This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Leon E. Pettiway is Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington, and a fully ordained Buddhist monk in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. As a lifelong scholar of crime, justice, and social inequality, he focuses on the lived experiences of society’s most marginalized individuals, particularly in relation to race, urban life, and the structures that shape human behavior. He is the author of Honey, Honey, Miss Thang: Being Black, Gay, and on the Streets (1996) and Workin’ It: Women Living Through Drugs and Crime (1997), both from Temple University Press, as well as Only for the Brave at Heart: Essays Rethinking Race, Crime, and Justice (Meishin Press, 2023).
New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss is Pettiway’s debut novel and the first in a series of thematically linked fictional works that explore resilience, community, and the quest for love and acceptance.
Reviewed by Keith Mbuya for Readers' Favorite
It is 1949. Margaret Butler, born Margaret Long, cannot put into words the pain she feels at losing her sixteen-year-old son, Thad Butler. Found dead and bloodied with gunshot wounds in a ditch in New Harmony, South Carolina, it was clear Thad had been brutally murdered. After laying her son to rest, it takes Margaret’s family six years to unravel the mystery behind her son’s tragic end. And what they uncover points back to decades of history in New Harmony. Behind Thad’s demise lies a thick web of hatred spun by racism and bigotry, which ultimately culminates in the justification of the unfortunate incident. As Margaret recounts, it all began in 1915, when she was just ten years old, growing up as the daughter of Black sharecroppers. Find out more in Leon E. Pettiway’s New Harmony: A Mother’s Story of Love and Loss.
If you’re looking for a literary drama novel tinged with a gripping coming-of-age, historical tale, and suspense, Leon E. Pettiway’s New Harmony is a must-read. The storyline is split into two parts, the first following Margaret from childhood, through her early adult years, into marriage, to the death of her son. The second part follows the family’s discovery of Thad’s murderer and their motive. Using Margaret’s first-person perspective voice and evocative, cinematic depictions to unfold the intriguing plot, Pettiway took me back to the early 1900s, giving me a glimpse into the lives of Black people at that time in the South. The earthy conversations, infused with rural Southern vernacular, brilliantly capture the social dynamics between Black and white people and their distinct cultures. They also give depth to the cast’s conflicts, complex traits, and intricate emotions, allowing me to connect with them. Although fiction, the raw, authentic tone of the storyline gives it a memoir-like quality. I loved this book.
