South of Somewhere: A Novel

T.I. Lowe isn’t shy about addressing difficult topics in her engaging novels, with her latest no exception. South of Somewhere is a story of second chances, addiction, recovery, and renewed hope, all told in Lowe’s signature southern voice.

Juniper (Junie) Wilder retreats to her beloved grandmother’s beach-front home on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, after time in jail and rehab. Grief at losing her husband and then her grandmother spiraled into a drunk driving charge and the hardest grief of all: losing custody of her toddler daughter Fern.

Now, living alone in the beach house, Junie faces her demons, fears, temptations, and memories. She has help, though, in the form of Gilbert, her probation officer and AA sponsor; her neighbor Henry, a college professor whose mysterious busyness seems to hide something; and, eventually, the recovery group that becomes her anchor.

Lowe doesn’t gloss over the difficulties of addiction. Junie faces a number of temptations—in the forms of people and circumstances—on her recovery journey, and Lowe explores them all. She digs into different forms of recovery groups, counseling to repair family hurts, and plumbs Junie’s pain, guilt, and shame.

Lowe doesn’t hide the pain, but she also doesn’t hide joy and laughter. Junie’s smart mouth gets her in trouble sometimes, but it also brings much-needed respite from life’s difficulties. Lowe’s faith, too, shines through her characters, who know the true Higher Power.

Readers will root for Junie with all of their hearts as she faces her past, lives courageously in the present, and looks forward to a future with her daughter and a new, healthy love. Readers will also gain empathy for those struggling with addiction and the pain that brought them there, coming to realize that we’re all broken people living in a troubled world.

South of Somewhere is much more than a good story. It’s an excavation of what makes us human—the good and the bad—and the redemption that can save us. (Tyndale)