Water slops over the edges of the bathtub as I quickly slough off the second skin of mud and leaves coating me. I’m inspecting my scrubbed pink body for birthmarks or scars, anything that might trigger a memory. I’m due…Read more
Fiction
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Fellowship Point: A Novel
Alice Elliott Dark
CHAPTER 1 Agnes, Philadelphia, March 2000 SUCH A PERFECT DAY FOR writing, gray and quiet. But nothing came to her. Not a sentence, not a phrase, not a word worth keeping. Her wastebasket was full. Her pile of index cards…Read more
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My Husband’s Wife
Jane Corry
The prison is at the end of the District line, followed by a long bus ride. Its gentle woody green on the Underground map makes me feel safe, not like the Central red, which is brash and shrieks of…Read more
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The Boys from Biloxi: A Legal Thriller
John Grisham
The rivalry began as a friendship between two boys with much in common. Both were third-generation grandsons of Croatian immigrants, and both were born and raised on “the Point,” as Point Cadet was known. Their families lived two streets apart.…Read more
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The Secret Ingredient for a Happy Marriage
Shirley Jump
The words refused to come. Magpie stared at her MacBook, the screen casting her room with a soft bluish-white glow, and couldn’t think of a single thing to write. She’d stared at his email for over an hour, started and…Read more
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Memphis: A Novel
Tara M. Stringfellow
CHAPTER 2 Miriam 1995 Blue mist clung to the mountains like a lace shawl. She’d figured they’d be gray—the Smokies. The blue of everything astounded her. She held up her right arm. The usual caramel of it was muted. All…Read more
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Strange Fruit
Lillian Smith
Ed finished the mullet, took a swallow of coffee from the thick hot cup, mopped his face. He laid a quarter on the counter, leaned toward Salamander—same old dried tobacco leaf he was five years ago—shouted in the old man’s…Read more
It must have been a little after three o'clock in the afternoon that it happened—the afternoon of June 3rd, 1916. It seems incredible that all that I have passed through—all those weird and terrifying experiences—should have been encompassed within so…Read more
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The Vacation: A Novel
John Marrs
Day One: Two Months LaterVenice Beach International Hostel, Los Angeles Empty bottles of Budweiser and paper plates stained with remnants of spaghetti Bolognese littered the corridors as Tommy made his way from his dormitory room to the hostel reception desk. …Read more