Polly Stewart
Polly Stewart grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, where she still lives. She graduated from Hollins University and h
as an MFA in fiction and a PhD in British literature from Washington University in St. Louis. Her short fiction has appeared in literary collections and journals, including Best NewAmerican Voices,
The Best American Mystery Stories, Epoch, and the Alaska Quarterly Review. Her nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times, Crime Reads, and Poets & Writers, among other publications.
Genres: Mystery
Polly Stewart recommends
Watch it Burn (2024)
Kristen Bird
"Kristen Bird's Watch it Burn is a scorching tale of revenge and an unflinching look at what women will do when pushed to their limits. Bird has a pitch-perfect ear for the rhythms of Southern life, but be warned, these women are no steel magnolias. They're raw, real, and mad as hell, and I would follow them anywhere."
Midnight on Beacon Street (2024)
Emily Ruth Verona
"My nineties heart was both warmed and thrilled by Emily Ruth Verona's debut novel, Midnight on Beacon Street. The shade of Shirley Jackson haunts this page-turner, which abounds in classic horror movie references, both revisiting and critiquing the tale of a babysitter left alone with kids she may or may not be able to protect. I loved every minute of it."
The Wonder State (2023)
Sara Flannery Murphy
"Sara Flannery Murphy's The Wonder State is many things: a bittersweet coming-of-age tale, an engrossing portrait of life in the small-town Ozarks, and a brilliant allegory in which childhood longings for permanence and stability take a concrete form. It reminds me of some of the books I've loved the longest, including the Chronicles of Narnia and Donna Tartt's The Secret History, and yet it offers its own unique form of magic. Above all, it speaks to our secret yearnings for a place where the past might be waiting for us to step into it again."
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