SUMMER 2022 ISSUE

Happy Summer!

Dear Reader:

It only seems fitting that you are receiving this summer newsletter on the Summer Solstice to celebrate both the edge of summer and my new novel, The Edge of Summer.

The Summer Solstice is the day with the longest time of daylight of the year, and refers to the time of year the Earth is closest to the sun. It also represents, as it does for Sutton, the novel’s main character, a new day.

Summer reminds Sutton, as it does so many of us, that there is hope in the world, that our light – like the sun – can brighten the world. Summer also marks a time for new adventures, which is what Sutton embarks on in order to find answers to the lifelong questions she’s had not only about her mother’s past but also about her own place in the world. Here’s to summer’s light, and the light within each of us!

The inspiration for my new novel, The Edge of Summer, all started with this, the simplest of things and memories: My grandma’s sewing basket and button jars! The heart of The Edge of Summer is filled with my grandma’s heart, too, as well as her love of sewing and her belief in the power of being grateful for the little things in life.

The Edge of Summer is set in my hometown of Saugatuck, and hopefully you have time to come vacation here and explore all I write about! This novel is full of wonderful characters, loads of history, and a touch of mystery.

Enjoy this gorgeous video trailer with actual footage from Saugatuck, Michigan!

The Story Behind the Book

“Buttons are the fossils of the sartorial world, enduring long past the garments they were designed to hold together.” —Martha Stewart

My Grandma Shipman (Viola, my pen name) stitched overalls at a local factory until she couldn’t stand straight. But even after sewing all day for work, nothing brought her more joy than taking a seat at her Singer.

Many hours were spent in my grandma’s sewing room, playing with her buttons and watching her sew. There was a world of wonder and color in each Mason jar, coffee can and cookie tin filled with beautiful buttons – colorful, shiny pearl, iridescent abalone or crochet over wound silk floss. I would dump the jar over and begin to let my imagination run wild, organizing them by shape or color, turning them into bluebirds or brown turtles. Often, we’d play “Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button?”

There is one seminal memory that remains: No matter how tired she was, my Grandma Shipman would always look up at me from her Singer, and her weary face would break into a smile. Not just smile even, but a beam of light that shone as brightly as the sun on the cover of this book.

As I got older, I began to wonder, “How did she get from there to here? What did she overcome in her life? What did she tell me, and what did she keep secret? How did she remain so strong? What did it take for her to reach this exact moment, to be sitting behind her Singer in her own sewing room with her grandson watching her and be so content?” I still bawl like a baby at that memory. And it is that memory that served as the foundation for the novel.

The History Behind the Story

The Edge of Summer includes a fascinating history surrounding the pearl button industry in the United States, one of the largest employers in the U.S. at the turn of the century, much of which took place in and along the rivers in the Midwest and Great Lakes, from Iowa and Indiana to Missouri and Michigan. The stories of how the clammers collected the shells, how button cutters created the blanks from the mussel’s pearly shells, and how women sanded those on emery wheels to turn them into beautiful buttons before sewing them onto button cards, helped shape the characters’ back stories in my novel.

Shell miners were called clammers. As the industry grew, clammers mined rivers of 19 states. In shallow waters, they’d “pollywog” alongside their boats, bravely feeling for clams with the bottoms of their bare feet. In deeper water, they’d take out an iron chandelier structure with crowbars and hooks to rake the bottom of the river. Once the hooks touched their open mouths, the clams slammed shut in a millennia-old defense mechanism.

Shells with holes in them can still be found in rivers all across the Midwest and Great Lakes areas.

Sewing cards expanded the pearl button industry as they found their way into women’s sewing baskets all over the world.

Announcing The Edge of Summer Book Tour

I'm beyond excited to announce my three-week IN-PERSON book tour! I am launching my new summer novel for the first time in the South before traversing all over Michigan for two weeks!

I hope to see you on tour this summer!

Tea for Two & a Book Club Menu for You!

A “proper” afternoon tea is central to my new novel. A seminal moment in the novel comes when Bonnie invites Sutton to her grand cottage on Lake Michigan to enjoy “Tea for Two” not only to impress her but also to suss out her upbringing.

Afternoon tea comes in three courses: the savories and tea sandwiches first, which you eat with your hands, followed by the sweets.

In The Edge of Summer, Bonnie serves (and I highly suggest) cucumber, smoked salmon and watercress-egg salad sandwiches, scones with clotted cream and jam, lemon drizzle cake, shortbread cookies, blueberry basil tartlets and lots of macarons (I listed my all-time favorites, including rose petal, framboise, pistachio, lemon and Marie Antoinette). This menu atop a pretty tablecloth with beautiful teacups and china would make a sumptuous summer backdrop to discuss this beautiful summer novel.

In 2018 I had the honor of going to London and had tea at the historic Savoy Hotel! Did you know many hotels in Michigan serve afternoon tea? The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island is known for it!

The Edge of Summer: A Novel

“People don’t give a whit about buttons anymore, but I do. They hold value, these things that just get tossed aside. Buttons are still the one thing that not only hold a garment together but also make it truly unique. Lots of beauty and secrets in buttons if you just look long and hard enough.”  -Viola Shipman, The Edge of Summer

Bestselling author Viola Shipman delights with this captivating summertime escape set along the sparkling shores of Lake Michigan, where a woman searches for clues to her secretive mother's past.

Devastated by the sudden death of her mother — a quiet, loving and intensely private Southern seamstress called Miss Mabel, who overflowed with pearls of Ozarks wisdom but never spoke of her own family — Sutton Douglas makes the impulsive decision to pack up and head north to the Michigan resort town where she believes she’ll find answers to the lifelong questions she’s had about not only her mother’s past but also her own place in the world.

Recalling Miss Mabel’s sewing notions that were her childhood toys, Sutton buys a collection of buttons at an estate sale from Bonnie Lyons, the imposing matriarch of the lakeside community. Propelled by a handful of trinkets left behind by her mother and glimpses into the history of the magical lakeshore town, Sutton becomes tantalized by the possibility that Bonnie is the grandmother she never knew. But is she? As Sutton cautiously befriends Bonnie and is taken into her confidence, she begins to uncover the secrets about her family that Miss Mabel so carefully hid, and about the role that Sutton herself unwittingly played in it all.

Quick Hits and News

Magic Season

I’m honored that my memoir, Magic Season: A Son’s Story has been named:
*A USA Today Best Summer Sports Book
*A Barnes & Noble Father's Day Recommendation
*A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Summer Book Pick
*A Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Father's Day Pick in The Southern Bookseller Review
*A Lambda Literary Most Anticipated Memoir

It's a story of how the love of baseball bonded me and my Ozarks father, and a collective story of how sports unite us and what we seek most in our deepest relationships: Unconditional love and acceptance!

The Summer Cottage

The Summer Cottage was recently reissued as a mass market paperback (the cuddly-sized book version as I call it) for just $8.99 (and less at some retailers). You can find it at Walmart, Kroger, and booksellers everywhere.

The Viola Gift Store - Summer Shopping

Looking for a summer gift as a housewarming or hostess present, or a little pick-me-up for yourself?

To view all the gifts available featuring favorite quotes from my novels and designed by the incomparable Polka Dot Mitten (Michigan's Mary Engelbreit), just click on the link below, or call the store directly at (269) 857-8100.

This is one of the art plaques currently available…and what better way to end and wish you a very happy summer! And don't forget your sunscreen! XOXO!

Follow & Like Viola!

PLEASE follow and like Viola on social media! You’ll get the latest news on my books, great giveaways, interviews with your favorite authors, and loads of hope and inspiration!