The Souls of Clayhatchee

“Part Southern Gothic, part social protest, part family drama, and part detective novel, The Souls of Clayhatchee: A Southern Tale, by Anthony Todd Carlisle is a page-turner no matter what you want to call it. This story about a Yankee African American reporter’s search for the truth about his family, the South, a killer, and himself is a much-needed affirmation of the human spirit in this time of cultural divides and social isolation.

The characters are believable, and the dialogue realistic, pithy, and amusing. The themes of whether a Black American can find grace in a land built upon the toil, tears, and blood of his family and ancestors, and of whether white crackers can redeem themselves and should their Black brethren allow it, are important. The novel references Richard Wright’s Native Son, but unlike Bigger Thomas in Wright’s novel, the main African American characters in The Souls of Clayhatchee: A Southern Tale are fully drawn and have discovered a myriad of ways to negotiate and transcend their day-to-day run-ins with racism.

Read this book if you want to cry a little, laugh a lot, and meditate plenty on how family, community, intelligence, and perhaps a spark of the divine can move us toward a more perfect union.”
—Margo Wilson, author of The Main Ingredient