When her husband drinks himself to death, Sarah, a dirt-poor homemaker with no family to rely on and the note on the farm long past due, must find a way for her and young Emerson Bridge to survive. But the more daunting obstacle is Sarah s fear that her mother s words, seared in her memory since she first heard them at the age of six, were a prophesy, You ain t got you one good mama bone in you, girl. When Sarah reads in the local newspaper that a boy won $680 with his Grand Champion steer at the recent 1951 Fat Cattle Show & Sale, she sees this as their financial salvation and finds a way to get Emerson Bridge a steer from a local farmer to compete in the 1952 show. But the young calf is unsettled at Sarah s farm, crying out in distress and growing louder as the night wears on. Some four miles away, the steer s mother hears his cries and breaks out of a barbed-wire fence to go in search of him. The next morning Sarah finds the young steer quiet, content, and nursing a large cow. Inspired by the mother cow s act of love, Sarah names her Mama Red. And so Sarah s education in motherhood begins with Mama Red as her teacher. But Luther Dobbins, the man who sold Sarah the steer, has his sights set on winning too, and, like Sarah, he is desperate, but not for money. Dobbins is desperate for glory, wanting to regain his lost grand-champion dynasty, and he will stop at nothing to win. Emboldened by her lessons from Mama Red and her budding mama bone, Sarah is committed to victory even after she learns the winning steer s ultimate fate. Will she stop at nothing, even if it means betraying her teacher?McClain s writing is distinguished by a sophisticated and detailed portrayal of the day-to-day realities of rural poverty and an authentic sense of time and place that marks the best southern fiction. Her characters transcend their archetypes and her animal-as-teacher theme recalls the likes of Water for Elephants and The Art of Racing in the Rain. One Good Mama Bone explores the strengths and limitations of parental love, the healing power of the human-animal bond, and the ethical dilemmas of raising animals for food."

    Ellie Pringle has spent endless hours and countless dollars working with a therapist to remember the lost years of her childhood. She’s baffled and more than a little intrigued when the grandmother she hasn’t seen in thirty-four years dies and leaves her a fortune. The time has come to face her past in person. Still reeling from a recent breakup of a long-term relationship, and with nothing to keep her in San Francisco, Ellie packs her meager belongings and boards a plane for the South Carolina Lowcountry. Standing in the entryway of her grandmother’s antebellum home on South Battery Street in Charleston, Ellie faces the first of many ghosts who will soon haunt her. On her first night in the creepy, creaking mansion, as she’s perusing the titles in a dusty bookcase, she comes across her deceased mother’s leather-bound journal. Her mother’s words create more unanswered questions and send her on a quest to find more journals. As Hurricane Lorene bears down on the South Carolina coast, Ellie encounters Juan Hagood, a handsome architect who has the talent to restore her dilapidated mansion and the charm to mend her broken heart. But as Ellie reads her mother's diaries, they dislodge a stone in the wall that safeguards her memories, causing her world to come crumbling down. Revelations about her childhood lead Ellie on a harrowing journey of discovery that will hold spellbound until the dramatic conclusion.

    And then they stopped. From the author of the bestselling Sweeney Sisters Series comes a novel of friendship, family, and hope.When new next-door neighbors Georgia, Midge, and Lula first assembled on Georgia’s porch in Charleston for sweet tea, they couldn’t have known their gathering was the beginning of a treasured tradition. For twenty-six years they have met on Tuesdays at four o’clock, watching the seasons change and their children grow up, supporting each other in good times and in bad. With their ambitions as different as their personalities, these best friends anticipate many more years of tea time. And then, one Tuesday, Georgia shares news that brings their long-standing social hour to an abrupt halt. And that’s only the beginning as unraveling secrets threaten to alter their friendship forever. This is a new release of an edition originally published by Leisure Time Books.

    Her only wish is to go home, but in order to do so, she has to find the one light on Brown Mountain that transported her back in time from 1969 to 1859. When Lizzie’s one opportunity is thwarted, she remains trapped in the antebellum South, a time she’s come to loathe, but that’s not the only reason she’s anxious to return home. The Civil War looms ever closer and she is frantic to leave before the deadliest and bloodiest conflict in American history descends on Brown Mountain. Lizzie spends her days helping the Collins sisters doctor the people on Brown Mountain and in the little town of Morganton, North Carolina. While learning about the natural healing methods the sisters’ use, she teaches them the more modern medicine she learned in medical school. But it’s the nights that keep Lizzie going, searching the mountain with her best friend Abbie to find the one light that can take her home and engaging in secret meetings with Josh Hampton, a plantation owner’s son, risking her life as she helps him lead slaves to freedom. As time goes by, Lizzie begins to care deeply for Josh, enough that she questions what she will do if the opportunity to go back to her time ever presents itself. Will she step into the light or will she choose to stay with Josh? She fears that when the time comes, she will only have a split second to make that decision and can only pray it will be the right one.

    Her mother, Polly, is a cantankerous, take-no-prisoners Southern woman who lives to shoot varmints, drink margaritas, and antagonize the neighbors and she sticks out like a sore thumb among the young modern mothers of their small conventional Texas town. She was in her late fifties when Willow was born, so Willow knows she's here by accident, a late-life afterthought. Willow's father died before she was born, her much older brother and sister are long grown and gone and failing elsewhere. It's just her and bigger-than-life Polly.Willow is desperately hungry for clues to the family life that preceded her, and especially Polly's life pre-Willow. Why did she leave her hometown of Bethel, Louisiana, fifty years ago and vow never to return? Who is Garland Jones, her long-ago suitor who possibly killed a man? And will Polly be able to outrun the Bear, the illness that finally puts her on a collision course with her past?

    His sentence now up, Russell believes his debt has been paid. But when he returns home, he discovers that revenge lives and breathes all around him.Meanwhile, a woman named Maben and her young daughter trudge along the side of the interstate. Desperate and exhausted, the pair spend their last dollar on a room for the night, a night that ends with Maben holding a pistol and a dead deputy sprawled in the middle of the road.With the dawn, destinies collide, and Russell is forced to decide whose life he will save—his own or those of the woman and child.

    While her older sister, Laci—a mute, musically gifted savant—is constantly watched over and protected, Wallis Ann is as practical and sturdy as her name. When the Tuckasegee River bursts its banks, forcing them to flee in the middle of the night, those qualities save her life. But though her family is eventually reunited, the tragedy opens Wallis Ann’s eyes to a world beyond the creek that’s borne their name for generations.Carrying what’s left of their possessions, the Stampers begin another perilous journey from their ruined home to the hill country of South Carolina. Wallis Ann’s blossoming friendship with Clayton, a high diving performer for a traveling show, sparks a new opportunity, and the family joins as a singing group. But Clayton’s attention to Laci drives a wedge between the two sisters. As jealousy and betrayal threaten to accomplish what hardship never could—divide the family for good—Wallis Ann makes a decision that will transform them all in unforeseeable ways…

    It's not her first time starting over, but her efforts at a new beginning aren't helped by an anonymous local blog that dishes about the scandalous events that caused her marriage to fail.Merilee finds some measure of peace in the cottage she is renting from town matriarch Sugar Prescott. Though stubborn and irascible, Sugar sees something of herself in Merilee--something that allows her to open up about her own colorful past.Sugar's stories give Merilee a different perspective on the town and its wealthy school moms in their tennis whites and shiny SUVs, and even on her new friendship with Heather Blackford. Merilee is charmed by the glamorous young mother's seemingly perfect life and finds herself drawn into Heather's world.In a town like Sweet Apple, where sins and secrets are as likely to be found behind the walls of gated mansions as in the dark woods surrounding Merilee's house, appearance is everything. But just how dangerous that deception can be will shock all three women....

    But when Leonard moves her to a crumbling old house rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Ms. Annalee Spivey, Gradle is plunged into a lush, magical world much stranger and more dangerous than from the one she came.Here she meets Sonny Joe Stitch, a Siamese Fighting Fish connoisseur overdosed on testosterone, a crippled, Bible-thumping hobo named Ceif -Tadpole- Walker, and the only true friend she will ever know, a schizophrenic genius, music-man, and professional dumpster-diver, D-5 Delvis Miles.As Gradle falls deeper into Delvis's imaginary and fantastical world, unsettling dangers lurk, and when surfaced Gradle discovers unforeseen depths in herself and the people she loves the most.Gradle Bird is an unusual tale of self-discovery and redemption that explores the infirmities of fatherly love, the complexities of human cruelty, and the consequences of guilt, proving they are possible to overcome no matter how dark and horrible the cause.

    . . the trial of his life.Attorney Kent "Mac" MacClain has nothing left to live for. Nine years after the horrific accident that claimed the life of his wife and two sons, he's finally given up. His empty house is a mirror for his empty soul, it seems suicide is his only escape. And then the phone rings.Angela Hightower, the beautiful heiress and daughter of the most powerful man in Dennison Springs, has been found dead at the bottom of a ravine. The accused killer, Peter Thomason, needs a lawyer. But Mac has come up against the Hightowers and their ruthless, high-powered lawyers before—an encounter that left his practice and reputation reeling.The evidence pointing to Thomason's guilt seems insurmountable. Is Mac defending an ingenious psychopath, or has Thomason been framed—possibly by a member of the victim's family? It comes down to one last trial. For Thomason, the opponent is the electric chair. For Mac, it is his own tormented past--a foe that will prove every bit as deadly. The Sacrifice The most powerful weapon against evil is sacrifice.Attorney Scott Ellis is defending Lester Garrison, a 16-year-old accused of opening gunfire on a Sunday afternoon church gathering.At the same time, Scott's volunteer work at the local high school brings him into contact with Kay Wilson, an English teacher and former girlfriend. Unknown to either of them, Catawba High School is not just a place of learning—it's a battleground for an age-old struggle between good and evil. On one side are praying students and a simple janitor with an extraordinary faith. On the other side is a deeply troubled young man intent on mass destruction.Caught in the middle, Scott and Kay learn that lasting victory will require the ultimate sacrifice. The List In a world of secrets, where evil has reigned for over a hundred years, the power of an ancient covenant will change the life of one man forever.As a struggling young attorney fresh out of law school, Renny Jacobson pines for the day he can afford the luxuries of the partners in his Charlotte firm. With news of his father's death and a secret inheritance, Renny's life will surely change forever. But the clandestine society that provides the inheritance soon threatens to change him in more ways than one.Renny's life, and the life of the woman he loves, depend on supernatural deliverance from the curse of The List.

    She’s been married to Roy Tupkin for fifteen days, and she knows now that she should have listened to the folks who said he was trouble. But when a stranger sweeps in and knocks the world off-kilter for everyone in town, Sadie begins to think there might be more to life than being Roy’s wife.As stark and magnificent as Appalachia itself, If the Creek Don’t Rise is a bold and beautifully layered debut about a dusty, desperate town finding the inner strength it needs to outrun its demons. The folks of Baines Creek will take you deep into the mountains with heart, honesty, and homegrown grit.

    But now that her marriage to a New York high society heir has fallen apart in a very public, very embarrassing fashion, a pregnant Caroline decides to escape the gossipmongers with her nine-year-old daughter and head home to her mother, Ansley. Ansley has always put her three daughters first, especially when she found out that her late husband, despite what he had always promised, left her with next to nothing. Now the proud owner of a charming waterfront design business and finally standing on her own two feet, Ansley welcomes Caroline and her brood back with open arms. But when her second daughter Sloane, whose military husband is overseas, and youngest daughter and successful actress Emerson join the fray, Ansley begins to feel like the piece of herself she had finally found might be slipping from her grasp. Even more discomfiting, when someone from her past reappears in Ansley's life, the secret she’s harbored from her daughters their entire lives might finally be forced into the open. Exploring the powerful bonds between sisters and mothers and daughters, this engaging novel is filled with Southern charm, emotional drama, and plenty of heart.

    All you need is an appetite for delicious, casual dishes, cooked with the best fresh, local ingredients and presented with the breezy flair that make Mary Kay Andrews' novels a summertime favorite at the beach.From an early spring dinner of cherry balsamic-glazed lamb chops and bacon-kissed green beans, to Fourth of July buttermilk-brined fried chicken, yuppie potato salad, and Coca-Cola cake, to her New Year's Day Open House menu of charcoal-grilled oysters, home-cured gravlax, grits n' greens casserole, and Meyer lemon bar trifle, this cookbook will supply ideas for menus and recipes designed to put you in a permanently carefree coastal state of mind all year long.

    With the help of Comfort, a domestic worker living with her own tremendous loss, Marthanne discovers that Oma is another distinct personality inhabiting her body. In a time when mental illness is taboo, Marthanne and Oma’s simple, small-town life is fraught with complexity and danger.With gossip running rampant, Marthanne and Oma will do anything to avoid their greatest fear: commitment to an insane asylum. Only by relying on Comfort’s kindness can they navigate their uncertain future. Friendship becomes sanctuary, and the quest for an ordinary life leads to an extraordinary bond.Deeply moving and exquisitely wrought, Show Me a Kindness is a haunting novel of love, survival, and hiding in plain sight.

    Between the past and present, between love and war, between the burdens of race and hope, a woman returns home to discover her father and a history she had never known... Rachel Fleischer has good reasons not to be at her father s deathbed. Foaling season is at hand and her horses are becoming restless and difficult. Her critical mother and grasping sister could certainly handle Marty Fleisher's resistance better without her. But Malachi, her eighty-something horse manager more father to her than Marty has ever been convinces Rachel she will regret it if she doesn't go. When a stranger at her father s funeral delivers an odd gift and an apology, Rachel finds herself drawn into the epic story of her father s World War II experience, and the friendships, trauma, scandal, and betrayals that would scar the rest of his life and cast a shadow across the entire family. As she struggles to make sense of his time as a Jewish sergeant in charge of a platoon of black soldiers in 1940s Alabama, she learns more than just his history. She begins to see how his hopes and disappointments mirror her own and might finally give her the means to free herself of the past and choose a life waiting in the wings.

    (And the woman may be dead...)Fourth: She just might be falling in love with her new boss. And she just might have lost him his business. But what has she got to lose, other than imprisonment, her dignity, and possibly, her life?

    There, she quickly discovers the politics of a city with secrets that some will kill to keep hidden.In the murky waters of Savannah's shoreline, a young law student is under fire as she tries her first case at a prominent and established law firm. A complex mix of betrayal and deception quickly weaves its way through the case and her life, as she uncovers dark and confusing secrets about the man she's defending—and the senior partners of the firm.  How deep will the conspiracy run? Will she have to abandon her true self to fulfill a higher calling? And how far will she have to go to discover the truth behind a tragic cold case? Higher Hope Tami Taylor faces impossible challenges in life, law, and love—until she discovers a higher hope.Competition is tough at the Savannah law firm where Tami Taylor serves as a law clerk. But Tami's work sets her apart—and the firm's partners see something special in her. So they assign her to a libel case against an abrasive, outspoken preacher who is either a prophet or a lunatic.On the surface it appears to be an open and shut case; the preacher seems fully outside the bounds of law. And Tami's strict religious upbringing could be the firm's ace-in-the-hole. But as the investigation continues, Tami is troubled by the preacher's uncanny prophetic abilities. And their client seems to be hiding something.Tami returns to her hometown, struggling with several critical choices—as two very different men from the firm vie for her heart. Just when the challenges seem insurmountable, hope for Tami arrives from a surprising place. And it's a higher hope than she's ever imagined. Greater Love As the storm clouds gather, Tami does her best to weather the growing turbulence in every area of her life.She's just accepted a job with a law firm but now wonders if she made the right decision. She has two strong men vying for her heart—and is about to lose them both if she can't determine which one is right for her.And Tami's new case is anything but simple. When she first meets her prospective client, she immediately knows the rough young teen is lying, guilty . . . and utterly terrified of something beyond the charges she's facing. What she doesn't realize is just how far reaching the effects of the case will go. Or how close to home the deadly results will hit. For by the time the storm breaks, someone close to Tami will have paid the ultimate price.Through it all, Tami will experience greater sacrifice, greater friendship, and greater love than she's ever known.

    Finally relocating him as the pastor at her best friend’s wedding was the very last thing she expected.A year ago, Jacey was trapped on a rooftop during a flood with perfect strangers, including a family and a man named Colin. After two days there together, she had no doubt that Colin was the man of her dreams. When they were finally rescued he tucked his phone number into her pocket. But an accident with the rescue boat left her hospitalized with amnesia and PTSD . . . and his number nowhere to be found.Now, Jacey has still only recovered bits and pieces of her memory from that time. She clearly remembers Colin—but not his last name or any other details that would help her locate him. She’s trying to immerse herself in the joy of her best friend’s wedding . . . when she looks up at the end of the aisle only to discover Colin there in the minister’s role. Shock is an understatement.On one hand, she’s elated to see him again. And then reality sets in. She never intended to get married or have kids. And being a minister’s wife was definitely never on her list. Was Colin not the man she thought he was? Or has the amnesia changed her more than she realized?With the typical wit and honesty Celeste Fletcher McHale is becoming known for, it’s time for Jacey to take a fresh look at her life. Could this string of unexpected events have been setting her up for something far better than what she had planned for herself?

    The Always a Bridesmaid staff will do anything to ensure picture-perfect nuptials—including chasing a mischievous canine ring bearer through crowded Forsyth Park. When Abigail Browne strolls through romantic Forsyth Park on the first sunny spring day in Savannah, she never expects to catch a runaway puppy's leash—or to end up covered in mud with a twisted ankle. After Shortie escorts her home—and discovers that she is out of a job—he offers her a chance to work with Always a Bridesmaid. Now, as Shortie and Abby work together to make wedding dreams come true, will their blossoming friendship become their own happily ever after? Kiss a Bridesmaid is a standalone novella in the Always a Bridesmaid contemporary romance series about professional bridesmaids finding their own happily ever afters. If you enjoy witty dialogue, unforgettable characters, and sweet, emotional love stories, you’ll love Courtney Hunt’s light-hearted Always a Bridesmaid series. Buy Kiss A Bridesmaid and your happily-ever-after starts today! Always a Bridesmaid series Forever a Bridesmaid Once a Bridesmaid Kiss a Bridesmaid Desire a Bridesmaid Never a Bridesmaid About the Author Courtney Hunt writes smart, funny contemporary romances featuring strong heroines and the sexy heroes who steal their hearts. In addition to her Kindle Scout winning novel, The Lost Art of Second Chances, her work includes the light-hearted Always a Bridesmaid series and the heartwarming Cupid’s Coffeeshop series. An attorney by day, Courtney lives outside Washington, DC with her own Prince Charming and their son. Join her mailing list for a FREE starter library at www.courtney-hunt.com

    But it’s here that Eve, her three siblings, and their parents will settle in July, 1875. Within a few years, Eve’s father, Hap, has made good on his assurances. They have a large, weathered clapboard house and a comfortable life, thanks to Hap’s job on a steamboat. Eve and her twin sister, Ivy, are blossoming into young women. Yet as Ivy grows more involved in medicine making under the tutelage of a neighboring black woman, her path leads away from the family.Eve, an aspiring writer, loves her home though she longs to see the wider world beyond its swamps and shores. But when she discovers a secret Ivy’s been keeping, Eve must decide between protecting the family name or saving her sister. With the help of a half-Creek Indian tracker, Max Harjo, Eve sets out to find Ivy, beginning a journey that will dare her to follow her ambitions and her passion wherever they lead.

    Her career is thriving, her curves are popping and her relationship with her boyfriend has been tailor-made to support her carefree lifestyle. Her parents are healthy and supportive of her decisions and her best girlfriend, Nedra, keeps her laughing and supplied with wine. She can’t imagine there is anything else that could make her life better than it already is. However, when something seems too good to be true, that’s probably because it is. What seemed unbreakable, starts to crumble and what was unimaginable begins to manifest in a way she didn’t see coming. Now, with so much uncertainty surrounding her, Shanice has to remember how to trust her intuition even when she can’t see the whole picture.

    Tennessee whiskey may technically be bourbon, but don’t let anyone in Kentucky hear you call it that. And while boiling blue crabs may be the norm across the Lowcountry in South Carolina and Georgia, try that in front of Marylanders and they’re likely to put you in the pot.Now, from the editors of Garden & Gun comes this illustrated encyclopedia covering age-old traditions and current culture. S Is for Southern contains nearly five hundred entries spanning every letter of the alphabet, with essays from notable Southern writers including:Roy Blount, Jr., on humidityFrances Mayes on the magnoliaJessica B. Harris on field peasRick Bragg on Harper LeeJon Meacham on the Civil WarAllison Glock on Dolly PartonRandall Kenan on Edna LewisThe Lee Brothers on boiled peanutsJonathan Miles on Larry BrownJulia Reed on the Delta

    He knows the true pace of life and does not cheat it, all the while offering whopping entertainment.”—Barry HannahLong considered a master of the form and an essential voice in American fiction, Michael Knight’s stories have been lauded by writers such Ann Patchett, Elizabeth Gilbert, Barry Hannah, and Richard Bausch. Now, with Eveningland he returns to the form that launched his career, delivering an arresting collection of interlinked stories set among the “right kind of Mobile family” in the years preceding a devastating hurricane.Grappling with dramas both epic and personal, from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to the “unspeakable misgivings of contentment,” Eveningland captures with crystalline poeticism and perfect authenticity of place the ways in which ordinary life astounds us with its complexity. A teenaged girl with a taste for violence holds a burglar hostage in her house on New Year’s Eve; a middle aged couple examines the intricacies of their marriage as they prepare to throw a party; and a real estate mogul in the throes of grief buys up all the property on an island only to be accused of madness by his daughters. These stories, told with economy and precision, infused with humor and pathos, excavate brilliantly the latent desires and motivations that drive life forward.Eveningland is a luminous collection from “a writer of the first rank.”(Esquire)

    She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed The Hideaway to her and charged her with renovating it—no small task considering her grandmother’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.Rather than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid drywall dust, old memories, and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The Hideaway is easier than she expected.Then she discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed her grandmother’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.When an opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to make a choice—stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in New Orleans.

    Tales of these Southern Sasquatch creatures--such as the one made famous by the 1972 horror movie The Legend of Boggy Creek--date back to the very origins of Deep South history and are reported even today.While Boggy Creek may be the most famous case, the infamous waterway is only the tip of a much broader mystery, one that spills into the surrounding states and beyond. From Arkansas and Oklahoma down to Texas, over to Florida and all the southern states in between, chilling accounts and compelling evidence indicate that a breed of these mysterious, man-like creatures has been successfully hiding in the shadowy foothills, piney woods, and murky swamplands of these areas.Join acclaimed author and outdoorsman Lyle Blackburn as he traverses woods and waterways, delves into dusty archives, and interviews a host of credible eyewitnesses in search of one of the South's most enduring mysteries... the Southern SasquatchLyle Blackburn's research and writing on the subject of Bigfoot has been widely recognized as some of the best in the field of cryptozoology. His previous books, including The Beast of Boggy Creek and Lizard Man, offer a balanced view of the subject while delivering gripping accounts of this real-life mystery.Blackburn is a frequent guest on radio programs such as Coast to Coast AM, and has appeared on television shows including Monsters and Mysteries in America and Finding Bigfoot. Blackburn and his research have also been featured in the award-winning documentary film Boggy Creek Monster."Blackburn shows himself not only to be a first-rate researcher but a formidable writer."-- Fortean Times

    One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman. It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She's having a baby boy - an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old's life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel's marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she's been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother's affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she's pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she's got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie's been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family's freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.

    His mother, April, is haunted by her own demons, a secret trauma she has carried for years. Between them is Aiden McCall, loyal to both but unable to hold them together. Connected by bonds of circumstance and duty, friendship and love, these three lives are blown apart when Aiden and Thad witness the accidental death of their drug dealer and a riot of dope and cash drops in their laps. On a meth-fueled journey to nowhere, they will either find the grit to overcome the darkness or be consumed by it.

    Having uprooted herself from a promising career in publishing in her adopted Brooklyn), Palmer embarks on a quest to determine the fate of her lost homesand of a community that has been erased by unchecked Southern progress. Lyrically chronicling the overlooked devastation and beauty along the airport's fringe communities in the tradition of John Jeremiah Sullivan and Leslie Jamison, Palmer unearths the startling narratives about race, power, and place that continue to shape American cities. Part memoir, part urban history, Flight Path: A Search for Roots beneath the World's Busiest Airport is a riveting account of one young mother's attempt at making a home where there's little home left.

    West Charlotte opened in 1938 as a segregated school that embodied the aspirations of the growing African American population of Charlotte, North Carolina. In the 1970s, when Charlotte began court-ordered busing, black and white families made West Charlotte the celebrated flagship of the most integrated major school system in the nation. But as the twentieth century neared its close and a new court order eliminated race-based busing, Charlotte schools resegregated along lines of class as well as race. West Charlotte became the city's poorest, lowest-performing high school--a striking reminder of the people and places that Charlotte's rapid growth had left behind. While dedicated teachers continue to educate children, the school's challenges underscore the painful consequences of resegregation.Drawing on nearly two decades of interviews with students, educators, and alumni, Pamela Grundy uses the history of a community's beloved school to tell a broader American story of education, community, democracy, and race--all while raising questions about present-day strategies for school reform.

    It’s just two weeks until The Reightman & Bailey Agency officially opens, but Melba Reightman and Toby Bailey have things pretty much under control. After the horrific events of the last six months, things starting to feel almost normal again. They’re both happy to just hunker down and do what’s needed to make their new business a success. So far, everything looks to be “all systems go and full speed ahead.”An inconvenient lisp resulting from a busted lip slows things down a bit for Toby, and makes him sound embarrassing like a cartoon character. And there’s the whole awkward situation with Jon Chiang. One minute Zhou Li’s nephew is cold and distant, and the next minute…well, Toby could swear the guy might be interested in something more. It’s all very confusing.Melba’s got her hands full completing last minute paperwork so they can open for business. To complicate matters further, there’s the huge stack of invitations Madame Zhou dropped off, all needing to be hand-addressed. Melba doesn’t really think they need to throw a huge grand opening party, but there no use in arguing the point with the bossy owner of Green Dragon. To top things off, the sneaky octogenarian has strongly hinted Melba needs a new dress. With so much going on, the news about children missing from the area hasn’t really registered on anyone’s radar. The single flyer posted by a desperate mother looking for her missing daughter was disturbing, but it’s really a matter for the local police, not the Reightman & Bailey Agency. Right? Wrong. Things are never that easy.WARNING: This novel deal with mature subjects matter.

    She and her best friend Gayle Gautreau believe their futures are as bright as the Southern sun. On September 6th, 1958, Mary and Gayle strike out on their first adventure to the fall festival—alone—where they meet a mysterious psychic who sends Mary reeling from the revelation of events that will affect her for years to come. In the reading, the psychic speaks of secret keys that will unlock Mary's safety and of a difficult choice between two men. The Creole psychic woman says, "Choose de right one an' you will know peace and success ... choose de wrong one an' you will suffer in bondage many a year." Is the reading purely whimsical entertainment ... or a frightening glimpse of things to come?

    With guest artist Chris Brunner (Loose Ends).Collecting Southern Bastards #9-20

    Coming soon! The Heat Between Us by Cheris Hodges will be available Oct 1, 2017.

    But when a friend challenges her to accept an exciting job adventure in Spain, Caroline says yes to a new destiny.But before she can pack her bags, Caroline suddenly finds herself the new owner of the run-down Frogmore Cafe--and forced to choose between her friends and her future.Then her first love, Mitch O'Neal, returns home and encourages her to seek God's desires for her future. With his help, she may just discover the true sweet life. Love Starts with Elle Elle loves her life in Beaufort, South Carolina--summer days on the sand bar, coastal bonfires, and dinners with friends, sharing a lifetime of memories. She's found her stride professionally as the owner of a successful art gallery. Life is good.And she's found love with handsome, confident Jeremiah Franklin. But Jeremiah has accepted a large pastorate in a different state, so Elle turns her life upside down to take "the call" with him. When Jeremiah has a change of heart, Elle is hurt--and her faith is shaken.New York lawyer and recent widower Heath McCord imagines the lowcountry cottage he's rented for the summer is the balm his grieving heart needs. That and time to connect with his little girl. He's unprepared to meet his beautiful landlord, Elle Garvy, or the love her friendship awakens.But God has new blessings in store for the two grieving hearts. Can Elle trust so soon after losing Jeremiah? Can Heath release the memory of his wife and love again? Could love be as simple as trusting enough to take the first step? Dining with Joy Host of a regionally syndicated cooking show, Joy Ballard has a little secret: she can't cook. But when her show is picked up by a major network and given a prime time slot, her world heats up faster than a lowcountry boil.Enter Luke Redmond: handsome, creative, and jobless after having to declare bankruptcy of his Manhatten restaurant. When her producers ask him to co-host the show, Joy sees Luke as her way out. But Luke sees much more than just a co-host in Joy.Their relationship begins to simmer on and off set. Until Joy's secret is revealed and her reputation is ruined on national television by her rival, Wenda Devine.But could Devine's cruelty be a divine gift? Losing Luke--and her sister--forces Joy to consider where her worth really comes from. Could God be cooking up an even bigger adventure from the mess? And will Joy hang on long enough to find out?

    A palpable and invigorating book, mapping one woman's lifelong efforts to discover her own sexual identity through Christianity and friendship." Kirkus Review "Sandra Worsham's humor, clear-eyed honesty stitch this amazing quilt of meaning and experience together in a wonderful way." Jill McCorkle, author of Life after Life and Going Away Shoes "The struggle of the gay Christian's complicated effort to reconcile sexuality and faith is often overlooked by church leaders and more secular gays. But it is a complex, and deeply engaging journey. I was deeply moved by Sandra's book, engaged by her voice, her mind, her heart. I think many will find their very human story here in the hands of a wise and compelling woman." --George Hodgman, author of Bettyville "Sandra Worsham is the Mary Karr of Milledgeville, Georgia. This time the 'Liars' Club' has extended its boundaries. The personal stakes break the reader's heart as the lies, judgements, and deprivations whirl between Sandra, her family, her friends, her community, and her church. Yet this page-turning memoir of her quest for wholeness isn't mired in despair. Despite the decades that she held her "vile" secret of homosexuality, she kept loving those who thwarted her coming of age. This page-turner oozes with Worsham's grace and grit." --Amy Lou Jenkins, author Every Natural Fact: Five Seasons of Open-Air Parenting "A terrific book of straight talk about a woman discovering her lesbian identity and holding to her faithfulness in God, as she lives in a world that makes those identities difficult to combine. Worsham writes in a way that captures the reader from the beginning page. She inspires us with her unflinching look at the hard task of living the truth, and the courage she shows in the face of loss." --Elizabeth Cox, author of A Question of Mercy and Night Talk "Sandra Worsham has written a candid and memorable narrative of her life in Flannery O'Connor's home town of Milledgeville, Georgia: coming out as a lesbian, converting to Catholicism, and finding a life partner. Her struggles with family, church, and self constitute a compelling story that will resonate with many readers, especially those confronting issues of sexual identity and faith." Sarah Gordon, author of Flannery O'Connor: The Obedient Imagination, A Literary Guide to Flannery O'Connor's Georgia, and Distances "In Going to Wings, Sandra Worsham combines a southern raconteur's charm and candor with a social anthropologist's objective awareness to tell the story of a woman's second coming-of-age as a lesbian in a deeply conservative southern town. The result is a memoir both engaging and socially significant." --Peter Selgin, author of Drowning Lessons, winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction, and The Inventors, a memoir. "Sandra Worsham loves women and she loves Catholicism. The result of loving both is a dramatic struggle well worth following." --Bruce Gentry, Professor of English, Georgia College & State University, Editor of the Flannery O'Connor Review, and author of Flannery O'Connor's Religion of the Grotesque. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sandra Worsham's stories have been published in Memphis Magazine, Carolina Quarterly, Western Humanities Review, Ascent, and Chattahoochee Review, among others. She won First in Fiction in the Red Hen Press competition, and her story "Pinnacle" was published in the 2008 Los Angeles Review. Two of her stories were Finalists at Glimmer Train. After she retired from teaching writing to high school students for thirty years, her book on teaching writing, Essential Ingredients: Recipes for Teaching Writing, was published by ASCD in 2001. She was Georgia's 1982 Teacher of the Year and a 1992 Milken Award Winner. In 2000, she was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame. In June, 2006, she received her MFA in Fiction from Bennington College. She lives in Milledgeville, Georgia, with her s

    But when David Drummond, the local textile mill owner, visits her small South Carolina town, those repressed yearnings come forth again, deepening her discontent as she falls in love with him.But David’s appearance brings escalating union and racial tensions to the town, and Helen is torn between her Catholic faith, her duty to her husband, and her growing desire to be with David. Overrun with guilt over her feelings, she renounces her lover and chooses to remain with her husband, until she learns some life-changing news and rushes to tell David before he leaves town, and her life…forever.

    It's only fitting that she signs her name "with Gumbo Love" and that she makes a living feeding people the most delicious, soul-satisfying food.Her new cookbook, Gumbo Love, is a labor of love and includes recipes from all over the Gulf Coast. The dishes incorporate Caribbean, Cajun, Cuban, Mexican, Old Florida, and Creole influences. Lucy proves through her collection of recipes that the Gulf Coast has its own distinct flavors and traditions that make it a coastal destination year after year. And with some of the best seafood and produce the country has to offer, the Gulf Coast-beyond just New Orleans-has a vibrant cuisine and culture, making it a treasured culinary destination in its own right.Lucy combines over one hundred new recipes with old favorites. She lives by her mother's philosophy: "Life is short-eat dessert first," so the very first chapter is filled with delectable sweets like Classic Southern Pound Cake with Strawberries, Buttermilk Orange Chess Pie, and Salted Butterscotch Blondies.Since you can't live on dessert alone, you'll find Gulf Coast favorites from Tailgate Shrimp and Crab Dip to Lucy's Signature Summer Seafood Gumbo, and Crab and Corn Fritters, along with dozens of other seafood appetizers and main dishes. And if you tire of seafood, Lucy shares her family favorites like Daddy's Fried Chicken, Beer-Braised Beef Brisket, Southern Fried Creamed Corn, and Greens and Grits.

    At the same time, popular print media and artistic productions tapped the new appeal of black folk life, highlighting African-styled voodoo as an essential element of black folk culture. A number of researchers converged on one site in particular, Sapelo Island, Georgia, to seek support for their theories about "African survivals," bringing with them a curious mix of both influences. The legacy of that body of research is the area's contemporary identification as a Gullah community. This wide-ranging history upends a long tradition of scrutinizing the Low Country blacks of Sapelo Island by refocusing the observational lens on those who studied them. Cooper uses a wide variety of sources to unmask the connections between the rise of the social sciences, the voodoo craze during the interwar years, the black studies movement, and black land loss and land struggles in coastal black communities in the Low Country. What emerges is a fascinating examination of Gullah people's heritage, and how it was reimagined and transformed to serve vastly divergent ends over the decades.

    Woven alongside beautiful photography are personal stories James shares about living in the South, the people in his life, and how he fell in love with a career of making houses into homes.A beautiful book to inspire Southern style at home--infusing the new with antique, vintage, and heirloom pieces.James Farmer is of the author of A Time to Plant, A Time to Cook, A Time to Celebrate, Porch Living, and Dinner on the Grounds. His company, James Farmer Inc, is a full-service design company, including interiors and landscape. He lives in Perry, GA.Emily Followill's photography has been featured in her own book, Southern Rustic Cabin, as well as several previous James Farmer books and magazines including Veranda and Garden & Gun. She lives in Atlanta.

    The shocking events at Fort Sumter are having devastating effects on Alexander Swaney, living on his family farm in Pennsylvania just a few miles north of the border with western Virginia. He watches as Virginia fights its own civil war, as the disaffected western counties, long neglected by Richmond, attempt to secede from the rest of the state. Their political struggle produces the first land conflicts of the larger War of the Rebellion, involving the future military giants George McClellan, Stonewall Jackson, and Robert E. Lee fighting in the rugged mountains of western Virginia, soon to be a new state.As events sweep Alexander along in their path, he struggles to maintain some control over his destiny. Should he volunteer to join the Union army and fight to preserve the and he loves, but leave behind the girl he hopes to marry, as well as his family, at the mercy of marauders and bushwhackers? Adding to Alexander’s confusion is the fact that Sophia isn’t sure she’s ready to marry him, and a rival for her affections is on the scene in the form of his cousin Tip, a rake who has had his eye on Sophia.Fortunately, Alexander has a close friend in Harry Hagans, a young pastor who also feels the call to arms from his desire to bring an end to slavery. As the storms of war bear down on them, Harry and Alexander share a convoluted journey, ultimately arriving at their military home, the 1st Regiment of Loyal Virginia Volunteer Cavalry, later to become the 1st West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry. Along the way, their friendship is threatened when Harry reveals a dark secret that shakes Alexander’s trust. A detailed glimpse into a portion of Civil War history largely unknown, Storm Coming is a luminous story of a young man’s coming of age and the birth of a new state out of the storms of war.

    Now, eight generations later, MIDWAY CEMETERY conceals the activities of international conspirators engaged in a fast moving counterfeiting ring operating right under the noses of the slow-paced Midway residents. Thirty-one-year old Bostonian KATE COVINGTON travels to Midway to film a documentary intended to increase the favorability ratings for the current United States President, WILFORD PENNINGTON, who was born in Midway and descended from the murdered victim from two hundred years earlier. As she becomes enthralled with the town's history, Kate uncovers the truth about the murder of the President's ancestor. Her discovery also leads to her learning the truth behind her own mother's death and eventually changes not only the town's history, but Kate's future as well.

    Few people objected. After all, a third of the American people are descended from Confederate soldiers and Congress has officially and legally declared Confederates to be “American veterans.” That time has passed. There is an epidemic of hate and fear sweeping the land; a wave of hostility and intolerance that shows no sign of slowing or stopping; its fury is directed at Southern symbols—flags, monuments, and other displays—in fact everything Southern now appears to be a target. Paul C. Graham has courageously examined this case of mass hysteria; a condition he has aptly dubbed “Confederaphobia.” “It’s one thing,” writes Graham, “to acknowledge that the meaning of symbols is one of perspective. It’s quite another thing to have the meaning dictated by ideologues who are not participants in the cultural tradition . . . . Southern symbols mean to the Southerner exactly what they say that they do . . .speak for those people for whom Southern identity is a living reality.” Southern people are growing weary of the ongoing demonization; of being bullied and harassed; and have begun to realize that Confederaphobia is not a matter of monuments, but a campaign to expunge their identity. If you are a self-identified Southerner, you are a potential target! It’s not too late to inoculate yourself from the dangerous effects of this disease, but this is only possible if you recognize the problem. The problem is not Confederate flags, monuments, markers, belt-buckles, stickers, do-dads, knick-knacks, what-nots, or Dukes of Hazzard re-runs—the problem is Confederaphobia!

    southern states, including photos of the people being interviewed and their extraordinary narratives. After the end of Civil War in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. There were several efforts to record the remembrances of the former slaves. The Federal Writers' Project was one such project by the United States federal government to support writers during the Great Depression by asking them to interview and record the myriad stories and experiences of slavery of former slaves. The resulting collection preserved hundreds of life stories from 17 U.S. states that would otherwise have been lost in din of modernity and America's eagerness to deliberately forget the blot on its recent past. Contents:AlabamaArkansasFloridaGeorgia IndianaKansasKentuckyMarylandMississippiMissouriNorth CarolinaOhioOklahomaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginia

    But she's the only one strong enough to break the family cycle.In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a "nothing mama," she struggles to find a place where she really belongs. For answers, Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The travelers lead Millie to a key that unlocks generations of shocking family secrets. When tragedy strikes, the mysterious contents of the box give Millie the tools she needs to break her family's longstanding cycle of madness and abuse. Through it all, Millie experiences the thrill of first love while fighting to trust the God she believes has abandoned her. With the power of forgiveness, can Millie finally make her way into the free? Saturated in Southern ambiance and written in the vein of other Southern literary bestsellers, like The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin, Julie Cantrell has created in Into the Free--now a New York Times bestseller--a story that will sweep you away long after the novel ends. When Mountains Move In a few hours, Millie will say "I do" to Bump Anderson, a man who loves her through and through. But would he love her if he knew the secret she keeps?Millie's mind is racing and there seems no clear line between right and wrong. Either path leads to pain, and she'll do anything to protect the ones she loves. So she decides to bury the truth and begin again, helping Bump launch a ranch in the wilds of Colorado. But just when she thinks she's left her old Mississippi life behind, the facts surface in the most challenging way.That's when Millie's grandmother Oka arrives to help. Relying on her age-old Choctaw traditions, Oka teaches Millie the power of second chances. Millie resists, believing redemption is about as likely as moving mountains. But Oka stands strong, modeling forgiveness as the only true path to freedom.Together, Bump, Millie, and Oka fight against all odds to create a sustainable ranch, all while learning that the important lessons of their past can be used to build a beautiful future.

    It isn’t just any bar, it’s the Pirate’s Cove located on the Isle of Palms, a barrier island just north of the Charleston, South Carolina harbor. Ex-Marine Brack Pelton tries to stop the murder and almost dies himself. The victim, Skip Romeo, has a shady past and some interesting friends. The friend he’d planned on meeting at the bar before he got shot was lowcountry Private Investigator Blu Carraway. Brack Pelton hates that someone shot up his bar and Blu Carraway hates that someone gunned down his friend. Both want revenge and justice. And both tend to leave a lot of collateral damage in their wake. Their team-up is inevitable. Individually, they’re each a force to be reckoned with. Together, they’re like an atomic bomb blast at ground zero. Pelton and Carraway and Charleston will never be the same.

    An enthusiastic tinkerer and occasional inventor, Winans experimented obsessively with recipes. The Fonville Winans Cookbook incorporates recipes he found or invented in the 1950s or 1960s, recorded in two journals that his daughter-in-law, Melinda Winans, found after his death. The recipes range from the Cajun cuisine that he claimed as his favorite to Mexican and Chinese recipes that he brought home from his travels at a time when tamales and fried rice where virtually unknown in Baton Rouge. No book on Fonville Winans would be complete with his photographs, and this cookbook features many that have hitherto gone unpublished. Readers will be fascinated by the photos and the biography of this extraordinary man, and home cooks will enjoy cooking his easy and satisfying recipes.

     Surrounding their world, however, is the turbulent South as Jim Crow laws come to an end. As Josie’s school desegregates and the country meanders through new ideas brought about by the Civil Rights movement, a personal tragedy breaches Josie’s world and shatters that perfect childhood. Josie’s story is told from her early teenage years and 35 years later when her beloved grandmother dies. And when a long-kept secret unfolds for the Flint family, a new kind of heartache begins.

    Andrea Allen's debut collection of short fiction and essays focuses on how communication, or the lack thereof, impacts Black women’s lives. The stories range from the humorous to the heartbreaking: one woman wins a bake-off because her co-worker misunderstands the contest; an overweight woman finally learns to love herself, even though it means leaving her girlfriend.A teenager reflects on his mother's inability to discuss her depression; a woman realizes that her partner has been hiding a gambling addiction, and has to decide whether to help her or save herself. The women in these stories are often silenced, but Allen imbues them with a voice that demands to be heard.

    When he’s charged with the murder of a candidate for Charleston County Solicitor he finds himself on the wrong side of the law for a crime he says he didn’t commit.No longer fighting for others and now relying on the help of the few people he does trust, Noah must fight to clear his name and find the real killer before it’s too late.His search will lead him through a maze of deceptions, lies, family turmoil and treachery that spans generations.The Solicitor is set in historic Charleston and the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry where under the surface things are not always as genteel as they appear.

    But then an ominous photo of RJ is delivered to Earl's home. The photograph is dated long after his father's burial, and there's no doubt that the man in the picture is very much alive. As Earl returns to Church of the Holy Flame searching for the truth, faithful followers insist that his father has risen to a holy place high in the mountains. Nobody will talk about the teenage girls who go missing, only to return with strange tattoo-like marks on their skin. Rumors swirl about an old well that sits atop one of the mountains, a place of unimaginable power and secrets. Earl doesn't know what to believe, but he has long been haunted by his father, forever lurking in the shadows of his life. Desperate to leave his sinful Holy Flame childhood in the past, Earl digs up deeply buried secrets to discover the truth before time runs out and he's the one put underground in Heaven's Crooked Finger.

    Lee's faith shaped his life Robert E. Lee was many things—accomplished soldier, military engineer, college president, family man, agent of reconciliation, polarizing figure. He was also a person of deep Christian conviction. In this biography of the famous Civil War general, R. David Cox shows how Lee's Christian faith shaped his crucial role in some of the most pivotal events in American history. Delving into family letters and other primary sources—some of them newly discovered—Cox traces the lifelong development of Lee's convictions and how they influenced his decisions to stand with Virginia over against the Union and later to support reconciliation and reconstruction in the years after the Civil War. Faith was central to Lee's character, Cox argues—so central that it directed and redirected his life, especially in the aftermath of defeat.