Find out more about Where the Lake Becomes the River, the latest release from Novello Festival Press

“Where the Lake Becomes the River by Kate Betterton ought to come with a warning label: Put on your sweats, cancel all appointments and get comfortable, because once you start reading, you won’t want to stop until you’ve devoured the whole delectable, unforgettable thing.” - Pamela Duncan, author of Moon Women and The Big Beautiful

Growing up amidst Mississippi’s racial tensions, Parrish McCullough is shadowed by secrets and haunted by spirits, both real and imagined. When her father dies, she becomes fascinated by death rituals in other cultures.

Parrish is a gifted artist who desperately hopes to attend college. But there is no money. She longs to leave small-town Mississippi life behind, but she is afraid to leave her mother alone. And she keeps getting distracted by the wrong kind of man.

With hypnotic storytelling and imagery that glistens like a starlit summer night, Kate Betterton creates an unforgettable extended Southern family and vividly brings to life its dreams, its disappointments – and yes, even its beloved ghosts.

“Homespun and profound, deadpan and poetic, hilarious and heartbreaking, Kate Betterton’s Where the Lake Becomes the River puts me in mind of Walker Percy, John Kennedy Toole and Harper Lee. Her voice, like her imagination, is inspired and authentic to its Deep-South core.” - Joseph Bathanti, author of Coventry and East Liberty

Kate Betterton is a practicing psychotherapist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This is her first novel. Where the Lake Becomes the River was chosen winner of the 2008 Novello Literary Award from more than 80 submissions.

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