Book Reviews

In On the Horizon, her new novel in verse for young readers, Newbery Medalist Lois Lowry reflects on World War II by drawing on her childhood memories of life in Honolulu and Japan.

For over 40 years, Nashville resident Larry E. Matthews has produced a slew of specialized books chronicling some of Tennessee’s 10,000 known caves. His latest, the lavishly illustrated Caves of the Highland Rim, may be the most accessible to general readers, revealing hidden worlds through Matthews’ clear prose and detailed photographs by Bob Biddix.

Readers who love history for its grand, sweeping scale will find the premise of Katy Simpson Smith’s novel, The Everlasting, irresistible: a quartet of characters whose stories span almost 2,000 years and whose experiences delve into the chaotic, multilayered, enduring heart of Rome. 

In The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross, historian Jon Meacham offers a series of devotional essays inspired by his own faith.

Multimedia artist Jessica Ingram, who grew up in Nashville, commemorates acts of resistance to segregation and white supremacist terror in Road Through Midnight. The book includes her photographs of sites scarred by racial violence, as well as interviews with victims’ families and journalists who covered the crimes.

When we first meet Knox Thompson, the protagonist in Wesley Browne’s astounding debut novel Hillbilly Hustle, he’s a 40-something, slightly overweight nobody, planning to make a quick cash haul at a backroom poker game. As he soon learns, the best-laid plans often go awry.