Reviewed by Matthew Simmons 150 years after the end of the Civil War, I sit in Columbia, South Carolina. The banner that the local university’s football coach once called “That Damn Flag” has come down, to the joy of some and the consternation of others. In the spring of this year, I worked on a […]
“From Midnight to Guntown,” by John Hailman
August 21, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel Sundahl If I remember right there’s a commemorative statue of William Faulkner on the Oxford, Mississippi, City Hall front lawn. He’s seated on a park bench; there’s a patrician elegance to the statue, legs crossed, pipe in hand, a battered (what was likely brown) hat. What’s missing is a glass of “branch […]
“Bull Mountain,” by Brian Panowich
August 17, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The ancient story of brother pitted against brother gets a fresh take in Brian Panowich’s debut novel, Bull Mountain, by combining family saga, mystery, and crime with the best elements of literary fiction. The story’s easy yet elegant style, nuanced characters, and gripping plot will earn it many fans. Panowich’s dark, […]
August Read of the Month: “Glimmerglass,” by Marly Youmans
August 6, 2015 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Tara Mettler Marly Youmans’s novel Glimmerglass is a mash-up of the gothic romance, fairy tale, and late-in-life coming-of-age genres. We are taken to the village of Cooper Patent, a town peppered with odd characters and described by one of its villagers as “the most eccentric place I’ve ever lived.” Cynthia Sorrel, a middle-aged […]
“Go Set a Watchman,” by Harper Lee
July 20, 2015 by Leave a Comment
“Killing Atticus” Review by Angela Shaw-Thornburg On July 10th, I watched the Confederacy lose one of its final battles on the grounds of the State House in South Carolina. The Confederate battle flag whisked down the pole into the waiting hands of two honor guardsmen. They methodically rolled it up into a silky little package […]
“Fate Moreland’s Widow,” by John Lane
July 16, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel Sundahl There was a time when the Canaan River had been left free to run through the valley, years before the senior George McCane harnessed “the power of falling water” (emphasis added). Ben Crocker, the first-person narrator of the novel, makes this observation in 1988, a half-century after the events that developed […]