By Bess Kercher @MaeMucho

Summer reading has always been one of my favorite activities. As a teen I’d duck out of family games to curl up in a hammock with a tattered mystery, or balance a water-seeped novel on my suited stomach as I relaxed in a lounge chair with my feet in the surf. I raced through early beloved authors: Agatha Christie, Pat Conroy, Anne Tyler, Lee Smith, Fannie Flagg. Now that I’ve authored a kidlit book, I hope it makes its way into the hands of young readers who were like me. I love the thought of a middle schooler on the beach in 2022, engrossed in Now and at the Hour.

Even though my earliest summer reads were always fiction, I’ve developed a new favorite as an adult: memoir. I love seeing the world through someone else’s eyes, experiencing their distinct writer’s voice, and vicariously learning the lessons of their lives. An unexpected bonus has evolved through an intersection of my reading life with my church’s Peace and Justice committee. Reading these stories has made my work on the committee better informed, helping me answer the call to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with [my] God” (Micah 6:8).

Here are some recent favorites:

I Take My Coffee Black, by Tyler Merritt. In this engaging memoir, Tyler Merritt shares his experiences as a Black man in America, and the circuitous journey that led to his viral video Before You Call The Cops. Along the way, he enjoyed wonder years in a multi-cultural community, found a passion for musical theatre, and helped the arts thrive at a small Bible college in Santa Cruz. His voice is charismatic and warm, his faith journey inspiring, and his ability to educate while entertaining a true gift. Fun fact: He’s currently dating Jen Hatmaker, whose book Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity was life-changing for me.

Child, by Judy Goldman. I’ve had the pleasure of hearing this author speak, and she is mesmerizing. Originally a poet, her writing has a beautifully lyrical quality to it, poignant and searing. She’s written seven books; at age 80 she felt the time was right for this story to be in the world. Child is the complicated remembering of the relationship between Judy, a privileged white child in the Jim Crow South, and Mattie Culp, the Black woman who helped raise her.  Judy explores “the unconscionable scaffolding on which the relationship was built, and the deep love.” The story is also about Mattie’s child, who was raised by someone else. As a person of faith who grapples with issues of race and reconciliation, this story felt honest in its unflinching assessments – of both the pain of racism, but also the balm found in abiding affection.

The Other Dr. Gilmer, by Benjamin Gilmer. Ben was a classmate of mine at Davidson College, and I was fascinated when he was featured in an episode of the podcast This American Life about coincidences. His – that he had the same name as the founding physician at the small medical practice in the mountains of NC where he landed his first job – was darkly underscored by the gruesome murder that his predecessor had committed. But as Benjamin began treating the same patients at this rural practice, their warm feelings for the other Dr Gilmer set him on a path to uncover who this person really was, and how his life took such a tragic turn. This unexpected journey led Benjamin to author this complicated story, and also to advocate for the humane treatment of mentally ill prisoners. I’m reminded of Matthew 25:36 “I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”  We must not forget our incarcerated brothers and sisters.

Memoir has an unparalleled power to remind us of our common humanity, and to inspire us to help make the world a more just place. We make sense of our lives through the stories we tell; our faith may be strengthened by the stories of others that touch our hearts and expand our minds.

Bess Kercher indulged her love of stories at Davidson College, where she majored in English and dabbled in creative writing. She later graduated with an M.A. in organizational communication from Queens University of Charlotte. She has written for local publications and for Huffington Post, and is a founding member of a local writing collective, Writing Group, Ink. Her debut middle grade novel, Now and at the Hour, was published in October of 2020 and was awarded a Selah Award for First Novel from the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference, and a Gold Medal for Juvenile Fiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. She has met with hundreds of middle schoolers who have read her novel and her favorite reviews come from them, including: “Thank you for coming to talk to us. This has been my favorite book we have read this year. My favorite part is when Albert saves the shark.” & “Thank you for writing an amazing book and sharing it with the world. I like how you go into detail with every character and really make you feel like you are there.” & “I really enjoyed reading your book because it gives a message to people to be kind and help others and I think that’s really inspiring.”

Bess contributed to charlotteobserver.com from 2013-2017 on their MomsCharlotte platform, authoring parenting essays and the blogs Worst Mom Ever, Miracle on Curbstone Street, Mom and Pop, Because Friends, Team Mom, and A Few Good Moms: Can you handle the truth? Her “Mom Haiku” endures as one of her most apt works: My calling must be* Helping others feel better* (By comparison). She lives in Charlotte, NC with her husband and a rapidly emptying nest – a phenomenon that would be distressing were it not for the amiable relationship it has engendered with her two young adult sons.

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