DescriptionWith its emphasis on traditional values, family, faith, military service, good manners, small government, and independent-minded people, the South should certainly rise again. Far from being the backwater of prejudice and ignorance that the liberal media would have you believe, the South has always been the center of American culture. From the founding fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and many others) to the frontiersmen who tamed the West, to the country music and NASCAR-loving, Bible-thumping heart of "red state" America, the South is the quintessence of what's original, unique, and most loved about American culture.
DescriptionTen-year-old Comfort Snowberger has attended 247 funerals. But that's not surprising, considering that her family runs the town funeral home. And even though Great-uncle Edisto keeled over with a heart attack and Great-great-aunt Florentine dropped dead, just like that, six months later, Comfort knows how to deal with loss, or so she thinks. She's more concerned with avoiding her crazy cousin Peach and trying to figure out why her best friend, Declaration, suddenly won't talk to her. Life is full of surprises. And the biggest one of all is learning what it takes to handle them. Deborah Wiles has created a unique, funny, and utterly real cast of characters in this heartfelt and quintessentially Southern coming-of-age novel. Comfort will charm young readers with her wit, her warmth, and her struggles as she learns about life, loss, and ultimately, triumph.
DescriptionLee Smith, one of today's finest writers in the Southern literary tradition, has been compared to Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor. This collection of nine stories, ranging from poignant ballads to delightfully inventive forms, showcases Smith's celebra…
DescriptionLee Smith, author of the acclaimed The Last Girls, delights with a tale of dry wit. Smith has won many prizes, including the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Academy Award in Literature. Speed, Alabama, is celebrating its sesquicentennial, 150 years of proud existence, and its whimsical inhabitants will definitely not let the event pass without a party. Eccentric resident Miss Iona is there to chronicle the events in her society column featured in the Messenger and to make sure the "zestful preparation" is carried out in a proper southern fashion. For genteel and dignified Miss Iona, that means no majorettes will be featured on the society page!
DescriptionAlthough they come from different ways of life, both Bonnie and Ruth are experiencing drastic changes. After discovering that her husband has lost all of their money and has left her broke, Bonnie Duke Cullman is abandoning her comfortable life in Atlanta to teach at a community college in rural Alabama. Ruth Elkin just lost her sewing job at the Cherished Lady factory, and now she must attend college classes to get back on track. The two women's lives become unexpectedly intertwined, and together they survive the ups and downs of small town life. Battle pens a novel full of conviction, courage, and a colorful cast of quirky, honest characters. Cristine McMurdo-Wallis' narration perfectly portrays the tenderness and strength of these women's friendships.
DescriptionIf there's one thing mystery novelist Maggie Dufrane knows, it's this: Laughter through tears is the Southern way. At least that's what her spitfire mama, aka the Mississippi queen of drama, says. But now the indomitable matriarch is ailing. And reliable Maggie-the-family-chauffeur is moving back in to fix things...again. Then Maggie's life takes another sharp turn. Her older sister, Jean, drops a shocker, screeching (as always), "What are we going to do?" Jean is terrified. Maggie is exasperated. And Mama's convinced it's the best gossip she's heard all year. But can Maggie tear a page from Mama's book of living large, step back, and let her family tackle their own problems for once? Maybe there's a god of second chances after all.
DescriptionThe Dog of the South is the story of Ray Midge as he tracks down his wife, Norma, who has run off with her first husband, by following credit card receipts (his credit card!). Midge starts out in Norma's lover's compact car, which has 74, 000 miles…
DescriptionWith all the poignancy, hilarity, and wisdom that are the hallmarks of her fiction, Ellen Gilchrist introduces a gallery of unforgettable characters, Southern women and men whose off-kilter lives are delicately revealed by the author's keen and forgiving gaze. This jubilantly acclaimed collection affirms anew why, as the Washington Post puts it, "Ellen Gilchrist should be declared a national treasure."…
DescriptionThe new novel by the celebrated author of The Sunday Wife chronicles the lives of a tight-knit group of lifelong friends. None of the Same Sweet Girls are really girls anymore, and none of them have actually ever been that sweet. But the story of…
