First published in 1917, Parnassus on Wheels remains a celebration of booksellers, independence, and the quietly radical idea that it is never too late to begin a new life.

Helen McGill is thirty-nine, sensible, and tired of keeping house for her head-in-the-clouds brother. Enter the eccentric Roger Mifflin on a crisp autumn day, driving a horse-drawn wagon called Parnassus. Inside, you'll find books packed floor to ceiling. ?Books on cookery and farming, novels passionate and charming, every kind for every need, so that he who buys may read."

Helen does something that surprises even herself. She buys the traveling bookshop. What follows is a little masterpiece of wit, warmth, and the wide open road.

At the end of each Smith & Taylor Classic you'll find a conversational afterword. This edition features Lauren Groff and Kelly Link, two highly-esteemed authors and independent bookstore owners.

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, and poet. Born in Haverford, Pennsylvania, he launched a prolific literary career, writing more than a hundred books. A devoted champion of books and reading, he believed passionately in literature's power to transform everyday life. He's known for Parnassus on Wheels (1917), its sequel The Haunted Bookshop (1919), and Kitty Foyle (1939) which became a major Hollywood film starring Ginger Rogers. A lifelong admirer of Sherlock Holmes, Morley co-founded the Baker Street Irregulars in 1934, the oldest and most prestigious Holmesian literary society in the world. He remained a celebrated figure in American letters until his death in Roslyn Heights, New York, in 1957.