Southern life Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

Catherine — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 07:51:42 +0000

I’ve been an S.A. Cosby fan since his debut, Blacktop Wasteland so was eager to read his newest novel, King of Ashes. Once again, Cosby settles in the small-town South, this time with a prodigal son forced to return home after his father is in an accident that leaves him in a coma. Roman Carruthers […]

The post King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due

Catherine — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 08:26:56 +0000

Siblings Gloria and Robert live on their own in a small Florida town after their father was run out of town for trying to get the local mill workers to unionize. Their position is precarious because it’s the 1950s and Jim Crow, the KKK, and racism are still strong in Florida. So, when 12-year-old Robert […]

The post The Reformatory by Tananarive Due appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Those We Thought We Knew

Catherine — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 08:34:23 +0000

The residents of Jackson, a quiet county in the North Carolina mountains, are happy believing racism is largely in their past. Until that is, reality intervenes in David Joy’s new novel, Those We Thought We Knew. Joy uses the perspectives of three local characters: two white law enforcement officers and one Black woman to strip […]

The post Those We Thought We Knew appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

All the Sinners Bleed

Catherine — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 07:38:32 +0000

It occurred to him no place was more confused by its past or more terrified of the future than The South. It’s always gratifying to watch a new author come into their own. I’ve been reading S.A. Cosby since his debut Blacktop Wasteland and have found his writing getting stronger with each of his […]

The post All the Sinners Bleed appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

The Trees by Percival Everett

Catherine — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 07:15:21 +0000

Percival Everett’s novel The Trees is a dark and darkly humorous look deep into the foul, blood-clogged engine of racism. Set in a small Mississippi town locked in the 1950s, the death of two good ole boys has left residents stunned. Not because they were particularly liked (they were not), but because the crimes are […]

The post The Trees by Percival Everett appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Catherine — Mon, 14 Nov 2022 08:30:29 +0000

Barbara Kingsolver is back with Demon Copperhead, a serpentine tour-de-force set in the southern Appalachian Mountains. A modern-day David Copperfield, the novel follows Damon Fields from his ignominious birth in a trailer to a single, teenage mother doped out of her mind, all the way through his teens. It’s not a journey for the faint […]

The post Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Booth: A Novel by Karen Joy Fowler

Catherine — Tue, 21 Jun 2022 04:15:39 +0000

I’m not a Civil War buff so have never paid much attention to the time period, but when I saw Karen Joy Fowler had a new novel out, I knew I wanted to read it regardless of subject matter. Which is how I found myself immersed in the serpentine history of one of America’s most […]

The post Booth: A Novel by Karen Joy Fowler appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Memphis: A Novel by Tara Stringfellow

Catherine — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 04:34:17 +0000

Memphis is both the title and location of Tara Stringfellow’s stirring debut novel. Three generations of women pass through the family’s home and tumultuous times in a city where racism and violence flourish. Hazel, August, Miriam, and Joan share lives that spill over with trauma, love, and resilience in this novel about the abiding strength […]

The post Memphis: A Novel by Tara Stringfellow appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Shiner: A Novel by Amy Jo Burns

Catherine — Mon, 06 Dec 2021 05:18:23 +0000

Stories of contemporary Southern mountain men abound (Bull Mountain, The Line That Held Us), but examples of women are a bit harder to come by. The fact Amy Jo Burns brings three such women to life in her novel, Shiner, is just one outstanding element of many in this lush debut. Raised in isolation in […]

The post Shiner: A Novel by Amy Jo Burns appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Razorblade Tears

Catherine — Wed, 14 Jul 2021 04:07:23 +0000

Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee Jenkins are middle-aged men with only two things in common. And both are things they’d like to forget: their prison time and their gay sons. One is easier than the other because their sons, Isiah and Derek married and have a little girl. Other than that, Ike is Black and […]

The post Razorblade Tears appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.