The Mercies of Perry County - by Juliet Hinton (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Until now Perry County has not been included on the literary map of Mississippi. My debut collection of poems changes that atlas. These poems, some historical, other's lyrics, record the topography of my memory of this county where I grew up filled with stern pine trees, fields dense with corn, snakes and blood, cheating husbands and wives, tobacco and hate chewing men, chinaberry trees, catfish, cows pasturing in trees, and mud pies cooked in an old wood stove, and Black souls that are still with me. My poems emerge from a feminine vision found in Southern letters from Eudora Welty, Alice Walker, Flannery O'Connor and Jesmyn Ward. As the trees in the Pine Belt speak with voices you do not always want to hear, these poems give voice to the mercies and miseries. The trees refuse to be silent them. Nor do these poems.

Review Quotes

Juliet Hinton uses her poetic gifts to portray the land, people, and culture of her home county deep in Mississippi's Piney Woods. In poems with strong metaphors and character, Hinton evolves both the tragedies and triumphs of a Southern woman. This is a must-have for any library or individual's shelf that want to enrich their collections in Southern literature and history.

-Cynthia Hudson, Director, Pine Forest Regional Library, Richton, MS

In her stunning debut collection, Juliet Hinton proves that she is a skilled poet who can stir her readers' imagination about the various Souths of her native Perry County, Mississippi. Many of her poems are haunted by the dark memories of a rough South of grit, hard work logging, farming, cattle raising as well as brawling, cheating, drinking, scaring cruelty, and an overpowering nature gone wild. But some of her poems are limned with lyrical splendor about Perry County history, family, forests, and fields, cows and birds, baptisms in cold water creeks, church suppers and young love. I predict many other successful titles from Hinton and await them with eagerness.

-Philip C. Kolin, Distinguished Professor of English (Emeritus),

Editor Emeritus, The Southern Quarterly, University of Southern Mississippi