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Watershed by Mark Barr (Hub City Press) With the arrival of electricity in Barr’s debut novel set in the post-Depression South, Nathan, an engineer running from his past, and Claire, a housewife coming into her own, struggle to find their place in this newly lit-up world. As the lights come on, the town’s backcountry values compete with this emerging technology. Nathan and Claire are forced to confront what will happen next now that their lives can no longer be lived in the dark.
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Famous In Cedarville by Erica Wright (Polis Books) When Barbara Lace, a former Hollywood actress-turned-recluse, dies in her bed, it’s Samson Delaware, her young widower, who thinks her death was no accident. Wright, a native of Wartrace, Tennessee, invites readers along as Delaware takes on the role of amateur sleuth. And Lace won’t be the last one to perish before Delaware can get to the bottom of this Tinseltown crime.
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Blood by Allison Moorer (Da Capo Press) In her debut memoir, Nashville-based musician Moorer recounts growing up in an abusive home in Alabama that included the murder-suicide of her parents in 1986. Despite the tragic end to her parents’ lives, the singer-songwriter recognized by the Grammys, the Oscars and more, also remembers a home filled with music. For Moorer and her sister, singer-songwriter Shelby Lynne, music not only saved their lives but also offered them a way out.
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A Dream About Lightning Bugs by Ben Folds (Ballantine Books) Folds, the outspoken, genre-bending musician and Nashville resident, pulls back the curtain on his life for the first time in his debut memoir. Through witty and insightful storytelling, Folds shares everything from his experiences growing up in a working-class family in North Carolina to the ins and outs of his creative process.