For a writer, the Holy Grail of book reviews is a positive notice in The New York Times, the newspaper of record for American literature. In the past month, three Tennessee authors—novelists Lydia Peelle and Kevin Wilson, and nonfiction writer Michael Sims—have found their way into those august pages.
In Lydia Peelle’s debut novel, The Midnight Cool, a pair of itinerant horse traders is drawn into a web of mystery, love, and opportunity as WWI throws the country into turmoil. Peelle will read from the book at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on January 16, Parnassus Books in Nashville on January 21, and at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on February 10. At each event, Peelle’s husband, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, will perform music from the era.
Nashville writer Lydia Peelle will launch her first novel, The Midnight Cool, on a book tour beginning January 6 at Parnassus Books in Nashville and continuing with stops in Memphis (at The Booksellers at Laurelwood on January 16) and Knoxville (at Union Ave. Books on February 10). At each event, Peelle’s husband, Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show, will perform music from the World War I era, in which the book is set. Today Chapter 16 presents an excerpt from The Midnight Cool.
