‘Stars of Alabama’ is a Love Letter to the South [REVIEW]

When life seems drenched in despair, Sean Dietrich reminds us that hope is on the horizon. (Photo courtesy Canva)

Two old friends find a baby in the woods. A girl seeks to understand her mysterious gift. An abused boy runs for his life. Caught in the midst of the Great Depression, will each of these strangers fall prey to adversity or will circumstances bring them together? Find out in Sean Dietrich’s inspiring new novel, Stars of Alabama.

Thomas Nelson

When Paul, Vern, and their canine companion Louisville, stumble across a baby deserted in the woods, they soon find themselves enchanted by the violet-eyed child and decide to raise her as their own. After all, they’ve both heard the stories of how some struggling families have left their children behind because they had no means to take care of them. Then they meet a widow with two children,and their unconventional little family grows even bigger as they all start looking out for one another.

Marigold the Magnificent is a 15-year-old mother whose family has betrayed her. Now forced to look after herself, she is starving and alone, forced to deliver her baby in the forest. When that infant disappears, she feels her world shatter around her as her body gives out. But then she discovers that she possesses an unusual gift— one that makes her both beautiful and terrifying—and bit of a local legend.

Meanwhile, Coot is a 14-year-old boy who is turned into a child preacher by the con-man who raised him. But when he is unable to turn a profit and squeeze money out of the failing farmers in the Kansas dust bowl, he’s beaten within an inch of his life. Soon he flees  with thousands of stolen dollars in his pocket, and the only thing he knows is that he has to get to Mobile, Alabama.

As war looms on the horizon, each of these characters unwittingly makes their way toward one another. And there within the struggling landscape of Alabama, new bonds are forged as hope rises where it should not bloom. Stars of Alabama is a love letter to the South, a novel that seems to break our hearts even as it lifts us up, and ultimately reminds us why it is vital for each of us to dignify each other with kindness and compassion.

Sean Dietrich is an author who spins tales like a spider spins a web. Each thread of his story ultimately interconnects with the other, leaving us to marvel at its complexity, ingenuity, poetry and awe-inspiring beauty. As such, with Stars of Alabama we get the eerie feeling that Dietrich is channeling some of the best Southern writers we’ve known, from Mark Twin to Pat Conroy. This is fiction with a purpose, a story of the heart, one which lingers in the mind and resonates with the soul.

Sean Dietrich
(Photo by Sean Murphy)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sean Dietrich is a columnist, podcaster, speaker, and novelist, known for his commentary on life in the American South.

His work has appeared in Southern Living, the Tallahassee Democrat, Good Grit, South Magazine, Yellowhammer News, The Bitter Southerner, Thom Magazine, and the Mobile Press-Register. He has authored 10 books.

Visit Sean at his home on the Web at SeanDietrich.com, like him on Facebook, and follow him on Instagram and Twitter.

STARS OF ALABAMA
By Sean Dietrich
352 pp. Thomas Nelson. $26.99

Purchase Stars of Alabama at one of these fine online retailers: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, IndieBound, Powell’s, and Thomas Nelson.

Stars of Alabama is brought to you in association with TLC Book Tours.