Junior Jenkins, influenced by a large family, poverty, faith, and the ever-present kudzu vine, mingles fact, fiction and homegrown wisdom to remember those cotton picking days in Yazoo City, Mississippi.

Let Mississippi Off the Beaten Path show you the Magnolia State you never knew existed. Journey to the land of talking frogs and fashion-conscious pigs at the Birthplace of the Frog, a museum honoring Mississippi native and Muppets-creator Jim Henson; explore the ceremonial Choctaw Indian mounds and sacred cave at the Nanih Waiya Historic Site; or visit lions, tigers, panthers, and other exotic animals at the Collins Exotic Animal Orphanage.

Gifted chef and storyteller Martha Hall Foose invites you into her kitchen to share recipes that bring alive the landscape, people, and traditions that make Southern cuisine an American favorite. Born and raised in Mississippi, Foose cooks Southern food with a contemporary flair: Sweet Potato Soup is enhanced with coconut milk and curry powder; Blackberry Limeade gets a lift from a secret ingredient–cardamom; and her much-ballyhooed Sweet Tea Pie combines two great Southern staples–sweet tea and pie, of course–to make one phenomenal signature dessert. The more than 150 original recipes are not only full of flavor, but also rich with local color and characters. As the executive chef of the Viking Cooking School, teaching thousands of home cooks each year, Foose crafts recipes that are the perfect combination of delicious, creative, and accessible. Filled with humorous and touching tales as well as useful information on ingredients, techniques, storage, shortcuts, variations, and substitutions, Screen Doors and Sweet Tea is a must-have for the American home cook–and a must-read for anyone who craves a return to what cooking is all about: comfort, company, and good eating.

Original publication and copyright date: 2009.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Tradd Street novels comes an enthralling southern gothic saga about one woman's quest for the truth... When Vivien Walker left her home in the Mississippi Delta, she swore never to go back. But in the spring, nine years to the day since she’d left, Vivien returns, fleeing from a broken marriage and her lost dreams for children. What she hopes to find is solace with her dear grandmother who raised her, a Walker woman with a knack for making everything all right. Instead Vivien is forced into the unexpected role of caretaker, challenging her personal quest to find the girl she once was. But things will change again in ways Vivien cannot imagine. A violent storm has revealed the remains of a long-dead woman buried near the Walker home, not far from the cypress swamp that is soon to give up its ghosts. Vivien knows there is now only one way to rediscover herself—by uncovering the secrets of her family and breaking the cycle of loss that has haunted them for generations. READERS GUIDE INCLUDED

In 1902, in a small community deep in the Mississippi Delta, nearly a generation after the end of slavery, events obscured by time but impossible to forgive or forget echo in the lives of blacks and whites alike. As bound together by history as they are separated by mutual distrust, the citizens of Loring face present tensions as they look toward an uncertain future. Into this charged atmosphere rides Tandy Payne–prodigal son of a prominent planter and brother of the current mayor, and a dissolute gambler looking to reclaim the family estate. When he takes advantage of a perceived slight from the town’s black postmistress, the ensuing clash with his principled brother results in a harrowing confrontation. Fueled by dark and brutal memories, their familial dispute quickly spreads through the countryside. Steve Yarbrough confronts character with morality, reason with blood, in this moving novel that explores the farthest boundaries of human nature.