Suzanne Hudson"s All the Way to Memphis is more than a collection of short stories; it is a trip. This collection"s strength lies in its trajectory. It trespasses through the southern gothic but does not stall there. It continues on to create a map that transcends the confines of abusive family members and social hierarchies that have long stereotyped the South to arrive at a place familiar to all: the human heart. Hudson drives the heart"s terrain like a trucker. Shoe possesses such skill that hope in each story is constantly lurking about, an unwritten character waiting to spring eternal. The language she employs to do her bidding becomes an accent that sits uncomfortably on the tongue, familiar but jarring. Young girl. Hitch hiker. Murderer, Librarian. And more. The voices combine., their levels rising in response to the noise within, and without. "She is the best among us. Suzanne Hudson"s new collection is cause for celebration; it brings together some of the finest short stories written in the South in the last decade or so. It is anchored by her story "Opposable Thumbs," which is fast becoming, like O"Connor"s "A Good Man is Hard to Find" and Welty"s "Why I Live At The P.O.," a Southern classic, with its unforgettable opening line: "Kansas Lacey was twelve years old the summer Leo Tolbert carelessly took up a sharp hatchet, chopped off his five-year-old brother Cooter"s thumb, and threw it up on the sloping tin roof of the jailhouse." - William Cobb, 2007 winner of the prestigious Harper Lee Award