“A Long Time Gone,” by Karen White

Reviewed by Donna Meredith Take a wounded woman with a good heart and addiction problems. A troubled child who needs love. A dog in need of a home. And a man who has known since childhood the name of the woman he wants to marry. Throw them into the same story, mix thoroughly, and you […]

“Down and Out in Bugtussle, The Mad Fat Road to Happiness,” by Stephanie McAfee

Reviewed by Amy Susan Wilson Down and Out in Bugtussle, The Mad Fat Road to Happiness, by Stephanie McAfee, is hilarious. It is not merely a “chick-lit” exploration of female issues—it resonates not only because of its superbly crafted world of women who create a sense of community for themselves, but also because it explores […]

October Read of the Month: “When Mountains Move,” by Julie Cantrell

  Reviewed by Donna Meredith From the outset, wrenching secrets handicap Millie and Bump’s marriage in When Mountains Move, the sequel to Julie Cantrell’s debut Into the Free. You don’t have to read the debut first to enjoy the sequel, but you should. Cantrell’s first novel won Christy awards for Best Debut Novel and for […]

“Remembering Medgar Evers,” by Minrose Gwin

Reviewed by Chris Timmons Medgar Evers should be of interest to anyone who has examined the racial history of the United States, and of the South. It’s too bad he is now near-forgotten. Undoubtedly, general American forgetfulness has much to do with it; as far as history goes, Americans do not have much memory. Nor […]

Southern Literary Review Honors Medgar Evers

This month, Southern Literary Review honors Medgar Evers, the African-American Civil Rights leader from Mississippi who was murdered in 1963.  Our Read of the Month, reviewed by William Aarnes of Furman University, is Turn Me Loose: The Unghosting of Medgar Evers (University of Georgia Press, 2013), a collection of poems by Frank X. Walker.  That review will be followed […]

“Confession,” by Richard Freis

Reviewed by Donna Meredith Confession could just as easily have been titled Obsession, although that name has been snapped up by numerous other books and a popular perfume. This debut novel by Richard Freis is the first person tale of 55-year-old George Burden’s fixation on a woman much younger than his wife—even younger than his […]