Southern fiction is relatively new sub-genre. Authors have been penning Southern fiction stories for years. In fact, I’ll go out on a limb and state that Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, published in 1936, is a Southern fiction (very long, very well-received) novel. It takes place in the South, which has its unique style of culture, idioms, and customs.
When I moved to Tennessee nearly five years ago, I was determined to write Southern fiction. Again, it’s a sub-genre, so romance, romantic/suspense, historical romance, historical fiction, etc., can all fall within the category of Southern fiction if the setting is in the South. However, I had just contracted for my first Apple Hill novel (set in Northern California), which was released in April 2019, and the following two novels were completed as well. So, I had to wait.
Last April, my first Southern fiction novel, Night Songs, was released. It’s contemporary romance with a slant toward women’s fiction. Meaning it doesn’t follow the typical “romance” formula. In order to learn how to craft this genre well, I started reading more Southern fiction authors than I’d done previously. Lauren K. Denton’s The Hideaway was my first. It takes place in Mobile, Alabama, which has a rich history of its own.
Just last week, I finished another Southern fiction novel—this one written by Eva Marie Everson—titled Dust. Eva Marie was a mentor teacher of mine when I went through Jerry Jenkins Writer’s Guild class several years ago. She is the founder and CEO of a writers’ group called Word Weavers, which she started in her own Georgia town. I now belong to the local chapter here in Middle Tennessee. I was excited to dig into this novel and learn.
One of the things that drew me to Dust is the setting. It starts out in Georgia in 1977 with characters Allison Middleton and Westley Houser. It brought back a lot of my own memories from that time period (although I was younger than Allison in 1977). The title is actually taken from the Kansas song “Dust in the Wind,” a personal favorite of mine.
Ms. Everson does a beautiful job weaving several characters’ stories together, although Allison’s is the only first person POV—the others are done in third person. There were times in the story I wondered why this character or that character was given a POV, but it all made sense in the end.
This novel spans the years from 1977 to the present, while focusing on the romance, hardships, and heartaches of Allison and Westley’s marriage. I’m not spoiling anything by telling you they marry—it’s on the back cover copy. Allison’s opening line is, “When I think back on it, I realize I never received a formal proposal of marriage. Not really, anyway.”
I was drawn immediately into the book and found it difficult to put down. The emotions are rich and true—both the good and bad. And I love how the characters (or most of them anyway) grew throughout the story. And that’s what it was—a realistic story. No big mysteries, no heavy emotions, nothing earthshattering. I think a lot of women would identify with Allison, who never had any dreams bigger than being a wife and mother, even when her friends went off to do amazing things. But when we come near the end of our lives, it will be hard for us not to question our purpose and value—especially as a servant of the Lord. And yet, Ms. Everson ends the story beautifully with a hope we can all cling to.
The only thing that tripped me up (and most likely won’t even be noticed by most readers) is how Ms. Everson tagged the dialogue. It was unnecessarily telling. She often used “said” along with the characters movements when the movements were all that were needed. It bogged down the flow and caused me to stumble. This may be a stylistic preference, and I do tend to be concise with my words, so do not let that keep you from picking up this novel and reading it for yourself. I have no doubt you will love it!
