Observed with a poet’s eye, deeply concerned with social justice, history, community, and the natural world, Camille Dungy’s Soil recounts the process of creating a pollinator garden in her Colorado yard, circling around her history and the history of the plants, animals and politics of the West. “I dig up a lot of awful history when I kneel in my garden,” she writes. “But, my god, a lot of beauty grows out of this soil as well.”
This is a smart, beautiful, wide-ranging book that will draw you in and change how you look at the world around you.
Soil : The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden by Camille T. Dungy, (List Price: 28.99, Simon & Schuster, 9781982195304, May 2023)
I went from believing I was an undisciplined person to writing every single morning before work for an hour and eventually finishing a manuscript. I had to start telling a different story about myself because it took some level of consistency and commitment to be able to achieve that. It was also incredibly vulnerable. There was no magazine to hide behind that people already loved and trusted. It was just me and my words. ―Tembe Denton-Hurst, Interview, Morning Person
What booksellers are saying about Homebodies
A searing yet quiet novel that succeeds as a commentary on the racism ingrained within media content, as a relationship drama, and as a story of protagonist Mickey’s path to self-discovery and self-respect. Mickey is a completely believable and sympathetic character whose depression and every insecurity Denton-Hurst represented convincingly. And Lex and Mickey’s relationship troubles were handled so maturely and with such detail, I never really knew whose side to take, which is just what I wanted. A very full novel, but one that executes its various intentions very well.
― Sam Edge from Epilogue Books Chocolate Brews in Chapel Hill, NC
| Buy from Epilogue Books
Homebodies is a fresh, relatable debut about Mickey, a writer whose glamorous position at a media outlet is taken from her with little warning, prompting her to express her feelings about racism in the industry on Twitter–to little response. In the wake of her “failure”, Mickey struggles to keep up with her life in New York, feeling like a burden to her partner and a disappointment to her community. Seeking a break, Mickey returns home to Maryland to recalibrate and ends up questioning the life she’s created for herself, especially after running into an old flame. Funny, vibrant, and real!
―Julia Lewis from Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, VA | Buy from Fountain Bookstore
Tremendous! Mickey’s coming-of-age story is equal parts career decisions and relationship choices. She’s a Black woman in the publishing industry, a writer, who is also a queer woman. Mickey’s story will truly speak to those two populations but will be so relatable to many. And she touches on body image things. You’ll nod along, get teary-eyed, and oh … not to be forgotten, prepare to be heavily entertained with the intimate details! She checks all the boxes of a great book. I’m an official fan of Tembe!
―Andrea Jasmin from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books
I absolutely loved this book! The attention to detail was immaculate. I loved the raw and touching emotion that Tembe Denton-Hurst portrayed. I was rooting for Mickey the entire time through her ups and downs. Denton-Hurst is a beautiful writer and cannot wait for more!
―Brooke Parrish from Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC | Buy from Page 158 Books
This debut novel is AMAZING and I want to put it on everyone’s radar. Tembe Denton-Hurst is a young talent to watch. A smart and incisive examination of being a young Black woman in the workplace, but also a story of returning home, growing apart from childhood friends, and family expectations and first loves. It is so clever and self-aware and I enjoyed every page.
―Kate Storhoff from Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, NC | Buy from Bookmarks
About Tembe Denton-Hurst
Tembe Denton-Hurst is a staff writer at New York magazine’s The Strategist and has written for Nylon magazine, them, and Elle. When she’s not writing, Tembe can be found on her couch in Queens, New York, where she lives with her partner and their two cats, Stella and Dakota.
I’ve been impatiently waiting for the second book in Sunny Hostin’s Oak Bluff series! Summer on the Bluffs left me wanting more of the drama, secrets, and jealousy from the three goddaughters of the iconic Ama and Omar. This is Olivia’s story, set once again in an exclusive Black beach community in the North East, this time it’s The Hamptons. I’m sure it won’t disappoint!
Summer on Sag Harbor by Sunny Hostin, (List Price: $30, William Morrow, 9780062994219, May 2023)
Reviewed by Andrea Jasmin, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina
Crushing like a hammer and sharp as a scythe, Chain-Gang All-Stars is a master class of brutality drenched in grace. From the first page, Adjei-Brenyah exposes our inherent complicity and demands a good, long look inward, and asks what we’re gonna do about it. It’s powerful, exciting, horrifying, and an utterly outstanding feat of contemporary literature. It’s speculative fiction that feels so close to reality that it’s shockingly unsurprising and brilliantly difficult to endure. Damn.
Chain Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, (List Price: $27.00, Pantheon, 9780593317334, May 2023)
Reviewed by Carly Crawford, Novel. in Memphis, Tennessee
Most of these poems were written as the things were happening, because for me, poetry is the act of paying attention. It is both the creation of art and the mechanism through which I do my best thinking. For me, the poems are time capsules, little archives that allow me to capture a moment or a feeling. And excavating the granularity of those moments makes me more appreciative of those moments as a whole, so the next time a version of that happens, I’m able to more fully be there with it. The period of time during which your kids are both physically able and emotionally willing to have a dance party with you in the kitchen is pretty brief. I think writing poetry helps me hold onto those moments in the same way that a photograph does.” ―Clint Smith, Interview, Esquire
What booksellers are saying about Above Ground
Above Ground is a poetry collection that is a heartfelt ode to fatherhood. These poems are imbued with the love, joy, wonder, and uncertainties that accompany being a parent. They also delve into family and ancestry, history and race, turmoil, and above all, hope. This is an important collection that I will highly recommend.
― Damita Nocton, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
| Buy from The Country Bookshop
These poems swing wide between specific moments from early fatherhood to indictments of America’s reluctance to make good on its promises. Smith is candid, earnest, and plain in his odes to his wife, children, parents, in-laws, and grandparents. He is artful, searing, and bold. These seemingly simple poems speak volumes.
―Adah Fitzgerald, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina | Buy from Main Street Books
I don’t think of myself as someone who’s good at reading poetry, but Clint Smith makes me think I might be. His poetry is so easy to read but still forces me to slow down and think about each line. I loved that the poems in this book are mainly reflections and observations on fatherhood. It is a gift to see his love for his children on the page. A lovely book that I’m sure will be treasured by many for years and decades to come.
―Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina | Buy from Bookmarks
About Clint Smith
Clint Smith is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of the narrative nonfiction book, How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction, the Hillman Prize for Book Journalism, and selected by the New York Times as one of the 10 best books of 2021. He is also the author of the poetry collection Counting Descent, which won the 2017 Literary Award for Best Poetry Book from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and was a finalist for an NAACP Image Award. His writing has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Poetry Magazine, The Paris Review. and elsewhere. Clint received his B.A. in English from Davidson College and a Ph.D. in Education from Harvard University.
In this gritty, ghostly Affrilachian gothic debut, Magnolia, in the wake of her grandmother’s death and possibly pregnant, takes an offer to “model” as the late beloveds of the rich at a funeral home run by the strange Mr. Cotton. The voice and the VIBES are all there, and this book has a lot to say about grief, death, race, class, and sex in the Bible Belt South. The writing is strong and beautiful—a writer to watch.
House of Cotton by Monica Brashears, (List Price: 27.99, Flatiron Books, 9781250851918, April 2023)
Above Ground is a poetry collection that is a heartfelt ode to fatherhood. These poems are imbued with the love, joy, wonder, and uncertainties that accompany being a parent. They also delve into family and ancestry, history and race, turmoil, and above all, hope. This is an important collection that I will highly recommend.
Above Ground by Clint Smith, (List Price: $27, Little, Brown and Company, 9780316543033, April 2023)
Reviewed by Damita Nocton, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
Pomegranate is a raw, beautiful story of reintegration and a mother trying to do and be better for her kids. Oscillating between present-day Ranita and her past self, this story paints a real, painful picture of a woman caught in a cycle of drug use and eventual prison time, and her daily fight for sobriety and wellness when she returns to her family
Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee, (List Price: 27.99, Atria Books, 9781982171896, April 2023)
“So many of the characters in Decent People are on a quest for respectability–– their own and/or that of their children. I wanted to show what lengths people would go to just to conceal truths: a child’s queerness, an addiction, hypocrisy. I don’t know that I was going for nuance, exactly. I think I was just portraying people the way I’ve often encountered them. ” ―De’Shawn Charles Winslow, interview, PEN America
What booksellers are saying about Decent People
A complex, engaging story of a small Southern town grappling with racial justice, human rights, religion and murder in the mid 1970’s. Family ties and long-buried secrets are tested as a woman fights to clear the name of her beloved. An absolute page-turner filled with colorful characters in a rich setting.
―Jamie Fiocco from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Bookmarks
Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. Charles De’Shawn Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.
―Stephanie Jones-Byrne from Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC | Buy from Malaprops
The shooting deaths of two sisters and their brother, prominent members of the African-American community, set tongues wagging in West Mills, NC. Except for those holding their voice over secrets. Told from alternating perspectives, the mystery unfolds amid lives threatened by the racism and homophobia of the 1960s and 1970s. This is a great read on so many levels, can’t wait to hand sell this one.
―Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books
About De’Shawn Charles Winslow
De’Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Lambda Literary Award, and Publishing Triangle Awards finalist. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and now lives in New York.
“So many of the characters in Decent People are on a quest for respectability–– their own and/or that of their children. I wanted to show what lengths people would go to just to conceal truths: a child’s queerness, an addiction, hypocrisy. I don’t know that I was going for nuance, exactly. I think I was just portraying people the way I’ve often encountered them. ” ―De’Shawn Charles Winslow, interview, PEN America
What booksellers are saying about Decent People
A complex, engaging story of a small Southern town grappling with racial justice, human rights, religion and murder in the mid 1970’s. Family ties and long-buried secrets are tested as a woman fights to clear the name of her beloved. An absolute page-turner filled with colorful characters in a rich setting.
―Jamie Fiocco from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Bookmarks
Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. Charles De’Shawn Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.
―Stephanie Jones-Byrne from Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC | Buy from Malaprops
The shooting deaths of two sisters and their brother, prominent members of the African-American community, set tongues wagging in West Mills, NC. Except for those holding their voice over secrets. Told from alternating perspectives, the mystery unfolds amid lives threatened by the racism and homophobia of the 1960s and 1970s. This is a great read on so many levels, can’t wait to hand sell this one.
―Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books
About De’Shawn Charles Winslow
De’Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Lambda Literary Award, and Publishing Triangle Awards finalist. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and now lives in New York.
A gritty and tragic tale of a group of Black Seminoles attempting to settle in the territory of Oklahoma. Some within the community see Refuge as just that–a refuge from the violence of white pursuers. Others see marketable potential in Refuge, and have ambitions to expand and put the wealth into the pockets of the oppressed, for once, and create more lasting change for their people. But when a ragtag group of Buffalo soldiers come to town, choosing sides becomes more complicated. Refuge is a bit of a counter-narrative western with a slow-burn, tension-filled story that pays off in an action-packed conclusion.
Refuge by Bill Campbell, (List Price: $19.95, Rosarium Publishing, 9780578391533, February 2023)
Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.
Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow, (List Price: $28, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781635575323, February 2023)
Joe "King" Oliver gets himself into not one but TWO complicated plots in this new detective thriller from the legendary Walter Mosely. What I love about Mosley’s writing is the cadence of the dialogue and the musical language his characters use. It gives his books a "classic" touch or feel harkening back to the old great noir mysteries. King is a fantastic character whose moral core is something we should all aspire to. He gets himself into so many more problems because of it, but I love that Mosley’s detectives have this strong center that drives them to seek justice.
Every Man a King by Walter Mosley, (List Price: 28, Mulholland Books, 9780316460217, February 2023)
Reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
“I have conversations with myself every day. It’s just an easy way to get out of my brain. It’s a great tool for Maddie because it’s meant to highlight how alone Maddie feels. She doesn’t feel like she has people to talk to, so that’s where the conversationalist tone comes from. I think we see a little less of that by the end, because she has come to this place where she’s more open to being dependent on her friends and family. ” ―Jessica George, Interview, Everything Zoomer
What booksellers are saying about Maame
I stood up and clapped after finishing Maame. Maddie is a new favorite character, all the stars for this one!
―Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books
You’ll absolutely fall in love with Maame, a coming-of-age story featuring a young British-Ghanaian woman who’s learning how to live for herself after years of looking after her sick father. Heartbreaking and magical.
―Maggie Robe from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Flyleaf Books
Maame will get under your skin with her naive outlook on life. As she comes into her own she will blow you away with her depth.
―Suzanne Lucey from Page 158 Books in Wake Forest, NC | Buy from Page 158 Books
Bridget Jones meets Eat, Pray, Love in this brilliantly written work of family, love, loss and self-discovery. Maddie (Maame), a 20-something year old young woman living in London at job she hates, an overbearing mother who spends most her time in Ghana, and a father with Parkinson’s, begins on a journey of self discovery when she moves out of her parents house. Maddie promises herself that she will now begin a new life of dating, spending time with friends, and advancing in her career. However, things take a turn when she loses her job and her father passes away. Maame is a book for our times, as our main character faces dating dilemmas, racism, and loss all while using Google to help her through her hard time. Be prepared to laugh, cry and cheer for Maame.
―Sharon Davis from Book Bound Bookstore in Blairsville, GA | Buy from Book Bound Bookstore
About Jessica George
Jessica George was born and raised in London to Ghanaian parents and studied English Literature at the University of Sheffield. After working at a literary agency and a theatre, she landed a job in the editorial department of Bloomsbury UK. Maame is her first novel.
Country music encompasses so much more than one would be led to believe by what’s being promoted and by what has been written and rewritten about countless times. Thankfully, Francesca Royster’s new book tells the story of Black songwriters/performers/fans in the white male-dominated world of popular country music. It’s a history that has been obscured, hidden, white-washed, overlooked and outright denied for way too long. This is a really fantastic and inspiring book that opens up a whole new world of country and folk music. If you think you know it all you don’t!
Black Country Music by Francesca T. Royster, (List Price: $24.95, University of Texas Press, 9781477326497, January 2023)
Reviewed by Colin Sneed, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
