In C Pam Zhang’s debut novel, How Much of These Hills Is Gold, Lucy and Sam, orphaned siblings of Chinese laborers, fend for themselves in the barren hills of the American West in the aftermath of the gold rush. Zhang will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books on April 12.
In Whisper Down the Lane, Clay McLeod Chapman reimagines the McMartin preschool trials and the “satanic panic” era of the 1980s. Chapman will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Novel in Memphis on April 8.
“So here’s the gospel story. Gospel as I know it anyway. Memory’s a funny thing. It’ll fool you.” Thus begins Dennis McCarthy’s reimagining of the legend of Henry McCarty, aka William H. Bonney, aka William Roberts, aka Billy the Kid. The Gospel According to Billy the Kid is at once an unromantic account of the violence and lawlessness of the late 19th-century West and a rollicking good yarn.
In Relentless, Memphis-based author Mark Greaney sends his fictional assassin Court Gentry, aka the Gray Man, to Berlin to protect the woman he loves. A cinematic version of The Gray Man series is in the works, with Ryan Gosling as the title character.
Francis X. Walter’s From Preaching to Meddling provides valuable eyewitness testimony to the struggle for civil rights in Alabama. The memoir is an important historical document by a humble man of faith who tried to live what he believed during a dangerously polarizing time.
Margaret Renkl surveys the natural world and her personal history in Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss. Renkl will appear with Mary Gauthier on the “Sundays with Mary” program, streamed live on Facebook and YouTube on March 28. She’ll also be the keynote speaker for Rural Assembly Everywhere, held online April 20-21.
