Little Stone, Little Stone (Sheila-Na-Gig, 2026) by Jennifer Schomburg Kanke chronicles the poet’s deeply personal journey through ovarian cancer while also honoring the lives of well-known women who died from the disease. Often called the “silent killer” because its symptoms are subtle and frequently misdiagnosed, ovarian cancer becomes both subject and shadow throughout this collection. […]
Pulitzer Prize Winner Brian Goldstone to Keynote Trident United Way’s State of Our Families
September 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
What happens when having a job is no longer enough to afford a home? Journalist and anthropologist Brian Goldstone will bring that question to North Charleston on Tuesday, Oct. 13, as keynote speaker for Trident United Way’s 2026 State of Our Families. Goldstone’s nonfiction debut, “There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in […]
Read of the Month: “The Watersmith” by Yance Wyatt
September 2, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Water imagery cascades through Yance Wyatt’s lyrical literary novel, The Watersmith, from beginning to end in both expected and very unexpected ways. Three epigraphs illustrate the religious importance of water with quotations from the Buddha, Allah, and Jesus.—totally expected use of water in a novel. So are the thunder, rainstorms, rivers, and lakes created by […]
August Books of Note
August 27, 2026 by Leave a Comment
River of Silence (Mountain State Press) by M. Lynne Squires is a heartbreaking novel about a woman suffering from postpartum depression in the 1950s before the condition was understood by the medical community and humane treatments were developed. After Anastasia leaves her job to care for her newly adopted baby, she becomes severely depressed. She […]
“Clean Slate” by Brianna Labuskes
August 18, 2026 by Leave a Comment
A keenly observant, intelligent, and deeply moral crime scene cleaner takes center stage in Brianna Labuskes’ latest psychological suspense novel, Clean Slate (Thomas & Mercer, 2026). The “yuk factor” immediately grabs the reader in the opening paragraphs, but it serves a higher purpose: introducing the admirable perspective of protagonist Olive Hunt: “Brain matter was my […]
Donna Meredith interviews Phil Oakley, author of The Oakleys series
July 13, 2026 by Leave a Comment
Book Summaries Little Hatchet When his brother is kidnapped from their New Mexico cabin, 12-year-old Walter Oakley sets off in pursuit, launching a multi-generational saga. Following the Oakley family from 1800s frontier life among Apaches and Comanches through Prohibition-era Texas, Little Hatchet chronicles their courageous struggle for survival amid unimaginable tragedy, violence, and determination. Runners […]