James Driggers' collection of Southern Gothic novellas introduces the residents of Morris, South Carolina over the past century as they grapple with desire, ambition, hope, and loneliness. The stories explore themes of forbidden love, violence, and sacrifice through characters like a talented baker who must team up with a society matron to win a contest, lonely widow obsessed with a televangelist, and sisters whose husbands tend to die. With wit and lurking menace, Driggers debut is a tightly plotted exploration of love and what people will do in its name.

1. Spanning the 1930s
to the present day,
James Driggers'
evocative Southern
Gothic collection
introduces the intriguing
inhabitants of Morris,
South Carolina – a small
town where a mix of rich,
poor, and
in-between co-exist,
grappling with desire,
ambition, hope, and
loneliness. . .

2. “In Lovesick, Jim Driggers takes us behind polite
surfaces across a century as old plantation land turns
into subdivisions, unraveling the concealed tragedy
next-door, the romantic yearning behind a tabloid
scandal, and the scheming and sacrifice hidden
between the lines of a legendary Southern cookbook.
Witty, compassionate, yet unrelenting, Driggers
knows what ties a fatal loveknot: the object of
forbidden love may be indifferent, unworthy, or just
plain poisonous, but what matters to the lovestruck is
to give all and so find a way to be, however briefly,
truly alive.”
—Lynne Barrett, author of Magpies

3. BUTCHER, THE BAKER
Amid a landscaped dotted
with farms, trailers, and
genteel homes, there lives a
talented baker who
desperately needs to win a
cooking contest but must
team up with a
down-on-her-heels society
matron to do it. . .

4. “The characters live in a South where violence
blooms like ditch lilies along an unpaved road.
Not for the faint of heart, these stories will not
quickly fade from the reader’s memory.”
—Wayne Caldwell, author of Cataloochee

5. THE BRAMBLES
The Bramble sisters,
whose husbands tend to
be short-lived and
wealthy, but whose
latest prospect arrives
with complications. . .

6. “We may think we know some of the personages that
populate James Driggers’ tour de force, Lovesick.
Here is the overweight insurance salesman, the sisters
jealous of each other, the shiny-haired evangelist, and
the faded southern bell. But then we watch them
think and do things we never could have imagined.
There is a hint of Erskine Caldwell here – with a
strong dash of Grand Guignol.
We may never understand, but we are convinced.
Yes, he gets away with it.”
—Fred Chappell, author of I Am One of You Forever

7. SANDRA AND THE SNAKEHANDLERS
A widow who becomes dangerously obsessed with a
snake-charming televangelist.

8. “Lovesick is a collection of novellas that are just as heartbreaking as
they are wise, just as beautiful as they are devastating.
While spanning nearly the entire 20th century and tackling some
of our nation's greatest social and cultural issues, Lovesick anchors
its heart to the fictional town of Morris, South Carolina, and its
collection of seemingly eccentric citizens whose traumas, loves,
and comedic turns simultaneously charm and repulse us, and that’s
what good - dare I say great - fiction is supposed to
do. Lovesick does this in spades.
Like Allen Garganus and Doris Betts, Jim Driggers gives us small
town life in a way that reveals big, heartfelt ideas and universal
themes.”
—Wiley Cash, author of A Land More Kind Than Home

9. M.R. VALE
A lonely florist who will do anything for the sake of a
ruthless local mechanic.

10. With wit and insight lurking
beneath a palpable air of
menace,
James Driggers' debut is a
tautly plotted, evocative
exploration of love – and all
that we do in its name. . .

11. Releases: March 31, 2015
Pre-order now:
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