The hit follow up to the acclaimed novel The Colony recently republished! Available in the shop now!

If the reader does not already know and cherish the inimitable John Bowers, Love in Tennessee will launch a love affair — John Bowers’ memoir of sexual yearning and thwarted passions incorporates scenes of piercing truth. He writes from his soul — uncliched tales of children’s first “sex shows” — performed for a nickel in the barn — car seat clinches and the poignancy of a life-long love, denied. His love of the past, his birth place and his first girlfriends will entertain even as they tear at one’s heart. By the time John Bowers holds his first sweetheart’s baby in his arms, the reader will feel the power and the poignancy of the journey which led John to seek love and his place in the literary world so far from home. his book is a tender and mature follow up to John Bowers’ first acclaimed memoir, The Colony. 

–Laura Shaine Cunnigham, author of Sleeping Arrangements and A Place in the Country

We readers are lucky to have John Bowers in our midst. In Love in Tenneesee, a fictional memoir, he blends the freshness and vulnerability of a young boy with the humor and compassion of a gu who’s had his heart broken more than once. His people of East Tennessee, Brought to vivid life in these pages, remind us all of the jy, pain and surprise of growing up. Love in Tennessee is the work of a life long writer at the top of his game — immensely appealing true and moving.

–Phyllis Raphael, author of Off the King’s Road Lost Found in London

I met in Love in Tennessee the passions of Look Homeward, Angel, the pathos of The Glass Menagerie, the grotesqueries of Winesburg, Ohio, and the humor of Tom Sawyer. This is the classic story of a young man’s adventures and yearnings in small-town America, told with the bittersweet touch of a master.

—Charles Simmons, author of Salt Water, The Belles Lettres Papers, and Wrinkles

Love in Tennessee by John Bowers takes up a proud position beside his previous works — all of which are filled with charm, quiet wisdom and great humanity.

–Bruce Jay Friedman, author of Stern, The Lonely Guy, Stir Crazy (the film)