In this episode of North of Normal, host Amanda McKeen sits down with Clare Brooks, owner of the Little Village Toy & Book Shop in Littleton, New Hampshire.
Clare’s story begins far from the North Country. Born in South Africa, she came to the United States as a teenager and spent years finding her footing, making mistakes, starting over, and eventually building a life that would take her from California to Hawaii and finally to northern New Hampshire.
She opens up about difficult experiences in her childhood, the choices she made as a teenager, becoming a mother, losing her mother, and the unexpected circumstances that led her to take a chance on rebuilding a beloved local bookstore after the original Village Bookstore closed. The conversation explores resilience, anxiety, gratitude, motherhood, community, and Clare’s belief that even the hardest parts of life can eventually lead somewhere meaningful.
