Tucked into the heart of downtown Tuscaloosa, a blue-painted historic home hosts an indie bookstore with a room dedicated to a beloved community member, the late Christine Deitsch. 

Easty Lambert-Brown, the bookshop’s owner, reflects fondly on Deitsch, one of her earliest and most avid supporters. Deitsch ended up being instrumental to the store’s success. When the bookstore – Ernest & Hadley, now a Tuscaloosa staple— first opened, Lambert-Brown struggled to curate a well-rounded book selection. The Tuscaloosa market is broad. The readers that come in might be professors or preachers; they might be students involved in Greek life or students that hail from Greece itself. But Ernest & Hadley never wanted to find a niche in just one of those groups.

Instead, the vision was to create “a gathering space,” said Lambert-Brown. “A community-center establishment … that happens to have an interest in books.” Somewhere to “talk about ideas,” according to Lambert-Brown’s daughter, Avery Leopard, who manages the bookstore. The no-niche approach was a part of the design: Leopard believes that, as a society, “we’re missing that third space,” a term describing a communal space separate from home and work.   

As the newborn bookstore was finding its footing, Deitsch, an avid reader, stepped in to become a massive help. Well-known in the community for her role in the 2011 tornado recovery efforts, Deitsch’s words carried weight. And she let everyone know about the budding indie bookstore in the heart of Tuscaloosa’s historic downtown. 

“She was in every week with a list of books, mostly mystery thrillers,” Lambert-Brown recalled. She would plow through four or five books a week, if not more, and trade in the previous copies she’d bought for store credit. According to Lambert-Brown, Deitsch really helped her develop a sense of how to select books within those genres. 

Lambert-Brown said that when Deitsch passed, “It felt too little to just name the room after her. She was so much more than that.” 

Today, Ernest & Hadley thrives as Tuscaloosa’s only independent bookstore. Not only does it make good on that initial vision by being a place where people of all stripes can come together, but in keeping with Deitsch’s spirit, they are also actively involved in community outreach. Their current big project is combatting illiteracy by working with the Literacy Council of West Alabama to create picture books for adults. 

Currently, adults learning to read are often given materials designed for children at their reading level. This can feel discouraging—or even patronizing—for adult learners. Lambert-Brown and Leopard aim to change that by creating picture books focused on practical, adult-relevant topics, such as applying for jobs or navigating the grocery store. As Leopard emphasized, “They’re not insulting!”

The pair’s drive to create a community center within the bookshop has only grown, too. Now they have three buildings to their name, each new acquisition adding to their ability to host events and gather more people together. Lambert-Brown even mentioned aspirations to one day add a wine bar into their new building in order to draw in the night crowd a little more. A closer-term goal is to resurrect the Alabama Book Festival in Tuscaloosa. 

They did establish one niche in the market, however, but it’s not a particular group of readers. Instead, it’s with the local authors. “Local authors are the real reason we opened this place,” Lambert-Brown said. She worked as a publisher before starting the bookshop, but she couldn’t get local indie authors on shelves. Now in control of the shelves she once struggled to curate, she’s got a whole room’s worth of Southern writers in her book selection. She often helps authors through the self-publishing process (“a lot of handholding,” she said fondly), but she’s proud of the local authors’ work. A few of the books have even been picked up by major publishers since hitting her shelves. 

As far as the readers go, though, still no niche. Their doors are as wide as ever. If Lambert-Brown could tell people anything about the bookstore, she’d say, “A lot of people feel like they need to buy something if they’re going to come in, but I’d rather people come and discover. Just show up. Just be a part of the community.” 

And if you’re not sure where to start exploring, well, they’d be happy to show you to Christine’s room.

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