Narrative Bookshop will open in March at 387 Highland Ave., Somerville, Mass., "filling a Davis Square void and owner's dream," Cambridge Day reported, adding that when owner Mila Hossain "landed on Long Island at 11 years old, having just immigrated with her family from Dhaka, Bangladesh, she dealt with isolation and loneliness as she struggled to find her place in a new country. Her refuge? Books. Twenty years later, she's opening her own bookstore."
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| Mila Hossein | |
Hossain, who moved to Somerville last March from Denver, had been working in event planning and sales in corporate hospitality until the pandemic hit. Her team was eventually furloughed, then let go, which inspired Hossain to make a change.
"I was facing a lot of turmoil between losing my job and my dad's recent passing, and it made me reflect on my life and what I wanted to do with it," she said. "At the same time, in this period of grief and depression, I kept finding myself gravitating back toward books."
Hossain has spent recent months renovating the 600-square-foot space, acquiring bookshelves and furniture and tackling what she called her "most difficult but most fun task": choosing what books to stock. The store will include new and used books, with an emphasis on works that uplift minority and marginalized voices. She is also taking into consideration what residents of Davis Square and the surrounding communities might like to see, conducting polls and seeking advice from experienced booksellers and others.
"Since it's a one-woman show, I want to focus on really curating the stock and being able to provide what [people] need in a more personal way," Hossain said. "It's really important to me to make this bookstore personal to the community and be able to provide a community hub for everyone."
The bookstore's name was inspired in part by that desire: "The narrative is such an important aspect of our lives: the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we grow up hearing inform who we become and how we connect to each other and the world around us. But also, we're in control of our own narratives. Starting this bookstore is me taking control of my narrative, as well as my attempt to be a positive part of the narrative of this town.... Integrating myself into this community is an important aspect of feeling like this is home. I'm hoping the bookstore will help me do that."