Paulette Kennedy is the author of
The Artist of Blackberry Grange (2025),
The Devil and Mrs. Davenport (2024),
The Witch of Tin Mountain (2023), and
Parting the Veil
(2021), which received the HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. Her work has been featured in
People Magazine,
The Mary Sue, and BookBub. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, where as a young girl she could often be found wandering through the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, Kennedy’s affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. She now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in gothic fog.
Kennedy's new novel is
The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael.
Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Kennedy's reply:
The Other Moctezuma Girls by Sofia Robleda
An epic coming-of-age story set in 16th-century Mexico, after the Spanish Conquest, centering Isabel, the daughter of the last Aztec empress. After her
mother's death, Isabel embarks on a journey to discover her mother's story, and unveil the intriguing secrets hidden in her past. Robleda transports readers to a time when women used their wiles and intelligence to survive during an era when men colonized and claimed dominion over the countries they invaded, and viewed the women in their lives as political pawns. Isabel, and Tecuichpoch, the proud daughter of the famed Moctezuma--who relays her story through compelling diary entries Isabel finds on her quest--are both formidable, proud women, who inspire with their matriarchal strength and resilience. I especially enjoyed the elements of magical realism, which were so beautifully woven into the body of the story and convey the author's deep connection to her heritage. There's also a tender love story between Isabel and a young man she befriends on her quest, Juan, which helps to provide levity and contrast within the travel-themed narrative. Robleda is a brilliant author, whose novels are steeped in historical resonance, and deserve acclaim and pride of place alongside the works of Isabel Allende and Gabriel García Márquez.
Sing Down the Moon by Robert Gwaltney
In this gorgeous, redolent Southern Gothic, Gwaltney explores the complexities of generational trauma through a surrealistic lens, as 16-year old Leontyne Skye reckons with an uncomfortable legacy after the death of her mother. Like all of 
the Skye women before her, Leontyne becomes the caretaker of an ancient fig tree which houses the souls of the dead in its fruit, which Leontyne is tasked with harvesting and distilling into an addictive elixir called Redemption. "Sinners" seeking Redemption visit Good Hope, the remote barrier island off the coast of Georgia where Leontyne lives, in the hopes of procuring this elixir, which carries the desires and hungers of all of the haints entrapped by Damascus. Bottling Redemption requires sacrifice, and Leontyne must grapple with the calling that will ultimately destroy her. When a mysterious stranger arrives on Good Hope, Leontyne is forced to face the scars from her past, and the expectations of those who wish for her to abandon herself to fulfill their demands. Filled with colorful, unforgettable characters, like Leontyne's childhood friends--a charismatic pair of twins wrestling with their own dark legacy--Sing Down the Moon soars with Gwaltney's rhythmic, lyrical prose, grounding the fantastical against the realistic tragedies of loss and betrayal. Sure to become a classic of Southern Gothic literature.
Visit
Paulette Kennedy's website.
The Page 69 Test: Parting the Veil.
The Page 69 Test: The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.
My Book, The Movie: The Artist of Blackberry Grange.
The Page 69 Test: The Two Deaths of Lillian Carmichael.
--Marshal Zeringue
(2021), which received the HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. Her work has been featured in People Magazine, The Mary Sue, and BookBub. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, where as a young girl she could often be found wandering through the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, Kennedy’s affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. She now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in gothic fog.
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