“I have been just knocked out recently by two new novels about race, racism and denial in the American South. Lyrical and powerful, The Queen of Palmyra by Minrose Gwin tells the tale of a Klansman’s daughter in Civil Rights-era Mississippi and what she witnesses one hot summer. In The Dry Grass of August by Anna Jean Mayhew, Jubie Watts, a white teenager, leaves Charlotte, N.C., in 1954 with her family and their black maid for a Florida vacation that turns into tragedy. Both great reads, perfect for book groups.”
Lee Smith, author of Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger, now out in paperback
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