Fabulous and heart-wrenching debut novel.

You can't help but root for Philbet, the unforgettable hero of Jeffrey Dale Lofton's arresting debut Red Clay Suzie. I was moved by the insights and settings of this book and by the vivid depiction of a unique childhood that feels universal in its longing.

If you've never set foot on the red-clay soil of Georgia, the heartfelt prose of Jeffrey Dale Lofton's Red Clay Suzie will take you there. This book is an intimate exploration of people, place, and identity, one that through its honesty - as well as colorful language and vivid description - opens up the idea of the South into one that is more inclusive and real.

Lofton’s descriptive prose is spellbinding; having never been to Georgia myself, I feel like I now know exactly what the air tastes like and how the red clay feels beneath my fingers in the garden. Taken together, the author has created an almost impressionist masterpiece of inner machinations and sensory experiences that leave you pleasantly dazed and content when you finally turn the last page.

From a new, pitch-perfect, Southern voice, a story so close to the heart you can almost hear it beating.

Red Clay Suzie’s Philbet Lawson joins Scout Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Frankie Addams (The Member of the Wedding) in Southern literature’s pantheon of outsider children. Read Red Clay Suzie and cheer on Philbet, a new literary hero.

This is much more than a deeply moving story well told by a unique, new voice in Southern literature. It is a lyrical, poetic, and layered work of highest literary art. Red Clay Suzie belongs in the high school English syllabus.