Saturday Review: “Shining A Light On History” a review by Amanda M. Capelli of Kianna Alexander’s Carolina Built (2022) in NCLR Online Winter 2024
We’re sharing some new book reviews from our forthcoming Winter issue.
Most novels have a starting point of some real-to-life moment–an overheard snippet of dialogue or a random moment read in a paper–but sometimes a novelist reads about a person’s life and realizes that actual lived story deserves a wider audience. “The 2022 novel, Carolina Built, by Kianna Alexander, offers readers a romantic revisioning of [Josephine] Leary’s life story,” writes Capelli.
The book shares in a preface how Alexander came across Leary’s story and how inspiring it was. Capelli says, “…Leary’s story is bigger than a single novel. In her retelling and rebuilding of parts of Leary’s life, Alexander begins the work of bringing her back into the American consciousness, shedding light on a
story that has been buried for far too long….”
NC Humanities chose Carolina Built as part of their 2023 “North Carolina Reads” collection. This award-winning program encourages individuals and communities to read books (fiction and nonfiction alike) about North Carolina, and includes a Q-and-A webinar with the author. Check out the 2024 lineup on their website.
We are still looking for reviewers for our own backlog of literature. You can see the list here, including the 2024 NC Reads pick The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb. Contact us to join our reviewer contingent.
Read the entire review and buy the book from your local independent bookstore.
