Fiction | Chapter 16

Best of the Achaeans

By Fernanda Moore

April 10, 2012

April 10, 2012 Madeline Miller’s debut novel, The Song of Achilles, aims to uncover the passionate love story hidden inside the greatest war epic in Western literature. The romantic leads are Achilles, the Greek war-hero par excellence, and Patroclus, his tent mate and best friend. Whether the men were actually lovers or simply “boon companions” has been up for debate since Homer first composed his epic saga of the Trojan War, but the love story Miller tells is glorious, and the context in which it plays out is faithful to the original. Miller will discuss The Song of Achilles at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 17 at 6:30 p.m.

Not On Miss Julia’s Watch

By Faye Jones

April 5, 2012

April 5, 2012 While a major home-renovation project would keep most people busy, Miss Julia finds time to run to West Virginia to break a man out of the hospital and crash a snake-handling worship service. But in this thirteenth outing for Ann B. Ross’s popular heroine, things aren’t much quieter back home, where she must battle some New Age cultists for the body and soul of her carpenter. Ann B. Ross will discuss Miss Julia to the Rescue at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on April 9 at 6 p.m., at Books-A-Million in Nashville on April 10 at 7 p.m., and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on April 14 at 1 p.m.

Sewing Up Another Mystery in South Carolina

By Faye Jones

April 2, 2012

April 2, 2012 In Reap What You Sew, her sixth Southern Sewing Circle mystery, Elizabeth Lynn Casey returns to Sweet Briar, South Carolina, where Tori Sinclair has her dream job as the director of the town’s library, is engaged to a handsome and kind schoolteacher, and—perhaps most important—is now firmly ensconced in the town’s sewing circle, which has become family to her. But then a murder occurs, and Tori’s new friends are implicated. The result is a classic Casey cozy. To celebrate the fourth anniversary of Mysteries & More in Nashville, Elizabeth Lynn Casey will discuss and sign copies of Reap What You Sew on April 7 at 2 p.m.

Twenty Million and Counting

By Tina LoTufo

March 30, 2012

March 30, 2012 Nashville novelist Karen Kingsbury has more than twenty million books in print and boasts a quarter of a million Facebook fans who look forward to the latest installment in her series fiction, stand-alone titles, and children’s books. Kingsbury’s newest offering, Loving, is the fourth and final book in the Bailey Flanigan series. She recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via email.

The Weird Sister

By Fernanda Moore

March 29, 2012

March 29, 2012 Jake Bohstedt Morrill, a Unitarian minister in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and Harvard Divinity School. His debut novel, Randy Bradley—a tiny hardcover volume very reminiscent of Maurice Sendak’s Nutshell Library—is an off-kilter narrative constructed around a massive, mysterious squabble between two sisters. Morrill recently spoke with Chapter 16 about literature, postmodernism, and why he’s drawn to aggrieved characters.

Getting a Good Look at the Summit

By Margaret Renkl

March 22, 2012

March 22, 2012 If critics have anything to say about it, Tony Earley’s work will last. In 1996, on the strength of one story collection—Here We Are in Paradise (Little, Brown, 1994)—and zero novels, Earley found himself on Granta’s list of “20 Best Young American Novelists.” In 1999, The New Yorker named him to its inaugural list of the best young writers in the country. Whenever he publishes a book, it invariably lands on the best-of-the-year lists, and nearly two decades after he published his first book, all four of his titles remain in print. Tony Earley will give a reading at Christian Brothers University in Memphis on March 22 at 7 p.m. in Spain Auditorium. He answered questions from Chapter 16 by email prior to the event.

“This gripping graphic novel tells the story of the 1891 Coal Creek War — one of the most significant yet overlooked labor and abolitionist uprisings in the history of the United States. … Austin Sauerbrei’s evocative black-and-white illustrations and masterful storytelling show the personal battles and motivations that led thousands of miners to repeatedly take up arms against the powerful companies, their militias, and politicians.”

~the publisher