Hi. One ticket for Alice Island, please?
One way or round-trip?
Round. Thank you.
I love the smell of books, don't you?
They should make a perfume of it.
Oh, the new Munro! How is it?
It's for school.
I love Munro,
but the only time I have for pleasure reading is
when I'm on vacation.
I work for Knightley Press.
I'm their new sales rep.
Uh-huh.
I'm here to meet with A.J. Fikry actually.
Who the hell are you?
Hi. I'm... I'm Amelia Loman.
Now, Mr. Fikry,
please ignore the cover.
This one is my absolute favorite.
It is a memoir
by an eight-year-old first-time writer.
I mean, don't you just love that?
So, Leon Friedman got married for the first time
at 78 years old.
And his bride died three years later of cancer.
I know the descriptions sounds pretty maudlin,
but the prose is precise
and funny, and
I will admit I wept uncontrollably
on the train from New York to Providence.
I know that this might seem like a small book,
but readers could fall in love with this
the same way they fell in love with "Angela's Ashes"
or "Tuesdays with Morrie."
Is something wrong?
This is not for me.
That's exactly what I thought.
But if you just read the first chapter there, you'll see...
This is not for me.
Okay. But maybe for some of your readers?
Mother's Day is right around the corner.
Not. For. Me.
No problem.
Okay, I'll just tell you about something else.
What is the point?
Mr. Fikry...
it's true we don't really know each other that well yet.
So, before I try to sell you on anything else,
why don't you tell me about what you like?
Like?
Yes.
I'd love to get a sense of your taste.
How about I tell you what I don't like?
Oh sure, why not?
I do not like post-modernism, post-apocalyptic settings,
post-mortem narrators, or magic realism.
I do not like children's books,
especially those with orphans,
and I prefer not to clutter my shelves with young adult.
I am repulsed by ghostwritten novels
by reality television stars,
celebrity picture books, sports memoirs,
movie tie-in editions, and I prefer not to stock series,
but the demands of my pocketbooks require me to.
Above all, Ms. Loman, I find slim literary memoirs
about little old men whose little old wives
have died of cancer to be absolutely intolerable.
No matter how well written the sales rep claims they are.
No matter how many copies you promise
I'll sell on Mother's Day.
Hmm.
Island Books is closing.
Please make your non-existent purchases now.
Mr. Fikry.
Good evening, Miss Klock.
I think someone clogged the toilet.
Cheers you, you piece of crap.
Shit!
Get the hell out of my way, little girl!
Please somebody help me!
I've been robbed!
All right, Mr. Fikry. Just tell me what happened.
Someone stole Tamerlane.
What's a Tamerlane?
It's a... a book. It's a very valuable book.
Okay. To clarify,
someone shoplifted a book from your store.
No, it's my book from my personal collection.
It's an extremely rare collection of poems
by Edgar Allan Poe.
So, its like your favorite book?
No, I don't even like it. It's crap.
It's jejune crap.
I'm just trying to understand here.
So, you don't like the book, but it has sentimental value?
No sentimental value!
It's got great financial value.
I was planning to auction it off
in a couple of years
when the economy had had time to improve.
Like I was planning to close the shop
to retire on the proceeds.
If you don't mind me asking, why did you
have that book at your house and not in a bank vault?
I kept it in a combination-locked glass case.
I thought it'd be safe enough.
So, did somebody break the case or... or--
- No, I... - Anyone know the combination?
Neither.
I wanted to get wasted last night.
I took the book out to look at it.
To look at it!
Poor excuse for company, I know.
Who else knows about this book?
Everyone.
Like everyone.
My wife's sister Ismay, she teaches at the high school.
Sure, I know Ismay.
Yeah, she... she worries about me since Nic...
Anyway,
Ismay thought it would be good
for business or educational or some crap
if I put it on display in the store.
So, I...
so, I put the case in the shop
all-- all last summer.
So many people in the store.
-Mr. Fikry? -I think I'm dying.
Mr. Fikry.
What you experienced today was a panic attack.
It really felt like I was dying.
Why don't you tell me something about your lifestyle?
Best, uh.
I'm 39 years old.
I'm not what you'd call an alcoholic
but I like to drink until I pass out
at least once a week.
I subsist on a diet of frozen entrees.
I used to be a mediocre long-distance runner,
but now I don't exercise at all.
I live alone
and I lack meaningful personal relationships.
And since my wife died, I hate my work.
You're going through a bear of a time.
Start with exercise.
You'll feel better.
Okay.
Would you mind terribly?
I would be delighted. What's your name?
Jill, like Jack and Jill went up the hill.
Macy, like the store.
I've read all your books, but I like this one the best.
Well, that is the popular opinion,
Jill from the Hill.
I can't even express how much it meant to me.
It's what made me want to be a nurse.
Hm.
Dan,
I thought your wife was coming.
Hey, Ismay wasn't feeling well.
How're you holding up, old man?
I've lost my fortune, and the doctor says I'm going to die.
Let's get drinks, yeah.
Hm.
Ooh, I love your outfit.
I'll-- seriously I love your outfit!
I mean, come on, did you see that? That's ridiculous.
Yeah, I did.
Poe's a lousy writer, you know?
And 'Tamerlane', it's the worst.
It's a boring Lord Bryon rip off.
It'd be one thing if it was a first edition
of something decent, but...
I think you'd be glad to get rid of it.
You know I absolutely loathe collectible books.
And people getting all moony over particular paper carcasses.
It's about the ideas, man.
The words. Huh?
You sir, are an idiot.
Hm.
Christie's Rare Books Department.
Yeah, I'm with the Alice Island Police Department.
We're looking for a copy of Tamerlane.
You and every other rare book collector in the world.
Shit!
I've never used this stuff before.
Someone get a vacuum.
Who would even want an old book anyway?
Doesn't everyone read an E?
Am I a suspect?
No, but you are one of his only friends.
I'm just trying to get a sense of
A.J. Fikry's state of mind.
Well, I'd say, not good.
He's depressed and he basically drinks himself
to unconsciousness every night.
People do strange things when they're drunk.
I mean, he could have set the book on fire.
Do you think he did that?
I'm a novelist, and so it my business to consider
all possibilities, not just probabilities.
For instance, in my New York Times Best selling novel,
The Children in the Apple Tree, the nurse character...
Wait! Is this a spoiler?
Oh, it's a small one, but I'm making a point.
I may want to read it someday, so...
Understood.
Ismay Evans.
That's my maiden name. Do I know you?
Uh, we went to school together.
We didn't really travel in the same circles.
I'm Officer Lambiase. Nick Lambiase.
Kids used to call me Nico.
Hm.
I was talking to your husband about AJ Fikry about his book.
Well, I can't say I'm terribly surprised.
- No? - He's been quite careless
since my sister died.
And he isn't exactly nice to people in town.
You mean he's got enemies?
I would just say he doesn't have a lot of friends.
I worry about him.
Daniel and I both do.
When are you due?
January.
I guess it's pretty obvious.
Well, you look great.
Wait!
Um, what do you think happened to the book?
AJ blacks out when he drinks, and he's very self destructive.
I don't know maybe he was sleep walking and
tossed it into the ocean.
Book's gone. Sorry.
You want a glass case?
What?
I used to keep the book in there.
Well, maybe you'll find something
better to put in there.
Yeah. Another book worth $650,000?
I really doubt that.
I'll walk you out.
-What's it gonna be? -Uh,
$26 seems like a lot.
You know I can get it cheaper online, right?
Yeah, I do know that.
You should really lower your prices,
if you want to be competitive.
Lower my prices.
I hadn't considered that before.
Are you being cheeky?
No, I'm thankful.
And at the next Island Books shareholders' meeting,
I'll definitely raise this innovative suggestion
of yours.
Between you and me, for a time in the early aughties,
we'd given up on competition.
Which I thought was a mistake,
but my board decided that competition was best left
to Olympic athletes, kids in spelling bees,
and soft drink manufacturers.
These days, I'm glad to report that Island Books is definitely
in the competition business once again.
Who the hell are you?
Maya.
How old are you?
Two.
You're two?
Where's your mother?
Elephant.
Elephant?
Yes, elephant.
"To the owner of the bookstore..."
Fuck!
To the Owner of the Bookstore, this is Maya.
She's very smart, exceptionally verbal
for 25 months, and a sweet, good girl.
I want her to grow up in a place with books
and among people who care about those kinds of things.
I love her very much,
but I can no longer take care of her.
Father cannot be in her life,
and I do not have a family that can help.
I am desperate. Yours, Maya's mother.
Mother left this for you.
Not for me specifically.
Like... like, generally.
For the owner of the store.
Which is... you.
Here's the thing. It's 09:00 p.m. on a Friday.
Could place a call to DCF, but
with the snow and the weekend
and the ferry schedule...
I doubt they'll even make it here by Monday.
Someone will have to watch Maya over the weekend.
-Me and a couple of cops... -No, it's fine. It's fine.
Just doesn't seem right to keep a baby
in a police station.
What do you know about child care?
Well, it's only for the weekend. How hard can it be?
- A.J.? - Hey. Hey, sorry to bother you.
Do you have any idea what on earth
I should feed a 25-month-old child?
It's the best I could do on short notice.
Oh, it's perfect. My kitchen is a fiasco.
I was up anyway. Couldn't sleep.
She must miss her mom.
I know.
Why didn't you leave her at the police station?
That didn't seem right.
You're not thinking of keeping it, are you?
Her, and no, of course not.
I'm only watching her until Monday.
I suppose the mom could show up by then
and change her mind.
Yeah.
Cover her up.
Hey!
Moustache.
You think I should shave it?
No.
I might look more youthful without it?
No.
Okay.
We found her mother.
Who was she?
Harvard kid.
So, smart?
Only a few of them are smart.
I went to Princeton myself.
Scholarship. State Championship Swimmer.
Liked bookstores, liked to read.
Poor. No family.
Foster kid.
22, with a 25-month-old.
Strange to me is why she was on Alice Island
in the first place?
It's kind of a hassle to get here, you know?
You really believe she wasn't coming here
to see someone specific?
I've been thinking about that, too.
Ah, maybe she didn't have a plan of where she was going?
Come on, Lambiase.
You're a cop.
You can't really believe that.
Oh, what's your theory?
Well, I don't have a theory.
But I am a reader.
As a reader I believe in narrative construction.
If a gun shows up in act one,
that gun better go off in act three.
There aren't coincidences.
Well, that's in stories.
And in real life, there's load of them.
Hm.
So, the lady from DCF is coming for Maya on Monday.
And since the mother didn't have any family
and the paternity is unknown,
they'll have to put her in a foster home.
Oh, you said the mother went through the foster system?
Suppose she thought her kid stood a better chance
in a bookstore?
It's hard to say.
Well, it's moot, right?
Cause I can't adopt a child.
I can barely keep myself together.
And I haven't slept in two nights.
Hey, she looks nice but she's a terrorist.
She's got bad taste in books.
Her conversation skills lack to say the least.
And even if she were
Ira Glass,
it wouldn't matter cause I'm poor.
Can't raise a baby on books alone.
I don't want to surrender you to the State of Massachusetts
looking like a miniature Miss Havisham.
Sorry, she's a character in Dickens.
Dickens.
Very good.
Just so you know, Dickens was terribly sentimental.
Hm, he got paid by the word, and it shows.
Waw.
So, tell me, uh Jenny,
how does a foster family get pre approved?
Is it as easy as, say,
getting a department store credit card?
No, of course.
There are more steps to it than that.
Applications, home visits...
What I'm trying to say,
Jenny, is how do you make sure
you aren't placing an innocent child
in the hands of a complete psychopath?
Mr. Fikry, we certainly
don't start from the point of view that...
I worry because Maya is very bright
but she's also very trusting.
All our foster homes have gone through
-an application process... -I went to a series of
competitive Ivy League colleges,
with rigorous application processes,
and it's not as if applications kept all the idiots out.
And the foster home is only temporary and--
See, the thing is, the mother left me this note.
She really wanted me to have her, so...
I really think I should keep her.
But Mr. Fikry the letter doesn't say you specifically.
It says, generally, "the owner of the bookstore".
Who is me.
AJ.
Yes, AJ.
Daddy, Daddy.
AJ.
AJ!
AJ! AJ! AJ!
Awake! Downstairs!
Oh, yeah.
All right, guys.
Settle down.
You got your drinks?
- Hm. - Okay.
We're here to celebrate Maya, who's officially become a Fikry.
It's been a long 14 months.
You know, AJ didn't want to have a party.
I was like, dude, it's not a big deal.
You go to Costco. You get some big muffins.
- A few bottles of champagne. - No big deal.]
You know, also uh,
I'm the Godfather.
So, you know that wasn't going to happen without a party.
I'd like to raise a glass to Ismay.
She's the Godmother. Thank you.
Ismay.
Oh, and since you're all here, I'm starting a book club.
- Ah? - Yeah.
For law enforcement officers.
Or people who are just law enforcement enthusiasts.
It's open.
We'll be reading "Out of Sight" by Elmore Leonard.
So, get a book from the store.
AJ's a dad, we need to keep Island Books in business.
For Maya!
One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine!
Good morning, cherry tree!
Good morning, magazines!
Good morning, books!
Good morning, bookstore!
- Hi, Amy. - Hi.
You're early, Miss Loman.
I brought you some picture books.
-Thank you. -You're welcome.
I haven't read all of these yet
so I really want to know what you think, okay?
Okay.
So, ready to chat about the spring list?
Oh God, is it spring list time already?
It comes every year.
Yeah, come in.
Oh.
Read anything good lately?
Honestly, I haven't had much time for reading
since I became a dad.
How did you get up here?
The first time I saw Halley's Comet in 1986,
I was already old.
Halley's Comet will return in 2061,
and scientists predict it will be a better,
brighter appearance than in 1986.
I will, needless to say, be dead.
It isn't a sad thing.
Many of you will be dead, too.
Such is life.
Depending on when you were born,
you have a chance of seeing Halley's Comet
twice in a lifetime.
But I was not born at the right time for that.
Some of us live one-comet lives.
And this, I suppose, must be enough.
Why are you crying?
I was reading.
-Hello? -Oh, hi.
Amelia, this is AJ Fikry from Island.
I wasn't expecting you to answer.
Are we still on for two weeks from now,
or do you have to cancel?
Oh no, nothing like that. I was um,
planning on leaving you a message, actually.
Hi, you have reached the voicemail of Amelia Loman.
Beep.
Um...
Beep. Go ahead.
Leave your message.
Um okay, hi, Amelia.
This is AJ Fikry.
I just finished reading a book that you recommended.
Oh yeah, which one?
That's odd.
Voice mail seems to be talking back to me.
It was from several years back.
"The Late Bloomer" by Leon Friedman.
Oh, don't go breaking my heart, AJ.
That was my absolute favorite from four winter lists ago.
No one wanted to read it.
I don't know if you remember, but
you gave me "The Late Bloomer" the first time we met.
Did I?
Would have been around the time I started at Knightley.
Well, you know, that literary memoirs
aren't really my thing,
but this was spectacular
in its small way.
Hm-mm. Go on.
Every word the right one and exactly where it should be.
Oh, darn it.
What?
Missed my turn.
Oh well, that's all. I'll...
I'll let you get back to the road.
I'm sorry it took me so long to read it.
I begged everyone I knew to read this book,
and no one would listen to me except my mother.
Even she wasn't an easy sell.
Sometimes books don't find us until the right time.
It's not much consolation for Mr. Friedman.
I suppose not.
Hmm, well, Amelia,
I guess I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Oh, maybe next time you will listen to me
when I tell you something's the 'best book
on the winter list'.
Yeah, probably not. I'm old, set in my ways, contrary.
You're not that old.
Not compared to Mr. Friedman, I guess.
Hm, maybe when you're in town next week,
-have dinner or something. -Sir, I'd like to purchase this.
-Just one second. -Hmph.
Sorry, customers.
Stores have those.
Yeah sometimes. It's annoying really.
So uh, dinner?
Right.
We cam discuss the new winter list.
Of course.
Yes, of course. It's such a long trip from Alice.
You'll be hungry. It's rude that I haven't suggested it before.
Let's make it a late lunch then.
I'll need to catch the last ferry back to Hyannis.
Pequods, like Moby Dick.
Do you like Moby Dick?
I hate it.
I don't say that about many things.
Teachers assign it, and there're parents are happy
because their kids are reading something of quality.
But it's forcing kids to read books like that
that makes them think they hate reading.
I'm surprised you didn't cancel
when you saw the name of the restaurant.
Oh, I thought about it.
Aarghh!
Ahoy, landlubbers.
Care for a themed cocktail?
One Queequeg, please.
Ah, okay.
Sir?
Just, a glass of whatever your house red is.
Okay.
That's sad.
I bet you've gone your whole life
without having a Queequeg despite the fact
that you live here and you sell books
and you probably even like Moby Dick.
You're obviously a more evolved person than I am.
Yeah, I can see that.
And after I have this cocktail, my whole life's going to change.
One Queequeg for the lady.
-Oh. -One glass of red
for the gentleman.
Thanks.
Look, a little shrimp through a plastic anchor.
That is an unexpected delight.
Cheers.
Mm. Cheers.
Ooh.
So...
let's talk books.
Books.
Well, thank you again for lunch.
Next time it's on me.
Why don't I walk you to the ferry?
All right.
If you don't mind me asking,
why was "The Late Bloomer"
your favorite book from the list?
-You're a young... -No, no, no. Not that young.
What I mean to say is you probably haven't experienced
much of what Mr. Friedman describes.
I look at you, and after reading the book,
I wonder what made you respond to it.
Mr. Fikry, that is a very personal question.
Sorry.
The main reason I loved the book
was the quality of the writing, of course.
Of course.
But that isn't enough.
Let's just say I'd been on many, many bad dates
by the time "The Late Bloomer" came across my desk.
I am a romantic person,
but these don't always seem like romantic times to me.
The "Late Bloomer" is a book about the possibility
of finding great love at any age.
Sounds cliché, I know.
And you? Why did you like it?
Quality of the prose.
No, we're not allowed to say that, I thought.
You don't want to hear my sad stories.
Sure, I do. I love sad stories.
My wife died a couple of years ago,
and Friedman gets at something specific
about what it is to lose someone.
How it isn't one thing.
He writes about how you lose and lose and lose.
It could have been a popular book.
I know.
I'm thinking of having someone read a passage
from it at my wedding.
You're getting married, Amelia.
Congratulations! Who's the lucky fellow?
-His name is Brett Brewer. -Hmm.
I had just about given up when I met him online.
Tell me more.
He's in the military, serving overseas in Afghanistan.
Oh, well done. You're marrying an American hero.
I guess I am.
I hate those guys.
Well, they just make me feel so inadequate.
Tell me something shitty about him so I feel better.
Well, he's not home much.
Yeah, you must miss him.
I do.
Get a ton of reading done, though.
That's good. Does he read, too?
No, actually.
No, he's not much of a reader.
That's kind of interesting.
I just mean, it's interesting to be with someone whose, um...
whose interests are so different from mine.
I don't know why I keep saying 'interests.'
The point is, he is a good man.
And he's good to you, that's what counts.
Hm.
Anyway, no one's perfect.
Someone probably made him read "Moby Dick" in high school.
And your wife, was she a reader?
Mm-hm.
And a writer.
Hmm.
I wouldn't worry about it, though.
Reading's overrated.
Look at all the good stuff on television.
Hm.
Oh, darn it! I think that's my ferry.
It was nice talking with you, AJ.
I'll see you in March!
Looking forward to it.
Hey, don't wait four years to read my books next time!
I won't!
AJ. There's something kind of heroic
about being a bookseller.
There's also something kind of heroic
about adopting a child!
Thank you, Amelia.
My friends call me Amy!
I think I've met someone.
Haha, good news.
Yeah. The problem is, she's affianced to someone else.
-Ah, bad timing. -Yeah.
You know, I've been a cop for over 20 years.
Pretty much every bad thing in life
is a result of bad timing.
And every good thing is a result of good timing.
That seems terribly reductive.
Hey, it's good to know your heart still works.
Want me to set you up with someone?
Nah.
Come on, I know everyone in town.
Yeah unfortunately, it's a very small town.
So Lambiase says you own the bookstore?
Hm.
Oh, do you read?
A ton actually.
Oh, great.
Mainly sports memoirs.
Yeah, they're my thing.
You know they're all ghostwritten?
Yeah, so what?
These books... they're...
Look, my point is they're essentially lies.
All of life's in a sports memoir.
You practice hard, you succeed,
and then eventually your body gives out and it's over.
Sounds like a latter-period Philip Roth novel.
That's one of those things you say to sound smart, right?
But, really,
you're trying to make someone else feel stupid.
I'm not sure I wanna see you again.
I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings before.
The memoirs thing, I just...
Don't worry about it.
You can't help the way you are.
Maya, do you know how old I am?
No.
I'm 43.
Oh.
In all these years I've learned that it's...
it's better to have loved and lost
and it's better to be alone
than to be with someone you don't really fancy.
Do you agree?
Sometimes, though, I get tired of learning lessons.
I have a question.
Yes, beautiful.
Don't you ever go to work?
Uh, I'm at work right now.
You don't look like you're working.
You look like you're reading.
Don't you have a place that you go
where you have a job?
Hm mm. Come here, I wanna show you something.
All right, look at this.
You see, this right here...
Who's that?
Daniel Parish.
Hm mm.
-You're a writer. -Oh.
What is this about?
Ah, it's about the follies of man.
It's a... it's a love story and a tragedy.
That's very general.
Right, okay. It's about um,
a nurse who has spent her whole life
taking care of other people.
She gets in a car accident,
and now the other people have to take care of her
for the first time in her life.
That does not sound like something I would read.
Well, it was on the New York Times Bestseller List
for over a year.
Is Daniel Parish a good writer?
He is good, but he's not my favorite.
That's what I thought.
-Let me answer it. -Yeah.
Island Books, Maya speaking.
Hi, Maya.
Hi, Amy!
Did you read the book I sent you?
Hey!
Amelia. Amelia, hello.
Hi, AJ. I'd like to have our next meeting over video call.
-Is that okay? -No, it's...
it's not a problem. Maybe uh, next week?
Great. I'll send over details.
What?
Summer list time.
Okay, so Knightley has not one
but two short-story collections on the summer...
Crutches?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's we are meeting this way.
Did this stupid thing of breaking my ankle
and now I'm stuck here for the next six or seven weeks.
I'm sorry.
That's my own fault.
Galoshes are better for rain than ice.
So, back to the list.
When is the wedding?
Or has it already happened yet?
It's off actually.
Amelia, I'm sorry to hear that.
Hm, happened a while ago. Over Christmas.
What happened? If you don't mind me asking.
Brett's a great guy, but the sad truth is
we don't have very much in common.
Shared sensibility does matter.
Okay, so a story I really love.
It has a murder mystery element but...
What is that book?
- Which book? - That... that book.
It's leaning on the lamp, on the table behind you.
Hm, wouldn't you like to know. It's my favorite.
It was a gift from my father for my college graduation.
Huh. So, what is it?
If you ever come down to Providence, I'll show you.
This isn't like a date, is it?
Uh...
I'm teasing. Come inside.
No, please. Sit. Let me.
Mm-hmm.
You were so mean to me the first time we met.
I still haven't forgiven you, you know?
Yeah, I'd hoped you'd forgotten that.
I haven't.
My memory is very long, AJ.
I was awful.
But in my defense, I was going through a bad time.
Told my mother about you.
She said that you didn't sound like
very good boyfriend material.
I know. I'm not. Sorry about that.
Because I like you enormously.
Do you wanna see what that book is?
Which book?
The book in my office that you asked me about.
Isn't that what you came to see?
My office is through my bedroom, by the way.
Hm.
I'll show you the book in the morning.
My ankle hurts, so
apologies if my seduction
lacks some of the subtlety it might usually have.
Dear AJ, my mother likes to say
that novels have ruined me for real men.
I find this insulting because it implies
that I only read books
with classically romantic heroes.
I don't mind the occasional novel
with a romantic hero but as you know by know,
my tastes are far more varied than that.
One way or round trip?
Uh, round.
For instance, I adore Humbert Humbert as a character
while accepting the fact
that he would make an appalling boyfriend
or even casual acquaintance.
The same is true for Holden Caulfield
and Misters Rochester and Darcy.
But I think where my mother has a point is,
in so far as I tend to take in
an overly romantic view of things.
And, this means I have been known
to ignore the signs that something won't work out.
So, while these last months have been
some of the most romantic...
Ah, you'd been gone too long.
Only a week.
So, while I feel a real connection with...
So, while I certainly enjoyed our time together
and I loved to getting to know Maya,
the reality is it takes me five hours
to get to Alice Island, if the traffic is good,
which it rarely is.
And, if the ferry is running which it often is not,
I can't move from Providence,
and you can't move from Alice Island.
The situation is irresolvable.
And maybe it isn't fair to Maya,
or to you, or to me to continue on, on something
that is doomed to fail.
As my mother like to say, "Amelia, you're 34 years old.
You don't have any more time to waste in
impossible relationships."
She doesn't mean herself, by the way. Ha-ha.
I find it difficult to say,
any of these things when we're together.
When are you coming back?
About that, I probably won't be able to see you
as much as this summer.
I'm traveling for work,
my mother is going to Providence in August.
Uh, and I... I could come and see you?
I really won't be around much.
Amelia, I'm sorry.
For what?
That I can't do more of the driving.
I love you.
I love you, too.
She's gonna love it, and I hope she says yes.
Well, she'd still be our friend even if she says no.
Why would she say no?
Lots of reasons. Your dad isn't exactly a catch.
Hey.
This okay with you, by the way?
Okay. Come on.
I'm pumped. I've never met a writer before.
Daniel Parish.
Oh, yeah. Daniel Parish.
I always forget he's a writer.
Leon Friedman. Novelist extraordinaire.
Pleased to meet you.
-Oh. -You must be AJ Fikry.
Ah, actually this is AJ Fikry.
You must be AJ Fikry!
The gal at Knightley says you love my book.
- There's going to be liquor at this event, yes?
Well, it is the afternoon so we weren't planning on it,
but I am sure I can procure some.
I thought he'd be different somehow.
Authors never look like their author photographs.
I'm 81 years old, and statistically speaking,
I should have died 4.7 years ago.
My God, this is depressing.
You people really like this?
Hmm.
Oh.
Thanks.
Mmm. Aaah.
What's your favorite book?
Oh, don't know that I have one.
Why don't you tell me
what you'd like for Christmas instead?
Christmas? Christmas isn't for four months.
Well...
Wow, it's really great to meet you.
My boyfriend and I would probably
would not have gotten together if it weren't for your book.
Ah, give me a hug.
Oh.
That's the power of fiction for you.
Yeah, I suppose.
Only it isn't fiction, right? It actually happened.
Oh yes, sweetheart. Of course.
Perhaps, Mr. Friedman meant to say that
that is the power of narrative.
And perhaps Mr. Friedman was trying to say
that a relationship based on loving a book is
not likely to be much of a relationship.
-Margaret Loman. -Ah.
My spouse died a couple of years ago, too.
Amelia, my daughter, made me read your book
for my Widows of Charleston Book Club.
Everyone loved it.
Oh, how nice.
How nice.
How...
Yes?
Oh God!
-Oh! -I seem to have had
too much to drink.
Obviously.
I'm going to take Friedman to the airport.
Ismay said she'd do it,
but I think the only decent thing
-is for me to go with her. -Hm, good man.
I'll watch Maya and I'll clean up here.
I thought today would be more romantic
than it turned out to be.
No, it's very romantic.
It's more romantic than a lecherous old drunk
looking down my blouse?
AJ, we need to go.
That's me.
Hey uh, I don't think I made a good impression
on your mother.
No one does.
I wouldn't worry too much about it.
I love you.
AJ?
I can help.
Thank you.
You can get all the plastic cups and napkins.
Was something wrong with the writer?
The usual.
Oh, excuse me.
I can't say he was completely what I was expecting.
What were you expecting?
Someone more intellectual, I think.
-Hmm. -That sounds really snobby.
That's probably not the right word.
No, no. I...
Um, I know what you mean.
My expectations were probably too high.
I work for his publisher.
It was my favorite thing I ever sold, actually.
Why was it your favorite?
I had lost my dad right before,
and I guess something in the voice
reminded me of him.
Also, there so many true, true things in it.
They make the publishers clean up after the reading?
No, I'm the bookstore owner's girlfriend, too.
So, I'm just helping out.
Oh, he must be a huge fan of the book
to bring Leon Friedman here after all these years.
Yeah.
The truth is, he did it for me.
It was the first book we loved together.
That's cute.
Kind of like the first restaurant you go to
or the first song you danced to or something.
Yeah, exactly.
Why don't you think the book sold?
-"The Late Bloomer?" -Hm.
It's competitive out there.
Sometimes even when a book is good,
it just still doesn't work.
That must be hard.
Are you writing a book or something?
I've tried, yes.
Amelia Loman.
Leonora Ferris.
Are you from Alice?
No, I just came in for the day. For the reading.
Oh. You must be a big fan of the book, too.
I know from experience that Alice
is not the easiest place in the world to get to.
No, it isn't.
No one travels without purpose.
Those who are lost wish to be lost.
You're quoting "The Late Bloomer."
It really was your favorite.
It was.
"When I was young, I never felt young."
Something like that.
Do you remember the rest of that quote?
-No. -Oh,
writers don't remember everything they write.
How could they?
It was nice talking to you.
You're him, aren't you? You are Leon Friedman.
Not truly.
What does that mean?
A long time ago, a girl wrote a novel,
and she tried to sell it, but no one wanted it.
So, she thought it would be easier
if she retitled the book and called it a memoir.
Who was that man?
I um, called a casting office.
He usually plays Santa.
I don't understand. Why do the reading?
Why go to the bother and the expense?
Why risk it?
No, the book had already flopped.
And sometimes you wanna know...
to see for yourself that your work
has meant something to someone.
I feel a little fooled.
You're a good writer, you know?
I do now.
How was the drive?
The best thing I can say is
Mr. Friedman was passed out for most of it.
I should get back to the hotel.
My mother and I have to leave early tomorrow.
No. No, stay! Stay a bit. Just think quick!
-Oh! -Oh!
Ow! AJ what the fuck?
I'm sorry I was trying to get you not to leave.
I thought you were gonna catch it.
Oh... you aimed a little high.
It's uh... it's... it's for you.
Lets get married.
I know I'm stuck on this island.
I know I'm poor, a single father.
And in a business with somewhat diminishing returns.
I know that your mother hates me,
that I'm obviously crap at hosting author events-
Wait. This is a strange proposal.
Lead with your strong stuff, AJ.
All I know is when I read a book,
I want you to be reading it at the same time.
I want to know what Amelia would...
would think of it.
Okay.
Okay?
Okay.
Okay. Okay.
At the end of the day, a man feels compelled to share
what he learned in this life.
It is the secret fear that we are unlovable
that isolates us,
but it is only because we are isolated
that we think that we are un lovable.
So, here's my wish for you.
Some day, you do not know when,
you will be driving down the road.
And some day, you do not know when,
you will make a wrong turn.
At the end of the road, when you're least expecting it,
a person will be there.
And this person will be a city to you.
And in this city, there will be love.
And in this city, there will be sorrow.
And in this city, there will be sickness,
and health, and better, and worse.
And everything under the sun.
Ismay!
It's a little cold for a swim.
Yeah, a little. I just...
came up to clear my head.
Must be hard to see AJ married to someone
other than your sister.
Yeah, but Amelia seems lovely.
The thing about weddings is
it can make a person feel real lonely.
Here.
You took that turn a little fast.
I don't love you anymore.
You always get like this at weddings.
You're not a good man.
I'm complex.
Maybe I'm not good, but I'm certainly not the worst.
Know you're bad.
And what's worse, is you've made me bad.
Ismay, this is an insane place to park.
Every time I see her with AJ and Amelia,
I'm sick to my stomach.
Because she should have been ours.
What?
If you had done the right thing,
she'd be ours.
I know Marian Wallace was your girlfriend.
That isn't true.
And I know that she left Maya for you!
If you thought that was true, why didn't you do something?
I was pregnant.
I lost the baby but I was pregnant.
And if you had just come to me,
I would have adopted her, Daniel.
I would have forgiven you and I would have taken her in.
And she would have been ours.
But Marian Wallace was not my girlfriend.
How stupid do you think that I am?
She was a girl who came to a reading
and a girl I slept with once.
I mean, how could I even be sure the child was mine? Hmm?
Every last bit of love I had for you is gone.
I still love you.
I think I'm okay.
Are you okay?
Oh, my leg! I think it's broken.
Oh, it's bad...
Ismay, you have to drive!
"In The Children in the Apple Tree,"
the main character is in a fatal car accident.
I'd struggled writing it.
Everything I knew about fatal car accidents
came from books I'd read.
And I was never really happy with what I'd written.
The passage hadn't been as bad as I thought.
Oh, Daniel.
I thought you were gonna wear the dress.
Sorry, Amy. Seemed too fancy.
Welcome, my friends and fellow literature enthusiasts,
to the 55th Annual Island County
High School Short Story Contest.
You all are in for a treat tonight!
I'd like to congratulate our ten semi-finalists,
who represent the best young minds of Island County.
Now, onto our three finalists.
From Alice Island High School,
"My Grandmother's Hands" written by John Furness.
"My Grandmother's Hands."
When I was young, I didn't realize that people got old.
I thought some people were just born old, and
some people were just born young...
"The Journey" by Virginia Kim.
"The Journey."
The girl did not know that it would be the last time
she would see her mother until she was on the plane.
She had never been on a plane before.
Our last finalist
is also from Alice Island High School.
"A Day at the Beach" by Maya T. Fikry.
Yeah! That's my goddaughter.
It's actually "A Trip to the Beach."
Sorry, what did I say?
You said, "A Day at the Beach," which is close,
but it means something completely different.
I stand corrected.
"A Trip to the Beach."
Mary is running late.
She has a private room, but she shares the bathroom
with six other people.
It seems like someone's always using it.
She owed her money.
It terrified her to think how much.
She felt as if she had been running
for the better part of two years.
Every part of her body was tired.
And yes, Mary knew she was a disappointment.
She could see it in the professor's kind,
disinterested...
What would be left? Nothing.
The end of some credit cards could cover the groceries...
To have lowered herself to return to this place,
to this woman...
she had barely escaped the first time.
This dingy gray house felt like a trap.
The baby, she thought, had so few things
and so many things.
And every year, she would need so many more.
She wasn't sure if the credit card would go through,
but then it did.
It was just before Christmas,
and the train station was filled with families
-and presents and good cheer... -Wake up. She's almost finished.
...and Mary had never felt...
I haven't been asleep.
Just imagining. It's very vivid.
Mary smiles brightly.
"I thought I would take a trip to the beach," she says.
"The baby loves the beach."
"Isn't it a little cold for the beach?" the girl asked.
When she gets to Alice Island,
the first place Mary sees is a bookstore.
She goes inside so that she and the baby
can warm up.
A man is at the counter.
That's you!
He has a very grumpy demeanour.
I'm looking for something to read.
What kind of books do you like?
Oh, all kinds.
I basically like them better than people.
Me too.
My favorite kind of book
is where a character has hardships
but overcomes them in the end.
It's silly probably.
I know life isn't like that.
Maybe that's why it's your favorite?
Maybe.
- Oh, I have the perfect... - It just came in. One sec.
Miss?
He leaves the book on the counter
just in case Mary ever decided to come back.
Mary is on the beach, but the baby is not with her.
She used to swim on a swim team.
She was good enough to win the state's championship
in high school.
That day, the water is cold,
and Mary is out of practice.
She swims out past the lighthouse,
and she doesn't swim back.
Great job, Maya!
I am going to frame that certificate.
Whatever. It's just third.
And your story was amazing.
Seriously.
Thanks, Amy.
Wasn't it, AJ?
-Just wait. -Dad, I'm really...
These things are never fair.
People like what they like, and that's the great
and terrible thing.
It's about personal taste
and a certain set of people on a certain day.
For instance, two out of the three finalists were women,
which may have tipped the scales toward the male.
Maybe one of the judges' grandmothers
died last week,
which made that story particularly effective.
One never knows.
But here's what I do know.
"A Trip to the Beach" by Maya Tamerlane Fikry,
that was written by a writer.
I know it's dumb,
just really wanted to win.
I know.
Yeah, okay, but what the heck happened to the violin?
I mean, did I miss something here?
A priceless Stradivarius doesn't just disappear
out of thin air.
Maybe that's the writer's point
that the violin's not the point?
Of course, it's the point.
Maybe the point is how the violin
affects everybody's lives?
Oh, boo.
Boooo.
Back me up here, AJ.
You don't always have to know who stole the violin.
Man, in my experience, a book is more satisfying
to readers if you do.
- Oh! - Thank you!
Though although I don't mind ambiguity myself.
Traitor!
Lambiase, do you even read the book?
Yeah, I've read this book twice.
Once, I put it on the chief's...
-Hi! -Hey.
I'm gonna need 50 copies of "Our Town."
It's a classic.
I did like it. Judgment free.
If you look at her picture, she's clearly saying,
"You're never gonna find out where the damn violin was."
She does have quite a smirk on her, though.
She does, she does.
What group is this again?
Chief's Choice.
So, what are you doing when you're not being a cop?
Well, believe it or not, I read a lot.
I mean, maybe you wouldn't think it was that much.
I know you teach English.
What do you read?
A little bit of everything.
I started out with crime novels.
Pretty predictable, that.
I mean I'm a cop.
Did you ever read any of Daniel's books?
One. The first one.
Did you like it?
Not my cup of tea.
It was very well written though.
Do you miss your husband?
The best parts of him were in his books.
What do you like to read?
Plays, the odd bit of poetry.
There's the books that I teach every year.
They're like old friends to me.
But, if I'm choosing something just for me,
something new...
...I'd say my favorite kind of character
is a woman in a faraway place.
Like India, or Bangkok.
She's just left her husband,
or maybe she never had a husband
because she knew, wisely,
that the married life was not for her.
I like when she has multiple lovers.
And I like when she wears hats
to shield her fair skin from the sun.
I like descriptions of hotels and
suitcases with stickers on them.
And a little romance, but not too much.
The story is period.
Maybe a war, but in the background.
Not a lot of bloodshed.
A little sex, but not too graphic.
And no children.
Cause they usually spoil the story for me.
I don't have any.
For I don't mind them in real life.
I just don't want to read about them.
An ending could be happy or sad.
I don't really care anymore as long as it's earned.
And then she can settle down and
open her own little business,
or she can drown herself in the ocean.
Hey.
I'm gonna make you breakfast.
Have you ever considered not having a moustache?
If it bothers you, it's gone.
No, I like it.
I've been a cop for almost 30 years.
Sometimes it's hard to stop being a cop.
I had overly focused on the details of things.
Writers and cops are the same that way.
Good book, bad book.
It's the details that tell the story.
I'm not bragging but I can always solve a
solve a story before it's done.
I might be a better reader than a cop.
Answer the mysteries.
Usually, the thing that's out of place.
But sometimes it's the things in plain sight
that you don't allow yourself to see.
It's nice to have someone to cook for.
Smells great.
The difference between a cop and a writer
is that cops have to see everything.
Writers get to choose what to see
and what to ignore.
Hey, can you stop at the store on your way home?
We need Drain-o...
- Drain-o. - Sponges...
- Sponges. Grapes, if they have them.
Grapes.
Yeah, I'll get them if they have them.
- Okay. - I love you.
I love you, too.
Oh...
Would you mind spelling that for me?
I like to Google things.
Tell me a good cop story.
You mean a story about a good cop
or an interesting story about a police officer.
It's up to you.
I wanna hear something amusing to distract me from my problems.
What problems? You have like the perfect wife.
The perfect kid. Good business.
I'll tell you after.
Let me think.
So, about 15 years ago,
there's this kid, goes to Alicetown.
Hadn't been to school in a month.
Well, the parents were at their wits' ends.
So, I decided to follow the kid for a day.
After a while, we get to this building
I've never been in before.
Round the corner up uh, Main and Parker.
You know where am I?
You're at the library.
Bingo!
So, I didn't read much back then.
I follow him up the stairs to a library carrel in the back
and I'm thinking, he's gotta be doing
drugs back there, right?
It's the perfect place. Isolated.
But you know what he's got?
Uh, books I'd imagine. I mean that's the obvious thing.
One thick book.
He's in the middle of reading "Infinite Jest."
Have you ever read of it?
Now, you're making this up.
He's reading "Infinite Jest."
He says he can't read it at home
because he's got five siblings to babysit.
He can't read it at school cause his
buddies will make fun of him.
So, he skips school to read in peace.
This book takes a lot of concentration.
He says. "Listen, hombre,"
he says, "there's nothing for me in school."
Everything is in this book.
I'm guessing, he's Hispanic, by your use of the word hombre.
So, I haul his ass back to school.
And the principal asks what should his punishment be.
And I ask him how long is it gonna take him
to finish his book? He says, "A couple of weeks."
So, I suggest,
two-week library suspension for delinquency.
You...
You're definitely making this up.
Admit it.
What...
The troubled youth did not skip school
to read "Infinite Jest."
I'm not making it up, AJ.
Yeah, really.
Are you kidding?
I swear to God.
Oh, God...
I was just...
I wanted to... you seemed depressed.
I wanted to give you a story with a little uplift.
Ah, thanks man.
Thanks very much.
So, what did you want to tell me, by the way?
I want you to know I love you.
And I don't judge you for anything
you might have done in the past.
I know about the bag in the closet.
I know that the book's in there.
I don't know how it got there and I don't need to know either.
The book is ruined.
But even a damaged Tamerlane must still be worth something.
AJ and Amy need the money.
Why do they need the money?
AJ has cancer.
The way I see it, we wipe the book of fingerprints,
put it in an envelope, and return it.
No one has to know where or who it came from.
How long have you known?
Since the first time I came to your house.
And you weren't upset? You didn't turn me in?
It's none of my business, Izzie.
I didn't come to your home as an officer of the law.
Shouldn't be going through your stuff.
I figured there must have been a story.
I wanna tell you what happened.
I don't need to know.
I want you to know.
The first time that Marian Wallace
came to see me, I was five months pregnant.
She had Maya with her, the baby was about two.
And she said that, "Maya was Daniel's daughter."
And I said-- and I'm not proud of this--
"How do I know you're not lying?"
You think you're the first one to come around here,
and say that you've had Daniel's child.
She kept apologizing.
She said, "The baby doesn't have to a part
of Daniel Parish's life."
She kept calling him by his first and last name.
Cause she was a fan, you see.
The baby doesn't have to be in Daniel Parish's life.
We won't ever bother you again, I swear to God.
We just need a little money td.
Mama, mama.
To move on.
He said he would help, and now I can't find him anywhere.
Mama, mama, mama...
He's travelling.
I'll talk to him and see what I can do.
I talked to Daniel that night on the phone.
It was a good call, and I didn't bring up Marian Wallace.
I'm gonna be a changed man once that baby's here.
I had heard that before.
No, I'm serious.
I'm definitely gonna travel less.
I'm gonna stay at home, I'll write more,
I decided right thenu andand there...
that I would take care of the problem with Marian Wallace.
I would find a way to buy her off.
Down the hill, my sister had been dead for over a year,
and her husband was steadily drinking himself to death.
Hello, dead wife.
Out of obligation to her, I would check on AJ some nights.
Come on.
People always thought we were rich.
But Daniel spent every dollar we made.
I saw Tamerlane that night. And I thought...
this could solve everything.
The next day, everyone is looking for Tamerlane.
Oh hey, I'm looking for Marian Wallace.
Thank you.
But I've gone into Cambridge.
Here.
You can sell it. It's worth a lot of money.
Is it hot?
No, it belongs to Daniel, and he wants you to have it,
but you can never say where you got it.
You can take it to an auction house,
or a rare- books dealer.
Just claim you found it in a used-books bin.
I don't hear from Marian Wallace again for a while,
and I think maybe that's the end of it.
But of course, it isn't.
She says she's gone to every auction house
and rare book dealer in the Boston area,
and none of them want to deal with the book
because it doesn't have a provenance.
And the cops have been calling
about a stolen copy of Tamerlane.
What am I supposed to do with this?
Have you ever read "Tamerlane", Mrs. Parish?
It's so sad.
It's about this Turkish conqueror who
trades in the love of his life,
this poor peasant girl, for power.
Do you fancy yourself some poor peasant girl,
and I'm the mean wife who is keeping you
from the love of your life?
No.
And the worst of it is, I knew what I was doing.
He came to my college for a reading.
I loved his book, and when I slept with him.
I had read his author biography a hundred times
and I knew that he was married.
I've made so many mistakes.
I can't help you.
I'm thinking I'll just slip into AJ's apartment tomorrow
or the next day and return it.
That's when I notice...
The way I see it,
you saved AJ Fikry's life by stealing that manuscript.
What kind of cop are you?
The old kind.
Hey.
This was leaning on your door.
Hmm. Probably another galley.
Don't say that. Could be the next big thing.
So, what's... what's good in crime?
I need something new for Chief's Choice.
Hmm.
Maybe this?
Smart, sexy, and spell binding.
Yeah.
Lot 2200.
A last-minute addition to this afternoon's auction
and a rare opportunity
for the vintage books connoisseur.
Tamerlane and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe.
Written when Poe was 18 and attributed to 'A Bostonian.'
Only 50 printed at the time.
Tamerlane will be the crown jewel
in any serious rare books collection.
This copy shows some wear on the spine
and some markings of crayon on the cover.
This damage should not in any way spoil the beauty
or diminish the rarity of the object,
and this cannot be overstated.
Let the bidding begin at $ 20,000.
Do I see 20,000? I see 20,000.
Do I see 25? 25, 25, 25...
I see 25!
Do I see 30? 30, 30, 30...
"The Late Bloomer" really was a bunch of hokum.
Do you remember when Freedman writes
how you can't truly describe a hospital room?
When the person you love is in it
that it's too painful to be described?
How did we ever find that poetic?
No, seriously, I'm disgusted with us.
At this stage in my life, I'm with every person
who never wanted to read that book.
I'm with the designer who put the feet
and flowers on the cover. Because you know what?
You can describe a hospital room.
It's gray.
And the art is the worst art that you've ever seen.
And everything smells like you're trying to cover up
the smell of piss.
Amy...
you loved "The Late Bloomer."
Yeah, but I didn't want to be in some stupid play version
of it in my 40s.
Hey.
You really think I should have this surgery?
Yes, I do.
But is it worth it
for maybe two more years that are likely to be crappy?
- It is. - Mr. Fikry...
Just...
I love you.
I want to leave you with something more
cleverer than that, but it's all I know.
Mr. Fikry, it's time.
Dad.
In the last days of the bookseller's life,
reading became difficult.
Novels had become impossible.
If he tried very hard,
he could still make it through a short story.
The daughter asked him, if he was afraid.
"Not of dying," he said,
but a little of this part I'm in.
Every day there is less of me.
But you're here right now and so I am glad to be here.
Even without books.
Shall I read to you, Dad?
Hm.
Ah, said Dolly, with soothing gravity.
Said the night and the morning, and the sleeping and the waking,
and the rain in the harvest.
One goes and the other comes.
And we know nothing, how or where.
Dad?
Dad...
Who the hell are you?
Maya.
Good morning, cherry tree!
Good morning, bookstore!
Why are you crying?
I was reading.
"A Trip to the Beach" by Maya Tamerlane Fikry.
And that was written by a writer.
And while I can't say it was a happily ever after,
it was the end.
I'm not here.
I need to ask your opinion about something.
I'm thinking about taking a new job.
It would mean a lot less travel,
a little more money.
And we could spend more time together
because I wouldn't be on the road so much.
You mean we'll leave Alice?
It's not that far.
It's just New York.
We can come back anytime we want.
I know it's impossible to get here.
It is impossible.
I won't take it if you don't want me to.
I know how much you love this place.
I love this place, too.
Okay.
I need to see your face.
Okay?
What will happen to the store?
End of an era.
Yeah.
Amelia said she tried to get someone to run it but...
Here's a crazy thought.
What if you and I took it over?
In this economy, that is a crazy thought.
Probably so.
You want to get something to eat?
Yeah.
But what if we did?
I mean, I've got savings
and a pretty good pension about to come in,
and so do you.
AJ said the summer people bought a lot of books.
The summer people have E-readers now.
That's true.
- Thank you. - It is.
We could open a cafe, too.
That would probably help with the bottom line.
AJ used to talk about that all the time.
Turn the basement into a theatre space.
That way, the author events don't have to happen
right in the middle of the store.
Your theater background would be great for that.
Are you sure you're up for this?
We aren't super young.
But we're not old yet, either.
I've lived in Alice my whole life.
It's the only place that I've ever known.
It's a nice place, I intend to keep it that way.
A place ain't a place without a bookstore, Izzie.
Hi there. Um, one for Alice Island, please.
- One-way or round trip? - Round trip.
- Awsome, thank you so much! - Thank you.
Welcome.
Mr. Lambiase.
Have I got a book for you!