Fiction

In The Fighter, Michael Farris Smith’s latest tale of human struggle in the Mississippi Delta, brawler Jack Boucher is drowning in debt, dodging enemies, and losing the battle against his own fractured memory. Smith will appear at Novel in Memphis on April 16, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 17.

Madeline Miller, author of The Song of Achilles, is back with Circe, another brilliant revamp of tales and characters drawn from Homeric poetry. Miller will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 11.

Ostensibly the story of a kidnapping, Leah Stewart’s clever new novel, What You Don’t Know About Charlie Outlaw, is also an examination of the cult of celebrity. Stewart, a Vanderbilt graduate, will appear at Novel in Memphis on April 11 and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 13.

In Alternate Side, bestselling novelist Anna Quindlen writes a bittersweet love letter to Manhattan, as well as a meditation on the passage of time. Quindlen will appear at the Nashville Public Library on March 28.

Adding tension to the well-known story of the Romanovs, Ariel Lawhon constructs her new historical novel of two intertwining tales: one featuring Anastasia, and one featuring Anna Anderson. Lawhon will discuss I Was Anastasia at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 27 and at Novel in Memphis on March 29.