New Releases by Margaret McMullan

Second Edition

Fiction. AFTERMATH LOUNGE is a compelling tribute to the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Resurrecting the place and its people alongside their heartaches and triumphs, Margaret McMullan creates a riveting mosaic that feeds our wish to understand what it means to be alive in this day and age. "In AFTERMATH LOUNGE each short story, like a homing pigeon, returns to the Gulf Coast to explore how its people struggle with the ghost of Hurricane Katrina. With riveting prose, Margaret McMullan tracks the weblike connections of family and friends haunted by the storm from Pass Christian, Mississippi, to Chicago."—William Ferris "I love these stories. They''re so smart, beautiful, true—and so real—that they seemed like part of my own history. I felt homesick in the best way, flooded with a kind of saddened joy. They snuffed the gimlet-eyed adult and brought to life again, for a while, the wondrous child."—Brad Watson "I like these new stories so much it''s hard to know where to start. But a good place to begin would be... well, Place. She brings it to life like few writers can. You can almost feel the heavy air on your skin. As for her characters, they''re three-dimensional people who are so real, you feel like they''re in the room with you. She''s got a great ear, a fine eye, and something else that you can''t buy—namely, a very large heart."—Steve Yarbrough "AFTERMATH LOUNGE is a beautiful, compelling collection, the emotions as powerfully charged as the winds of a hurricane. Margaret McMullan writes movingly about those living in and pulling themselves out of destruction and chaos and loss to salvage all they can of love and redemption. From the voices of orphaned children to the least likely man to don a Santa Claus suit, there are moments of devastation, comic relief and grace."—Jill McCorkle "How strange, that the best apocalyptic fiction of the year should come to us, not borne on the maelstrom of nuclear fire or horrific epidemic, but rather in this series of beautifully crafted and masterfully interwoven literary stories. In AFTERMATH, our humanity is not simply swept away by the fury and chaos of Katrina; rather, it is tested, sometimes broken, sometimes intensified, and ultimately renewed by the deluge. A hopeful Book of Revelation."—Pinckney Benedict

In My Mother''s House is a beautiful, haunting, and elegantly crafted novel about a daughter''s obsession to understand her mother''s staunch commitment to silence about their family''s experiences during World War II Vienna--and how they were able to escape. Told in alternating voices (Elizabeth and her mother Jenny), the story is remarkable for its fullness and rich details: the pieces of family silver the grandmother mails to the family, piece by piece, over the years; Jenny''s war-time memories of her uncle''s viola d''amore lessons; the fragrant smell of the wood floors at the Hofzeile, the family''s longstanding yellow home in Vienna. As Elizabeth begins to fill the gaps of Jenny''s troubled memory, she stumbles upon a family secret that ultimately reveals how it is that we inherit the things we do, from one generation to the next. In My Mother''s House is a poignant look at a family struggling to regain what took them generations to build and at what cost. It''s an emotional, expertly told novel that proves that Margaret McMullan will soon join the ranks of writers such as Anita Shreve and Carol Shields.

It''s 1962, a year after the death of Sam''s father, Sam and her mother must move, along with their very liberal views, to Jackson, Mississippi. Needless to say, they don''t quite fit in. As racism ensues, Sam learns to focus with her camera lens to bring forth the social injustice out of the darkness and into the light.

The author of "How I Found the Strong" pens a gritty, beautifully told story about a girls adjustment to life after the Civil War, and how she tries to rise above the bad reputation of her entire family.

In 1861 Frank “Shanks” Russell wishes he was old enough to fight for the South alongside his pa and big brother. But Frank is too young, skinny, and weak, and is left behind with his mother and grandparents. Life in Mississippi was simple before the war between North and South. Now Frank’s boyhood is gone forever, along with his dreams of heroic battles. The shortages and horrors of war reach his home as he scrounges for food and water, and sees both Confederate and enemy soldiers at their worst. As time goes by and Frank’s friendship with Buck, the family slave, grows, he questions more and more who is the enemy and why the terrible war is being fought.

When Warhol Was Still Alive is a funny, poignant novel about the women''s magazine industry and life in New York in the eighties. It''s about love and friendship, memory and dreams, the struggle to stay close and learning how to say goodbye.