In Rebecca Barrett’s new novel She Had To Die (2025), murder in a small-town near Mobile Alabama sets off a riveting police procedural steeped in late-sixties atmosphere. A beautiful young woman, Ruby Stanton, is found shot dead in a shabby motel, and Mobile detectives Hugo August and his longtime friend Junior Knight are called in. […]
“The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush” by Susan Gilmore
September 10, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Susan Gilmore’s The Curious Calling of Leonard Bush (Blair, 2025) opens with a funeral—for an amputated leg. A “curious” beginning, to be sure, but not a gimmick. Instead, this unusual event launches a deeply meaningful, beautifully written story about grief, guilt, community, and healing in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Through rotating third-person perspectives, Gilmore delivers a tender, […]
“The Cross, The Candle & The Crown: A Narrative History of Morehouse College 1867-2021” by Marcellus Chandler Barksdale
September 9, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Few institutions in American life carry the symbolic weight of Morehouse College. It is the alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr., Maynard Jackson, Spike Lee, Raphael Warnock, and thousands of men whose lives have shaped communities across the country. In The Cross, the Candle, and the Crown: A Narrative History of Morehouse College, 1867–2021, […]
“Finding Angels” by Rhett DeVane
September 8, 2025 by 1 Comment
As sweet as the tea required at every Southern ladies’ luncheon, Finding Angels: A Heartfelt Collection of Love, Laughter, and Hope (2025) by Rhett DeVane is sure to bring a generous helping of light-hearted pleasure to your reading list. This collection of fifty short stories and poems is best savored slowly—like daily devotionals—but you may […]
“More than Half Way Home: A Story of Accompaniment in the Shadows of Incarceration” by Dustin Feddon
September 8, 2025 by Leave a Comment
More than Half Way Home: A Story of Accompaniment in the Shadows of Incarceration (2025, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, NY) by Dustin Feddon is a transforming journey. Father Dustin Feddon’s memoir of accompanying prisoners since 2013 is powerful and necessary at a time when grace and mercy have worn thin. Immigrants, students, and the homeless are […]
“Son of a Bird” by Nin Andrews
September 8, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Son of a Bird (Etruscan Press 2025), is a disarmingly fascinating memoir of a childhood on a dairy farm in Virginia that is told in a collection of prose poems by well-established poet Nin Andrews. While there are some harsh memories, on balance it is a book with a great deal of charm—and courage. Andrews […]