We chatted with the experts, the bookworms, and bookstore owners, and here’s our roundup of local books—or books written by local authors—that were published in 2025. All make great holiday gifts! Find them at Leelanau County’s locally owned, independent bookstores: Cottage Book Shop in Glen Arbor, Bay Books in Suttons Bay, Dog Ears Books in Northport, and Leelanau Books in Leland; or at your local library. Happy reading!
Candy Schein—the protagonist of Ann Goethals’s debut novel, The Doublewide—has always stayed quiet and kept her head down. Now age 28 and living in a modest apartment above a pizza parlor, Candy has spent years saving for a dream most people take for granted: a place to call her own. When she finds a “mystic blue” doublewide manufactured house, it sparks something bigger than a dream home—a journey towards self-acceptance and courage that forces her to leave behind the comfort of invisibility. This novel speaks to anyone who has ever felt overlooked, underestimated, or uncomfortable in their own skin. Goethals will hold a reading and Q&A on Saturday, Aug. 30, at 3 p.m. at the Glen Lake Community Library in Empire.