Rooted Book Club: THAT PINSON GIRL by Gerry Wilson
Our June 2024 Book Club Selection
I first became acquainted with Gerry Wilson’s writing last year when she sent an essay to me about her relationship with her indomitable north Mississippi grandmother. “Legacy,” the name of the piece, is unflinching and heartbreaking, and I accepted it for publication at once.
Then in March, Gerry launched her debut novel, That Pinson Girl (Regal House Publishing), at Lemuria Books here in Jackson. The Dot Com building was packed. After the reading, Lemuria’s owner John Evans told me that he had absolutely loved the novel. In the same week, Matt Sawyer, another bookseller friend and the founder of Storymade, told me he was hand-selling That Pinson Girl to everyone who came into his North Carolina bookstore. Already intrigued by the fact that Gerry’s grandmother and her hard knock life story is the inspiration behind the novel, I knew I couldn’t sleep on this book. I’m happy to report that That Pinson Girl lives up to the hype.
A strong female protagonist and the richly imagined setting in the hills of North Mississippi bring this Southern Gothic, unputdownable story to life. I’m thrilled that we’ll be able to discuss That Pinson Girl with Gerry Wilson on Thursday June 27 at 7 p.m. CDT / 8 p.m. EDT. We’ll be streaming the conversation live on Streamyard and Instagram. You can order a copy of the book from our partners—Lemuria Books and Friendly City Books—or purchase one through our affiliate Bookshop link.
Now, here is the official description of the That Pinson Girl:
In a bleak Mississippi farmhouse in 1918, Leona Pinson gives birth to an illegitimate son whose father she refuses to name, but who will, she is convinced, return from the war to rescue her from a hardscrabble life with a distant mother, a dangerous brother, and a dwarf aunt. When, instead, her lover returns with a wife in tow, her dreams are shattered. As her brother’s violence escalates and her aunt flees, Leona must rely on the help of Luther Biggs, the son of Leona’s grandfather and one of his former slaves, to protect her child. Told against the backdrop of the deprivation of World War I, the tragedies of the influenza epidemic, and the burden of generations of betrayal, That Pinson Girl unfolds in lyrical, unflinching prose, engaging the timeless issues of racism, sexism, and poverty.
A seventh generation Mississippian, Gerry Wilson grew up in the red clay hills of the north. Her novel, That Pinson Girl was released by Regal House Publishing in 2024. Her debut short fiction collection, Crosscurrents and Other Stories (Press 53 2015), was nominated for the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Fiction Award. A story, “Life Line,” was a finalist in december magazine’s Curt Johnson Prose Award for Fiction and was published in december in the spring of 2023. Her short fiction has been published in numerous other journals. Gerry has a new Substack publication, “Stories I’m Old Enough to Tell,” where she writes about her journey to publication and reveals tidbits about That Pinson Girl you won’t find anywhere else.
The Rooted Book Club is in partnership with the Mississippi Book Festival, Lemuria Books, and Friendly City Books. Red Squared records and produces our book club conversations at their podcast studio in The Hangar in Midtown, Jackson. Let me know if you plan to read the book—I can’t wait to know your thoughts!
Sounds fantastic!