August Books of Note

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 withdraws from her husband, family, and friends. The answer to her dilemma is to send her away for “help” in an asylum. Her family hopes for a cure but instead a horror story unfolds behind the walls of Salinger-Whiteside. Shock treatments and talk of a lobotomy loom as possible treatment. The story of Anastasia, sadly immersed in a river of silence, is told through family, work friends, other patients, and asylum staff. What unfolds is the reality of mental health care for women seventy years ago and little removed from our experiences today.

Heritage and Legacy: A Collection of Biographical Stories of West Virginia Musicians (Born & Bred) by Steve Goff and illustrated by Ed Mac, celebrates West Virginia’s rich musical heritage in a captivating new book. This exclusive collection features biographical stories of musicians inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame, brought to life through Goff’s evocative storytelling and Mac’s stunning illustrations. It includes profiles of Bill Withers, Kathy Mattea, Little Jimmy Dickens, Blind Alfred Reed, Hazel Dickens, Tim O’Brien and many more.

Planting and Painting the Landscape (Stoney Creek Publishing) is a new title out from T. D. Motley, Professor Emeritus of Art and Art History at Dallas College. This warm, reflective novel features an aging artist-farmer, Sam Bartlett, who tends thirty acres of North Texas land while wrestling with memory, creativity, and change. A sequel to The Art of Farming, it blends richly observed scenes of daily farm work—gardening, livestock, and Saturday farmers markets—with the inner life of a painter whose nights belong to the Muse and the stars. As Sam and his sidekick Annie navigate suburban sprawl, family transitions, and the encroaching language of “branding” and “development,” the farm becomes a fiercely protected sanctuary where stewardship, community, and craft still matter.

The Night Hawk by Jon Sealy (Haywire Books) is a detective story with the construction industry and white-collar crime at its heart. When a roofer falls to his death in detective Luke Steele’s new suburban neighborhood, he can’t resist getting involved in the investigation—even though it occurred outside his jurisdiction. Can he shift his focus away from his job long enough to sustain a relationship with his real estate girlfriend and her two children?

If We Must Die: A Novel (reprint, UNC Press) Called a “relevant nightmare of a book” upon its publication in 1963, If We Must Die chronicles the story of Black Korean War veteran Will Harris and the violent retribution he faces when attempting to register to vote in the segregated South. A “well-timed reprint” (Ravi Howard, author of Driving the King), If We Must Die is a sobering reminder of the systemic racial terrorism that continues to rampage America. Author Junius Edwards (1929–2008) was an Army veteran and writer from the American South. If We Must Die is his only novel.

Reconstructing Immigration: How to Rebuild America’s Economic Advantage by Loren Steffy. As mass deportations and escalating “border security” budgets dominate the headlines, Reconstructing Immigration: How to Rebuild America’s Economic Advantage, shows why America cannot remain a global economic leader without a modern, lawful way to attract, legalize, and retain the workers it clearly needs. It connects the dots between immigration reform, productivity, entrepreneurship, and regional development, giving readers a coherent plan for how the United States can turn a chronic political crisis into a durable competitive advantage.

World War II Veteran in the Army of Peace: Biography of Paul Cornelius Ferrant by Verena Ferrant Harp. The biography of Paul Cornelius Ferrant contrasts a calm life on his strawberry farm with a tumultuous combat time in World War II Army Air Corps and a later serene rural time when he returns from combat. His nightmares cease when he attends a revival service and is introduced to God by meeting the Son of God. World War II Veteran in the Army of Peace: Biography of Paul Cornelius Ferrant then gives details of his life as a minister when he is in God’s Army of Peace.