Capitalism abhors a creative gathering place—otherwise auto dealerships would put on poetry slams and hardware stores would host book clubs, wouldn't they? While coffeehouses and restaurants often step up to accommodate creative expression, bookstores tend to carry the weight of both selling and sharing the written word. Gayle and Michael Brandeis sought to provide the North Shore with just such a space through their Highland Park store, Secret World Books (1774 2nd Street), which celebrates its first anniversary this weekend.
Literature is in the Brandeises’ blood. Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Michael remembers a childhood of frequent moves. His father served as a Russian linguist in the military, translating radio intercepts from the Soviet Union, so duty often called around the country. Even so, Michael had a steady supply of books to read. Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy and Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy became gateways to other science-fiction, while paper route money kept him in comic books.
Gayle’s roots run closer to Highland Park, being born in Evanston and raised in Winnetka. She remembers a childhood filled with literary adventures: teaching herself to read at a young age, publishing a neighborhood newspaper at 10, and selling handmade books on a TV tray with her sister in front of their apartment building (until the landlord shooed them away). In the ensuing years she’s published several books—both fiction and nonfiction—and taught writing for over 20 years.
Brought together by musical theater, the two converged in college in California. Gayle pursued a teaching and writing. career, while Michael worked as a software engineer. In 2022, his company considered opening a Chicago office, and at the same time, Gayle felt a eastward pull, back to her native Midwest.
“In my most recent book—an essay collection—I realized how often I was writing about Chicago and Lake Michigan, and there was part of me longing to be back here,” she says.
They moved, but the company decided not to open the new office. Regardless, Michael had the option to work remotely. The move went smoothly, but they arrived in the dark days after the Independence Day parade shooting. Gayle becomes thoughtful at the memory. She recalls looking for ways to help her new neighbors, and hosting a personal and communal healing writing workshop at the Highland Park Library.
“Only one person showed up, but it was lovely… But we wanted to find other ways of being of service.”
One idea was to fulfill a long-time wish to open a comic book/bookstore. However, that was still a fun but nebulous dream for a future life—possibly after Michael’s retirement.
Life provided a poke after a visit to a local coffee bar, when they saw the former Christian Science reading room across the street. A nice, scaled-down example of mid-century modern architecture, the building once sat in the space currently occupied by the Port Clinton Square shopping center. Raised up, turned around, and transported to its current location, the reading room served Highland Park for several decades before closing. Intrigued by the unoccupied, unconventional structure, the Brandeises peered inside.
“We walked up to the window, and we knew,” Gayle says, laughing. “Like, ‘Oh no, I think this is our bookstore! We have to do this now!’”
Locating the owner took time, but once she was found the process went swiftly. Inspiration for the store’s name was threefold: A favorite childhood book, The Secret Garden; an actual secret garden in back; and Gayle’s first “novel,” The Secret World, written when she was eight and printed and spiral-bound by a supportive teacher. Fate is fate. Already equipped with lovely maple-colored shelving and a display counter up front, the Brandeises extended the mid-century modern motif with multiple pieces, posters, and decorations from their own collection. The store opened April 27, 2024—Independent Bookstore Day.
As a community long-connected with arts and culture—hosting the Ravinia Festival, local theater, an active art center, and various writers over the years (Orson Welles and William Goldman among them)—Highland Park was ready for a bookstore. Secret World’s stock is diverse, offering new and used books and comics, with a healthy selection of titles and topics.
“Our book selection is pretty intuitive,” says Gayle. “We lean toward literary, beautiful writing, beautiful book covers… I’d like to focus more on small presses… introduce folks to writers who don't get as much attention.” As she puts it, books you wouldn't necessarily find at Target.
The Brandeises are booksellers first, of course, but they want Secret World Books to be a “third space” as well. Thus far they’ve hosted special events like gaming sessions, writing workshops, “paint and sip” nights, a drag queen story hour, the “Hot Flashes and Fierce Tales: Stories of Menopause” event, talks with political candidates, and multiple signings and readings for local and outside authors. They plan to paint a mural on the building’s outside north wall, lending a touch of color and vibrancy to Highland Park’s downtown (an already successful program in the city's neighbor to the north, the town of Highwood). Secret World’s secret garden—populated by trees, bushes, flowers, and a queenly statue—may become a fourth space, already having provided a natural backdrop to several musical events and readings.
“It’s just such a beautiful space,” says Gayle. “We would love to do a wedding back there, like a small wedding. We definitely want people to find creative uses for the space.”
Secret World’s openness is an open secret amongst Highland Park literati. Case in point: after being locked out of their usual venue, the Highland Park Poetry group made a frantic, last-minute request to hold their open mic event in the store.
“We had an event at the store earlier that day, so it was already set up…and they just came pouring in here and had a really wonderful event,” Gayle remembers. “We loved that we could provide that space and be here for a poetry emergency.”
Secret World Books is participating in Independent Bookstore Day on April 26, 2025.
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