Book Reviews

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.

Corey Mesler’s The Adventures of Camel Jeremy Eros follows its titular hero from boyhood in “one of the poorer sections of Frayser, a poorer section of Shelby County, north of the perpetually poor Memphis” to San Francisco’s Summer of Love, literary stardom, and beyond.

Greer Macallister’s historical novel The Arctic Fury focuses on an extraordinary woman tasked with an extraordinary mission: to lead a team of women into the Arctic to recover any evidence of the lost expedition of Sir John Franklin and his crew. Greer Macallister will discuss the book at a virtual event hosted by Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on January 28.