Joan Williams's first two novels were heralded by critics and fellow authors alike. Among the distinguished voices raised in praise were those of Robert Penn Warren, William Styron, and Fred Chappell. Quiet yet compelling in style, poignant in their depiction of characters isolated and alienated from their communities and themselves, Williams's works are set in the hill country of northwest Mississippi and follow in the tradition of the two writers who she acknowledges exerted the greatest influence on her writing: Eudora Welty and Katherine Anne Porter. Williams's third novel is a thinly veiled account of her love affair with William Faulkner.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Priestly H. and Maude Moore Williams, Joan Williams attended public schools through the eighth grade. Summers were frequently spent with her mother's family in Arkabutla, Mississippi. By the time Williams graduated from Miss Hutchinson's School for Girls in Memphis, she had determined...