Book Reviews

In Katherine Paterson’s new middle grade novel, Birdie’s Bargain, 10-year-old Elizabeth “Birdie” Cunningham is sure that her dad’s third tour of duty overseas with the National Guard will end with his death. As Birdie struggles with jealousy, loss, anger, anxiety, and the trustworthiness of both God and man, Paterson allows her readers into the inmost thoughts of this conflicted and unhappy character.

In Patricia Cornwell’s Autopsy, Dr. Kay Scarpetta must determine whether a pair of astronauts were killed by possible space debris that ripped through their satellite or by a surviving astronaut. To do so, she must remotely navigate a rescue team through a pair of autopsies in space. Zoom anyone?

Music journalist Stephen Deusner’s Where the Devil Don’t Stay: Traveling the South with the Drive-By Truckers chronicles an enduring band’s unlikely rise and wild ride.

Nashville writer Ann Patchett’s second volume of essays, These Precious Days, can be enjoyed as a grab bag of personable pieces depicting her interesting life and times. But everyone who opens the book will also be confronted by serious, universal themes — the abundant gifts of life and the tragedy of its inevitable end. Patchett will discuss the book at a virtual event with novelist Amor Towles on December 7.