Area professor pens companion novel to first tale

Like a good cup of joe, McHenry County College instructor Theodore Erski's first book about the world of coffee left readers hankering for more.

A refill is brewing.

"A Coffee Crusade," which complements "Salavandra: A Coffee Tale," is en route to publishers.

Erski will speak about his new novel at 6 p.m. Friday at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in West Dundee.

Set on the Caribbean island of Salavandra 20 years after the first novel ends, "A Coffee Crusade" examines the pros and cons of establishing fair trade agendas.

"I was inspired from a friend's master's thesis," the earth science and geography instructor said. "I thought these issues would fit well on the same fictional island."

The book isn't exactly a sequel. But it does contain a few of the characters from the first book, he said.

Bridget Hall, the novel's protagonist, is a young, driven New Yorker who has established her own nonprofit organization to buy and market fair trade coffee.

"I put her through the ringer," Erski said. "The story's about her struggles as the genius behind this non-profit organization, and her struggles as a woman in this male-dominated environment."

Hall, who lives in Brooklyn, finds herself traveling to Salavandra to establish her organization's fair trade presence. The novel details Hall's quest to convince Salavandran farmers that joining fair trade is a good idea, as she deals with the political arm of the island as it tries to dissuade her from her efforts.

Hall's goal reflects the goals of the author.

Erski hopes to open his readers eyes to how, through a simple cup of coffee, they are "intimately connected to a coffee grower in the developing world who has slaved away to get them their morning fix."

Maybe, he said, exposure to coffee as a commodity will teach readers to make more responsible consumption decisions.

"I've always found that as a teacher, it's easier to teach something when people don't realize they're learning it," he said. "Fiction is a perfect medium."

"A Coffee Crusade" is one of many books to come, Erski said.

"I'd like to become known as a coffee novelist," he said. "The easy part is writing. The hard part is finding an agent."

If you go

Where: Barnes & Noble Booksellers, 1468 Spring Hill Mall Blvd., West Dundee

When: 6 to9 p.m. Friday

Cost: Free talk and book signing of "Salavandra: A Coffee Tale"

Info: (847) 426-5614