Exploring Detroit & Windsor Through Stories: A Collaboration With Buried In Print Part. 1

As you’ve seen on my blog I love traveling to new places within the pages of a book. Buried in Print and I became connected through the world of book blogging years ago and have become friends through our love of books and snail mail! We often chat about our connection through our hometowns and she came up with the brilliant idea of a reading project that bridges Detroit, Michigan (USA) and Windsor, Ontario (Canada) through books set in those locations.

It’s always a difficult task to narrow down these stories and find a book to pick from all of the choices. After many weeks of deliberation, I decided to choose these as my reads.

My Detroit book pick:

The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone—and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit’s East Side, and the loss of a father. The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts—and shapes—their family’s future.

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My Windsor book pick:

Present day :Cassie Simmons, a museum curator, is enthusiastic about solving mysteries from the past, and she has a personal interest in the history of the rumrunners who ferried illegal booze across the Detroit River during Prohibition. So when a cache of whisky labeled Bailey Brothers’ Best is unearthed during a local home renovation, Cassie hopes to find the answers she’s been searching for about the legendary family of bootleggers…

1918: Corporal Jeremiah Bailey of the 1st Canadian Tunnelling Company is tasked with planting mines in the tunnels beneath enemy trenches. After Jerry is badly wounded in an explosion, he finds himself in a Belgium field hospital under the care of Adele Savard, one of Canada’s nursing sisters, nicknamed “Bluebirds” for their blue gowns and white caps. As Jerry recovers, he forms a strong connection with Adele, who is from a place near his hometown of Windsor, along the Detroit River. In the midst of war, she’s a welcome reminder of home, and when Jerry is sent back to the front, he can only hope that he’ll see his bluebird again.

By war’s end, both Jerry and Adele return home to Windsor, scarred by the horrors of what they endured overseas. When they cross paths one day, they have a chance to start over. But the city is in the grip of Prohibition, which brings exciting opportunities as well as new dangerous conflicts that threaten to destroy everything they have fought for.

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A big thank you to Buried in Print for coming up with this reading project and idea! I am so excited to dig into these book picks as well as seeing what comes out of this new reading experience. Reading outside of your lane can offer a fresh perspective, help you see things from a new point of view or help you understand life through the eyes and words. I’m looking forward to learning some new things about my hometown (Detroit) as well as across the boarder.

Check out Buried In Print’s site to see what books she’ll be reading for her project here: http://www.buriedinprint.com/shared-projects-george-saunders-chekov-sixth-story-i-and-cross-border-reading/

Stay turned for more updates on this reading experience coming soon!