Summary: The Silent Women is an extraordinary novel inspired by the real women of Oak Ridge, Tennessee—the Manhattan Project’s “Secret City”—where thousands kept the deadliest secret of World War II. Oklahoma, 1935. Black Sunday. From the moment a wall of black dust devours the plains and buries her world, Song Holloway’s life is marked by […]
“The House Built on Alligator Bones,” by Sophia Huneycutt
October 31, 2026 by Leave a Comment
The House Built on Alligator Bones (Dutton 2026) by Sophia Huneycutt is an endlessly fascinating, utterly riveting Southern Gothic tale with all the classic elements of the genre, but it has even more to offer thanks to its unique twist. With an atmospheric Florida setting and more than enough visceral horror, The House Built on […]
“Sweeping the Porch” poetry collection by Sharon Perkins Ackerman
October 10, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In her poem “Metamorphosis,” Sharon Perkins Ackerman confesses: “What I’ve never understood / is the nature of custody on earth, / the casings that hold us, / whether it’s true as they say, / the scant three feet between this world and the other.” Yet throughout her luminous collection, Sweeping the Porch (Pine Row Press, […]
“A Time of Witches” by Madeline Martin
October 4, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A Time of Witches (Hanover Square Press/HarperCollins, 2026) by USA Today bestselling author Madeline Martin is an intense, spellbinding dual-timeline novel about magic, love, and the power of sisterhood. The contemporary story is set in Savannah, while the older story is set in 16th-century England during the time of the Hopkins witch trials, also known […]
“Keeper of Lost Children” by Sadeqa Johnson
October 4, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Keeper of Lost Children (Simon & Schuster, 2026) by Sadeqa Johnson is an excellent historical novel of warmth and transcendence about three Black people who overcome great odds in the decades after WWII. At the heart of the novel, Ethel Gathers, the proud wife of an American military officer, is living in Occupied Germany in […]
“The Things of This World” poetry by Michael David Blanchard
September 20, 2026 by Leave a Comment
In his recent collection, The Things of This World (Kelsay Books 2026), poet and professor Michael David Blanchard tasks his poems with finding a reckoning, thereby inviting readers toward a parallel accounting. Anchored by this theme of moral inventory, the collection showcases Blanchard’s deep appreciation for the art of poetry and his talent for shaping […]