Look at a recent crop of books from local writers

Four books by local authors have crossed my desk over the past several months. They cover a wide variety of subjects, from fictional and fantastical stories based in Lewes, and a magical realist gardening mystery revolving around the many varieties of plants called hostas, to a memoir about a rich life's work in cooperatives around the world and a novel about one family's struggles with alcoholism.

Lewes, Delaware: Coastal Stories.

Author Robert Casseday has taken local pieces of lore and place, and spun them into stories from deep corners of his imagination. He has also illustrated the book with his own drawings and photographs of local places that figure into his stories drawn from 30 years of life around the town and its waterfront culture.

The short vignettes engage the mind, stimulate the imagination and in some cases leave the reader scratching his head. The book is available at Lewes Historical Society, Biblion, Abraxas, and Below Book Auto Sales in Lewes.

When he's not writing, Bob rolls around town on his electric bikes, fishes, and sells cars at the family-owned Below Book Auto Sales.

Hosta Seizure

Jim Henry gardens in Lewes, with lots of hostas, and is a member of the Delmarva Hosta Society. His ambitious mystery of more than 300 pages, "Hosta Seizure," draws the main characters together through the hostas' transcendental mantra: "The destiny of each is tied to all." He wrote the novel while teaching English at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.

Don Dean, president of the American Hosta Society, writes of Hosta Seizure: "He reminds me of JRR Tolkien's Hobbit series, with text-specific terminology that sets a hook and is then developed so that the terms become natural as you are plunged into a well-developed plot full of several subplots."

The book is available at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach or online at hostaseizure.com.

Find Me Alone

Lisa Graff, who writes a column for the Cape Gazette called Retirement 101, published her novel "Find Me Alone," in 2017. The novel is set in the mid-1960s. Cover notes explain that "Graff's nuanced novel draws from her own experiences to show a family in trouble but not without hope."

The work is a result of Graff's enrollment in a novel-writing class instructed by Maribeth Fischer of the Rehoboth Beach Writers' Guild.

In a society where alcohol is both friend and foe, Graff's work raises questions and suggests some answers. She also includes discussion questions at the conclusion of the 160-page work for those who might want to read in a group setting. The book is available locally at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach and through a number of different sources online.

Journeys of Hope and Reality

After years of traveling around the world in his work with cooperatives that rallied people and resources for the good of their communities, Russ Notar and his wife, Ellen, settled in Lewes where he quickly became active in the community. "Journeys of Hope and Reality" gives readers an in-depth look at world events that took place in the 1990s. Through his experiences, he gained a new perspective on what is really important in life: "Assisting those who need support and assistance." He describes villages in El Salvador that developed organic coffee cooperatives to grow, harvest and market on a worldwide scale as well as a cooperative in Indonesia that produces and markets vanilla beans, providing co-op members with a better life and with educational opportunities for their children.

In a note he sent along with his book, Russ wrote: "Co-ops are very important in Sussex County, such as credit unions and the Delaware Electric Cooperative."

Journeys of Hope and Reality is available at Browseabout Books in Rehoboth Beach and at online outlets.