Books of the Year will be announced Dec. 18 The editors of Southern Literary Review select several books each year to receive special recognition. It recognizes books published over the previous two years (with October of the current year as the cut-off date for consideration.) Categories are Book of the Year, recognizing a novel or nonfiction full-length work; […]
“Measure of Devotion” by Nell Joslin
November 3, 2025 by Leave a Comment
In her novel Measure of Devotion (Regal House 2025) Nell Joslin takes readers on an intensely personal, first-person journey of rescue during the American Civil War. With blunt-force realism and eloquent descriptive prose, she brings to life the pervasive brutality and sporadic heroism, as well as deprivations, of the nation’s darkest time: “Their eyes crawled […]
“That Which Binds Us” by Cathy Rigg
September 2, 2025 by Leave a Comment
In an exploration of the influences that bind us to people and place, to conviction and dream, Cathy Rigg’s That Which Binds Us makes a tumultuous journey from 1854 to 1866. Set in the mountains of southwestern Virginia and told from the perspective of five first-person characters, the novel rings with intimacy and authenticity, deftly […]
Focus on Resource Extraction with “Beyond Buffalo” and “Filling the Big Empty”
March 6, 2025 by Leave a Comment
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 […]
“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 […]