Readers of Jeanne Malmgren’s engaging memoir, Good Eye, Bad Eye, will find the universal themes and the clarity of her writing style appealing. From her personal story of trauma following a childhood eye injury, life truths emerge as Jeanne struggles to find her way in the world. This is not another poor-pitiful-me memoir. Instead, it […]
May 2025 Books of Note: Jim Melvin’s “Do You Believe in Magic?” and Jack Woodville London’s “Dangerous Latitudes”
Do You Believe in Magic? (Green Bird Publishing 2025) by Jim Melvin is a highly imaginative fantasy novel starring three thirteen year olds who find themselves transformed from middle school outsiders into leaders with special powers when they travel through a portal into a parallel world. Billed as “Book One of the Dark Circle Trilogy,” […]
“Horse People” by Sara Warner
Horse People (2025) by Sara Warner is absolutely everything a stellar book should be. At times it moved me to tears. Other times the actions of villainous characters left me nauseous. I am a dog person and don’t know horses, yet I fell in love with the horses in this novel. Sara Warner helped me […]
Read of the Month: “The Bright Years” by Sarah Damoff
The Bright Years (Simon & Schuster 2025) by Sarah Damoff shimmers as an exquisite, poignant portrait of a family crumbling as their painful pasts push their way into the present. It is a story of addiction and recovery. Of love and loss. Of forgiveness and redemption. Set in Texas, The Bright Years takes readers on […]
SLR editors converse with Robert Bailey, author of “The Boomerang”
Introduction: Southern Literary Review is pleased to present this three-way exchange about Robert Bailey’s newest book, The Boomerang, which is his eleventh novel. Robert joins Editor Donna Meredith and Associate Editor Claire Hamner Matturro in discussing The Boomerang, a political thriller that had Donna and Claire both going “Wow” when they read it. Robert is […]