Outliving the White Lie: A Southerner’s Historical, Genealogical, and Personal Journey (UMiss Press 2024) by James Wiggins is a blend of public, family, and deeply personal history. The result is an important book that examines racism and slavery through a unique lens. As a descendant of Southerners who fought for the Confederacy, Wiggins shares his […]
“Outliving the White Lie: A Southerner’s Historical, Genealogical, and Personal Journey” by James Wiggins
July 16, 2024 by Leave a Comment
“Liberty Street” by Jason K. Friedman
July 14, 2024 by Leave a Comment
In Liberty Street: A Savannah Family, Its Golden Boy, and the Civil War (U of SC Press 2024), Jason K. Friedman takes an unusual approach to combine the personal story of how he researched this book with the history of a Savannah family and Civil War battles. When Friedman purchases a home in Savannah’s historic […]
Donna Meredith interview Jennifer Moorhead, author of “Broken Bayou”
July 14, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Broken Bayou Summary Dr. Willa Watters is a prominent child psychologist at the height of her career. But when a viral video of a disastrous television interview puts her reputation on the line, Willa retreats to Broken Bayou, the town where she spent most of her childhood summers. There she visits her aunts’ old house and discovers […]
“Dark Dive” by Andrew Mayne
July 1, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Although I’ve been a fan of Andrew Mayne thrillers for some time, I never reviewed his books for Southern Literary Review. His early novels, like the superb story in The Naturalist, aren’t set in the South, so I read them only for enjoyment, not for sharing with SLR readers. But after hurtling through title after […]
“Apothecary 709” by Cristen E. Rose
June 19, 2024 by Leave a Comment
If you are seeking a delicious escape from disheartening news about elections and climate change, you won’t find a better one than the utterly enchanting novel Apothecary 709 (Happy Cat Press 2023). In her debut novel, Cristen E. Rose builds an amazingly detailed, gorgeous story world with fairies, shadows and changelings. This gaslamp fantasy opens […]
“A Rose in Little Five Points” by Deidre Ann DeLaughter
June 17, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Set in Atlanta, Deidre Ann DeLaughter’s engaging second novel, A Rose in Little Five Points, sprawls across the 70s and 80s, examining widely divergent themes like immigration, the AIDS epidemic, and women’s roles in both the family and the workplace. Protagonist Meredith Fields struggles with self-esteem issues, or what she calls “the three-headed FearGuiltShame self-recrimination […]