Book Reviews | Chapter 16

Living Kindly in the World

Cynthia Lord’s new middle-grade novel is almost a parable of empathy

By Susannah Felts | October 7, 2015

October 7, 2015 In Cynthia Lord’s latest middle-grade novel, A Handful of Stars, the blueberry barrens of coastal Maine present a rich backdrop for a story of two new friends, Lily and Salma, whose families’ livelihoods are dependent on the local agricultural economy. Lord will appear on October 10, 2015, at 1 p.m. in the Commons Room of the Nashville Public Library. The event, part of the Southern Festival of Books, is free and open to the public.

No Place for a Woman?

Female war correspondents fight their way to the front lines in Meg Waite Clayton’s new novel

By Chris Scott | October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015 Drawn from real-life World War II experiences of women who reported from the front lines, Meg Waite Clayton’s The Race for Paris documents the events of the summer of 1944, when the world anxiously awaited news of the liberation of France. Clayton will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

Storms Will Always Come

With The Bone Tree, Greg Iles confronts a dark chapter in Mississippi’s past

By Erica Wright | October 6, 2015

October 6, 2015 In the latest installment of his bestselling Penn Cage series, Greg Iles explores the many unsolved murders of African Americans in the years preceding the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Iles will appear on October 10, 2015, at noon in Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium. The event, part of the Southern Festival of Books, is free and open to the public.

Death of an Island

Michael Crummey’s Sweetland is a novel of community, loss, and solitude

By Ralph Bowden | October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015 In Sweetland, Newfoundland poet and novelist Michael Crummey has crafted a moving tale of mortality, both communal and individual. He will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

No Other Human Noise

Geraldine Brooks’s The Secret Chord imagines the life and relationships of the Bible’s King David

By Emily Choate | October 5, 2015

October 5, 2015 The narrator of Geraldine Brooks’s The Secret Chord faces a formidable task: an order from King David to write an unvarnished chronicle of the flawed man behind the crown. Geraldine Brooks will discuss The Secret Chord at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

The More Masks, the Better

In Tom Piazza’s A Free State, a runaway slave creates a new identity as part of a blackface-minstrel show in Philadelphia

By Sean Kinch | October 1, 2015

October 1, 2015 In Tom Piazza’s new novel, A Free State, a runaway slave, Henry Sims, joins a troupe of minstrels in blackface, but for Henry the only possible freedom comes from the liberating power of music. Piazza will discuss A Free State at Crosstown Arts in Memphis on October 8, 2015, and at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 9-11, 2015.

Tias and Primas: On Knowing and Loving the Women Who Raise Us

By Prisca Dorcas Mojica Rodríguez, illustrated by Josie Del Castillo
Seal Press
304 pages
$30

“Within these pages, I found my abuela, my tías and my primas — laughing, crying, and nodding alongside me. This book is a gift of understanding, and loving one’s family, even when our families are complicated and painful. It’s a beautiful reminder of the power of storytelling and the profound connection of kinship.”

~ Paola Mendoza, author, organizer and filmmaker