A Book for All Seasons Celebrates 10 Years

Driving down Highway 2 in Leavenworth, Washington, tourists might pull off the road, thinking their eyes are playing tricks on them. Nestled in the majestic North Cascade Mountains is a small village that belongs in southern Germany.

About 40 years ago, Leavenworth was not much more than boarded-up stores, the remains of an old logging town. Based on an analysis done at the University of Washington, the way to rejuvenate the picturesque mountain village was to remake it as a tourist destination. From that idea, the Leavenworth Bavarian Village was created.

Once it was built, the tourists began to arrive, and now the hamlet of 2,000 includes a flourishing Bavarian village.

Authenticity is important to the people of Leavenworth; some have visited Bavaria to learn about activities such as rides on horse-drawn carriages and maypole ceremonies. Every building must conform to strict architectural standards, including the local McDonald’s. While Ronald may not be wearing lederhosen, there are no golden arches rising above the wooden chalets, either. Most businesses cater to tourists, but not A Book for All Seasons, a 10-year-old general bookstore that houses an inn upstairs with six rooms, all run by Pat and Ed Rutledge.

"We wanted to position the bookstore not as a tourist attraction but as a serious bookstore in the larger community," said Pat Rutledge. Included inside the store walls is a Starbucks, part of the Seattle-based chain, unable to hang out its own shingle due to zoning restrictions. According to Rutledge, as far as they know, they are the only independent bookstore with a Starbucks inside.

The Rutledges, who previously had writing and publishing careers in New York City, opened A Book for All Seasons in downtown Leavenworth on March 10, 1992. In the past 10 years, they have developed a reputation as a strong, community-based business that includes an active calendar of book signings, author discussions, seminars, and workshops. "We love being able to offer a complete literary experience to our customers," Pat Rutledge said.

The literary experience is continued in the Innsbrucker Inn upstairs, where the Rutledges offered some creative customers the opportunity to select six literary figures and to decorate the rooms in the spirit of those writers. "We gave them a budget, and they did all the work. The characters include Frances Hodgson Burnett, Ann Morrow Lindbergh, C.S.Lewis, James Herriot, Patrick F. McManus, and Sherlock Holmes," said Pat Rutledge. When making online reservations, visitors can even order books to have waiting in their rooms when they arrive.

The village’s geography makes the Rutledges feel a bit isolated from the bookselling community. "We are 100 miles from Seattle, but it might as well be 1,000. The Book Sense program has been a great experience. There is no community of booksellers here. Book Sense makes me feel like an integral part of the bookselling community. The 76 list is prominently displayed. People come in and comment that these are really different books … not something they’ve seen anywhere else. We sell a lot of first novels on the 76 list that we never would have sold otherwise. Last year the big novel was Peace Like a River (Atlantic Monthly Press), this year it’s The Secret Life of Bees (Viking)," said Pat Rutledge.-- Nomi Schwartz