Hard-working
Dixie Clay Holliver meets a smooth-talking traveler in Alabama and agrees to
leave her family, marry him and move back to his small town of Hobnob,
Mississippi. Jesse Holliver turns about to be a bootlegger and their marriage
disintegrates, especially after the loss of their first-born child. Dixie Clay
throws herself into working the still in an effort to fill her days and
because she excels in the process.
The
book begins with the appearance of federal revenue agent Ted Ingersoll and his
partner, Ham Johnson, who arrive in the flood-prone town following the disappearance
of two fellow agents who’d been on Jesse’s tail. In the middle of the
torrential rains, the river growing daily to the tops of the town’s levee and
an altercation with Jesse, the agents find an abandoned baby boy. Ted brings
the child to Dixie Clay to rear and the two are immediately drawn to one
another.
“The
Tilted World” follows the developing relationship between Ted and Dixie Clay,
the baby’s appearance that offers a balm to Dixie Clay’s soul and the prospect
of a sabauteur in town who may blow up the levee in exchange for money from a
New Orleans interest.
Fans
of the “Great Flood” will enjoy this small town insider’s approach through a
fictional story, and the relationship that develops between Dixie Clay and Ted
is heartwarming amidst the terror of the Mississippi opening its mouth to
devour the town. At times, however, the book drags, which is unfortunate since
the plot structure of a love affair between a bootlegger and a federal agent
offers wonderful conflict. For the most part the seams between the two writers
are invisible but occasionally the voice appears tangibly different. But don’t
let my minor disappointments deter you, book reviewers are raving about the
story.
New releases
New
Orleans poet and UNO graduate Gina Ferrara has just published a new collection
of poetry titled “Amber Porch Light.” Ferrara is also the author of a 2006
chapbook, “The Size of Sparrows.” Her poems have appeared in numerous journals
including The Poetry Ireland Review, The Briar Cliff Review, and Callaloo. She
is currently at work on a collection of poems about the leprosaurium located in
Carville.
Frank
de Caro, a folklorist and professor emeritus of English at LSU, has published
“a memoir that explores why all our stories matter” titled “Stories of Our
Lives: Memory, History, Narrative” by Utah State University Press. Featuring
personal stories from De Caro’s life and years of field research as a
folklorist, the book is part memoir and part exploration of how the stories we
tell shape our sense of self. De Caro is also the author of “Louisiana
Sojourns: Travelers’ Tales and Literary Journeys” (1998, with Rosan A. Jordan),
which received the Louisiana Humanities Book Award, and other books.
Shaquana
Jackson of Abbeville has just published a novel titled “Now That the Cover is
Removed,” available online through Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. The book
follows three girlfriends where when the truth is revealed their friendships
take a beating. Read more at her Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/authorshaquana.jackson.
Spring picks
Members
of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance choose books each winter,
known as the Okra Picks, as those they are excited about selling. Here are a
few Southern titles SIBA wants you to read. Look for reviews of these books in
coming months to this column. They are:
“The
In-Between Hour” by Barbara Claypole White (Mira Books);
“The
Invention of Wings” by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking);
“Starting
Over: Stories by Elizabeth Spencer” (Liveright Publishing);
“The
Last Days of California” by Mary Miller (Liveright Publishing);
“The
Secret of Magic” by Deborah Johnson (Amy Einhorn Books);
“Without
Mercy: The Stunning True Story of Race, Crime and Corruption in the Deep South”
by David Beasley (St. Martin’s Press);
“This
Dark Road to Mercy” by Wiley Cash (Morrow)
“The
Ghosts of Tupelo Landing” by Sheila Turnage (Kathy Dawson Books);
“One
Way Out: The Inside History of the Allman Brothers Band” by Alan Paul (St.
Martin’s);
“A
Snicker of Magic” by Natalie Lloyd (Scholastic);
“Long
Man” by Amy Greene (Knopf); and
“Down
South: Bourbon, Pork, Gulf Shrimp & Second Helpings of Everything” by
Donald Link (Clarkson Potter).
For
more information, visit sibaweb.com/okra.
Books by UL authors
There
have been several books recently published by UL-Lafayette graduates.
Leslie
Moise, who has a docorate in English from UL, published “Love is the Thread: A
Knitting Friendship” with Pearlsong Press.
Don
Landry of Baton Rouge published “Boxing: Louisiana’s Forgotten Sport.”
John
Hornung has self-published four ebooks in the last two years.
Deborah
Little, who lives in Montgomery, Ala., has published “Growing Up Little: Uptown
New Orleans and Rural Alabama.”
April
Fallon, a UL graduate and currently a professor of English at Kentucky State
University, published “Universe of Discourse” with Finishing Line Press under
the name of A.D. Fallon.
Roy
Bourgeois published his memoir, “My Journey from Silence to Solidarity,” which
details his call to ministry and the founding of the School of Americas Watch.
Daniel
Haulman, chief of the Organizational Histories Branch of the Air Force
Historical Research Agency at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, has published “What
Hollywood Got Right and Wrong about the Tuskegee Airmen in the Great New Movie,
‘Red Tails.’” He is also the author of “The Tuskegee Airmen and the ‘Never Lost
a Bomber’ Myth.”
Tony
Leuzzi published a collection of interviews with leading American poets titled
“Passwords Primeval.”
Book events
“The
Story of Felicia Fuksman: Holocaust Survivor” begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at
South Regional Library. Through photos and video clips, Katherine Watson,
Southern Institute for Education and Research’s Goldring Teacher Fellow, will
tell the story of Holocaust survivor Felicia Fuksman, her early childhood,
experiences during World War II and her arrival in New Orleans.
French
Story Times will occur on select Wednesdays and Saturdays at Lafayette
libraries. Bedtime Stories in French
will begin at 6 p.m. Wednesday and Feb. 12
and
special Saturday Story Times in French
begin at 11 a.m. Jan. 25 and Feb. 22 at South
Regional Library.
Children
ages 5-12 can make a penguin collage at 4 p.m. Thursday at the South Regional
Library. Preregistration is
required.
Nunu
Arts and Culture Collective in Arnaudville will host authors
Philip Andrepont, Pat Morrow and Warren Perrin on Friday for
their monthly potluck at 1510 Courtableau Road, Arnaudville. The three have
written a pictorial history of St. Landry Parish titled “Images of America St.
Landry Parish.” Copies of the book will be available. Visit www.nunucollective.org/ for more
information.
Cheré Coen is the author
of “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country: A Historic
Guide to Acadiana,” both from The History Press, and co-author of “Magic’s in
the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” She teaches writing
at UL-Lafayette’s Continuing Education. Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.
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