Hoffa’s Downfall
In Hoffa in Tennessee: The Chattanooga Trial That Brought Down an Icon, Maury Nicely recounts the 1964 trial of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa, which brought a national media frenzy to Tennessee.
Book Reviews
The Complex Odyssey of a Life
In Meander Belt, M. Randal O’Wain crafts an impressionistic self-portrait of a young man determined to escape the buzz saw of poverty and a family forever on the edge of disaster. O’Wain will discuss Meander Belt at Novel in Memphis on November 29 and at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on February 14.
America’s Cracked Mirror
Jodie Adams Kirshner’s Broke tracks seven Detroiters in the years following the city’s 2013 bankruptcy. Kirshner will discuss Broke at Parnassus Books in Nashville on November 25.
Full of Grace
In The Virgin of Prince Street: Expeditions into Devotion, Sonja Livingston frames a spiritual quest to rediscover the Catholic faith of her childhood with a literal search for a lost Virgin Mary statue. Livingston will discuss the book at Novel in Memphis on November 24.
The Dark Heart of a Marriage
Kimberly Belle’s Dear Wife tells a story of domestic abuse from multiple points of view: a wife on the run, an angry husband, and a detective determined to find answers.
Wild Things
When Clara Evans, the protagonist of Suggested Reading, shows up for the first day of her senior year in high school, the last thing she expects to do is start a revolution. The book — Chattanooga writer Dave Connis’ second young adult novel — presents readers with a complex and nuanced portrait of the consequences of censorship.
