A Publication of Humanities Tennessee

Thistle and Twigg

Thistle and Twigg

Thistle and Twigg

Mary Saums

Minotaur Books
304 pages
$6.99

“In this delightful first of an offbeat new series from Saums (Midnight Hour), recently widowed Jane Thistle, who has lived many places as the wife of a career military officer, moves to Tullulah, Ala., where she soon meets Phoebe Twigg, also a widow, who has lived in the small town all her life. The two women, despite their differences in outlook and personality, become close friends. When they find a dead body in the woods, and Jane’s neighbor Cal Prewitt is arrested for murder, they turn detective to exonerate him. Phoebe’s kitchen is firebombed, and Jane is subject to eerie happenings in her house. They persevere, despite the threats, and prove that two crafty widows are more than a match for the bad guys. Saums ably weaves humor, suspense and a dash of the supernatural in this winning twist on the Southern cozy.”

Publishers Weekly

God as an Interesting Character

December 12, 2012 In his most recent book, Mr g: A Novel About the Creation, Memphis native Alan Lightman takes on the ultimate questions of mind and spirit, writing a twenty-first-century creation story which features a God who works within the laws of physics. He answers questions from Chapter 16 about the genesis of the book, and he shares his thoughts on the troubling cultural rift between science and religion.

God as an Interesting Character

The Magazine at the Corner of Second and Church

December 10, 2012 In May 2011, Roy Burkhead was hit by a car at the intersection of Church Street and 2nd Avenue in downtown Nashville. (He was not seriously injured.) In many people, such an experience might spark musings on mortality, but for Burkhead it sparked the idea for a literary journal. “This event forced me to pause and look around,” he says. “I was interested to realize just how many different aspects of Nashville were represented from this particular spot of town. Maybe it was the impact of the bumper, but I started to ponder that this specific spot could work as a great metaphor, a virtual location in this actual city.” One year later, he published the first issue of 2nd & Church.

Justice in Post-Peace Ireland

December 4, 2012 Originally from Belfast, Knoxville author James B. Johnston left Ireland in 1974, during “the Troubles,” but no Irish native can ever escape the effects of that period. Everyone in Ireland knows somebody—probably many people—who were killed or injured during that time. The Belfast Peace Agreement of 1998 stopped most of the violence, finally, but didn’t entirely settle issues of justice, retribution, and punishment. Johnston’s new novel, The Price of Peace, sets up a fictional case involving a bombing and retribution designed to explore those issues. Is real justice possible after the Peace accord?

Mischief in Memphis

November 28, 2012 Steve Stern is “quite famous for being unknown,” according to The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper. Since 1983, the Memphis native has published twelve novels and short-story collections; many of them have fallen out of print, but his work invariably receives prestigious awards and overwhelmingly rave reviews. Stern’s latest, The Book of Mischief, is a collection of new and selected stories inspired by Yiddish folklore. The book offers an opportunity for new readers to familiarize themselves with Stern’s work and for loyal fans to revisit some A-list stories and at the same time discover new gems.

Trouble in Tammyland

November 26, 2012 Emily Arsenault’s third mystery features extensive excerpts from a fictional memoir, a pregnant detective, and a strong undercurrent of Nashville’s music heritage. In a world in which most mysteries are plot- or character-driven, Miss Me When I’m Gone can fairly claim to be driven by relationships—the kinds of relationships that have inspired many a country song.

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