"What if at least some of our life decisions do come with second chances? Susan Cushman answers this question through the late-in-life romance of John and Mary Margaret, and a rediscovered love never realized in their youth. Filled with the sights, sounds, and flavors of Mississippi, Cushman's story opens a heartfelt and authentic window not only into two lives, but into the South then and now."
-Lisa Wingate, #1 New York Times Bestselling author
"Frederick Douglass may have been right when he wrote 'the white and colored people of this country [can] be blended into a common nationality, and enjoy together . . . the inestimable blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.' Susan Cushman's John and Mary Margaret is written in the spirit of Douglass's vision. Set against the backdrop of the University of Mississippi in the mid-1960s, this clear-eyed book confronts the historical and social realities of those times and the once perilous nature of interracial intimacy."
-Ralph Eubanks, author of Ever Is a Long Time and A Place Like Mississippi
"Susan Cushman has captured the heart and soul of the Old and New South with her powerful literary saga. Spanning five decades of two star-crossed lovers' courageous and perilous journeys in Mississippi and Memphis, John and Mary Margaret conveys the power of love to overcome historic racial injustice. I can't stop thinking about it!"
-Lisa Patton, bestselling author of Rush and Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter
"Susan Cushman's John and Mary Margaret is an elegantly written and beautifully understated love story. Two young people from adjacent, yet distant worlds, fall in love only to find the cultural space in which they discover each other is not comfortable with or accepting of their relationship. But decades later, Cushman gives that love a second chance, and we are truly lucky to bear witness to her notion that true love might be delayed but it will never be fully denied."
-Jeffrey Blount, author of The Emancipation of Evan Walls
"With great sensitivity, author Susan Cushman balances themes of duty with racial upheaval in the changing times of the Deep South. Thought-provoking, engaging, and ultimately hopeful, John and Mary Margaret is an insightful, heart-warming story of the perils of love in historically pivotal times."
-Claire Fullerton, multi-award-winning author of four novels and one novella
"With sweetness and grace, Susan Cushman brings John and Mary Margaret's story to life. Sometimes true love can be complicated, especially in the south during the 1960s. But John and Mary Margaret have a story to tell, and Adele Covington-from Cushman's debut short story collection, Friends of the Library-knows it's going to be a good one. She's right, of course, and this is a love story in more ways than one. Susan does a beautiful job weaving everyone's story together for an ending that makes you want to jump for joy."
-Mandy Haynes, author of Walking the Wrong Way Home
"This sensitive and well-written work of historical fiction explores the deleterious impact of racism on our basic human relationship. Luckily, sometimes we get a second chance."
-Eileen Harrison Sanchez, author Freedom Lessons
