Mary Beth Morell, Founder and CEO
MB, a mother of three and longtime school librarian, has spent years of her life lost in books—and bookstores. She is fueled by espresso, has tried for years to re-create a Secret Garden in her backyard (but deer and bunnies keep eating it), loves a good hike and a good cocktail, and (according to friends and colleagues) bakes the best salted chocolate chunk cookies on the planet.
She recently moved to Middleburg with her husband Michael, and puppy Bailey. While she has fallen in love with the town, she had little interest in living in a town without a thriving indie bookshop, so set about to open her own.
As a school librarian, she developed a superpower: selecting books that delight and engage children. She is motivated by putting just the right book into the hands of a reading skeptic and watching that love of books come alive.
Beware, when she meets you in person, she’ll likely start quizzing you about what you’re reading. Her family and friends are forever reaching out to MB for book recommendations. Her favorite grown-up reads so far this year have been Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Unlikely Animals, The Best Strangers in the World, We All Want Impossible Things and Black Cake. Her TBR pile is a wobbly tower of joy.
MB is a recovering globetrotter. A few years ago (pre-COVID), she explored a dreamy, crazy list of places that had been on her must-visit list forever in what she deemed a “Grown-Up Gap Year.” (Her nest was sorta empty and she had banked a lot of frequent flyer miles.) She went on adventures with her parents to the Caribbean, her son to Athens and Jerusalem, her daughter in Mexico City, and entire family in South Africa. She visited college friends in Milwaukee, her brother in Chicago, and dear friends in Melbourne, Tasmania and Mumbai. She and her husband did big hiking trips in New Zealand and the Balkans—Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro. She gave her passport a workout, depleted the stash of frequent flyer miles (and the bank account) and had the time of her life. She’s now ready to stay in one place for a while and dive into starting an independent bookshop—a long-time dream.
MB loves to cook, loves to eat, is currently obsessed with The Bear, and has a low-key cookbook addiction—you’ll find her reading them for fun. Her point is they usually have happy endings in the form of a dessert chapter.
Reach out to MB on mbmorell@middleburgbooks.com
Christina Duffy, Founder
Christina has spent her life avoiding the real world and hiding in the pages of books. She currently lives in Arlington, VA with her husband, Ryan, her daughter, one dog and two cats. Much to the dismay of her spouse, she firmly believes there is no such thing as too many books, and any attempt to decrease the size of her TBR pile has failed miserably.
Christina blames her book collecting on her father, who encouraged her obsession by taking her to the library and never saying no to a new book purchase. A misfit who spent hours hiding in the school library, she's eternally grateful to the librarians who provided refuge, especially during middle school. Having the opportunity to provide that same safe space during COVID as a librarian at her daughter's school (where she met Mary Beth) was a cool, full circle moment.
When not reading, Christina can be found attending concerts (Broken Social Scene, Brandi Carlisle, Sara Bareilles, and Tom Petty are all favorites), doing arts and crafts with her kiddo, and, her newest hobby, riding horses.
A few facts about Christina:
If a book is hyped as a 'must read' and is all over the bestseller lists, she's reticent to read it. (Case in point: She was the last person to read Lessons in Chemistry and it is now one of her favorite books.)
She's a recovering ballerina who never played a team sport, hence her insistence on referring to them as THE sports.
She always has a book on her person, even when she went to Disney World as a child. (Yes, there is photo evidence.)
The last book she read (that she gives to everyone she knows) is We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman. You will devour it in one sitting, and it will break your heart with its truisms.
Reach out to Christina at cduffy@middleburgbooks.com
Miriam Meeks, Manager
Originally from Jackson, Mississippi, Miriam dove headfirst into moving to Virginia to help open Middleburg Books. With previous experience at two bookshops and in a marketing agency, she felt it was a perfect fit for her passions and skills.
She is a sixth-generation Mississippian (the wagon broke on the way to Missouri) and has been told by non-Mississippians that she doesn’t have an accent. She attributes this to her days in theatre during high school.
Miriam followed in the footsteps of many relatives and attended Belhaven University in her hometown, where she studied Creative Writing. When the wanderlust kicked in, she headed east to Georgia, to study Dramatic Writing at Savannah College of Art and Design. She fell back in love with reading while working at E. Shaver, Bookseller and shocked her parents by becoming a cat person.
Her mother read to her and her two sisters from an early age, instilling a love of reading through books like Little House in the Big Woods, Mandy and The Chronicles of Narnia. Miriam’s current favorite books are The Starless Sea, Gideon the Ninth and The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. Her tastes range from cozy fantasies to irreverent adventures featuring intrepid heroes with a little mystery thrown in the middle. Outside of reading and writing, Miriam enjoys cross-stitching, long walks, yoga, video games and playing (or watching) Dungeons & Dragons.
During COVID, she created a sci-fi narrative podcast with her brother-in-law, Jonathan West. The Kleio Files is a cross between Atlantis: The Lost Empire and The Magnus Archives. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts. Miriam also penned two books by the end of 2021—a fantasy novella and a magical middle grade novel. Wish her luck as she wades through revisions to get them on a shelf near you.
Reach out to Miriam at mmeeks@middleburgbooks.com