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 […]
Focus on Resource Extraction with “Beyond Buffalo” and “Filling the Big Empty”
March 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
“Beyond Buffalo” by Betsy Reeder
March 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
Beyond Buffalo by Betsy Reeder takes readers beyond the deaths and physical destruction caused by the Buffalo Creek disaster to explore the long-term psychological impacts on survivors. The Buffalo Creek 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 […]
“Talmadge Farm” by Leo Daughtry
February 28, 2025 by Leave a Comment
In a sweeping story set in eastern North Carolina, Leo Daughtry takes readers from 1957 to 1970, a time of convulsive societal change in Talmadge Farm (Story Merchant 2024). As the Vietnam War intensifies, the civil rights movement spreads across the South, reaching even wealthy bank president and tobacco farmer, Gordon Talmadge. North Carolina’s Research […]
Donna Meredith Interviews Betsy Reeder, author of “Broadus Unbound”
October 23, 2024 by Leave a Comment
Summary of Broadus Unbound Called by the famed Charles Spurgeon “the greatest of living preachers,” John A. Broadus left an indelible signature not only on the Baptist denomination but on a generation. Emerging from the US Civil War as a voice of reason and reconciliation, he traveled, wrote, and tirelessly trained clergy for the urgencies […]
“Between the Sound and Sea” by Amanda Cox
October 8, 2024 by Leave a Comment
How does one deal with crushing regret and unresolved grief? How do broken families heal? And what is required for personal fears to be overcome? These and other questions thread their way through Amanda Cox’s Between the Sound and Sea (Revel, 2024), a narrative of mystery and romance. The story centers around Josephina Harris, who goes […]
“The Little Girl at the Bottom of the Picture” by Jeremy White
February 13, 2024 by Leave a Comment
In The Little Girl at the Bottom of the Picture: A Journey of Selfless Discovery, Jeremy White takes readers into and through a labyrinth of relationship by providing almost-voyeuristic access to emails, text messages, phone calls, and in-person communications. This he does with candor, humor, and meticulous attention to detail. The true story begins with […]