Reviewed by Claire Hamner Matturro Women through the ages have had to choose between their own needs and those of their families. In her newest book, Buried Seeds (Wild Women Writers, April 2020), award-winning author Donna Meredith takes this basic conflict further by asking how much two women will risk to take strong stands on […]
“The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes,” by Williams Rawlings
May 20, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes, by William Rawlings, would be a great read if only because it presents a richly layered mystery and a wronged protagonist deserving of much more than the world has handed him. But the novel is so much more than that. Rawlings took the historic Savannah setting […]
“Rich crop of women’s anthologies published in 2019, the International Year of the Woman,” Essay by Donna Meredith
April 15, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Essay by Donna Meredith Maybe they arose from the Fourth Wave of feminism that took hold in 2013, a movement focused on female empowerment. Perhaps they were further nourished by the “Me Too” movement that arose in 2017. No matter the source of inspiration, two important new collections of works by women found their way […]
April Read of the Month: “To the Bones,” by Valerie Nieman
April 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Edgy suspense, Scottish paranormal legend, and a beautiful river transformed into a wicked orange brew—these ingredients in the skilled hands of journalist Valerie Nieman create a whip-smart novel, To the Bones (West Virginia University Press, 2019). The story presents a classic hero’s quest in which an ordinary person discovers new strengths […]
March Read of the Month: “A Spy in the House of Anais Nin,” by Kim Krizan
March 4, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith Confession: I have only read one volume by Anais Nin. That was decades ago when I was in college and I don’t recall the title. The stories provoked a wide range of emotions. I was alternately shocked, titillated, appalled, and aroused by the content. Although I admired Nin’s storytelling ability and […]
“Their Houses,” by Meredith Sue Willis
November 27, 2019 by Leave a Comment
Reviewed by Donna Meredith The richly drawn characters in Meredith Sue Willis’s latest novel, Their Houses, are stumbling about in an effort to meet one of the most basic needs Maslow identifies in his famous hierarchy, a need which must be met before people can move on to find love, esteem, and self actualization. They […]