The Midnight Book Club

BY EMILY ANDERSEN (E.W. ANDERSEN) ’01

In “The Midnight Book Club,” Aurelia Lyndham is living all of our dreams, having just inherited her beloved aunt’s magical bookstore, where characters from classic literature come to life and help Aurelia work through her own writer’s block. A love letter to literature and the characters who shape us, “The Midnight Book Club” is a heartwarming tale of friendship, books, romance and happily-ever-afters. (Emily W. Andersen)

Constellations: The Collected Poems of Daniel Mark Epstein

BY DANIEL MARK EPSTEIN ’70 H’20

“Constellations” is an apt title for this collection of Epstein’s poems, drawn from 60 years of publishing poetry across nine books including “Dawn to Twilight,” “The Glass House,” “Spirits,” “The Follies” and his debut collection, “No Vacancies in Hell” (1973). Many of Epstein’s poems reflect his talents as a biographer, covering pivotal moments in American history and lending an artful eye to historic moments that continue to resonate today. (LSU Press)

Sandy Walker: The Woodblock Prints 1967-2023

BY DARLENE GAUGHAN MICHITSCH ’73

Using a sharp tool to cut mirror image carvings into wood for printing dates back centuries, but Sandy Walker’s woodblock prints push the art form firmly into the future. Inspired by abstract expressionist painters, Walker creates woodblock prints that recall Jackson Pollock canvases. Art and art history professor Michitsch offers an in-depth look at Walker’s prints across his career, tracing the evolution of his technique, skill and style from the late 1960s to present day. (Cicero Books)

SACKRED Birth: Mobilizing A New Quality Paradigm in Obstetric Care

BY KAREN ANTOINETTE SCOTT ’98

With health outcomes for Black mothers and their babies declining in the U.S., Scott’s “SACKRED Birth” is a timely book. By tracing the history of racism in medicine, Scott exposes the inequalities facing Black birthing parents, past and present. Drawing on both her medical training and her work as a community OB-GYN serving Black families, Scott offers practical strategies for confronting apathy and racism in the profession. (Lexington Books)

False Promises: The Struggle for Black Voting Rights in 1800s Ohio

BY RIC S. SHEFFIELD H’22, PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY AND LEGAL STUDIES EMERITUS

An important tale of resistance and the fight for justice, Sheffield’s study illuminates how the 15th Amendment — meant to guarantee the right to vote for all men — continued to disenfranchise Black men long after its passage. By elevating the voices of Black men in the 1800s who fought for suffrage, Sheffield traces the amendment’s false promises from its origins to present-day voter suppression in Ohio. (Swallow Press, imprint of Ohio University Press)

When the Season Ends: A Mackinac Island Novel

BY STACY (DEPAOLIS) WINDAHL ’83

Inspired by the author’s time working as a waitress at a hotel on Mackinac Island in the ’80s, “When the Season Ends” is a richly detailed novel that follows Olivia Nash, a woman in a midlife crisis, as she hunts for a new purpose. With her husband and son away for the summer, Olivia is left alone in Chicago with little to do, and she begins to wonder if she could slip away to Mackinac Island for a while to figure out who she is beyond the titles of wife and mother. She takes the leap, soaking up the island’s local color and discovering more about herself along the way. But after reinventing herself, will she be able to return to her old life when the season ends? (Mission Point Press)

Additional Releases

John Binder ’62, “Twelve One-Act Plays”

Elaine Bleakney ’98, “Take the Exit Then Exit”

Jennifer Carter ’93, (writing as Jennifer Lane) “Low Water”

Ted France ’80, “A Different Way Forward, Social Market Capitalism and Social Partnership in Europe, Austria and the USA”

Joe Freeman ’05, “Frontline Poets: The Literary Rebels Taking on Myanmar’s Military”

Jeanne Griggs, retired staff, “After Kenyon”

Ken Kaisch ’70, “Inside the Invisible: The Universal Path to Spiritual Transcendence”

Editor’s Note: Have you published a book in the past year? Email editor@kenyon.edu and tell us about it.