Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

The Past Is Waiting

In Ron Rash’s The Risen, two brothers learn that the past is not as distant as they believed

risen-hc-cRon Rash’s latest novel, The Risen, brings two brothers into an unexpected confrontation with a romantic interlude they both assumed would remain hidden in the past.

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Dark Nights and Dark Streets

Thomas Mullen delivers a hardboiled historical gem

DarktownThomas Mullen’s new crime novel Darktown is a twisted and tangled ride through big-city corruption and the dark and bloody ground of the Jim Crow South. Mullen will appear at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16.

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Her Own Strangeness

A baby girl born with an abnormality faces an uncertain future in Brad Watson’s Miss Jane

Miss JaneBrad Watson’s Miss Jane follows the life of Jane Chisolm—a woman born in 1915 Mississippi with a genital abnormality—in a character study which also illuminates the rich internal terrain of those who know her best. Brad Watson will discuss Miss Jane at the Southern Festival of Books, held in Nashville October 14-16. Festival events are free and open to the public.

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The Past Is Never Past

Memphis detective Billy Able looks for a murderer close to home in Lisa Turner’s new mystery

devil-sent-the-rain-pbWhen a local attorney is found dead behind the wheel of her car and wearing her wedding gown, Memphis’s top detectives Billy Able and Frankie Malone are called to the scene. Lisa Turner will discuss her new mystery, Devil Sent the Rain, at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on September 27 at 6:30 p.m.

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Waiting for Katrina

Jesmyn Ward’s Salvage the Bones is the 2016 Memphis Reads selection

salvagethebonesSalvage the Bones, a National Book Award winner, is the featured title for this year’s Memphis Reads program, and author Jesmyn Ward will be in Memphis to discuss the novel, which is narrated by a pregnant fifteen-year-old whose destitute family faces the arrival of Hurricane Katrina. Ward will speak at Christian Brothers University on September 28 at 7 p.m., and at Rhodes College on September 29 at 6 p.m.

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Man of the Streets

In Robert Walker Corey Mesler imagines his way into the life of a homeless man

robert-walker-cover1In his novel Robert Walker, Corey Mesler gives readers a glimpse into the mind and heart of a homeless man wandering the streets of Memphis. Mesler will discuss Robert Walker at Burke’s Book Store in Memphis on September 29 at 5:30 p.m.

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