Outskirts Press, INC.

Carousel Square is the tale of Chitchee Chichester, who wants to open a used book store, Ulysses & Sons, in Uptown, Minneapolis. First, he must learn the bookseller's trade by working at BookSmart, a used book store, coveted by a real estate developer who already owns nearby Carousel Square. While the developer plots to monopolize Minneapolis--set against a background of crime, corruption, and the Great Recession--Chitchee and a small band of book freaks, friends, and co-workers hope to keep the book store alive. Meanwhile, Chitchee is hampered by the childhood delusion of being a squirrel, given only the power of magical acorns. Within an allegorical framework derived from Islamic mysticism, he creates a situation comedy for everyone everywhere who has ever sought refuge in a book or a book store.