Book Reviews | Chapter 16

The Way We Never Were

Patti Callahan Henry’s new novel portrays a family in crisis

By Faye Jones | July 3, 2014

July 3, 2014 In her latest novel, The Stories We Tell, Patti Callahan Henry offers a protagonist who has it all: a busy social life, a gorgeous house, a beautiful daughter, and a fulfilling career. But when her husband and sister are involved in a car accident and different stories emerge, she must search out the truth, no matter the cost. On July 11, 2014, Patti Callahan Henry will discuss The Stories We Tell at Union Avenue Books in Knoxville at noon and at Parnassus Books in Nashville at 5:30 p.m.

“The South Got Something to Say”

Zandria F. Robinson’s book about black Memphians offers rich insight into the post-civil-rights era

By Peter Kuryla | July 1, 2014

July 1, 2014 While recognizing that there are multiple Souths and “as many ways to be black as there are black people,” Zandria Robinson of the University of Memphis works to understand the multiple ways in which black people perform and make use of a Southern identity in their daily lives.

Chase Me Out of the Dark

In A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain, Adrianne Harun’s characters move between the real world and the supernatural

By Stephen Trageser | June 30, 2014

June 30, 2014 Adrianne Harun is on the faculty of the Sewanee School of Letters, which convenes June 8 to July 18 at The University of the South. Her debut novel, A Man Came Out of a Door in the Mountain, is an unflinching tale of poverty colored with a trace of magical realism.

In Mysterious Ways

Lin Stepp’s new novel offers a story of Christian faith and romance in the Smoky Mountains

By Faye Jones | June 25, 2014

June 25, 2014 Middle-aged Grace Conley shakes up her life and her family when she suddenly decides to buy a bed-and-breakfast in East Tennessee. In Lin Stepp’s sixth Smoky Mountain novel, Down By the River, Grace learns to follow her own dreams while discovering a reinvigorated religious faith and perhaps even romance. Lin Stepp will appear at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on June 28, 2014, at 1 p.m.

Against All Odds

A new epistolary memoir captures the love story of former death-row inmate Damien Echols and his wife, Lorri Davis

By Sarah Norris | June 23, 2014

June 23, 2014 To create their new epistolary memoir, Yours for Eternity: A Love Story on Death Row, Damien Echols and Lorri Davis revisited the thousands of letters they exchanged between 1996 and 2011 while Echols was imprisoned as one of the falsely accused West Memphis Three.

Straight, No Chaser

Jon Sealy’s debut novel, The Whiskey Baron, satisfies with both flash and impact

By Randy Fox | June 19, 2014

June 19, 2014 Jon Sealy’s debut novel is an impressive tale of country noir set against the backdrop of Prohibition. Sealy will discuss The Whiskey Baron at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on June 23, 2014, at 6 p.m.

Camilla and the Caterpillars

By Frances Figart, illustrated by Matt Brass
Smokies Life
68 pages
$14.95

A young girl’s encounter with an extraordinary caterpillar in the Great Smoky Mountains leads her and her family on a quest to plant a national park right in their own backyard.

This environmentally themed chapter book for ages 6 through 11 introduces young readers to important ecological concepts including habitat loss and the interdependence of native species and offers a compelling grassroots solution through native-plant gardening that invites anyone to take part in addressing the growing biodiversity crisis.

~the publisher