Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl Elizabeth Genovise has yet to write a novel, but this fine short-story writer may soon accomplish that feat. She’s the author of two short-story collections, A Different Harbor and Where There are Two or More, both reviewed in Southern Literary Review. The Stone Pear is a single story published by […]
“Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty,” by John Boles
October 5, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Daniel James Sundahl Dumas Malone’s six volume biography of Thomas Jefferson is nearing the half-century mark since publication. Joseph Ellis’s biography appeared in 1996, followed by other biographies, some of which own a “tabloid” quality. Annette Gordon-Reed’s The Hemingses of Monticello, however, is an insightful consideration of a story largely expunged from history […]
October Read of the Month: “Of Bees and Boys,” by Allen Mendenhall
October 3, 2017 by 1 Comment
Reviewed by Yasser El-Sayed Much has already been written about Allen Mendenhall’s new book, Of Bees & Boys: Lines from a Southern Lawyer. The celebrated author William Bernhardt, who penned the forward to the collection of essays, states that “Mendenhall is an artist and writer of the first caliber . . . Time and again […]
“Cherry Bomb,” by Susan Cushman
September 26, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Niles Reddick Cherry Bomb is Susan Cushman’s first novel, but it doesn’t read like a debut novel. It reads like the work of a master. Cushman is no novice. Her previous books include an excellent and thoughtful work of non-fiction, Tangles and Plaques: A Mother and Daughter Face Alzheimer’s, and the edition A Second […]
“Lisbeth,” by Marina Brown
September 21, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Claire Matturro As with her stunning debut novel, Land Without Mirrors, Marina Brown has, with her newest book, Lisbeth, plumbed the emotional truths of diverse and conflicting characters as they struggle through chaos, peril, and change. Lisbeth is a big, bold, intense, and intensely complex Southern Gothic, with lyrical writing, lushly described settings, […]
“The Timekeeper’s Son,” by Sara Baker
September 19, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Molly Hurley Moran Set in the fictional Southern town of Milledge, Georgia, Sara Baker’s luminous novel The Timekeeper’s Son moves beyond the issues and conflicts usually associated with such settings to embrace more universal themes concerning human connection, forgiveness, and grace. The plot revolves around two families who are unknown to each other […]