Praise for Kim Michele Richardson’s Previous Novels GodPretty in the Tobacco Field
“A powerful coming-of-age story . . . This beautifully textured novel raises many challenges for its main characters to overcome, and as it comes to a close, many surprises. Saying any more would ruin it for you.”
—Southern Literary Review
“Kim Michele Richardson aptly portrays the impoverished life of the hill people with her images of the beauty yet hardship of the mountains as well as the way this particular world experienced discrimination in the sixties.”
—The New York Journal of Books
“Filled with the music of Appalachia, the wrath-of-God discipline of a sinner trying to keep a youngster on the straight and narrow, and the bred-in-the-bone dignity of a downtrodden community so secluded that its barefoot children don’t even realize they’re considered ‘poor,’ GodPretty in the Tobacco Field, a memorable story of secrets and scandal, reckoning and redemption, is fine Southern fiction.”
—Historical Novels Review
“A great piece of work.”
—Bill Burton, Host of WFPL’s “Morning Edition”
“Richardson’s brilliant writing made me feel as though I were transported back in time to poor parched Nameless, Kentucky, and actually there witnessing this poignant heartfelt story. To be able to do that to a reader is a sign of a truly gifted novelist.”
—Charles Belfoure, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Architect
Liar’s Bench
“You’ll hear echoes of To Kill a Mockingbird in this haunting coming-of-age story . . . Beautifully written, atmospheric and intricately plotted, Kim Michele Richardson’s debut novel will stay with you long after the last page is turned.”
—Susan Wiggs, # 1 New York Times bestselling author
“Richardson’s debut novel will keep you riveted until all the loose ends are tied.”
—Kentucky Monthly
“This glorious debut novel is one of an unexpectedly fine crop of recent and new Southern fiction . . . Liar’s Bench succeeds on many levels. As a coming-of-age story, it is splendidly realized and uplifting. As a portrait of a Southern community painfully stumbling into the age of racial and gender equality, it is penetrating and convincing. It is a high energy action tale. Ms. Richardson’s evocation of the sensory world is supremely effective: much of any reader’s delight will be rooted in savoring the sounds, smells, tastes, and fragrances that enhance her captivating vision of a typical Southern small town during two linked periods of its history.”
—Southern Literary Review
“Readers of Southern fiction won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough.”
—Ellen Marie Wiseman, author of What She Left Behind
“Liar’s Bench is one of those rare books I wish I had written.”
—Ann Hite, author of Ghost on Black Mountain and Georgia Author of the Year 2012