Under an Imposing Shadow
In her debut novel, Mercy Hill, Hannah Thurman brings a sharp, attentive sensibility to a story of complex family dynamics, control, and the aftermath of a highly pressurized childhood.
Book Reviews
A Tortured Love Story
In Douglas Stuart’s John of John, a complicated father-son story plays out against the dramatic backdrop of Scotland’s windswept Western Isles. Stuart will discuss the novel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on May 4.
Small Matters
In The News from Dublin, Colm Tóibín depicts characters who employ grit and guile to create new homes and fresh identities. Tóibín will discuss The News from Dublin at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 30.
Ghosts of a Better Life
The world depicted in Patrick Strickland’s debut story collection, A History of Heartache, is thick with undercurrents of personal violence, addiction, cynicism, and economic instability. Strickland’s stories persistently braid these elements together as they work to generate the stories’ thematic power.
Women on a Mission
Ellen Morris Prewitt, a writer with ties to Memphis, Mississippi, and New Orleans, delivers a delightfully rambunctious tale with When We Were Murderous Time-Traveling Women. The author will appear at Novel in Memphis on May 2.
This Little Piggy …
In American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon, Mark A. Johnson examines the complicated 400-year history of what some argue is America’s favorite food — and all the cultural baggage it carries. Johnson will discuss American Bacon at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on April 16.
