Powell’s Books Indiespensable is a book subscription box that ships every 6 weeks. So many readers recommended this box that I had to sign up!
FYI – this subscription is currently sold out, but they open it up every month or so. (If you want an email alert when the waitlist opens, you can sign up for the MSA Powell’s Indiespensable waitlist email).
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: Powell’s Books Indiespensable
The Cost: $39.95 a shipment (every 6 weeks)
The Products: Exclusive books and extras
Ships to: Worldwide
Check out all of my Powell’s Indiespensable reviews!
The box comes with a little booklet that details the items in the box, why they were chosen, and includes additional exclusives, like an interview with author:
Now time for the actual book:
Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt - (Retail Value for just hardcover book on is $26)
Book summary from Amazon:
Ruth and Nat are orphans, packed into a house full of abandoned children run by a religious fanatic. To entertain their siblings, they channel the dead. Decades later, Ruth’s niece, Cora, finds herself accidentally pregnant. After years of absence, Aunt Ruth appears, mute and full of intention. She is on a mysterious mission, leading Cora on an odyssey across the entire state of New York on foot. Where is Ruth taking them? Where has she been? And who — or what — has she hidden in the woods at the end of the road?
In an ingeniously structured dual narrative, two separate timelines move toward the same point of crisis. Their merging will upend and reinvent the whole. A subversive ghost story that is carefully plotted and elegantly constructed, Mr. Splitfoot will set your heart racing and your brain churning. Mysteries abound, criminals roam free, utopian communities show their age, the mundane world intrudes on the supernatural and vice versa.
The value for the hardcover I listed is based on the hardcover copy alone, not including the exclusive slipcase. It also doesn’t factor in that this is a signed first edition:
Fever at Dawn by Peter Gardos - Not released yet! (Hardcover version has a retail value of $24 and is released on April 12th)
Book summary from Amazon:
July 1945. Miklos is a twenty-five-year-old Hungarian who has survived the camps and has been brought to Sweden to convalesce. His doctor has just given him a death sentence — his lungs are filled with fluid and in six months he will be gone. But Miklos has other plans. He didn't survive the war only to drown from within, and so he wages war on his own fate. He acquires the names of the 117 Hungarian women also recovering in Sweden, and he writes a letter to each of them in his beautiful cursive hand. One of these women, he is sure, will become his wife.
In another part of the country, Lili reads his letter and decides to write back. For the next few months, the two engage in a funny, absurd, hopeful epistolary dance. Eventually, they find a way to meet.
Based on the true story of Péter Gárdos's parents, and drawn from their letters, Fever at Dawn is a vibrant, ribald, and unforgettable tale, showing the death-defying power of the human will to live and to love.
Tony's Chocolonely Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Bar - Value $5?
This chocolate bar is HUGE! Shown in hand for scale:
My husband Eric also can testify to its deliciousness. And when looking up this bar I learned that it just recently launched in the US in Portland, so I think it is a great inclusion in the box!
Verdict: I'm always happy with this subscription, and I'm glad the Powell's sent two books this time (for Volume 56 there was only one book). Both books sound interesting to me, and of course I LOVE getting an advanced reader copy of a book in a subscription box! What do you think of Volume 57?
Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.