A murder, an ice storm, and a Swiss chateau so old that not even the residents know everything that’s in it are just a few features of Tracee de Hahn’s irresistible debut novel. The author will read from Swiss Vendetta at Star Line Books in Chattanooga on February 16 at 3 p.m. and at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on February 17 at 6 p.m.
Novelist Adam Ross, the first new editor of The Sewanee Review since 1973, will launch the storied literary magazine’s redesign on January 31. In it, there’s enough transgression to satisfy the spirit of Tennessee Williams, whose bequest supports the Review’s publication.
Loosely based on a real incident, The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers is the tale of a pampered seventeen-year-old daughter of a South Carolina plantation owner who marries a widowed Confederate major. Rivers will appear at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on January 25 at 6:30 p.m.
In Kevin Wilson’s Perfect Little World, a child psychologist’s Infinite Family Project brings ten newborns and their parents to a compound outside Nashville, where they will live and grow together, their every need met. Wilson will discuss his second novel at Bounty on Broad in Memphis on January 24 at 6 p.m., and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Zadie Smith’s Swing Time tells the story of a childhood friendship and grapples with themes of race, class, and gender. It transcends the personal without ever losing sight of human passion, embodied in the intense feelings between two little girls. Smith will appear at Belmont University in Nashville on January 19 at 6:30 p.m.
Tim Gautreaux’s wide-ranging new collection, Signals, expertly examines a variety of broken lives, speaking plainly of suffering but also offering glimpses of hope and redemption. He will discuss Signals at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on January 19, and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on February 1.
