cover image Minnow

Minnow

James E. McTeer II. Hub City (John F. Blair, dist.), $24.95 (240p) ISBN 978-1-938235-11-5

A young boy’s simple errand is transformed into a magical odyssey in McTeer’s spellbinding debut. Minnow volunteers to go into a backwater South Carolina river town near his family’s Lowcountry home to get much-needed medicine for his father. But the pharmacist doesn’t have what he needs and sends Minnow to a witch doctor who, in turn, sends the young boy on a life-changing journey in which he encounters forbidden woods, fierce animals, and strangers both helpful and frightening—not to mention an otherworldly encounter with a tribe that he’s told is predestined. McTeer, whose story is inspired by his grandfather, a sheriff of the Lowcountry and a local witch doctor, creates a world totally different from anything Minnow has known, but his innocence and forthrightness protect him like a talisman. This is a memorable coming-of-age story brimming with unexpected encounters with man, beast, and nature, and some magic thrown in for good measure. (May)