable history of Vermont from prehistory to the present, with maps and illustrations.

Civil Wars, A Battle for Gay Marriage
by David Moats

Moats has documented Vermont’s historic struggle to create civil unions.

Idyll Banter
by Chris Bohjalian

Bohjalian’s collection of columns from the Burlington Free Press is a wonderful glimpse into small town Vermont life.

M is for Maple Syrup, A Vermont Alphabet
by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds/Ginny
Joyner, ill

A Cow's Alfalfa-Bet
by Woody Jackson

Mirror Lake
by Thomas Christopher Greene

Log Drives on the Connecticut River by Bill Gove;

Writing for Her Life,
a biography of Grafton writer
Mildred Walker, written by her
daughter, Ripley Hugo

O'Artful Death by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Sweeney St. George spends Christmas in Byzantium Art Colony (loosely based on the Cornish Colony) and becomes involved in a 100 year-old mystery.

and histories of Townshend, Vt, Grafton, Vt and Weston, VT.

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