The perfect outing for book clubs, join Charlotte Arts & Lectures and their bookstore partner Fred & June's for an unforgetable author discussion with Marie Bostwick. Hosted in the tea room of the beautiful Moorhead Inn, readers can expect light refreshments, a signed copy of the book, and great conversation. Stay after and meet the author and fellow readers in our bookish city. 

Tickets are required for this event. Each ticket includes a signed copy of Marie's new book The Book Club for Troublesome Women.

GET TICKETS

ABOUT THE BOOK
Margaret Ryan never really meant to start a book club . . . or a feminist revolution in her buttoned-up suburb.

By 1960s standards, Margaret Ryan is living the American woman's dream. She has a husband, three children, a station wagon, and a home in Concordia--one of Northern Virginia's most exclusive and picturesque suburbs. She has a standing invitation to the neighborhood coffee klatch, and now, thanks to her husband, a new subscription to A Woman's Place--a magazine that tells housewives like Margaret exactly who to be and what to buy. On paper, she has it all. So why doesn't that feel like enough?

Margaret is thrown for a loop when she first meets Charlotte Gustafson, Concordia's newest and most intriguing resident. As an excuse to be in the mysterious Charlotte's orbit, Margaret concocts a book club get-together and invites two other neighborhood women--Bitsy and Viv--to the inaugural meeting. As the women share secrets, cocktails, and their honest reactions to the controversial bestseller The Feminine Mystique, they begin to discover that the American dream they'd been sold isn't all roses and sunshine--and that their secret longing for more is something they share. Nicknaming themselves the Bettys, after Betty Friedan, these four friends have no idea their impromptu club and the books they read together will become the glue that helps them hold fast through tears, triumphs, angst, and arguments--and what will prove to be the most consequential and freeing year of their lives.

The Book Club for Troublesome Women is a humorous, thought provoking, and nostalgic romp through one pivotal and tumultuous American year--as well as an ode to self-discovery, persistence, and the power of sisterhood.

 

5/7/25 Frieda McFadden Launch Event for The Tennant

Join us for an extra special celebration of the newest Freida McFadden release, The Tenant! Guests will receive:

5/10/25 Charlotte Arts & Lectures Presents: Sarah Maria Griffin

Join Charlotte Arts & Lectures, Cleary's Bookstore & Fred and June's for a magical evening with Irish author Sarah Marie Griffin, who will discuss her new book Eat the Ones You Love with local fantasy author Christy Healy. Guests will enjoy and in-conversation author event, refreshments, and a mix-and-mingle with the authors.

Tickets include a copy of Sarah Maria Griffin's latest novel Eat the Ones You Love.

Additional copies of Christy Healy's novel Unbound will be available for purchase. Both authors will sign copies of their books after their discussion. 

GET TICKETS

ABOUT THE BOOK
A twisted, tangled story about workplace love-affairs, and plants with a taste for human flesh “Do you mind me asking—what kind of help do you need?” After losing her job and her fiancé and moving back from the city to live with her parents, Shell Pine needs some help. And according to the sign in the window, the florist shop in the mall does too. Shell gets the gig, and the flowers she works with there are just the thing she needs to cheer up. Or maybe it’s Neve, the beautiful shop manager, who is making her days so rosy?But you have to get your hands dirty if you want your garden to grow—and Neve’s secrets are as dark and dangerous as they come. In the back room of the flower shop, a young sentient orchid actually runs the show, and he is hungry . . . and he has a plan for them all.When the choices are to either bury yourself in the warmth of someone else’s fertile soil, or face the cold and disappointing world outside—which would you choose? And what if putting down roots came at a cost far higher thanjust your freedom?

 

6/10/25 Charlotte Arts & Lectures Presents: Joy Callaway

 Charlotte Arts & Lectures and partner bookstore Trope Bookshop are throwing a big ol' country party to celebrate the release of local author Joy Callaway's first romance book Sing Me Home to Carolina. 

Hosted under the lights of the Whitehead Manor Patio, guests will dance the night away to a country band (playing all the hits), enjoy lite bites and beverages and will be treated to a signed copy of the new book and a goodie bag. Tickets are required for this event. Each ticket includes one signed copy of Sing Me Home to Carolina.

Additional titles by both Joy Callaway will be available for purchase and signing as well.

GET TICKETS

ABOUT THE BOOK
A small town girl turned big city businesswoman returns home to help her parents, only to find her heart being tugged between her old flame and the town’s mysterious new guy. This witty and effervescent novel is perfect for readers of Viola Shipman and fans of Sweet Magnolias and Hart of Dixie.

Event planner Hattie Norwood only came back home to Mountain View, South Carolina to support her parents as they receive word that the family peanut farm is infertile. This news doesn’t come as a surprise to Hattie, and she plans to return to Charlotte at the weekend’s end. 

But then the town councilwoman begs Hattie to use her event planning prowess to help Mountain View put on a musical benefit to stop the construction of the new Carolina Panthers stadium—a project Hattie is actually in favor of, much to the dismay of the locals—and she finds herself agreeing to stay until the town’s Founder’s Day celebration a week later, just as her old flame, former MLB standout Lee Lockhardt, materializes in town after a career-ending injury.

When the hunky and mysterious new owner of Fox’s Hardware, Fox Ryan, suggests the Founder’s Day celebration be moved to the Norwoods’ barn in an attempt to reinvent the failing farm as a music and event venue, Hattie agrees, unaware this move will thrust the town, her love life, and the brewing tension over the stadium into a very public spotlight. 

Fans of small-town romance and quirky casts of characters will be rooting for Team Lee or Team Fox as Hattie decides if love, like most music, is meant to fade or last forever.