Editor's Note
Today at Chapter 16, Lauren Nossett answers a few questions about her latest thriller, Indie Darling, which sends a Dolly Parton-loving private detective searching for a missing singer-songwriter. Nossett tells Sarah Norris that the novel, despite its dark and unsettling side, is “a love letter to Nashville.”
David Wesley Williams reviews Stranded in the Future, the second memoir from “pop surrealist” Robyn Hitchcock. “Hitchcock is a lively writer, a close observer of life and its curious ways,” David says. “He writes as an alien might if it just landed on this odd orb — taking in every little thing, ever aware that he’s the stranger here.”
Denise Kiernan is well known to Chapter 16 readers from her 2013 book, The Girls of Atomic City, part of the 50 Books / HT50 series. Her new book, Obstinate Daughters, again focuses on the under-recognized role of women in history — in this case, their multi-faceted involvement in the American Revolution. Reviewer Maggie Gigandet notes that “Kiernan characterizes the traditional account of the Revolutionary War as ‘a pyramid of remembrance’ topped by well-known individuals with the rest of society at the bottom.” The book aims to shift that model and give voice to the overlooked majority.
***
This is our final edition before the site goes on its usual hiatus during July. We’ll return in a few weeks with lots of coverage of this fall’s new releases and a special focus on authors coming to the Southern Festival of Books. In the meantime, check out some of the festival titles we’ve already covered.
Have a safe and happy July 4, and look for Chapter 16 in your email inbox on August 3.
News Roundup
- Ann Patchett will receive the 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction.
- An essay by Zandria F. Robinson appeared in Oxford American.
- University of Memphis Professor Emeritus Cary Holladay was interviewed for Porchlight.
- Poems by Corrie Lynn White were published in Cutleaf.
