Foxglove Books

Asheville, North Carolina, since whenever we stopped counting

Foxglove Books

Books, mostly. Opinions, always.

Tucked at the quiet end of Sassafras Lane, we sell new books, used books, and the occasional book we probably should have kept for ourselves. There is a poetry nook, a monthly book club with wine, and a cat named Chaucer who believes he is the manager. He is not entirely wrong.

Illustration of the Foxglove Books storefront: a bay window with stacked books and a cat silhouette, under a striped awning FOXGLOVE BOOKS OPEN
14 Sassafras Lane. Chaucer holds the window seat.

Hand-sold, hand-lettered, occasionally hand-wrung-over

The Staff Shelf

Every month each of us wedges one book onto this shelf and defends it at the register. Pull a spine to read the staff note. We stand by every word, except a few of Pete's, and even those have grown on us.

Third Tuesdays, chairs in a circle, no wrong answers, some wronger than others

This Month’s Book Club

The Cartographer’s Apology

by Iris Vane

Tuesday, July 21 at 7:00 pm, in the back room among the atlases, which felt thematically necessary. Newcomers welcome. Read at least half, or arrive with convincing feelings about maps.

Pouring: a Spanish garnacha that Marnie describes as “confident, but forgivable.”

Two armchairs, one lamp, no hurry

The Poetry Nook

We shelved the winter under W,
and spring came looking for it anyway. Maeve Tillerman, “Inventory”

The couplet above changes on its own schedule, like everything else in the nook. All four poets on rotation this month are locals, and two of them will deny it.

Head of security, morale, and naps

Chaucer, Shop Cat

Portrait of Chaucer, an orange tabby with closed eyes and an unbothered expression

Chaucer arrived nine years ago in a rainstorm, walked straight past the fiction wall, and fell asleep on a first edition we had just priced. We took the hint and took him in. He has since read nothing, judged everything, and settled every dispute in the shop by sitting on the disputed object. He prefers customers who whisper, tolerates customers who browse, and openly campaigns against anyone who says they only read on their phone. His salary is paid in sardines and the sunny half of the poetry nook.

Current status asleep on the returns cart

Folding chairs, decent snacks, the occasional standing ovation

Readings This Month

  • Jul 16 6:30 pm

    Wren Aldercott reads from How to Hold a River

    A year of walking the French Broad, one notebook at a time. Wren promises heron gossip and at least one story about falling in. Q&A follows, waterproof footwear optional.

  • Jul 25 7:00 pm

    Poetry night with Maeve Tillerman, plus open mic

    Maeve reads new work from The Gorge in Late October, then the lectern is yours. Five minutes per reader, enforced gently by Deb and a small brass bell.

  • Aug 2 4:00 pm

    June Calloway launches The Orchard at Night

    A Sunday afternoon reading with local cider and, if July cooperates, actual apples. June will sign books, answer questions, and dodge exactly one question about the bees.


Our buying policy, complete and unabridged

Sell Us Your Books

  1. Bring them in any weekday before 4. We pay cash or trade credit, and trade is always the better math.
  2. We love clean copies, and we make room for good marginalia. If your grandmother argued with the author in pencil, we want to see it.
  3. We cannot take encyclopedias, wet books, or anything Chaucer has already claimed as a bed.

The quiet end of the lane, look for the purple flowers

Hours & Whereabouts

Hours

Monday to Thursday10 am to 7 pm
Friday and Saturday10 am to 9 pm
Sunday11 am to 6 pm
Book club Tuesdaysopen late, wine at 7

We close for the first snow of the year. Everyone understands.

Find Us

Foxglove Books
14 Sassafras Lane
Asheville, North Carolina 28801
(828) 555-0163
shelf@foxglovebooks.example

Two blocks off the main drag, past the fiddle shop, under the crooked dogwood. If you can hear the river, you walked too far, but it was probably worth it.