The Bookshop Podcast

• Bruce Holsinger On Culpability, AI, And Family Under Pressure

  Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Bruce Holsinger about stories, community, publishing, teaching, and the craft behind his latest novel, Culpability. Bruce brings a rare lens to contemporary fiction. As a medievalist at the University of Virginia, he teaches medieval literature and applies his enthusiasm to craft classes where the basics—point of view, character arcs, structure—become living tools. He explains why paratext—chat logs, interviews, and excerpts from Lorelei’s AI book—lets a novel breathe beyond exposition, capturing how we really encounter the world: through fragmented feeds, competing voices, and the uneasy mix of intimacy and spectacle. Culpability Synopsis:When the Cassidy-Shaws’ autonomous minivan collides with an oncoming car, seventeen-year-old Charlie is in the driver’s seat, with his father, Noah, riding shotgun. In the back seat, tweens Alice and Izzy are on their phones, while their mother, Lorelei, a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence, is absorbed in her work. Yet each family member harbors a secret that implicates them in the accident.During a weeklong recuperation on the Chesapeake Bay, the family confronts the excruciating moral dilemmas triggered by the crash. Noah tries to hold the family together as a seemingly routine police investigation jeopardizes Charlie’s future. Alice and Izzy turn strangely furtive. And Lorelei’s odd behavior tugs at Noah’s suspicions that there is a darker truth behind the incident—suspicions heightened by the sudden intrusion of Daniel Monet, a tech mogul whose mysterious history with Lorelei hints at betrayal. When Charlie falls for Monet’s teenage daughter, the stakes are raised even higher in this propulsive family drama that is also a fascinating exploration of the moral responsibility and ethical consequences of AI.Culpability explores a world newly shaped by chatbots, autonomous cars, drones, and other nonhuman forces in ways that are thrilling, challenging, and unimaginably provocative.Subscribe, share with a reader friend, and tell us: which moment changed how you see the story?Culpability, Bruce HolsingerBruce HolsingerBruce Holsinger Episode #163 The Bookshop PodcastSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

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• Laura Resau: The Alchemy of Flowers

  Send us a textIn this episode, I'm chatting with author Laura Resau about her novel The Alchemy of Flowers.A walled garden in the south of France. A woman carrying the weight of infertility and the ache of what might have been. An author who believes that myth, nature, and careful attention can turn pain into something living. That’s the ground we walk together with Laura Resau, whose debut adult novel, The Alchemy of Flowers, blends sensory delight with hard-earned hope.We start with Laura’s unusual path—trilingual, trained in cultural anthropology, shaped by seasons in Provence and Oaxaca—and how immersion in other cultures taught her to write with reverence for place and people. She shares why she shifted from award-winning children’s books to adult fiction, carrying forward wonder while making room for layered reflection. Magical realism isn’t a trick here; it’s a way of telling the truth. Laura draws on myth to map inner journeys, then roots that map in the real work of a healing garden: herbs, salves, teas, and the slow patience of tending.At the heart of our conversation is the compost metaphor that sparked the novel: how do we turn our crap into flowers? Eloise, our protagonist, manages literal compost while metabolizing years of loss, guilt, and tightly controlled routines. We explore restraint versus freedom, the cultural noise around fertility, and the relief of stepping off that hamster wheel—even inside a garden with walls. Found family deepens the story’s warmth, especially through Mina, whose act of writing through trauma echoes Laura’s real-life collaboration on The Queen of Water, a testament to storytelling as a path to repair.Come for the rich textures—French meals that stretch past midnight, treehouses and yurts, a garden that feels both sanctuary and crucible. Stay for the craft insights, the mythic threads, and the gentle insistence that transformation is possible. If you’ve ever needed fiction that meets your pain without flinching and still promises bloom, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves literary fiction and magical realism, and leave a review to help more readers find the show. What part of your life is ready to turn into flowers?Laura ResauThe Alchemy of Flowers, Laura ResauThe Compound, Aisling Rawlewww.mandyjacksonbeverly.comSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

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• Mary Morris On Maternal Mystery, War Shadows, And Artful Truths

  Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Mary Morris about her latest novel, The Red House.A lost button at an airport. A plaque on a modest olive tree. A red monolith on a hill that once held people in limbo. My conversation with Mary Morris reveals how these small, stubborn details evolved into The Red House, a propulsive and intimate novel about a daughter following her missing mother’s trail across Italy and through the overlooked corners of World War II history.Mary shares how speaking Italian—and loving languages—let her move beyond postcards and step inside local memory, building the kind of empathy that makes fiction feel true. The heart of this episode beats with maternal absence and creative courage. Mary reflects on the teacher who named her a writer, the dream that pushed her to New York, and the decision to return to the sheer pleasure of story over market expectations. We chat about the joy of reading books translated into English, reading for texture, and why art—visual, poetic, and narrative—can hold what direct speech cannot. If you’re drawn to literary fiction, historical mystery, Italian settings, WWII history in southern Italy, and novels that braid love, loss, and identity, you’ll feel at home here.If this conversation resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves books, and leave a quick review—your notes help more curious readers find us.Mary MorrisSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

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• Wonderland Books: How Two Friends Built A Beloved Indie Bookstore

  Send us a textHi, this week I'm chatting with Amy Joyce and Gayle Weiswasser, co-owners of Wonderland Books in Bethesda, Maryland.What turns a bookstore into a place where people feel part of a community? We asked Wonderland Books co-owners Amy Joyce and Gail Weiswasser, whose Bethesda shop blends sharp curation, joyful whimsy, and real community care—right down to a wall of Polaroids featuring every visiting dog.We trace their unlikely routes into bookselling—Amy from nearly three decades at the Washington Post and Gail from law and corporate communications—and how those skills power everything from lease negotiations to handselling, newsletters, and event strategy. They open up about curating beyond their own tastes by leaning on staff with different genre passions, why a quarter of the store is devoted to children’s books, and how representation in kids’ publishing shapes what young readers reach for on the shelf.Community is the through line. Hear how a creative Indiegogo campaign funded shelves and inventory while transforming donors into co-creators who curated displays, joined after-hours previews, and saw their book clubs’ names on the wall. We dig into school partnerships that put author-visit titles in students’ hands, hospital library donations made from damaged returns, and dog adoption events that turn the kids’ section into a gentle reading nook—even for a blind pup named Rex.We also get practical about social media that works without a budget: staff-forward videos, playful trends, and a voice that feels human. Amy and Gail share what’s selling now—from dystopian classics to big-hearted novels—and offer thoughtful recommendations that build empathy, including Demon Copperhead, Nickel and Dimed, Nomadland, and The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. The philosophy is simple: welcome warmly, never hover, and let curiosity lead. If you love bookstores that feel like a sanctuary and a spark, this conversation will make you want to visit, linger, and read.If this resonated, follow the show, leave a quick review, and share it with a friend who loves indie bookstores.www.thebookshoppodcast.comWonderland BooksDemon Copperhead, Barbara KingsolverNomadland, Jessica BruderBuckeye, Patrick RyanSome Great Nowhere, Ann PackerThe Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiren DesaiThe Road to Tender Hearts, Annie HartnettNickel and Dimed, Barbara EhrenreichThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Deesha PhilyawMandy Jackson-Beverly - Lunch With An Author Literary SeriesSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

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• Paul Levine: Midnight Burning

  Send us a textIn this episode, I chat with Paul Levine about his new novel, Midnight Burning.A physicist, a comic genius, and a city on the brink—Paul Levine joins us to unpack Midnight Burning, a high-velocity historical thriller that brings Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin into the crosshairs of a real fascist movement in 1937 Los Angeles. We open with a personal note, then dive into the craft and conscience behind turning buried history into a page-turner that feels startlingly current.Levine traces his path from Miami Herald reporter to trial lawyer to television writer, revealing how courtroom rigor and the writers’ room taught him to build lean scenes and dialogue that pop. That muscle powers a story grounded in documented realities: the German-American Bund, the Silver Legion, Nazi bookstores in L.A., a Hollywood hit list, and a citizens’ spy ring that gathered evidence without firing a shot. We talk about Georgia Ann Robinson, LAPD’s first Black female officer, and the moral compromises of studios navigating German censors like Dr. George Gyssling. Along the way, Levine explains how he balances verifiable quotes and biographies with credible invention, keeping Einstein’s dry humor and Chaplin’s political courage intact while pushing them into danger that tests their wits and resolve.If you love smart historical thrillers, legal-sharp dialogue, or the hidden history of Los Angeles and Hollywood, you’ll find much to savor in Midnight Burning. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves page-turners with purpose, and leave a review to help others discover the show. What moment surprised you most?Paul LevineMidnight Burning, Paul LevineSupport the showThe Bookshop PodcastMandy Jackson-BeverlySocial Media Links

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