VISIT US
33 Bay View Street
Camden, Maine 04843
207.230.7335
HOURS
Tuesday - Saturday 9:00a-4:00p
Most of the time
NEWS & UPDATES: PLEASE KNOW THAT WE WILL BE CLOSED ON SATURDAY 9/16 DUE TO THE STORM.
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“It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.”
-Oscar Wilde
ABOUT
Since 1970 the Owl & Turtle Bookshop has been an integral part of coastal Camden’s vibrant downtown, serving the community as a quality independent bookstore, friendly gathering spot, and—more recently—cozy neighborhood café. The well-curated book collection includes an ever-evolving stock of fiction and non-fiction, an extensive children’s section, and plenty of cookbooks. Offerings of poetry, memoir, and marine books are forever expanding along with the always popular Maine-centric selections. In the café you’ll find locally-roasted beans from Coffee on the Porch and sweet and savory treats from area bakers. The shop is a welcoming place to browse and be—whether you choose to bury your nose in a book, beverage, or both.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Shawn Samuelson Henry Book Launch/Signing Event
Friday September 8th @ 1pm
Shawn Samuelson Henry grew up in Hanover, New Hampshire, where trips to the library were as exciting as those to the Dartmouth Skiway. After earning degrees from Bucknell University, Harvard University, and the University of Wyoming, Shawn taught English to teenagers. In the summers she led young adults on backpacking and bicycling trips in New England, Colorado, and the Pacific Northwest. As a children’s librarian, she wrote her first middle-grade novel about a scandal at the winter Olympics. Having lived in small towns and big cities in eleven states and three countries abroad, she has a keen awareness of the humanity that binds people across the globe. As a playwright, she has won competitions and had her work produced across the United States and Canada. Shawn currently lives in Davidson, North Carolina with her husband and three children.
When the mill closes, Edgewater’s economy and hope collapse. Hunter’s father starts drinking and becomes an embarrassment and liability to Hunter, who’strying to balance his high-maintenance girlfriend with life on the basketball court. Luna, attending in-person school for the first time in her 17 years, has no friends and hides behind her hoodie to escape her peers’ vicious ridicule. A tragic accident sends the town spiraling further into despair. In its wake, Luna and Hunter are forced to work together as the unlikely leaders of a fundraising project, one that attempts to make meaning of the senseless disaster. Many of Edgewater’s residents jump on board to help. But some are fiercely opposed to the project, and their defiance becomes sinister. When Hunter and Luna stumble upon dark secrets and are forced to keep them, they realize the terrifying risks they are taking to knit a broken community back together.
SHOP HISTORY
Bill and Rebecca Gene Conrad opened the Owl & Turtle as a bookshop motel in 1970, naming the store for two nearby Maine locales: Owl’s Head and Turtle’s Head. In its original spot at 8 Bay View Street (a former refrigerator showroom), the Conrad’s three story book haven quickly established itself as the place to go in Camden—whether to shop for reading or reference material, enjoy a quiet respite, gather with friends, or convene with other community members for a book signing by such esteemed persons as Walter Cronkite and David McCullough. Through several owners (and a few different in-town locations), this unique bookshop’s place in the community has remained steadfast. Now back on Bay View Street, the Owl & Turtle evokes memories of the past while also exemplifying the best of what an independent bookstore can be today.