Contemporary Fiction Book Reviews

Two seemingly unconnected lives swirl around each other in Marie Green McKeon’s emotive second novel, Water is Wider.

Phoebe is an impulsive 11-year-old determined to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance, and sets off on a dangerous journey to Connecticut to find the truth. Sidney is a middle-aged proofreader mourning the loss of her mother and the emotional challenges of life after death. Already wrestling with grief, the slow demise of the publishing house that employs her may be too much to bear, leading Sidney to seek unlikely and potentially dangerous company.

These two stories initially lie very […]

Timely and fearless, Ivory Tower by Grant Matthew Jenkins is a resonant meditation on power, family, and sexual predation that rings particularly poignant in today’s social climate.

Margolis Santos is a woman who isn’t afraid to ruffle feathers. As a respected film professor, a protective mother, and wife to the head football coach of Athens University, she is used to her voice being heard. However, when she chooses to raise it in defense of young women being taken advantage of on campus, she becomes embroiled in a vicious battle against tradition, money, and character assassination. When Margolis’ own sexual exploits […]