Paula Delgado-Kling’s aptly named book, Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood (OR Books 2024), details in vivid and sticky language the plight of a poor Columbian girl whose destiny could never be anything else but what it was: a tangled, complicated, and, ultimately, violent relationship with the only authority that even pretended to care about […]
J. Michael Dew
January 13, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Michael Dew is a Professor of English at Georgia State University – Perimeter College. His books include Gadly Plain (Cladach Publishing 2013) and All the Bad Things (currently out of print). He is the creator of The Professor’s Bayonet, which is a weekly podcast that explores literature and theology with an eye toward social commentary.
“Devil’s Defense” by Lori Duff
January 13, 2025 by Leave a Comment
A large dollop of romance sweetens the serious ethical concerns and women’s issues highlighted in Devil’s Defense (She Writes Press 2024), an entertaining legal novel penned by Lori B. Duff. Duff is a Georgia resident who has been a judge and lawyer for over thirty years. Frustrated by the unrealistic courtroom depictions and misrepresentations of […]
January Read of the Month: “Queen of Memphis” by Martin Hegwood
January 1, 2025 by Leave a Comment
By mixing dark secrets reminiscent of Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! with the strong sense of place Conroy created in South of Broad and the class distinctions depicted in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Martin Hegwood has crafted a truly iconic multi-generational novel, Queen of Memphis (Spanish Moss Publishing LLC 2024). The manuscript deservedly won the first-place award in […]
“Her Best Self” by Mindy Friddle
December 31, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Her Best Self (Regal House 2024) by Mindy Friddle is a fascinating look inside a dysfunctional family in a well-crafted, evocative story with a psychological thriller quality to it. Throughout the novel, pervasive cunningness by several characters heightens tensions and casts a riveting net sure to pull readers deeper into the tale. A darkly comedic […]