Book Reviews | Chapter 16

Profiteer and Prophet

The “man of God” at the center of Terry Roberts’s latest novel is a portrait in contradictions

By Tina Chambers | January 25, 2019

Terry Roberts’s new novel, The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival, is a lyrical, dreamlike meditation on faith and death. It’s also a page-turning yarn about a law-breaking, wife-stealing, moonshine-running “man of God.” Roberts will speak at the Mildred Haun Conference at Walters State Community College in Morristown on February 1 and at the Rose Glen Literary Festival in Sevierville on February 23.

Opening the Black Box

A routine DNA test upends Dani Shapiro’s sense of identity

By Emily Choate | January 23, 2019

Dani Shapiro was unprepared for a routine DNA test’s stunning revelation: that her beloved father was not a biological relative. Her new memoir, Inheritance, tracks the fallout of these results, one surprising revelation after another. Shapiro will discuss Inheritance at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 30.

The Hidden Heartbeat of Music City

In Shake Your Hips, Randy Fox tells the story of Nashville’s Excello Records

By Ed Tarkington | January 22, 2019

Nashville’s reputation as the capital of the country-music industry belies the fact that some of the city’s deepest, richest musical veins trace back to Nashville’s African-American community. In Shake Your Hips, Randy Fox describes the canny conversion of art and commerce that led Ernie Young to found Excello Records, tapping into the hidden heartbeat of Music City and broadcasting it to the world.

Leaving White Supremacy

Eli Saslow’s Rising Out of Hatred recounts one man’s confrontation with his own racism

By Aram Goudsouzian | January 18, 2019

In Rising Out of Hatred, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Eli Saslow tells the story of Derek Black, a former white nationalist who now speaks out against racism. Saslow will give a free public lecture at the University of Memphis on January 23.

Mayhem in Memphis

Peter Ash takes on both gangs and white supremacists in Nick Petrie’s most recent thriller

By Faye Jones | January 17, 2019

The trip to Memphis was supposed to be healing for combat veteran Peter Ash. Then he gets on the wrong side of both a powerful gang and a psychotic white supremacist. Nick Petrie will discuss Tear It Down at Novel in Memphis on January 22.

The Weight of Mountains

Mesha Maren’s debut novel, Sugar Run, is a tale of suspense and gritty social realism

By Ed Tarkington | January 16, 2019

In Sugar Run, her debut novel, Mesha Maren explores the complications of addiction, obsession, and rural poverty through the lens of an ex-convict’s love affairs with two captivating and self-destructive women. Maren will discuss Sugar Run at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 22.

I Gotta Sing!

By Alice Faye Duncan
WaterBrook
40 pages
$14.99

“A whole barnyard makes noise ‘in the Spirit of joy’ throughout this raucous picture book, a sweetly heartwarming sing-along by Duncan. Kellam conveys comfort and happiness as the loved ones reflect sunny enthusiasm in this gladdening rendition of the Black American religious folk song ‘I’m Goin’a Sing When the Spirit Says Sing.’”

~Publishers Weekly