New books from Carolinas authors

In recent weeks, my desk has become home to an interesting collection of new novels, kids’ books and nonfiction, all from Carolinas authors. Among them:

“War is Not Just for Heroes” (University of South Carolina; $29.95).
Linda Canup Katon-Lima, who lives in Tega Cay, S.C., edited these World War II dispatches and letters written by her father, the late Claude “Red” Canup, a U.S. Marine Corps combat correspondent.

Canup was sports editor of the Anderson (S.C.) Independent when he took a leave to write about Marines from combat zones in the Pacific. These are the only known collection of any World War II combat correspondent’s writings. The USMC Combat Correspondents Association recently selected Keaton-Lima as recipient of its 2012 civilian award.

“Families in Crisis in the Old South: Divorce, Slavery, & the Law” (University of North Carolina Press; $49.95).

Loren Schweninger, a historian at UNC Greensboro, reviewed nearly 800 divorce cases from the sSouthern United States and found that divorce rates rose steadily in the antebellum South, even though divorce was often viewed as a form of madness or degeneracy.

“The Greatest Unit of Value” (Working Class Press, $14.95).
In this debut novel, Charlotte’s Michael Sadoff gives us Granger Callahan, a young man in the throes of a breakdown. Granger ends up hitchhiking to San Francisco and falling in love with a grifting drug addict.

Sadoff will sign books 1-4 p.m. Sept. 15 at the North County Regional Library’s Back to School Block Party, 16500 Holly Crest Lane in Huntersville.

“The Unfinished Garden,” (Harlequin MIRA; $14.95).
Barbara Claypole White, who lives outside Chapel Hill, draws on her love of gardening in this debut novel about a man who turns to gardening to help cope with his obsessive-compulsive disorder. His life changes when he meets a widow who’s also a landscaper.

“Blue Autumn Cruise” (Zonderkidz; $10.99).
This is the third installment in the “Sisters in All Seasons” series by Mooresville’s Lisa Williams Kline.

To be published Oct. 23, Kline’s tale of two unlikely teenaged stepsisters is targeted to readers 9 and up.