Annie Philbrick

Monday afternoon’s bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon in downtown Boston affected everyone across the nation, but had particular resonance for the literary community in New England.

The tragedy played out in front of the main branch of the Boston Public Library and forced the evacuation of Barnes & Noble at the Prudential Center, which opened late today. Fortunately, most downtown publishers were closed: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Beacon Press; and Nicholas Brealey Publishers. The library and HMH remain closed.

Last October, when superstorm Sandy ripped through Connecticut, it flooded Bank Square Books in Mystic. Owner Annie Philbrick recalls walking inside to the smell of the ocean and a soaking wet carpet.

She and her staff had moved everything as high as they could before the storm, but water and paper are a disastrous combination. With no power to turn on pumps or fans, Ms. Philbrick was in danger of losing her stock of more than 30,000 books.

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