This month Southern Literary Review is focusing on the damage resource extraction causes to the environment and to people and the communities they live in. Two fine environmental novels share the honor of March Book of the Month.
The first is Beyond Buffalo by Betsy Reeder. It shines a light on the psychological damage following the Buffalo Creek disaster. The flood occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, on February 26, 1972, when three coal slurry impoundment dams fail during heavy rainfall, killing 125 and injuring 1,121. Over 4,000 were left homeless. But those are just numbers. Reeder’s extraordinary achievement is to take us inside the shattered life of Ellie, a high school senior. Read our review here.
The second is Rhonda Browning White’s Filling the Big Empty, a novel that relentlessly examines environmental issues in Appalachia. While never losing focus on a young couple’s relationship, the story drops readers into the horrors of mountaintop removal to extract coal, the clear-cutting of forests, a chemical spill in a river, and opioid addiction. Despite all those problems, the story remains hopeful. It glows with love for Appalachia and its people. Read our review here.
Read our interview with Rhonda here.
We hope you will read both of these important, thoroughly researched novels deserving of wide audiences.
Leave a Reply