Golden Delicious by Christopher Boucher comes out today!
It’s the story of the town of Appleseed, Massachusetts, where words come alive and bump against reality in strange and surprising ways. As the narrator grows up, interacting with stories that grow out of the soil and sentences that people keep as pets, he watches the town’s economy fail and his family fall apart. This is Boucher’s follow-up to How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive, which we adored.
We asked the author one question.
How are you celebrating the publication of Golden Delicious?
I’m filled to the brim with gratitude for the chance to publish a second novel, and I’ll try to keep that gratitude – for such privilege, good luck, and support from everyone around me – front and center in my mind over the next few weeks.
On a lighter note, I’m going to play the banjo and drink some mystery bookstore wine. I’m giving a reading at WORD in Brooklyn this Thursday, April 28, where I’ll appear in conversation with fellow Melville House author Rachel Cantor. Rachel’s asked me to bring my banjo and play a tune during the event.
In addition, I’ll bring a bottle of wine to share with everyone who attends. It’s not just any old bottle, though; it was given to me, wrapped in a copy of Charlie Hebdo, by a woman named Gilda Fiermonte during my visit to Paris in 2014 for Festival America. Gilda attended several of my events and then presented this wine to me as a gift. I was touched by this gesture, and I promised her that I’d wait to open it on a special occasion. I was working on Golden Delicious at the time, so I resolved to unwrap the bottle when the book was done. I can’t think of a better occasion to open it than the official book launch.
Like I said, though, I don’t know what’s in the bottle. It might be red wine, white wine, or champagne. It might not even be wine – it might be a bottle of august or a fine vintage tomorrow. We might all drink a sip and be changed. We’ll have to wait and see on the 28th.
Get the book here.