July A Good Yarn Book Club: Retro

Schedule

Mon Jul 27 2026 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Old Town Books | Alexandria, VA

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Join us at Old Town Books as we discuss our July A Good Yarn book club pick: Retro by Jessica M Goldstein
About this Event

Join a group of craft-curious makers who get together and unwind via making: knitting, needlepoint, collage. You name it. Listen to the month’s book while you craft at home & then bring your WIP or FO to show off while we discuss the book!

To join the club subscribe via the Old Town Books page on Libro.fm You will get your first audiobook free! RSVP for our IRL meetups here then get crafting (and listening.)

By attending any and all Old Town Books events you are agreeing to our code of conduct.

This month we are listening to Retro.

About the Book:

An out-of-work actress gets a job as a tour guide for an ultra-luxury time travel company—only to discover her trips to the past could upend her present—in this rollicking, speculative debut novel.
Retro is so much fun! It’s got nostalgia, ennui, inappropriate workplace crushes, jaunts to weird little bits of history, terrifying corporate overreach, and jokes: What more could you want?”—Holly Gramazio, author of The Husbands
When Ash spots an ad for Retro during a depressing Instagram scroll—she’s in debt and unemployed; everyone else is, evidently, thriving—she’s surprised the algorithm sent it her way. She’s heard of recreational time travel, but it’s way out of her budget. Then she sees the caption: Come away with us! We’re hiring.
So begins Ash’s life as a Time Travel Agent, leading wealthy tourists on vacations to historical hotspots. She takes bachelorette parties to live out their cowboy-romance fantasies in the Old West; she chaperones “’20s for your twenties” birthday excursions to speakeasies; she smiles politely as rich Wall Street guys give prospecting a shot during the Gold Rush. It’s all thrilling, outrageous, and totally surreal. Bygone America is just a Retro Metro ride away.
Despite Ash’s tendency toward cynicism, she finds herself swept up in her dazzling new job. Sure, Ash isn’t the actress she’d always dreamed she’d be. But isn’t this so much better? It’s like Ash’s life is a movie, complete with an impossible love triangle. How is she supposed to choose between her mysterious office crush and the handsome private eye pursuing her in 1937?
For the first time in years, Ash’s life feels enviable—so she’d really rather not pay attention to the strange things happening to her memory and relationships outside Retro. But as her trips threaten to unravel her real life, she confronts an unsettling truth: Escaping into the past was never really an escape at all.

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Where is it happening?

Old Town Books, 130 South Royal Street, Alexandria, United States

Event Location & Nearby Stays:

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