You Want More spans the career of one of the South’s most beloved storytellers
…a cast of what Sherwood Anderson and Flannery O’Connor called “grotesques”: misshapen people with wonderfully alliterative names like Mack Morris Murray, Libby Belcher, Paula Purgason, Mal Morris, and Hellbent Heidi…
Ayad Akhtar creates a powerful literary assemblage in Homeland Elegies
…for the reality-show huckster turned presidential candidate. Something about Trump’s xenophobia awakens the id of the elder Akhtar, who rails against Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike, disdains Black people for…
In Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, a neuroscientist tries to makes sense of her family’s unraveling
…prowess — so that Transcendent Kingdom tells several stories simultaneously. Alongside Gifty’s bildungsroman is her family’s story of immigration, from the tightly woven social fabric of Ghana to the isolation…
Erica Waters’ Ghost Wood Song is a suspenseful story about grief, bravery, and growing up
…reveal the real essence of the story: themes of healing and letting go and the connection between music, loss, and family. This gripping novel exemplifies how a mystery can be…
Contemporary Appalachian writers profile one another in Step into the Circle
…behind visual artworks created by inventive fellow poet Frank X. Walker. Memorable photographs appear throughout the book, contextualizing and deepening the depiction of each writer. Shawn Poynter captures a lush…
Communing with the dead is good business in Helene Dunbar’s Prelude for Lost Souls
…have died and help them find the answers for which they search, as long as the price is right. Russ shows real paranormal promise and aspires to membership in The…
