"From now on, there are bound to be two classics of the Great Depression— The Grapes of Wrath and Hardcastle." — Los Angeles TimesIn 1931 William Music is making his way back home to Virginia when he hops off a freight train in Switch County, Kentucky, to find something to eat. For eleven cents—all the money in his pocket—he buys a soda bottle's worth of moonshine. Farther down the road, he takes two turnips and a handful of string beans f...

A powerhouse novel about an idealistic young man's return to a rural Southern town simmering with prejudice and angerSeparation papers in hand, Beau Jim Early sets out one hot, dry August morning in 1960 from Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for his brother's farm in Cocke County, Georgia. After six years in the army, civilian life is not as easy as it looks. In short order, Beau Jim gets conned by a shoe-shine boy, buys a Studebaker with bad brakes, and spends nearly ...

Funny, suspenseful, tender, and wise—the story of a man who took to the woods, and the woman who found him thereSoon after his fortieth birthday, Macon "Toots" Henslee left his home, his job, and his marriage to live in a tree house. Lots of people—his wife especially—thought that he had lost his mind, but from his perch atop a Tennessee riverbank, Toots could see plainly the insanity of his old life. He had become a man who said and did the opposite of what he want...

The tender, engaging story of a family in pain and a boy whose quest for courage leads him deep into the wilds of AppalachiaIn 1948 Madeline Tally leaves her philandering husband and returns home to North Carolina, where she and her thirteen-year-old son, James, move into an ugly purple trailer in the cow pasture behind her father's farmhouse. Smart and sensitive, James worries that he is somehow responsible for his parents' separation and feels out of place in the ...

The stunning debut of a writer hailed by Robert Penn Warren as "that very rare thing, the born novelist"He had lost the thread of his life, and he couldn't pretend any longer that he hadn't.As soon as Thomas Rapidan thinks it, he knows it is true. The question is, what to do about it? John Yount's slim, potent first novel is the story of a troubled young man deciding whether to live or die.Tom's wife, Maggie, knows that he does not love her. S...

When fifty-something Naina Mehta's husband dies of a heart attack, she transforms herself from a suburban wife into a bold woman thirsty for new experiences. A far cry from the classic image of the aging Indian widow who dresses in subdued colors and focuses solely on her children and God.Naina moves to New York City, takes up a low-paying job in a contemporary art gallery, and becomes besotted by Jai, her daughter's boyfriend. But that's only the beginning of her journey into this...

★Pulpwood Queens & Timber Guys International Book Club Official Selection★★Oklahoma Book Awards Best Fiction Finalist★A bittersweet story of friendship and overcoming grief from a critically acclaimed author.Olivia Montag is a professor who doesn't have all the answers. The devastating loss of a child ended her marriage, and she's been overlooked for a job promotion one time too many. Not sure what comes next, she l...

"Take my hand, little one."Fran finds her standing by the swings. A little girl, Esther, no older than seven years old, by herself in the dead of night, her pretty but old-fashioned yellow dress covered in grass stains and her hair dishevelled. She says she's waiting for Father, and that strikes Fran as particularly odd.After Esther is reunited with her family, Fran can't stop thinking about this pious child whose imaginary friend is God. F...

"A masterful debut" that follows four generations of Cherokee women across four decades—from the Plimpton Prize–winning author (Sarah Jessica Parker).It's 1974 in the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and fifteen-year-old Justine grows up in a family of tough, complicated, and loyal women, presided over by her mother, Lula, and Granny. After Justine's father abandoned the family, Lula became a devout member of the Holiness Church—a community that Justine at times finds s...

In the wake of the 1900 Galveston hurricane, three lives converge despite persecution from the Ku Klux Klan, a bare-knuckle boxing match gone wrong, and the recovery efforts of the American Red Cross.Based on a true storyThe hurricane of 1900, America’s worst natural disaster, left the island city of Galveston in ruins. Thousands perished, including all ninety-three children at the Sisters of the Incarnate Word orphanage—except six-year-old Hester, who mira...

Bitter Magic, inspired by the true story of Isobel Gowdie and her witchcraft confession, reveals a little-known corner of history-the lives of both pagan and Protestant women in the Scottish Reformation of the 1600s as witch trials and executions threatened their lives, values, and beliefs.The storyis told by Isobel herself and also by Margaret Hay, a fictionalized seventeen-year-old noble woman. When Margaret stumbles across Isobel one day, it seems as though Isobel is co...

**2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Winner in Literary Fiction2023 National Indie Excellence Awards Finalist in Contemporary Novel2023 IPPY Awards Gold Medalist Winner2023 NIEA Winner in Literary Fiction2023 Eric Hoffer Book Awards Winner2022 CIBA Somerset Book Awards First Place Winner“...superb descriptions of Spain, its cities and museums, and seventeenth century art—as well as the often cut-throat world of graduate school. The ensuing intr...