April 5, 2019. Madison, Mississippi. South Toward Home.

On the way home from Memphis, Wendy and Ken stopped in Oxford, the home of The University of Texas. There are a lot of reasons to stay in Oxford but one of the best reasons is to visit Square Books, a book store on the corner of the town square. They enjoyed poking around the bookstore. And they brought me home a new book, South Toward Home. I have only one chapter left so you know I have enjoyed the read. The author, Margaret Eby, is a young lady from Alabama and lover of southern literature. In her introduction, she tries to explain why there are so many southern writers, something many folks over the years have tried to figure out. She makes the point that there are many well known southern writers, while there is no similar group of northern writers. The author visits the towns and cities of the 9 authors which were important to their work. And she wrote a synopsis about the town and how it was so important to each of the writers. Only one writer was unfamiliar to me but I enjoyed the short book and the insights into each writer. Many people over the years have cited the sense of place in the southern writers as the reason for their success. Certainly all these writers wrote only about their town. I am grateful that Wendy and Ken brought me home this wonderful little book. I is a charming gem.