SOUTHERN FICTION AT ITS BEST AND MORE NEW BOOKS

Sally Brewster, owner of the independent book store Park Road Books, recommends these new offerings:

"The Nest" by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, a quirky drama about a dysfunctional New York City family and the fluctuating bonds between siblings. According to Sally, the author is 55 and this is her first novel published - and she was given a $1 million dollar advance.

"The Queen of the Night" by Alexander Chee has real-life events and figures of the Belle Epoque era woven into a story about the scandal-filled experiences of a girl from Minnesota who escapes to Paris and becomes a famous opera singer. 

"Lies and Other Acts of Love" by North Carolina writer Kristy Woodson Harvey is praised as "Southern Fiction at its best." In this novel a grandmother finds out her family's little white lies may have influenced her responsible granddaughter to suddenly ditch her hedge fund manager fiancé to marry a musician she's only known for three days. The author will sign copies of her book May 11 at Park Road Books during a Girls Night Out event that starts at 7 p.m.

In other news from Park Road Books, Sally says that readers are snapping up copies of "The Rainbow Comes And Goes: A Mother and Son On Life, Love and Loss," by TV journalist Anderson Cooper and his famous heiress/entreprenuer mother Gloria Vanderbilt.

Also popular is "Flight of Dreams" by Ariel Lawhon, a romantic adventure novel that takes place during the days leading up to the real 1937 crash of the German airship Hindenberg.

And she confirms news reports that after the terrorist attacks in Paris last year, there was a demand from readers who wanted to revisit 1964's "A Moveable Feast," a memoir of Ernest Hemingway's expat observations of Paris in the 1920s. Interest in the book has waned, but the store still has copies in stock.

Park Road Books is at Park Road Shopping Center, 4139 Park Road. Details: 704-525-9239; www.parkroadbooks.com. 

Previously recommended by Sally Brewster of Park Road Books: 

 "The Arrangement" by author Ashley Warlick. Set in 1934 in California, France and the Swiss Alps, it's based on the real-life love triangle between food writer M.F.K. Fisher, her husband, and the man she left him for. The author has taught at Queens University of Charlotte's MFA program and is now the buyer for M. Judson Booksellers & Storytellers in Greenville, S.C. 

"The Swans of Fifth Avenue" by Melanie Benjamin. The New York Times bestselling author of "The Aviator's Wife" takes readers into the world of 1950s New York High Society and its brightest star, Babe Paley, who becomes involved in a literary scandal with Truman Capote.