"The Reader"
By Isabelle Saint-Guily
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
- Stephen King
We are a small publishing company that does big, important books. Our subjects are diverse, as you will see, but we always seek that special magic that Stephen King refers to, and we always seek something else: stories that will bring our readers a feeling of uplift, and maybe even a deeply satisfying feeling of Oh, Wow! Yes!
With that goal in mind, we never do small, quickie books. And we never rush a book into print. And we always give our writers the guidance and patient support they need. As we have learned over the years, writing, at its best, is a process, a hunt for buried gold, and even the finest writers will have their periods of frustration, and sometimes even periods of downright agony. But as we have learned over the years, the tougher the hunt, the finer the gold. And here is a wider taste of our Val de Grace gold.
Business Pioneers
This is the inside story of the creation of Visa cards and digital money, and in many ways it is also the story of a revolution in global banking and commerce. Visa sent the author -- some guy named Chutkow -- to 20 different countries to see how that little strip of plastic transformed the economies of countries as different as China, Italy, Poland and the United States. To complete the book, I brought together a team of photographers, book designers and printers. Visa was delighted by the result, and in the process a landmark business book was born, and so was my little baby, Val de Grace Books.
Art and Culture
In this award-winning book, Mark Tuschman exposes the dangers and humiliations that millions of girls and women around the world face every single day. The book was hailed by President Jimmy Carter and many prominent women's organizations around the world. A book of true beauty and significance.
Deb Kalas's poignant photo essay on the endangered wild herds of Teddy Roosevelt National Park and beyond. An exquisite book and the winner of several major awards.
The Creative Spirit
Richard Mendelson is a distinguished Napa Valley wine lawyer,
and a sculptor and an award-winning Val de Grace author.
Monroe Katz is a retired dentist and a gifted painter,
sculptor and Val de Grace author. Both his books celebrate the creative spirit.
Jim Holden is a retired attorney and a devoted historian,
hiker and a celebrated Val de Grace author.
Val de Grâce was honored to bring to American readers this award-winning children’s book from the Czech Republic. Typo and Skim are two little elves with very unusual parents, and through their story, young readers are introduced to the sophisticated scientific concept of entropy. The book earned three major awards: for its story, its illustrations and its sophisticated design.