Second Shift

by Susan Tekulve

In this collection of twelve essays, Susan Tekulve explores the tasks we perform that earn us more than a paycheck. Tekulve’s topics include the gathering of secret family stories; surviving a night of haggis and Scottish whisky; mothering a musician son; facing down two teenage gunmen, and caring for a dying mother. The key word in this collection is memory. Whether investigating common occurrences, or making narrative sense out of events for which there are very few words, these essays remind us that memories, and the shaping of them into stories, are the best kind of work.

134 pages, Paperback

Published April 21, 2018

About the author

Susan Tekulve’s nonfiction, short stories and essays have appeared in journals such as Denver Quarterly, Indiana Review, The Georgia Review, Connecticut Review, and Shenandoah. Her story collection, My Mother’s War Stories, received the 2004 Winnow Press fiction prize. Author of Savage Pilgrims, a story collection (Serving House Books, 2009), she has received scholarships from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Scholarship and teaches writing at Converse College. Please visit http://susantekulve.com to learn more about Susan's new novel, In the Garden of Stone, or to schedule a visit with your book club, class, or community.

Advance Praise and Reviews for In the Garden of Stone:

“Tekulve’s descriptions of the hard, cold, dirty coal camp life, above and below ground, are masterful … (Her) great gift is to live in the hearts of her characters … Lyrical, haunting fiction.”
—Kirkus, starred review, 2/4/13

“Beautifully written and absorbing …very much a story about place and how it affects the human character.”
—Library Journal, “Spring Pick,” 2013

“[A] beautifully written saga telling the story of successive generations of a West Virginia family living out their lives in one particular spot of earth … There is a remarkable sensitivity to the mystery of how place affects human souls. This is a writer who definitely has what it takes to make a real contribution to Southern literature.”
—Josephine Humphreys, author of Nowhere Else on Earth, judge of the 2012 South Carolina First Novel competition

“This is a beautifully sculpted novel of fully realized characters whose story will grip you from start to finish.”
–Thomas E. Kennedy, author of Falling Sideways

“There is always a quiet peace that descends when I read Susan Tekulve. These still waters, they run mighty deep.”
—Robert Olmstead, author of The Coldest Night

“This novel is so detailed and exact that I found myself absorbed. Tekulve moved me through the generations, with surprises and sadness and drama. She makes this specialized life come alive—to show people who struggle and survive … or don’t survive.”
–C. Michael Curtis, fiction editor, The Atlantic

Reviews

[William Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a way with words! Evocative collection of essays by Susan Tekulve. There are twelve essays in this collection you'll be talking about for a long time. The title piece "Second Shift" opens the collection and takes us back through the origins of how Susan became a writer and teacher. "The Peach Season" captures the seasons of life, the blossoming of motherhood, and exploring of place. "Loitering  in a Field of Confederate Dead" shares reflections on the battlefield as a parent wonders how to keep their child safe from a world perpetually at war. Even the simple baking of a cake with her mother-in-law in "Appalachian Wedding Cake" takes a simple act and reflects on the deepest of family traditions. "Just for Fun" recounts a frightening encounter followed by a frustrating response, a revelation of one of America's greatest problems-- children and their access to a dangerous culture, and a poor response by law enforcement to protect innocent people. "Survivors" is a beautiful reflection on keeping literature alive, and saving books, in some cases from literally being burned. At just over a page, the final piece "Winter's Work" is an eloquent final tribute to her mother, whom the book is dedicated to. All these essays, and the others in this remarkable collection, put you right in the microscope of the moment through vivid descriptions. Susan Tekulve makes you feel like you're right there inside her head experiencing these moments, and you'll want to live inside her head for a while longer to let the prose echo a little longer. It's impossible to put this book down without being changed.