MIDWAY, Ky. — Opening a brick-and-motor bookstore was a dream for Anagail (Annie) Denington, and it is about to come true. But it didn't come without hurdles along the way.
The challenges faced by Annie and her mother, Ashlee Denington, to open their bookstore, A Likely Story, are not the only issues that the pair has overcome.
Annie was born with Chromosome Deletion Syndrome, which led to her dealing with health issues throughout her life. One of the symptoms of having the syndrome that Annie experiences is not feeling pain as acutely. This ultimately led to her developing Functional Neurologic Disorder, also known as FND, when she was 17-years-old because of a knee injury.
“It was hard,” said Ashlee. “A lot of anxiety for both of us and so, you know, we just kept plugging along, you know, what do you do? You can’t just stop living.”
Despite everything Annie went through — several doctors visits, losing control of her body and even experiencing memory loss once — she knew that her health issues wouldn’t define her.
“When it first developed, FND controlled me,” said Annie. “I took back a degree of that control.”
A passion for reading provided Annie comfort from a young age.
“She’s always loved to read,” said Ashlee. “Even with her disabilities, she started reading at an early age and just read constantly and books always provided her refuge from all of the health issues she had.”
After developing FND, Annie decided that college was not the best option for her after high school.
“I asked her, ‘What do you love? What would make you happy?’” said Ashlee. “And she said, ‘Books. Books make me happy.’ So I said, ‘Okay! What about a bookstore?’”
“’Mom, that will never work,’” Annie responded at the time. “‘I could never do that’… and here we are, five years later, I am owning a bookstore!”
The mother-daughter pair dug into Annie’s love for reading and decided to open a bookshop, A Likely Story, in 2018. It started as an online and pop-up bookstore that sells both new and used books for an affordable and more eco-friendly option.
“She likes for anybody to be able to read. That’s her thing, you know, if you want to read, you should be able to get a book,” said Ashlee.
Now they are preparing to open a storefront in Midway. Getting funding and finding an available building in their hometown proved to be a challenge, and they were preparing to settle for a building in Versailles.
“Just days before I was going to sign and do that, somebody here in Midway reached out to us and said, ‘We have a building,’” said Ashlee.
“As soon as I stepped foot in that building I was like, ‘This is my bookstore!’” said Annie. “I could see it. I could see everything.”
Annie’s vision is to make A Likely Story a welcoming environment for people to read. They are hoping for the storefront to be open sometime in April and say that progress with the building is going well so far.
To keep up with the bookstore, you can find them on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok: @ALikelyStoryKY.