Graceland, at Last: Notes on Hope and Heartache from the American South

"[Graceland, At Last] is Renkl at her most tender and most fierce . . . Renkl's gift, just as it was in her first book Late Migrations, is to make fascinating for others what is closest to her heart . . . What rises in me after reading her essays is [John] Lewis' famous urging to get in good trouble to make the world fairer and better. Many people in the South are doing just that--and through her beautiful writing, Renkl is among them." --NPR

"In this luminous collection, Margaret Renkl delivers smart, beautifully crafted personal and political observations . . . I keep this book nearby to revisit the humanity and hope in its pages." --Minneapolis Star Tribune

"Amazing and inspiring. [Graceland, At Last] will help you figure out concrete things you can do to save the planet." --Ann Patchett

"Reading the short essays in this book has strengthened my understanding and love for the South, its people, its land, and its complexities. I especially have enjoyed reading Renkl's thoughtful reflections on flora and fauna, and I find myself looking to my changing backyard this fall with a new appreciation." --Garden & Gun, "New Reads for Fall 2021"

"[Renkl] doesn't shy from hard topics but explores them with the careful hand of someone whose heart yearns for healing, growth, and understanding for the region she loves. A must read for those who live and love the South!" --Country Living, "Best Books of Fall 2021"

"Everyone should have a friend like Margaret Renkl: thoughtful, engaged, compassionate and, above all, acutely observant. Since that's not always possible, the next best thing is to share her company in the diverse and consistently stimulating essay collection Graceland, At Last . . . Renkl is both unfailingly honest and deeply empathetic in creating the vivid portrait of her home region that emerges organically from these intensely personal and well-informed essays." --Shelf Awareness

"Margaret Renkl's perspective feels like a guiding light . . . No matter where you're from, column after column, Renkl will make you feel right at home." --Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"Readers can easily home in on one of the book's wide-ranging six sections, sample an essay or two from each, or barrel through from start to finish, as whim dictates. Renkl's voice is calm, steady and sometimes surprising . . . She celebrates a host of new voices in southern writing and sees in their world the light of justice and hope for the South." --Booklist

"From her home in Nashville--'a blue dot in the red sea of Tennessee'--[Renkl] writes perceptively of the region where she was born and raised (in Alabama), educated (in South Carolina), and settled . . . Renkl vividly evokes the lush natural beauty of the rivers, old-growth forests, 'red-dirt pineywoods, ' marshes, and coastal plains that she deeply loves . . . A wide-ranging look at the realities of the South." --Kirkus Reviews

"If you've happened upon the poignant and off-road opinion pieces Renkl writes as a contributor to The New York Times, you already know that the natural world is something she closely observes and uses as a springboard to contemplate other, less tangible subjects. . . . Her life story and her life's passion intertwine, like a fence post and a trumpet vine."--Maureen Corrigan, NPR's Fresh Air

"Graceland, At Last takes us to Renkl's homeland and shines a light on her life in the South, its complexities and its hopes. In these pages, you will find Black Lives Matter organizers, churches sheltering the homeless, and even helpful sheep. Reading M...