Welcome to the Shelf Care Interview, an occasional conversation series where Booklist talks to book people. This Shelf Care Interview is sponsored by Seaman Capital.

In this episode of the Shelf Care Interview, Susan Maguire talks to J. William Lewis, author of The Essence of Nathan Biddle. Alabama native J. William Lewis is a former lawyer who lives in Shoal Creek, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. After a clerkship for the Honorable Walter P. Gewin on the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, Lewis practiced law in Birmingham for over three and a half decades. Presently, Lewis serves as an executive officer of his family's investment company, Seaman Capital, LLC, and related companies. He's been married to Lorraine Seaman Lewis for more than half a century.

His debut novel, The Essence of Nathan Biddle, comes out on June 1st from Greenleaf Book Group Press.