Whiskey & Ribbons
By Leesa Cross-Smith
272 pages
Cross-Smith's melodic debut novel paints a nuanced portrait
of Louisville, Kentucky, a Bible Belt city entangled in its own contradictions—churches
scented like "communion wafers and baptism water," characters
overcome by passion and then nearly done in by loss. And it tenderly probes
this question: After tragedy, can love come again?
— Hamilton Cain
