Reviewed by Donna Meredith How to describe it? Exquisite. Literary. Experimental. Perfect in its own unique way, The Archive of Alternative Endings is unlike any other novel I’ve ever read. It’s different. Really different. It doesn’t have a plot, not in the usual sense. The characters don’t invite you to crawl into their skin, walk […]
July Read of the Month: “The Archive of Alternative Endings,” by Lindsey Drager
July 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
“The Orphan of Pitigliano,” by Marina Brown
June 18, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Marina Brown’s The Orphan of Pitigliano is a feast of Old World mystery and magic, betrayal and heartbreak, sin and redemption. Readers who enjoyed Helen Wecker’s best-selling novel, The Golem and the Jinni, will like Brown’s tale, which also blends Jewish myth into the historical novel. Brown paints her stunning story […]
Donna Meredith Interviews Marina Brown, Author of “The Orphan of Pitigliano”
June 16, 2020 by Leave a Comment
DM: I have a theory that every great novel begins with one strong emotional scene or character or idea that ignites the author’s passion. What spark initiated your desire to write The Orphan of Pitigliano? MB: Honestly, I think it was a series of experiences I had had in Pitigliano over the years that coalesced […]
“The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes,” by Williams Rawlings
May 20, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes, by William Rawlings, would be a great read if only because it presents a richly layered mystery and a wronged protagonist deserving of much more than the world has handed him. But the novel is so much more than that. Rawlings took the historic Savannah setting […]
“Rich crop of women’s anthologies published in 2019, the International Year of the Woman,” Essay by Donna Meredith
April 15, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Essay by Donna Meredith Maybe they arose from the Fourth Wave of feminism that took hold in 2013, a movement focused on female empowerment. Perhaps they were further nourished by the “Me Too” movement that arose in 2017. No matter the source of inspiration, two important new collections of works by women found their way […]
April Read of the Month: “To the Bones,” by Valerie Nieman
April 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Edgy suspense, Scottish paranormal legend, and a beautiful river transformed into a wicked orange brew—these ingredients in the skilled hands of journalist Valerie Nieman create a whip-smart novel, To the Bones (West Virginia University Press, 2019). The story presents a classic hero’s quest in which an ordinary person discovers new strengths […]
March Read of the Month: “A Spy in the House of Anais Nin,” by Kim Krizan
March 4, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Confession: I have only read one volume by Anais Nin. That was decades ago when I was in college and I don’t recall the title. The stories provoked a wide range of emotions. I was alternately shocked, titillated, appalled, and aroused by the content. Although I admired Nin’s storytelling ability and […]
“Their Houses,” by Meredith Sue Willis
November 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The richly drawn characters in Meredith Sue Willis’s latest novel, Their Houses, are stumbling about in an effort to meet one of the most basic needs Maslow identifies in his famous hierarchy, a need which must be met before people can move on to find love, esteem, and self actualization. They […]