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Make Your Way Home: Stories
“Gorgeous, resonant, and startling.”—Lauren Groff, author of
The Vaster Wilds
“Glorious.”—Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
A debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories. How can you love where you come from, even when home doesn’t love you back?
In eleven stories that span Florida marshes, North Carolina mountains, and Southern metropolitan cities, Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess who falls for a new church member wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom, to promises of a more stable climate.
Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, Carrie R. Moore’s debut collection announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come.
“Glorious.”—Deesha Philyaw, author of The Secret Lives of Church Ladies
A debut collection of stories set across the American South, featuring characters who struggle to find love and belonging in the wake of painful histories. How can you love where you come from, even when home doesn’t love you back?
In eleven stories that span Florida marshes, North Carolina mountains, and Southern metropolitan cities, Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess who falls for a new church member wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom, to promises of a more stable climate.
Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, Carrie R. Moore’s debut collection announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come.
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Published July 15, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
April 12, 2025
I love the first three stories but the rest I don't even remember.
April 25, 2025
This set of moody and often sad personal journey short stories is set in the American South and has all Black protagonists. The writing is beautiful with a strong sense of place and the characters feel fully formed, realistic, and interesting. It is hard to believe this is a debut! The stories that stuck with me most (haunted me, really!) were "When We Go, We Go Downstream" and "Surfacing." The book aptly includes a quote from Jesmyn Ward; fans of Jesmyn Ward will enjoy this collection.
April 5, 2026
These are eleven of the most amazing short stories. All the short stories circulate around the theme of love. The questions explored are: What is love? Can I find love again? Why does love hurt? Was it love to begin with? and finally I am losing love? The situations are believable and characters are relatable. In the end my thought is how can love be such a tangled mess?
"When We Go, We Go Downstream" tells of a curse placed on the slave Elijah and his offsprings. Elijah ran away from the plantation where the master forbade him to call Evaline his wife. Evaline went to the conjure woman and placed a curse on Elijah and his generations that they should never find love. Elijah was the first of her lovers' to leave by choice. The others' had been sold.
"Cottonmouths" when you imitate your parents without knowing the consequences and end up in a situation that is not for you how do you resolve the conflict? Twyla tries to convince Momma she can stay and that would be better than leaving.
"Surfacing" Grace and Dev met in college. They had so much in common. She was a foster child eventually adopted by Olivia on an island off of Georgia's coast. His entire family was killed in a car accident. Grace is a dancer. She loves Dev. She has one problem. It hurts when they have sex. Now, her thighs are hurting when she dances. She returns to the island to seek comfort. In her surprise and relief the island starts to give her answers.
"Morning By Morning" Kevin and Helene are engaged, but have not had sex. Kevin wants to have sex before they marry. Helene does not want to fall out of favor with God. Sariah is a deaconess at church. She is sacrificing herself from sex to make pence of sin, for an abortion, she had in her early twenties. Jay wants to be baptized in the church. But, does not know if he is ready. How much is a sacrifice for sin?
"The Happy Land" Gideon is married to Darnell. Is father is trying to accept and understand this marriage. It is difficult. His father was a womanizer and took in Gideon after his mother died. Wyatt was Gideon's first love and now he is back. Old memories start to resurface. His father is trying to understand. He tells Gideon he wandered away from his mother and no good came from it. The best his father can do.
Quotes:
Auntie Charlee had lost her fiancé at the mall, turning around to show him a cashmere sweater, only to find him gone and, later, his truck missing from the parking lot.
ONE THING WOMEN LOVED to talk about was sex.
"Come-heres, Olivia would've called them, in contrast to the Been-heres, people who'd lived on the island for generations."
It isn't right how some things get to be lost, and others don't.
"When We Go, We Go Downstream" tells of a curse placed on the slave Elijah and his offsprings. Elijah ran away from the plantation where the master forbade him to call Evaline his wife. Evaline went to the conjure woman and placed a curse on Elijah and his generations that they should never find love. Elijah was the first of her lovers' to leave by choice. The others' had been sold.
"Cottonmouths" when you imitate your parents without knowing the consequences and end up in a situation that is not for you how do you resolve the conflict? Twyla tries to convince Momma she can stay and that would be better than leaving.
"Surfacing" Grace and Dev met in college. They had so much in common. She was a foster child eventually adopted by Olivia on an island off of Georgia's coast. His entire family was killed in a car accident. Grace is a dancer. She loves Dev. She has one problem. It hurts when they have sex. Now, her thighs are hurting when she dances. She returns to the island to seek comfort. In her surprise and relief the island starts to give her answers.
"Morning By Morning" Kevin and Helene are engaged, but have not had sex. Kevin wants to have sex before they marry. Helene does not want to fall out of favor with God. Sariah is a deaconess at church. She is sacrificing herself from sex to make pence of sin, for an abortion, she had in her early twenties. Jay wants to be baptized in the church. But, does not know if he is ready. How much is a sacrifice for sin?
"The Happy Land" Gideon is married to Darnell. Is father is trying to accept and understand this marriage. It is difficult. His father was a womanizer and took in Gideon after his mother died. Wyatt was Gideon's first love and now he is back. Old memories start to resurface. His father is trying to understand. He tells Gideon he wandered away from his mother and no good came from it. The best his father can do.
Quotes:
Auntie Charlee had lost her fiancé at the mall, turning around to show him a cashmere sweater, only to find him gone and, later, his truck missing from the parking lot.
ONE THING WOMEN LOVED to talk about was sex.
"Come-heres, Olivia would've called them, in contrast to the Been-heres, people who'd lived on the island for generations."
It isn't right how some things get to be lost, and others don't.
July 20, 2025
✨ Book Review: Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore
3.75 stars
Thank you partner Tin House Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
This book is a heartfelt, soul-stirring journey about healing, hope, and the winding path back to yourself. Carrie R. Moore weaves a story that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable — touching on grief, resilience, and the power of second chances.
The characters are raw and real, carrying scars you can almost feel. Moore’s writing is tender yet unflinching, pulling you into each moment with grace. If you’ve ever felt lost, or needed a reminder that coming home isn’t always about a place — but about peace — this one will hit you right in the heart. 💛
📚 Perfect for fans of emotional, character-driven fiction with a redemptive arc.
3.75 stars
Thank you partner Tin House Books and NetGalley for the e-ARC!
This book is a heartfelt, soul-stirring journey about healing, hope, and the winding path back to yourself. Carrie R. Moore weaves a story that feels both deeply personal and universally relatable — touching on grief, resilience, and the power of second chances.
The characters are raw and real, carrying scars you can almost feel. Moore’s writing is tender yet unflinching, pulling you into each moment with grace. If you’ve ever felt lost, or needed a reminder that coming home isn’t always about a place — but about peace — this one will hit you right in the heart. 💛
📚 Perfect for fans of emotional, character-driven fiction with a redemptive arc.
July 11, 2025
Having lived in many of the places where these stories unfold, I felt an immediate connection to the landscapes and rhythms of this collection. Set mostly in the American South, the book captures a sense of place that rang true to me—not just geographically, but emotionally. The dialogue sounds like real conversation, and the characters feel like people I’ve known or might meet. The author has a gift for building tension that simmers just beneath the surface.
I was happy to find gay representation in some stories. My favorite story was “The Happy Land,” which centers on a married gay man, his father, and an old boyfriend. Complex and disturbing.
Thanks for the ARC, Tin House!
I was happy to find gay representation in some stories. My favorite story was “The Happy Land,” which centers on a married gay man, his father, and an old boyfriend. Complex and disturbing.
Thanks for the ARC, Tin House!
June 19, 2025
I want to begin by saying thank you to Tin House Books for the Advanced Readers Copy. This book was beautifully written, and the stories felt very personal. It was captivating and the storytelling was highly impressive, especially for a debut. I walked away feeling impacted by all the short stories -- especially since no two stories felt similar, not in plot, voice, writing. Each story was complex, the journeys the main characters face felt real and powerful.
July 11, 2025
This was such a haunting exploration of what “home” really means—and how that meaning shifts. The writing carried an eerie undercurrent of suspense and that tension kept me hooked.
What I loved most was how the South wasn’t just a setting, but a living, breathing part of the story. The culture, the landscape, the unspoken rules—they all felt like characters in their own right, shaping the lives and choices of everyone in the book.
My favorite stories were All Skin Is Clothing, Surfacing, Morning By Morning, How Does Your Garden Grow.
Thanks to Tin House for the ARC!
What I loved most was how the South wasn’t just a setting, but a living, breathing part of the story. The culture, the landscape, the unspoken rules—they all felt like characters in their own right, shaping the lives and choices of everyone in the book.
My favorite stories were All Skin Is Clothing, Surfacing, Morning By Morning, How Does Your Garden Grow.
Thanks to Tin House for the ARC!
August 2, 2026
Note: I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. Yay! I won!
This was a fascinating and enlightening collection of short stories exploring modern African-American life. The stories, with well developed characters, also explore such topics as the effects of slavery generations later, the takeover of traditional Black enclaves, the problems Black people have accessing good health care (and the epidemic of uterine fibroids and cancers in Black women), and even the intricacies of taking care of ethnic hair. The last story is set in the future, but touches on the Black experience of climate change and the pandemic.
I think it would behoove a lot of us white people to read this book and think about what it is saying. In fact, everyone should read this!
This was a fascinating and enlightening collection of short stories exploring modern African-American life. The stories, with well developed characters, also explore such topics as the effects of slavery generations later, the takeover of traditional Black enclaves, the problems Black people have accessing good health care (and the epidemic of uterine fibroids and cancers in Black women), and even the intricacies of taking care of ethnic hair. The last story is set in the future, but touches on the Black experience of climate change and the pandemic.
I think it would behoove a lot of us white people to read this book and think about what it is saying. In fact, everyone should read this!
August 5, 2025
Special thanks to the author & @tin_house for my gifted copy‼️
Make Your Way Home is a timeless poetic collection of 11 short stories that explores the different struggles Black men, women, and even children face at different points in their lives. Moore’s deep exploration of home can mean so many things in this book. You have characters who find home within themselves and sometimes other people. Physical places we call home opposed to those we make home. What it means to belong versus a sense of belonging. Reclamation of past versions of self while transitioning into future version of ourselves.
Each story has an authentic Southern feel and follows different characters as they deal with the effects of their past decisions. In “Cottonmouths” both mother and daughter are pregnant at the same time. Instead of giving motherly advice to her teen daughter Twyla’s mother is more focused on her daughter’s failures, who her child’s father is and pushing her out the door.
“Surfacing” was the perfect title for this short story. Trying to rekindle a sparkless marriage Grace witnesses neighbor Natalie possibly being sexually abused by her father causing trauma from her past to resurface.
“Gather Here Again” follows grandmother Stella who could possibly die soon but instead of focusing on death she spends her days looking after her grandchildren telling ghost stories and reflecting on her past life hoping that nobody notices the changes she’s going through.
“Naturale” had to be my favorite story of them all. Cherie is a hairstylist who’s husband is a liar and a cheat, her mother is in prison, she’s currently pregnant, and finally met her husband’s mistress face to face only for the mistress to try and have a “Barbara this is Shirley” moment.
Overall, I loved this book‼️ Reflecting on the diversity of Black Southern life, identity, life choices, relationships with our ancestors, and what home means this is a collection of stories you didn’t know you needed. If you’re a fan of authors like Leila Mottley or LaToya Watkins you’ll definitely enjoy this book.
Make Your Way Home is a timeless poetic collection of 11 short stories that explores the different struggles Black men, women, and even children face at different points in their lives. Moore’s deep exploration of home can mean so many things in this book. You have characters who find home within themselves and sometimes other people. Physical places we call home opposed to those we make home. What it means to belong versus a sense of belonging. Reclamation of past versions of self while transitioning into future version of ourselves.
Each story has an authentic Southern feel and follows different characters as they deal with the effects of their past decisions. In “Cottonmouths” both mother and daughter are pregnant at the same time. Instead of giving motherly advice to her teen daughter Twyla’s mother is more focused on her daughter’s failures, who her child’s father is and pushing her out the door.
“Surfacing” was the perfect title for this short story. Trying to rekindle a sparkless marriage Grace witnesses neighbor Natalie possibly being sexually abused by her father causing trauma from her past to resurface.
“Gather Here Again” follows grandmother Stella who could possibly die soon but instead of focusing on death she spends her days looking after her grandchildren telling ghost stories and reflecting on her past life hoping that nobody notices the changes she’s going through.
“Naturale” had to be my favorite story of them all. Cherie is a hairstylist who’s husband is a liar and a cheat, her mother is in prison, she’s currently pregnant, and finally met her husband’s mistress face to face only for the mistress to try and have a “Barbara this is Shirley” moment.
Overall, I loved this book‼️ Reflecting on the diversity of Black Southern life, identity, life choices, relationships with our ancestors, and what home means this is a collection of stories you didn’t know you needed. If you’re a fan of authors like Leila Mottley or LaToya Watkins you’ll definitely enjoy this book.
March 3, 2026
My college is reading this as part of a book club. It had been a while since I'd read a collection of short stories. And after reading this, I had to ask myself why that is. The form is so beautiful, and Moore is a master of the art.
Each story in this collection takes place in a different southern state. The stories span various timeframes (including the future), genders and ages. But all of them speak to the idea of home -- creating it, discovering, returning to it -- all from the viewpoint of the Black experience.
Among my favorites were:
- "Surfacing," in which a woman and her husband visit her late foster-mother's Sea Island Georgia home, having a tense encounter with visiting neighbors.
- "The Happy Land," in which an intense winter storm frames a gay son leaving his husband to check on his father in his small town and having to face what leaving has meant
- "How Does Your Garden Grow?," telling the story of women returning to Mississippi to seek healing, both physically and spiritually
- "Till It and Keep It," a glimpse into the lives of two sisters seeking a better life in a climate ravaged south of the future
These stories will stick with me for some time. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to discussions about these stories and getting to hear the author herself next month!
Each story in this collection takes place in a different southern state. The stories span various timeframes (including the future), genders and ages. But all of them speak to the idea of home -- creating it, discovering, returning to it -- all from the viewpoint of the Black experience.
Among my favorites were:
- "Surfacing," in which a woman and her husband visit her late foster-mother's Sea Island Georgia home, having a tense encounter with visiting neighbors.
- "The Happy Land," in which an intense winter storm frames a gay son leaving his husband to check on his father in his small town and having to face what leaving has meant
- "How Does Your Garden Grow?," telling the story of women returning to Mississippi to seek healing, both physically and spiritually
- "Till It and Keep It," a glimpse into the lives of two sisters seeking a better life in a climate ravaged south of the future
These stories will stick with me for some time. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to discussions about these stories and getting to hear the author herself next month!
October 14, 2025
Such good stories. Some were hard for me to understand-these characters live different lives from me, but the writing is powerful.
Read
July 17, 2025See full review on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution website:
Family and Nature Point the Way Home in Stories Rooted in the South
"The concept of home means different things to different folks. For some, it’s where they’re from or where they live. For others, home isn’t a physical location but is defined by family. For the characters in Atlanta native Carrie R. Moore’s moody, evocative debut collection of stories “Make Your Way Home, it is a complicated combination of geography and genealogy that tethers the past to the present.
Nobody feels the pull of history more than Ever, a man who returns to Austin, Texas, for his twin sister’s wedding in the opening story, “When We Go, We Go Downstream.” As Ever watches his disparate family gather to celebrate his sister’s nuptials, he reflects on the legend of a “marriage curse” passed down by his enslaved ancestor Elijah. As wedding complications escalate, Ever’s melancholy mushrooms, leaving him to wonder if either he or his sister will buck the trend like their grandfather — the only descendant of Elijah’s with a successful long-term union..."
https://www.ajc.com/arts-entertainmen...
Family and Nature Point the Way Home in Stories Rooted in the South
"The concept of home means different things to different folks. For some, it’s where they’re from or where they live. For others, home isn’t a physical location but is defined by family. For the characters in Atlanta native Carrie R. Moore’s moody, evocative debut collection of stories “Make Your Way Home, it is a complicated combination of geography and genealogy that tethers the past to the present.
Nobody feels the pull of history more than Ever, a man who returns to Austin, Texas, for his twin sister’s wedding in the opening story, “When We Go, We Go Downstream.” As Ever watches his disparate family gather to celebrate his sister’s nuptials, he reflects on the legend of a “marriage curse” passed down by his enslaved ancestor Elijah. As wedding complications escalate, Ever’s melancholy mushrooms, leaving him to wonder if either he or his sister will buck the trend like their grandfather — the only descendant of Elijah’s with a successful long-term union..."
https://www.ajc.com/arts-entertainmen...
May 10, 2026
Consider this a high 3-star rating. Make Your Way Home: Stories by Carrie R. Moore came on my radar because Moore is one of the National Book Foundation's 5 under 35 honorees for 2026. I want to make sure that I read the work of Black female writers more often than I used to, and I had not previously heard of this. Short story collections are often hit or miss for me. I don't mind reading them when I'm in a bit of a reading slump, but since I'm not in that headspace, getting through these was a bit challenging. I was in more of a mood to live inside a novel for a while.
What I enjoyed the most about this collection is that it's all southern and all Black. As a Black Southerner, I love reading about our experiences because they're often similar. Everyone in these stories feels like someone I could know personally. I enjoyed most of these, especially the opening two stories, but there were a couple that I just don't remember. There is a strong voice here and I am excited to read more from this author.
What I enjoyed the most about this collection is that it's all southern and all Black. As a Black Southerner, I love reading about our experiences because they're often similar. Everyone in these stories feels like someone I could know personally. I enjoyed most of these, especially the opening two stories, but there were a couple that I just don't remember. There is a strong voice here and I am excited to read more from this author.
July 21, 2026
Like most short story collections, this was a mixed bag. "How Does Your Garden Grow," "Surfacing," and "Cottonmouths" are a few that will stay with me, while others were less memorable. Some of the stories feel really abrupt, yanking you unceremoniously out of the lush and moody atmosphere that the author has created. Maybe this is deliberate, it does feel at points like you're meant to be knocked a bit off kilter, but it was jarring. That said, the good ones are really good, and Moore has a voice you want more of. I'll be keeping an eye out for her next work.
March 1, 2026
Achingly rich prose that has me savoring each story. Moore is a master of immersion, from character to imagery and there is absolutely no rushing this book. I have so many favorites, but the tender tension that builds in Happy Land with Gideon and his father is one I’m thinking about. It’s rare a short story collection has no misses, and this is one for me.
January 2, 2026
All the stories felt incomplete. I felt like I was dropped in the middle of each story and I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. Give me the first 30- 50 pages so I get to know the characters, setting, etc. I really wanted to like and enjoy this book but sadly I didn’t
May 18, 2026
There were some good ones but overall I didn’t find a majority of the short stories captivating.
July 16, 2025
With this set of stories, set in the American South, Carrie opens up a part of herself and lets us all in. The amount of love and compassion she has for her characters. The ability she has to craft a compelling story. It’s an astounding book.
August 10, 2026
3.5 ✨
The first few stories were strong. They progressively became a bore.
The first few stories were strong. They progressively became a bore.
March 19, 2026
This was a gorgeous book. It took me a long time to read, but I always looked forward to the next story. The places felt real and realized and it had lovely themes
July 3, 2025
Make Your Way Home is a haunting collection of short stories set across the American South. We follow an array of Black characters navigating trauma, identity, complex relationships, violence, health issues, and so much more. Each of the eleven stories have a strong sense of place and well-developed characters. A phenomenal debut in which Moore beautifully explores how the past influences the present and the true meaning of home. My favorite stories were When We Go, We Go Downstream, Surfacing, and How Does Your Garden Grow.
July 8, 2026
Make Your Way Home was such an enjoyable reading experience. Even without overt settings, characters, or particular themes that overlap, the stories somehow still felt like they fit together and were seamlessly meant to share common literary space (to me, the mark of a particularly well-executed collection). Each one was well-constructed:
"When We Go, We Go Downstream" contends with attempting to defy and renegotiate family curses.
"Cottonmouths" tells of a simultaneous mother-daughter pregnancy and unexpected agency in the face of danger and the unknowns of the future.
"All Skin Is Clothing": a boy's attachment to his sister following a traumatic event leads to his betrayal of her confidence while in the throes of jealousy.
"Surfacing": an ailing dancer returns to her childhood home in the hopes of convalescing, only to encounter a neighbor (a girl ) that is essentially a younger version of herself, unlocking a long-buried, personal memory.
"Morning By Morning": a woman contends with her faith and a connection to God that has involved denying her true self.
"Gather Here Again": an aged grandmother attempts to instill truth and familial history in her grandchildren while being treated as obsolete and irrelevant by both her daughter and modern times.
"In the Swirl": a young woman's summer lifeguard gig between college semesters is filled with lasting life lessons that include navigating the limbo between childhood's end and adulthood's beginning, the ins and outs of expressed romantic interest and its subsequent inconsistency, societal objectification, and external threats to personal safety.
"Naturale": a hairdresser grapples with her husband's , a lifelong habit of repressing her emotions, the onset of , and that finally awakens a long dormant sense of urgency in her.
"The Happy Land": a man sets out on an impromptu roadtrip to ensure his father's safety in the midst of a snowstorm and unexpectedly encounters remnants of his past.
"How Does Your Garden Grow": a woman experiencing severe health issues acquires an unexpected friendship that results in .
*I appreciated the focus on as a chronic condition disproportionately affecting the health of Black women, as well as the author speaking to the difficulty of establishing meaningful friendships and connection in adulthood.
"Till It and Keep It": scraping to get by during an ambiguous dystopian reality, two sisters hurdle towards reaching an agreed upon safe haven until one must choose between following her heart and honoring their bond.
My personal favorites were "Morning By Morning" and "Till It and Keep It," with "How Does Your Garden Grow" receiving honorable mention. Moore's stories are multilayered, stirring deep emotion and thus often deserving of a subsequent read. Her descriptions of nature and human sentiment/emotion were the most resplendent and shone throughout the collection. And so, instead of delving into the nuance comprising each story, I'll allow her words to speak for themselves below (since I've included so many favorite lines in my list).
Noteworthy lines and passages:
"Texas dreamed of cotton and the hands to pick it. Elijah dreamed of Evaline, whom his master forbade him to call wife." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 1)
"Elijah approaching the women's cabin and unfolding his throat to announce his arrival." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 1)
"Her twists hang in a long ponytail, the strands fine and dark and numerous, like the night behind her is still dripping, not yet dried." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 3)
"Her city had grown less familiar to her, she wrote, but she loved it still, like a troubled cousin sure to get himself together someday." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 4)
"The voices in his mind grow in volume, like the pinpricks of stars through the windshield." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 7)
"Suddenly after months of being cool toward him, his sister wants something. There's a tent of wariness they both stand under, each at opposite sides." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 10)
"She felt cold from the inside out, sweltering from the outside in." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 13)
"The afternoon moves on, indifferent to the growing confusion." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 18)
"Ever watches his sister's shoulder blades draw together, two doors closing." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 19)
"Perhaps, his father's weary eyes say, the best thing to do is to hope tomorrow keeps its promises." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 20)
"He waits in the darkness, the shadows in his grandfather's place longer than the objects that cast them." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 23)
"In the year after their splitting, his parents seemed to be made of the thinner material, formed of skin but no bone, at the whim of the wind." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 23)
"The city melts around them, gnarled mesquites and bluestream meadows following them all the way to the lodge's exit." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 30)
"Ever's breath fills him, thick. Like something within him has shaken off dust." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 34
"His own room felt so far from his sister's on the opposite side of the house. They'd painted his walls a blue that sometimes went black as deep water, night lowering the entire room down, down, dark, before the sun pulled it to the surface again." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 48) the
"They'd made a mess of the kitchen: half lemons with tentacles of pulp and cracked eggs dripping yolk." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 50)
"Heat drained time from summer." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 53)
"...the three of them woke before the sky had time to think of daylight." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 64)
"Memory settles in over the house like salt blown in from the sea. Or softly, the way Spanish moss wilts green over the drive." ("Surfacing," 72)
"When Olivia opened the door and reached out, her fingers were warm on her shoulder. Olivia's dark skin, rich as bark. Her own, light as butter browned in a skillet." ("Surfacing," 75)
"...the conversation wilts." ("Surfacing," 79)
"She stands, fixed, in the square of sunlight passing through the window and stamping itself onto the floor." ("Surfacing," 79)
"Sometimes, she thinks, memory lodges in the body. She's always suspected that people have been wrong about the brain, about the flashes of light and color sparking in its folds, compressed by hard skull. Memory travels down arms and legs familiar with the dance, under the arch of the spine or the foot. The body remembers." ("Surfacing," 80)
"They'd both been shy, reluctant to trust someone else's body as home." ("Surfacing," 81)
"She tells the story Olivia passed down. The Ibo brought to St. Simons in chains. Walking east into the water and singing, the memory of home lapping at their minds, until the waters closed over them." ("Surfacing," 87)
"Something unfurls in the air, an invisible ribbon loosening the knot around them." ("Surfacing," 89)
"They stand there, minutes widening between them, possibilities they could step through." ("Surfacing," 89)
"Sometimes, she caught God mid-blink. At best, she felt His gaze as a fullness in her chest, a gold column of light that pushed out everything else. But during some prayers, she felt not absence but thinness. Like He was there, but not looking at her completely." ("Morning By Morning," 97)
"She'd been trying to squeeze Louise's fingers so tightly, wanting to push love through..." ("Morning By Morning," 100)
"He wasn't standing close to her, but his direct gaze closed the gap between them. It was like an electric net tightened around her hips and stomach." ("Morning By Morning," 100)
"She and Helene drove into the bayou's muted wilderness, leaving behind Treme's Creole cottages, their white posts like slender bodies forbidden to touch. US 90 skimmed the brown waters, glided past the tupelo trees sighing as their roots sipped." ("Morning By Morning," 102)
"Jesus was better at it. Treating the body like all bone, a mere gate for the soul to slip through." ("Morning By Morning," 103)
"Behind him, the rise and fall of liquor bottles resembled organ pipes." ("Morning By Morning," 106)
"In the bayou, Helene's ranch house was flat with peeling wood paneling, like the place was an eye halfway closed." ("Morning By Morning," 106)
"Their conversation flickered like a cloud of lightning bugs fading in and out." ("Morning By Morning," 107)
"It was getting colder, but the sun shone, still there though they couldn't feel its warmth." ("Morning By Morning," 110)
"... the water yawned in, devouring the family's tan couch and the end table his brother carved in woodshop and the wrinkled shoes left near the back door, his mother determined to keep her floors clean. The water lapped it all up, whetting its appetite for them, too, until they'd fled upstairs, the blackness groaning behind, chasing them to the roof." ("Morning By Morning," 113)
"... she'd found her favorite yellow dress, ruined. Its straps had once slipped down her shoulders and made her feel like the wind was saying her body deserved to be soothed, seen, touched." ("Morning By Morning," 114)
"Maybe she'd believed enough in God then to know she was wrong. But God did not have a face, a body, a mouth. A commandment didn't have the warmth of a whisper in the dark." ("Morning By Morning," 115)
"Yeah, but you miss it, right?" Helene said, her voice so soft you could stroke it." ("Morning By Morning," 117)
"She drove. The swamp looming, tupelo trees leaning away from her car, the metal streetlights like arched fingers ready to press down. Or merely pointing." ("Morning By Morning," 119)
"...she looked at the sonogram, her womb a gray cave streaked white, a tunnel with wind roaring through." ("Morning By Morning," 120)
"Maybe God only saw you when you suffered or when you had chosen some sort of loss." ("Morning By Morning," 121)
"The scariest things in her life have always come slow." ("Gather Here Again," 135)
"What she knows of the world has tarnished even the idea of coming back." ("Gather Here Again," 143)
"When the end credits rolled, he leaned in slow and kissed you, his fingers faint as they lifted your chin. How soft they were as they slid along your jawbone. How separate your bodies, before the melt of your tongues meeting, the lines vanishing." ("In the Swirl," 159)
"...you could feel his heart hammering in your ear. It slipped into you, rang through the entire pulse of your body, alive and bright with want." ("In the Swirl," 161)
"His eyebrows were furrowed, as if his thoughts were similarly wrinkled." ("In the Swirl," 166)
"You grew older, adjusting to muted adulthood." ("In the Swirl," 166)
"I wandered barefoot through our hallway's cedar light, stepping in the footprints he'd left in the rug, like I was warming myself up to touching him again." ("Naturale," 170)
"I'd been in the middle of making breakfast. I cracked an egg, watching the yolk start out intact before erupting out of one side, spreading and spreading across the pan. "And I've already told her it's over," he said, his words running together." ("Naturale," 192)
"I went somewhere after that. Someplace very still inside me that was gray and frayed and singed." ("Naturale," 193)
"I watched the sun sprawl over the glass, nothing to stop it growing. It washed over the tile so I could barely even see where I was." ("Naturale," 197)
"We had Christmas at my uncle's, and I swallowed down goose carvings, collards that draped off the spoon, pieces of bread fluffy and high against the roof of my mouth." ("Naturale," 197)
"It would become Gideon's first full memory: the armoires dark and sun drenched as syrup, the bay windows overlooking the green, layered folds of the misty Blue Ridges, the shop's rooms spread out like the chambers of an infallible heart." ("The Happy Land," 201)
"GIdeon busies his hands. Works around the feeling of being cored." ("The Happy Land," 204)
"...they'd vowed to do the one thing they were good at, which was to keep respect for the places they didn't overlap, to honor them with the same reverence used for the places they did." ("The Happy Land," 206)
"The church at the center of town, its steeple high as a maypole around which everything spins, is the only place that glows. Shadows appear behind the arched windows, red like long wounds against the white." ("The Happy Land," 218)
"He reaches his childhood bedroom, then pushes open the door. His old blue-plaid comforter stretches tight as a cheek against the mattress." ("The Happy Land," 219)
"Out of all Darnell's friends, he likes her the most. Something about the way she runs her bakery, handling the gatherings of her customers' lives: cookies for children's birthdays, tiered cakes for weddings, lemon bars for funerals. She's learned to read people without prying." ("The Happy Land," 221)
"The flecks of gray in Wyatt's eyes are like ashes above brown ponds, a fire not quite doused." ("The Happy Land," 225)
"Wyatt sips his tea across the island, the darkness sutured around him." ("The Happy Land," 229)
"Telling them was like attempting to hand over an ancient, painfully heavy object. They gave it right back." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 237)
"This was life, really. How you pruned, adjusted, pinched back---all the work of taking care of yourself. No one else would." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 241)
"Her voice was deeper than Claire had imagined: no drawl, but textured, like a soft carpet rolled out." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 242)
"Carefully, she folded her hope into a manageable size." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 243)
"The restaurant closed around them. It felt like someone had cupped them between two palms, so everything they weren't saying hummed, shared a warmth." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 244)
"The thing about routine: You could rely on it. Like a steady river, it could carve deep grooves into the bed of your life, allowing trouble to pass on through." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 247)
"Claire sent the email. It felt like tossing a coin into a fountain: habit, rather than belief." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 249)
"The details of Sofia's life trickled into Claire's timeline, tiny shoots pushing their way through tender soil..." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 249)
"She'd tried to keep her life so small. She'd never wanted it to grow beyond her capacity to tend it herself." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 255)
"When she looked back at him, the dark color in his eyes gave way, like the earth easing beneath her boot." ("Till It and Keep It," 276)
"As he spoke, she pressed her ear to his heart, letting only half his words enter her." ("Till It and Keep It," 280)
"Harper's body was all bones and caverns." ("Till It and Keep It," 281)
"Even her own body opened to pleasure around him, some ancient room inside her unlocked." ("Till It and Keep It," 284)
"The day was ending, and when she turned, Harper stood in the house's doorway, that wrap on her hair, her body a red-tipped match at the edge of the fields." ("Till It and Keep It," 284)
"Across the yard, in a huddle of other men, Colton's eyes met hers, as if Harper's dance, the arc of her arms, plucked a taut string between them." ("Till It and Keep It," 289)
"She sat down in one of the empty chairs. It was like the backs of her knees had been scooped out." ("Till It and Keep It," 301)
"When We Go, We Go Downstream" contends with attempting to defy and renegotiate family curses.
"Cottonmouths" tells of a simultaneous mother-daughter pregnancy and unexpected agency in the face of danger and the unknowns of the future.
"All Skin Is Clothing": a boy's attachment to his sister following a traumatic event leads to his betrayal of her confidence while in the throes of jealousy.
"Surfacing": an ailing dancer returns to her childhood home in the hopes of convalescing, only to encounter a neighbor (a girl ) that is essentially a younger version of herself, unlocking a long-buried, personal memory.
"Morning By Morning": a woman contends with her faith and a connection to God that has involved denying her true self.
"Gather Here Again": an aged grandmother attempts to instill truth and familial history in her grandchildren while being treated as obsolete and irrelevant by both her daughter and modern times.
"In the Swirl": a young woman's summer lifeguard gig between college semesters is filled with lasting life lessons that include navigating the limbo between childhood's end and adulthood's beginning, the ins and outs of expressed romantic interest and its subsequent inconsistency, societal objectification, and external threats to personal safety.
"Naturale": a hairdresser grapples with her husband's , a lifelong habit of repressing her emotions, the onset of , and that finally awakens a long dormant sense of urgency in her.
"The Happy Land": a man sets out on an impromptu roadtrip to ensure his father's safety in the midst of a snowstorm and unexpectedly encounters remnants of his past.
"How Does Your Garden Grow": a woman experiencing severe health issues acquires an unexpected friendship that results in .
*I appreciated the focus on as a chronic condition disproportionately affecting the health of Black women, as well as the author speaking to the difficulty of establishing meaningful friendships and connection in adulthood.
"Till It and Keep It": scraping to get by during an ambiguous dystopian reality, two sisters hurdle towards reaching an agreed upon safe haven until one must choose between following her heart and honoring their bond.
My personal favorites were "Morning By Morning" and "Till It and Keep It," with "How Does Your Garden Grow" receiving honorable mention. Moore's stories are multilayered, stirring deep emotion and thus often deserving of a subsequent read. Her descriptions of nature and human sentiment/emotion were the most resplendent and shone throughout the collection. And so, instead of delving into the nuance comprising each story, I'll allow her words to speak for themselves below (since I've included so many favorite lines in my list).
Noteworthy lines and passages:
"Texas dreamed of cotton and the hands to pick it. Elijah dreamed of Evaline, whom his master forbade him to call wife." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 1)
"Elijah approaching the women's cabin and unfolding his throat to announce his arrival." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 1)
"Her twists hang in a long ponytail, the strands fine and dark and numerous, like the night behind her is still dripping, not yet dried." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 3)
"Her city had grown less familiar to her, she wrote, but she loved it still, like a troubled cousin sure to get himself together someday." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 4)
"The voices in his mind grow in volume, like the pinpricks of stars through the windshield." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 7)
"Suddenly after months of being cool toward him, his sister wants something. There's a tent of wariness they both stand under, each at opposite sides." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 10)
"She felt cold from the inside out, sweltering from the outside in." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 13)
"The afternoon moves on, indifferent to the growing confusion." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 18)
"Ever watches his sister's shoulder blades draw together, two doors closing." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 19)
"Perhaps, his father's weary eyes say, the best thing to do is to hope tomorrow keeps its promises." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 20)
"He waits in the darkness, the shadows in his grandfather's place longer than the objects that cast them." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 23)
"In the year after their splitting, his parents seemed to be made of the thinner material, formed of skin but no bone, at the whim of the wind." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 23)
"The city melts around them, gnarled mesquites and bluestream meadows following them all the way to the lodge's exit." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 30)
"Ever's breath fills him, thick. Like something within him has shaken off dust." ("When We Go, We Go Downstream," 34
"His own room felt so far from his sister's on the opposite side of the house. They'd painted his walls a blue that sometimes went black as deep water, night lowering the entire room down, down, dark, before the sun pulled it to the surface again." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 48) the
"They'd made a mess of the kitchen: half lemons with tentacles of pulp and cracked eggs dripping yolk." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 50)
"Heat drained time from summer." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 53)
"...the three of them woke before the sky had time to think of daylight." ("All Skin Is Clothing," 64)
"Memory settles in over the house like salt blown in from the sea. Or softly, the way Spanish moss wilts green over the drive." ("Surfacing," 72)
"When Olivia opened the door and reached out, her fingers were warm on her shoulder. Olivia's dark skin, rich as bark. Her own, light as butter browned in a skillet." ("Surfacing," 75)
"...the conversation wilts." ("Surfacing," 79)
"She stands, fixed, in the square of sunlight passing through the window and stamping itself onto the floor." ("Surfacing," 79)
"Sometimes, she thinks, memory lodges in the body. She's always suspected that people have been wrong about the brain, about the flashes of light and color sparking in its folds, compressed by hard skull. Memory travels down arms and legs familiar with the dance, under the arch of the spine or the foot. The body remembers." ("Surfacing," 80)
"They'd both been shy, reluctant to trust someone else's body as home." ("Surfacing," 81)
"She tells the story Olivia passed down. The Ibo brought to St. Simons in chains. Walking east into the water and singing, the memory of home lapping at their minds, until the waters closed over them." ("Surfacing," 87)
"Something unfurls in the air, an invisible ribbon loosening the knot around them." ("Surfacing," 89)
"They stand there, minutes widening between them, possibilities they could step through." ("Surfacing," 89)
"Sometimes, she caught God mid-blink. At best, she felt His gaze as a fullness in her chest, a gold column of light that pushed out everything else. But during some prayers, she felt not absence but thinness. Like He was there, but not looking at her completely." ("Morning By Morning," 97)
"She'd been trying to squeeze Louise's fingers so tightly, wanting to push love through..." ("Morning By Morning," 100)
"He wasn't standing close to her, but his direct gaze closed the gap between them. It was like an electric net tightened around her hips and stomach." ("Morning By Morning," 100)
"She and Helene drove into the bayou's muted wilderness, leaving behind Treme's Creole cottages, their white posts like slender bodies forbidden to touch. US 90 skimmed the brown waters, glided past the tupelo trees sighing as their roots sipped." ("Morning By Morning," 102)
"Jesus was better at it. Treating the body like all bone, a mere gate for the soul to slip through." ("Morning By Morning," 103)
"Behind him, the rise and fall of liquor bottles resembled organ pipes." ("Morning By Morning," 106)
"In the bayou, Helene's ranch house was flat with peeling wood paneling, like the place was an eye halfway closed." ("Morning By Morning," 106)
"Their conversation flickered like a cloud of lightning bugs fading in and out." ("Morning By Morning," 107)
"It was getting colder, but the sun shone, still there though they couldn't feel its warmth." ("Morning By Morning," 110)
"... the water yawned in, devouring the family's tan couch and the end table his brother carved in woodshop and the wrinkled shoes left near the back door, his mother determined to keep her floors clean. The water lapped it all up, whetting its appetite for them, too, until they'd fled upstairs, the blackness groaning behind, chasing them to the roof." ("Morning By Morning," 113)
"... she'd found her favorite yellow dress, ruined. Its straps had once slipped down her shoulders and made her feel like the wind was saying her body deserved to be soothed, seen, touched." ("Morning By Morning," 114)
"Maybe she'd believed enough in God then to know she was wrong. But God did not have a face, a body, a mouth. A commandment didn't have the warmth of a whisper in the dark." ("Morning By Morning," 115)
"Yeah, but you miss it, right?" Helene said, her voice so soft you could stroke it." ("Morning By Morning," 117)
"She drove. The swamp looming, tupelo trees leaning away from her car, the metal streetlights like arched fingers ready to press down. Or merely pointing." ("Morning By Morning," 119)
"...she looked at the sonogram, her womb a gray cave streaked white, a tunnel with wind roaring through." ("Morning By Morning," 120)
"Maybe God only saw you when you suffered or when you had chosen some sort of loss." ("Morning By Morning," 121)
"The scariest things in her life have always come slow." ("Gather Here Again," 135)
"What she knows of the world has tarnished even the idea of coming back." ("Gather Here Again," 143)
"When the end credits rolled, he leaned in slow and kissed you, his fingers faint as they lifted your chin. How soft they were as they slid along your jawbone. How separate your bodies, before the melt of your tongues meeting, the lines vanishing." ("In the Swirl," 159)
"...you could feel his heart hammering in your ear. It slipped into you, rang through the entire pulse of your body, alive and bright with want." ("In the Swirl," 161)
"His eyebrows were furrowed, as if his thoughts were similarly wrinkled." ("In the Swirl," 166)
"You grew older, adjusting to muted adulthood." ("In the Swirl," 166)
"I wandered barefoot through our hallway's cedar light, stepping in the footprints he'd left in the rug, like I was warming myself up to touching him again." ("Naturale," 170)
"I'd been in the middle of making breakfast. I cracked an egg, watching the yolk start out intact before erupting out of one side, spreading and spreading across the pan. "And I've already told her it's over," he said, his words running together." ("Naturale," 192)
"I went somewhere after that. Someplace very still inside me that was gray and frayed and singed." ("Naturale," 193)
"I watched the sun sprawl over the glass, nothing to stop it growing. It washed over the tile so I could barely even see where I was." ("Naturale," 197)
"We had Christmas at my uncle's, and I swallowed down goose carvings, collards that draped off the spoon, pieces of bread fluffy and high against the roof of my mouth." ("Naturale," 197)
"It would become Gideon's first full memory: the armoires dark and sun drenched as syrup, the bay windows overlooking the green, layered folds of the misty Blue Ridges, the shop's rooms spread out like the chambers of an infallible heart." ("The Happy Land," 201)
"GIdeon busies his hands. Works around the feeling of being cored." ("The Happy Land," 204)
"...they'd vowed to do the one thing they were good at, which was to keep respect for the places they didn't overlap, to honor them with the same reverence used for the places they did." ("The Happy Land," 206)
"The church at the center of town, its steeple high as a maypole around which everything spins, is the only place that glows. Shadows appear behind the arched windows, red like long wounds against the white." ("The Happy Land," 218)
"He reaches his childhood bedroom, then pushes open the door. His old blue-plaid comforter stretches tight as a cheek against the mattress." ("The Happy Land," 219)
"Out of all Darnell's friends, he likes her the most. Something about the way she runs her bakery, handling the gatherings of her customers' lives: cookies for children's birthdays, tiered cakes for weddings, lemon bars for funerals. She's learned to read people without prying." ("The Happy Land," 221)
"The flecks of gray in Wyatt's eyes are like ashes above brown ponds, a fire not quite doused." ("The Happy Land," 225)
"Wyatt sips his tea across the island, the darkness sutured around him." ("The Happy Land," 229)
"Telling them was like attempting to hand over an ancient, painfully heavy object. They gave it right back." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 237)
"This was life, really. How you pruned, adjusted, pinched back---all the work of taking care of yourself. No one else would." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 241)
"Her voice was deeper than Claire had imagined: no drawl, but textured, like a soft carpet rolled out." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 242)
"Carefully, she folded her hope into a manageable size." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 243)
"The restaurant closed around them. It felt like someone had cupped them between two palms, so everything they weren't saying hummed, shared a warmth." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 244)
"The thing about routine: You could rely on it. Like a steady river, it could carve deep grooves into the bed of your life, allowing trouble to pass on through." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 247)
"Claire sent the email. It felt like tossing a coin into a fountain: habit, rather than belief." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 249)
"The details of Sofia's life trickled into Claire's timeline, tiny shoots pushing their way through tender soil..." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 249)
"She'd tried to keep her life so small. She'd never wanted it to grow beyond her capacity to tend it herself." ("How Does Your Garden Grow?", 255)
"When she looked back at him, the dark color in his eyes gave way, like the earth easing beneath her boot." ("Till It and Keep It," 276)
"As he spoke, she pressed her ear to his heart, letting only half his words enter her." ("Till It and Keep It," 280)
"Harper's body was all bones and caverns." ("Till It and Keep It," 281)
"Even her own body opened to pleasure around him, some ancient room inside her unlocked." ("Till It and Keep It," 284)
"The day was ending, and when she turned, Harper stood in the house's doorway, that wrap on her hair, her body a red-tipped match at the edge of the fields." ("Till It and Keep It," 284)
"Across the yard, in a huddle of other men, Colton's eyes met hers, as if Harper's dance, the arc of her arms, plucked a taut string between them." ("Till It and Keep It," 289)
"She sat down in one of the empty chairs. It was like the backs of her knees had been scooped out." ("Till It and Keep It," 301)
November 13, 2025
ARC Book Review: Make Your Way Home
Title: Make Your Way Home: Stories
Author: Carrie R. Moore
Genre: Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Multicultural Interest, Black American Literature
Rating: ★★★¾ (3.75/5) | Spice Level: 🌶️ (Hint of Heat/Intimacy)
The Pour: A Complex Flight with Rich, Uneven Aging
This collection is a thought-provoking flight of whiskies, each drawn from the deep, complex well of the American South. Make Your Way Home is a powerful debut that gathers eleven stories of Black men and women grappling with the elusive nature of "home," inheritance, and belonging across varied Southern landscapes.
Moore's writing is often lyrical and precise, skillfully weaving together history and personal memory into contemporary struggles. The stories are intimate, tackling weighty topics like ancestral curses, faith crises, and difficult family legacies. While the collection is a strong showcase of Moore's talent, the inherent nature of the short story form means the impact felt uneven across the eleven narratives, preventing a perfect score. It is a collection that demands time and reflection, but the reward is a resonant engagement with place and history.
What I Sip and Savored 🥃 (The Smooth Finish)
The parts of this pour that went down perfectly smooth:
🥃 Lyrical and Precise Prose: Moore writes with extraordinary grace and depth. Her beautiful prose elevates even the most challenging subjects, treating her characters with a compassionate yet unflinching hand.
🥃 Masterful Sense of Place: The settings, from Florida marshes to North Carolina mountains, are richly drawn. The Southern landscape and its complicated history function almost as a character, effectively grounding each narrative in a tangible sense of place.
🥃 Themes of Inheritance and Belonging: The collection powerfully explores how ancestral history and the complicated legacy of the South directly shape contemporary choices and relationships. This thematic throughline provides a powerful connection across the diverse stories.
🥃 Emotional Depth: Moore handles sensitive topics (trauma, faith, reproductive health) with remarkable maturity. The stories are emotionally intelligent and felt incredibly intimate.
What I Side-Eyed 🥃 (The Fleeting Jolt)
The areas that prevented a higher rating:
🥃 Inconsistent Impact: As is common with short story collections, the impact of the narratives varied. Some stories were instant favorites for their originality and emotional heft, while others felt slightly underdeveloped or unresolved, leaving the reader wanting more time with the characters.
🥃 Complexity of Form: The frequent shifts in voice, perspective, and time period, while artful, occasionally required significant reader focus. The layering of historical and speculative elements, though compelling, could make the collection feel less cohesive in places.
The Finish
Make Your Way Home is a very strong and moving literary debut that showcases Carrie R. Moore's formidable talent. It's a thoughtful, resonant collection that explores the difficult but essential questions of home and love in a land that does not always love back. Highly recommended for readers who value literary depth and powerful explorations of the Black American experience.
The Perfect Pairing
Pairing: A Neat Glass of Speyside Single Malt Scotch. Why? It's intense, requires a careful palate to appreciate its complexities, and the depth of its aging reveals true emotional warmth beneath a seemingly cool, precise exterior.
Tropes: Short Stories, Intergenerational Trauma, Sense of Place, Family Secrets, Quest for Home/Belonging.
(I received an advance reader copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.)
Title: Make Your Way Home: Stories
Author: Carrie R. Moore
Genre: Short Stories, Literary Fiction, Multicultural Interest, Black American Literature
Rating: ★★★¾ (3.75/5) | Spice Level: 🌶️ (Hint of Heat/Intimacy)
The Pour: A Complex Flight with Rich, Uneven Aging
This collection is a thought-provoking flight of whiskies, each drawn from the deep, complex well of the American South. Make Your Way Home is a powerful debut that gathers eleven stories of Black men and women grappling with the elusive nature of "home," inheritance, and belonging across varied Southern landscapes.
Moore's writing is often lyrical and precise, skillfully weaving together history and personal memory into contemporary struggles. The stories are intimate, tackling weighty topics like ancestral curses, faith crises, and difficult family legacies. While the collection is a strong showcase of Moore's talent, the inherent nature of the short story form means the impact felt uneven across the eleven narratives, preventing a perfect score. It is a collection that demands time and reflection, but the reward is a resonant engagement with place and history.
What I Sip and Savored 🥃 (The Smooth Finish)
The parts of this pour that went down perfectly smooth:
🥃 Lyrical and Precise Prose: Moore writes with extraordinary grace and depth. Her beautiful prose elevates even the most challenging subjects, treating her characters with a compassionate yet unflinching hand.
🥃 Masterful Sense of Place: The settings, from Florida marshes to North Carolina mountains, are richly drawn. The Southern landscape and its complicated history function almost as a character, effectively grounding each narrative in a tangible sense of place.
🥃 Themes of Inheritance and Belonging: The collection powerfully explores how ancestral history and the complicated legacy of the South directly shape contemporary choices and relationships. This thematic throughline provides a powerful connection across the diverse stories.
🥃 Emotional Depth: Moore handles sensitive topics (trauma, faith, reproductive health) with remarkable maturity. The stories are emotionally intelligent and felt incredibly intimate.
What I Side-Eyed 🥃 (The Fleeting Jolt)
The areas that prevented a higher rating:
🥃 Inconsistent Impact: As is common with short story collections, the impact of the narratives varied. Some stories were instant favorites for their originality and emotional heft, while others felt slightly underdeveloped or unresolved, leaving the reader wanting more time with the characters.
🥃 Complexity of Form: The frequent shifts in voice, perspective, and time period, while artful, occasionally required significant reader focus. The layering of historical and speculative elements, though compelling, could make the collection feel less cohesive in places.
The Finish
Make Your Way Home is a very strong and moving literary debut that showcases Carrie R. Moore's formidable talent. It's a thoughtful, resonant collection that explores the difficult but essential questions of home and love in a land that does not always love back. Highly recommended for readers who value literary depth and powerful explorations of the Black American experience.
The Perfect Pairing
Pairing: A Neat Glass of Speyside Single Malt Scotch. Why? It's intense, requires a careful palate to appreciate its complexities, and the depth of its aging reveals true emotional warmth beneath a seemingly cool, precise exterior.
Tropes: Short Stories, Intergenerational Trauma, Sense of Place, Family Secrets, Quest for Home/Belonging.
(I received an advance reader copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.)
May 11, 2026
In the wake of Southern states like Alabama and Tennessee redrawing their congressional maps faster than you can say Supreme Court, the social media peanut gallery has been saying things like “See, this is why Black people need to leave the South.”
And Black people have been rightfully responding, “And go where? Our stories are here, our roots are here, our joys and pains are here, our institutions are here. We’d rather deal with racism that’s in plain sight than the passive-aggressive, polished version that the North offers.”
This question of how Black people can love the places that also treat us so poorly made my reading of Make Your Way Home, Carrie Moore’s short story collection, that much more relevant.
This collection is EXQUISITE. I’m reading a library copy, but stopped to order my own about 60% through the book
The stories are hard: the woman with fibroids terrified of uterine cancer after her mother’s missed diagnosis; the gay man desperate for his conservative father’s approval; the parents trying to do better by their children by moving to escape neighborhood violence; the couple clawing their way back from infidelity.
The final dystopian story, about two sisters trying to escape climate disaster, felt a little too real. You’ve seen the headlines calling for the evacuation of New Orleans residents as that city becomes increasingly vulnerable to flooding. And did you know that scientists project that much of the Southeast may become significantly less suitable for human habitability and agriculture by the year 2070?
Matter of fact, all of the stories feIt real. I don’t read many story collections, but Make Your Way Home is convincing me to start.
If you enjoyed The Girls Who Grew Big or Dominion — both for their themes and the style of writing — add this collection to your list.
5 ⭐️
And Black people have been rightfully responding, “And go where? Our stories are here, our roots are here, our joys and pains are here, our institutions are here. We’d rather deal with racism that’s in plain sight than the passive-aggressive, polished version that the North offers.”
This question of how Black people can love the places that also treat us so poorly made my reading of Make Your Way Home, Carrie Moore’s short story collection, that much more relevant.
This collection is EXQUISITE. I’m reading a library copy, but stopped to order my own about 60% through the book
The stories are hard: the woman with fibroids terrified of uterine cancer after her mother’s missed diagnosis; the gay man desperate for his conservative father’s approval; the parents trying to do better by their children by moving to escape neighborhood violence; the couple clawing their way back from infidelity.
The final dystopian story, about two sisters trying to escape climate disaster, felt a little too real. You’ve seen the headlines calling for the evacuation of New Orleans residents as that city becomes increasingly vulnerable to flooding. And did you know that scientists project that much of the Southeast may become significantly less suitable for human habitability and agriculture by the year 2070?
Matter of fact, all of the stories feIt real. I don’t read many story collections, but Make Your Way Home is convincing me to start.
If you enjoyed The Girls Who Grew Big or Dominion — both for their themes and the style of writing — add this collection to your list.
5 ⭐️
April 3, 2026
The latter half of the short stories were better, for me, than the first half. I'm going to rank the stories (for my own remembering) and perhaps it will help others??
I really enjoyed Moore's use of place and her focus on women's relationships to each other as well as her focus on Black women and their difficulties in particular. For example, "Naturale" and the relationship between Cherie and Simone set in a salon. Claire and Sofia in "How Does Your Garden Grow?" as they navigate the healthcare system as women who are not listened to.
Ranking:
1) "How Does Your Garden Grow?"
2) "Surfacing" -main character's experience with pain during sex
3) "Naturale"
4) "When We Go, We Go Downstream" - curses and a bit of a love letter to Austin
5) "The Happy Land" - if only for this line "It is utterly exhausting trying to run from your old life to your new one"
6) "Cottonmouths" - one of the early ones but I do remember liking it
7) "Till it and Keep it" - climate change ruined future
8) "All Skin is Clothing" - all I remember of this one is that it started a new obsession for me: boo hags! Skinless witches from Gullee GeeChee culture. OBSESSED
9) "In the Swirl" - lifeguards
10) "Gather Here Again" - grandmother remembers her past encounters with the Klan
11) "Morning by Morning" - very long, did not like, almost made me want to stop the book, I should have skipped it but I don't do that. woman is struggling with her carnal nature versus her religious side?
I would definitely read more of Moore's work. Her writing is brilliant, especially her appreciation of place.
OH! And how can I forget that Moore added a Bibliography!!!! LOVE THAT SO MUCH!! Especially when trying to figure out more about boo hags.
I really enjoyed Moore's use of place and her focus on women's relationships to each other as well as her focus on Black women and their difficulties in particular. For example, "Naturale" and the relationship between Cherie and Simone set in a salon. Claire and Sofia in "How Does Your Garden Grow?" as they navigate the healthcare system as women who are not listened to.
Ranking:
1) "How Does Your Garden Grow?"
2) "Surfacing" -main character's experience with pain during sex
3) "Naturale"
4) "When We Go, We Go Downstream" - curses and a bit of a love letter to Austin
5) "The Happy Land" - if only for this line "It is utterly exhausting trying to run from your old life to your new one"
6) "Cottonmouths" - one of the early ones but I do remember liking it
7) "Till it and Keep it" - climate change ruined future
8) "All Skin is Clothing" - all I remember of this one is that it started a new obsession for me: boo hags! Skinless witches from Gullee GeeChee culture. OBSESSED
9) "In the Swirl" - lifeguards
10) "Gather Here Again" - grandmother remembers her past encounters with the Klan
11) "Morning by Morning" - very long, did not like, almost made me want to stop the book, I should have skipped it but I don't do that. woman is struggling with her carnal nature versus her religious side?
I would definitely read more of Moore's work. Her writing is brilliant, especially her appreciation of place.
OH! And how can I forget that Moore added a Bibliography!!!! LOVE THAT SO MUCH!! Especially when trying to figure out more about boo hags.
August 27, 2025
Sometimes receiving an advanced copy of a coming publication strikes a particular note of luck: I am grateful to have received an ARC of this moving new collection of short stories, published by Tin House, introducing the gifts of Carrie R. Moore.
With an array of disparate characters at different points in history, these eleven stories hang together through lived experience, of being a black American in the South. As with almost every story collection, some are stronger than others, but in this instance, the separate pieces create an entirety, not of plot but of emotional experience.
The other unifying thread is the sensation that with Carrie R. Moore, one is in the hands of a new author who can really write. What a relief it is to be able to sink back and trust the next page, the next story. She moves with grace through that liquid blaze of summer heat ('In the Swirl', with its 18 year old camp counselor navigating all the changes that age carries, new independence, a job, the possibility of love, and then a last line that suddenly moves time forward and back), the pressing weight of danger too close to ignore (a gripping story of family and what is owed one another, "All Skin is Clothing") and makes a perfect landing in my favorite of this collection, "The Happy Land', a father and son tale that feels like it could have been, might one day stretch into, a full and beautifully rendered novel. I'd be there for that - for whatever comes next from Carrie R. Moore's ability to move her vision from mind to page.
With an array of disparate characters at different points in history, these eleven stories hang together through lived experience, of being a black American in the South. As with almost every story collection, some are stronger than others, but in this instance, the separate pieces create an entirety, not of plot but of emotional experience.
The other unifying thread is the sensation that with Carrie R. Moore, one is in the hands of a new author who can really write. What a relief it is to be able to sink back and trust the next page, the next story. She moves with grace through that liquid blaze of summer heat ('In the Swirl', with its 18 year old camp counselor navigating all the changes that age carries, new independence, a job, the possibility of love, and then a last line that suddenly moves time forward and back), the pressing weight of danger too close to ignore (a gripping story of family and what is owed one another, "All Skin is Clothing") and makes a perfect landing in my favorite of this collection, "The Happy Land', a father and son tale that feels like it could have been, might one day stretch into, a full and beautifully rendered novel. I'd be there for that - for whatever comes next from Carrie R. Moore's ability to move her vision from mind to page.
October 21, 2026
Tender, well-researched writing centering Southern stories, but missing a *bite* I really needed. A hook that stuns or haunts or surprises; these stories are mostly pretty quiet and uneventful, navigating the pulse between people and their slice of life. Sometimes with pointed themes around race, fertility, loss—but always with a grounding idea of home. Even with a book I didn’t love, I’m rating it higher because I liked living in the worlds she made.
Quotes I tagged 🧡
“ she wonders about children. She has never had to have her own answer, about whether or not to have them..”
“ it’s long enough to remember how eternal love she had once. How difficult the time it’ll have finding a way back.”
“You could spook anyone with how close you were willing to get, with how you opened yourself up to the world and opened others too. Now, the hardest thing is getting back. She is waiting, the girl of you, shouting from a distance for your return.”
“ my daughter was me and so she was my mother too.”
“Still, they’d vowed to do the thing they were good at, which was to keep respect for the places they didn’t overlap, to honor them with the same reverence used for the places they did”
“It’s hard to tell if Christians are genuinely nice or if they just feel like they’re supposed to be.”
“How on earth did people stand bearing themselves to people? You always met the wall of how they saw the world.”
“It was so hard to take care of somebody else, outside of the obvious ways. Especially when you so keenly felt your limitations.”
Quotes I tagged 🧡
“ she wonders about children. She has never had to have her own answer, about whether or not to have them..”
“ it’s long enough to remember how eternal love she had once. How difficult the time it’ll have finding a way back.”
“You could spook anyone with how close you were willing to get, with how you opened yourself up to the world and opened others too. Now, the hardest thing is getting back. She is waiting, the girl of you, shouting from a distance for your return.”
“ my daughter was me and so she was my mother too.”
“Still, they’d vowed to do the thing they were good at, which was to keep respect for the places they didn’t overlap, to honor them with the same reverence used for the places they did”
“It’s hard to tell if Christians are genuinely nice or if they just feel like they’re supposed to be.”
“How on earth did people stand bearing themselves to people? You always met the wall of how they saw the world.”
“It was so hard to take care of somebody else, outside of the obvious ways. Especially when you so keenly felt your limitations.”
August 24, 2026
Carrie Moore’s *Make Your Way Home: Stories* is a touching and haunting collection of stories centered on African American characters in the South. My favorite stories—“Gather Here Again,” “Naturale,” “The Happy Land,” “How Does Your Garden Grow,” and “Till It and Keep It”—stood out for their deep dives into character, particularly the characters’ complicated inner lives and their often-avoidant communication styles. I found it fascinating to hear their internal reasoning for what they choose not to say while also coming to understand their true feelings, fears, and desires. Relationships and trust come hard for many of these characters, often for very understandable reasons, and Moore explores that difficulty with unsettling honesty. The collection also addresses subjects that are not discussed nearly enough in mainstream literature from an African American woman’s perspective, including medical struggles and religion. The opening line of “Till It and Keep It”—“In the beginning, there was her sister’s breathing. Which meant, neither of them had died.”—was especially haunting and captures the emotional intensity of these stories. Moore’s characters linger in the mind long after their stories end, making this a deeply moving and memorable collection.
August 24, 2025
Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore is a stunning debut collection that marks my first encounter with her work—and what a powerful introduction it is. Set across the American South, these eleven stories explore the lives of Black men and women navigating love, loss, and the complicated legacy of home. Moore’s prose is lyrical yet precise, and each story pulses with emotional depth, whether it’s a preteen girl redefining fatherhood or a young deaconess questioning her faith. The settings from Florida marshes to North Carolina mountains are richly drawn, grounding each narrative in a sense of place that feels both intimate and expansive.
What impressed me most was Moore’s ability to weave history and personal memory into contemporary struggles without ever losing the human heartbeat at the center. Her characters are flawed, resilient, and unforgettable, and the collection as a whole feels like a meditation on belonging and inheritance. For a first-time reader, Make Your Way Home is not just a promising debut it’s a deeply resonant experience that leaves me eager to follow Moore’s literary path wherever it leads next
What impressed me most was Moore’s ability to weave history and personal memory into contemporary struggles without ever losing the human heartbeat at the center. Her characters are flawed, resilient, and unforgettable, and the collection as a whole feels like a meditation on belonging and inheritance. For a first-time reader, Make Your Way Home is not just a promising debut it’s a deeply resonant experience that leaves me eager to follow Moore’s literary path wherever it leads next
August 30, 2026
“Make Your Way Home” is the debut collection of short stories by Carrie R. Moore, showcasing a rich tapestry of life set against the backdrop of the Southern United States. Each story delves deep into the lives of characters grappling with their complex emotions while striving to find love and a sense of belonging in the modern world.
Moore's writing elegantly captures the intricacies of human relationships, highlighting the profound impact of past traumas on present lives. The characters navigate their histories with a blend of nostalgia and heartache, illustrating the universal longing for connection and a place to call home. Through vivid imagery and heartfelt narrative, the stories evoke a resilient spirit, revealing how the echoes of one’s past can both challenge and nurture the pursuit of intimacy and understanding in the present. With nuance, compassion, and grace, Moore invites readers to reflect on their own journeys of healing and the power of love in overcoming the shadows of yesterday.
Thank you to Tin House and NetGalley for the ARC.
Moore's writing elegantly captures the intricacies of human relationships, highlighting the profound impact of past traumas on present lives. The characters navigate their histories with a blend of nostalgia and heartache, illustrating the universal longing for connection and a place to call home. Through vivid imagery and heartfelt narrative, the stories evoke a resilient spirit, revealing how the echoes of one’s past can both challenge and nurture the pursuit of intimacy and understanding in the present. With nuance, compassion, and grace, Moore invites readers to reflect on their own journeys of healing and the power of love in overcoming the shadows of yesterday.
Thank you to Tin House and NetGalley for the ARC.
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