Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.BOOKS: When Southern Gothic Is Real Life
Charleston, South Carolina, has always been a city of two tales -- one white, the other black, running parallel, sometimes clashing but seldom touching. That is one reason why Ruthie Bolton's Gal: A True Life (Harcourt Brace; 275 pages; $19.95) is such a remarkable book, for it is the result of an unlikely collaboration between two writers -- one black and unpublished, the other white and well established. Gal is also remarkable as that one-in-a-million unsolicited manuscript that actually gets published. But most impressive is the book itself.
The author of Gal is a 33-year-old former employee at a plant nursery...
Email, Password or Region is incorrect
A required form parameter was missing.
The System is currently down. Please try again in a few minutes.
Email Address is invalid
Password is blank
Most Popular »
- 50 Best iPhone Apps 2012
- Deadly Cold Grips Europe
- Your Turn, Canada: A Second-By-Second Look at Jeremy Lin Lighting Up Toronto
- What's in Your Lipstick? FDA Finds Lead in 400 Shades
- Iowa Welcomes Back China's Next President
- Rick Santorum Wants to Fight 'The Dangers Of Contraception'
- Linsanity Heads East, Linfects China and Taiwan
- Why Obama's Re-Election Fortunes Are Suddenly Looking Up
- After Whitney Houston, Musicians Say: I'm Afraid
- Why I Won't Be Boycotting Chick-Fil-A
- Harvard's Hoops Star Is Asian. Why's That a Problem?
- Iowa Welcomes Back China's Next President
- The Upside Of Being An Introvert (And Why Extroverts Are Overrated)
- Beirut: Where Valentine's Day Belongs to Another Kind of Saint
- Friends With Benefits
- With Syria's Rebels: A Visit to a Bombmaker's Factory
- Europe's Deep Freeze: Why Climate Change Is Not (Entirely) to Blame
- Study: Lead Poisoning Could Lurk in Spices
- New York City: 10 Things to Do
- Romney's Cruel Canine Vacation
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
