Book Reviews

“Why can’t we tell our own stories?” asks the young hero of Pop: An Illustrated Novel, the final installment of Robert Gipe’s groundbreaking Canard County trilogy. Amid the weight of the past and poverty, the 2016 presidential election, sexual assault, and an invading mess of movie people, his nuanced characters do exactly that — in fine prose and disarmingly simple drawings.

Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells offers a fresh, relevant take on the anti-lynching activist. Moving beyond mere biography, Michelle Duster weaves Wells’ history with her own memoir. Duster will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 4.

Ariel Lawhon’s Code Name Hélène, an exhaustively researched and vividly woven historical novel, introduces readers to unsung WWII heroine Nancy Wake, who led a thousand French Resistance fighters, became a critical Allied asset, and eluded the Nazis so effectively that she inspired the nickname “The White Mouse.” Lawhon will discuss the book at virtual events hosted by Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 2 and Novel in Memphis on February 9.

Nathan Elias’ debut story collection, The Reincarnations, features characters who attempt to redefine themselves after enduring heartbreak and grief.

Leslie Brody’s Sometimes You Have to Lie tells the story of the free-spirited life and revolutionary times of the famously secretive Harriet the Spy author, Louise Fitzhugh.