“I wanted to capture the feeling of growing up in a family that is both typical and strange, as most families tend to be below the surface,” says author Ed Tarkington, who recently released his debut novel, Only Love Can Break Your Heart. Narrator Rocky Askew’s childhood is marked by a void after his dangerously cool half-brother Paul disappears. Rocky gets involved with an older woman next door before a heinous double murder shakes their small Southern town and compels Rocky to reconsider the past. “It’s a coming-of-age novel,” says Tarkington, “but it is also a gothic tale with macabre undertones, a murder mystery in which the damsel-in-distress is also a suspect.” The Nashville-based writer presents his work at Malaprop’s on Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m. Free. malaprops.com. Author photo by Glen Rose
Smart bets: Ed Tarkington
![Only Love](https://mountainx.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Only-Love.jpg)
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