Nancy Hinchliff and Phoenix Books Essex will celebrate the launch of Hinchliff's new memoir, Operatic Divas and Naked Irishmen: An Innkeeper's Tale, on Tuesday, June 13th at 7pm. In 1994, at the age of 64, with no business experience and very little start-up money, Nancy Hinchliff bought a turn-of-the-century mansion in Louisville, Kentucky on a whim and turned it into a charming Victorian Inn. Through sheer tenacity, she learned the business while successfully coping with one mishap after another.
In Operatic Divas and Naked Irishmen, the reader is drawn into this humorous and engaging tale as the author wields her way around cantankerous contractors, harrowing housekeepers, and no shortage of strange and interesting guests and events. Through her collected stories, Hinchliff gives readers a personal, in-depth, and honest look at what it’s like to be an innkeeper as she candidly describes her twenty-year journey of self discovery.
"For anyone who has ever thought about running a bed and breakfast, Operatic Divas and Naked Irishman offers a hilarious birds-eye view behind the Victorian curtains... with mouth-watering recipes woven through-out, the author shows us just how much you can do with a little daring tenacity in the face of a lonely retirement."
—Katharine Hollister, editor, Beatdom Magazine
“Operatic Divas and Naked Irishmen is brave, funny, entertaining, and educational. I loved [Hinchliff’s] wit, marveled at her courage and tenacity, and rooted her on throughout.”
—Teresa Rhyne, author of The Dog Lived (and so will I)
Nancy Hinchliff holds undergraduate degrees in music and education and graduate degrees in music, science of education, and special education. She is certified to teach English, music, geography and history. She taught in the Chicago public school system for twenty-five years, and in the school of education at the University of Illinois in Chicago. She has been writing all of her adult life - mostly journal articles, essays, and creative non-fiction - and has been published in newsletters, local magazines, and as a guest on several blogs. In 2008, she coauthored Room at the Table, a cookbook written for the Bed and Breakfast Association of Kentucky, for which she won their president's award. Hinchliff is now a member of the Burlington Writers Workshop and is working on her second memoir.
This event is free and open to all. Phoenix Books Essex is located at 21 Essex Way in Essex, Vermont. Copies of Operatic Divas and Naked Irishmen will be available for attendees to purchase and have signed. For more information, please call 802-872-7111 or visit www.phoenixbooks.biz.
About Phoenix Books:
Phoenix Books was established in 2007 on the principles of social responsibility, community, and sustainability, and is a proud member of Local First Vermont and Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. Phoenix Books Essex, Phoenix Books Burlington, Phoenix Books Rutland and Phoenix Books Misty Valley are Vermont-owned, independent bookstores. Whenever possible, Phoenix Books sources eco-friendly products from Fair Trade/Green Certified companies. Seven Days readers voted Phoenix Books the "Best Bookstore" for the newspaper's 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Daysie Awards, and Rutland Herald readers voted Phoenix Books the 'Best Local Bookstore' for the newspaper's 2016 Best of the Best awards.