Southern Domestic Review by George Yatchisin Singer-songwriter Amy Rigby sets up the arc of her moving, charming, outsider-insider’s memoir Girl to Country poignantly in the prologue, when she considers what…
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Born Lucky by Sarah McElwain
Rain Mountain Review by Walter Cummins A question hovering over Sarah McElwain’s entire novel from the very first sentence is whether the unlikely named Evening K. Titlebaum will be granted…
Heather by Caitlin Mullen
Celadon Review by Walter Cummins Caitlin Mullen’s Please See Us received the Edgar first novel award in 2021. Whether Heather will follow with similar affirmation from mystery judges is still…
The Family Man: Blood and Betrayal in the House of Murdaugh by James Lasdun
Norton Review by Walter Cummins Of course, I had heard of Alex Murdaugh. It would have been difficult not to if you followed the news after 2019. How could the…
The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman
Summit Review by Walter Cummins I was more than half way through The Kindness of Strangers before I realized Emma Garman’s real subject in this novel, the uncertainty of identity.…
Children of Radium: A Buried Inheritance by Joe Dunthorne
Scribner Review by Walter Cummins We imagine writers doing research as individuals behind a computer screen or in a library carrel surrounded by piles of books and documents, perhaps also…
The Danger to Be Sane: Creativity and the Eccentric Mind by Rosa Montero, translated by Lindsey Ford
Europa Review by Walter Cummins Novelist Rosa Montero opens this book with an admission that “I’ve always known something in the head didn’t work right,” then illustrates with her age…
Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World by Patrick Wyman
Harper Review by Walter Cummins While reading Lost Worlds I discovered an article reporting a prediction in Nature Cities that by 2100 15,000 American cities will suffer a severe loss…
Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures: A Biography of Denis Johnson by Ted Geltner
Iowa Review by George Yatchisin Is it possible to feel sad considering the life of someone who authored nine novels (one a winner of the National Book Award), a novella,…
Starting from Paterson by Garret Keizer
Eastover Review by Walter Cummins The nine essays in Keizer’s collection perhaps may be divided into three categories—character studies of individuals close to the author, a report on his religious…