J.D. Scrimgeour

The Book Rat’s Daughter

History & Biography

“Carolyn Michaels Kerr’s The Book Rat’s Daughter is a fine act of collection and preservation, and in that way, it imitates its book’s subject, her father J. Ramsey Michaels, a theological scholar who collected and wrote about old Christian religious texts. Kerr painstakingly follows the histories of major and minor book finds in her father’s life, all while giving us a glimpse of Ramsey as a studious, witty man. It’s fitting that the father and daughter bond over their love of Flannery O’Connor, who blends religiosity and exceptional writing. Michaels Kerr’s book is both scholarly and intimate, the writing clear and graceful, stirring family history and memoir into a work that preserves the highlights of a fascinating career. It would make a father proud.”