WYPL Book Talk

Linda Lloyd interviews Susan Rivers about her debut novel, The Second Mrs. Hockaday. From susanriverswriter.com:  It's 1865 and the Civil War is over.  For some survivors, however, the suffering is just beginning.  A Confederate field officer walks home from a Union prison to reunite with his teen-aged bride, only to discover that she birthed a child while he was away and buried it somewhere on their South Carolina farm.  Through a narrative that unfolds in letters, diary entries and inquest reports, the wife's painful story is eventually revealed, while the far-reaching repercussions of war are explored.  We see how the damage incurred by Gryffth and Placidia Hockaday has the power to dismantle and transform the lives of ensuing generations, white as well as black, and are witness to the healing powers of love.

Mark Greaney back on the program today. Mark is a New York Best Times bestselling author of international thrillers. He co-authored several Jack Ryan novels with Tom Clancy, and has recently concluded his involvement with the series, with his last solo effort being True Faith and Allegiance. Mark is also the author of the Gray Man series starring for CIA goon Court Gentry. Today, we'll talk about book six in that series, Gun Metal Gray.

Chanan Tigay's journalism has appeared in publications including Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, New York magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and The Jerusalem Post. He's an assistant professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University, and today we'll be talking about his first book, The Lost Book of Moses: The Hunt for the World's Oldest Bible, which is now available in paperback from Ecco/Harper Collins.

Kevin Wilson's story collection Tunneling to the Center of the Earth won an Alex Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. His first novel, The Family Fang was turned into a major motion picture directed by Jason Bateman, but today we'll be talking about his recently published second novel, Perfect Little World.

Lydia Peelle first appeared on Book Talk to discuss her short story collection Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing, the collection making such an impression to earn her a spot on the National Book Foundation's 5 under 35 list in 2009. Today we'll be talking about her debut novel, The Midnight Cool, set mainly in the years before America's entry into World War One, in which a young man in middle Tennessee makes a living by selling mules to British Army and tries to make a normal life for himself.

Elizabeth McKenzie who is a respected novelist having already published the novel-in-stories, Stop That Girl, and the novels MacGregor Tells the World and the new in paperback, The Portable Veblen, which was named to the longlist for the National Book Award and shortlisted for the 2016 Baileys Prize.

Alexander Weinstein's fiction has appeared in Notre-Dame Review, Pleiades,Southern Indiana Review, and other journals. His stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and appear in the anthologies 2013 New Stories from the Midwest, and the 2014 & 2015 Lascaux Prize Stories. Today we'll be talking about his debut collection, Children of the New World, which is published by Picador.

Beth Macy is a journalist having written for The Roanoke Times and has contributed essays to The New York Times.  She's written two best-selling books of non-fiction. The first was Factory Man: How One Furniture Maker Battled Offshoring, Stayed Local -- and Helped Save an American Town, and today we'll be talking about Truevine: Two Brothers, a Kidnapping, and a Mother's Quest: A True Story of the Jim Crow South.

Before becoming an author, Christine Kendall worked in the field of law firm talent management, where she coordinated the NAACP 50th anniversary commemoration of the historic Brown v. Board of Education decision. Today we'll be talking about her debut novel for young adults, Riding Chance, which is published by Scholastic Press.