BY: Angela Mason Lowe
Local writer Liz Newall’s words resonate with wisdom. “We tell other people’s stories to understand our own.”
Newall is a retired English teacher, clinic receptionist, poet, peach picker, freelance writer, and university publications editor of Clemson World. Life experiences inspired her career as an author. After retiring, she continued to do research. “Historical fiction is my favorite genre. It fascinates me how past generations managed to survive and thrive to become the America of today. As I searched for relatives or family names, I found bits of their histories between the post-Civil War and the early 1900s, in newspaper collections worth telling,” Newall explained.
Newall’s novel You Don’t Have to Tell Everything You Know developed from her research. It is a Southern historical fiction novel filled with drama and excitement. The story begins in 1865 in Anderson County. The character Icie Jones was born in the upstate of South Carolina in 1865, a month after the Civil War ended. Newall’s thorough research and creativity allow the reader to experience the joys and sorrows of the era. The Southern dialogue throughout the novel is genuine and adds charm to the story. Newall weaves instructions for a delicious homemade apple pie recipe within a dialogue between Icie and her mamma.
Depicting the process of an apple pie made from scratch reminded me of fond family memories in Grandmother’s kitchen. This novel is deserving of a place on my treasured list of books to be revisited and gifted.
Liz Newall grew up in Starr, South Carolina, a small farming town in Anderson County. She produces award-winning writing with her knowledge and talent. Her short story “Red Hill Fans,” published in Fall Lines X (Jasper Project in partnership with Richland County Library), won the Broad River Award for Prose.
She knows firsthand that teachers contribute to their students’ success by uncovering their talents and then they must encourage students to build upon their abilities. Liz Newall wrote her first poem in the fourth grade from a guppy’s point of view as it looked out from inside an aquarium. Today, her writing reflects her unique ability to see things from the character’s perspective and describe them with words. This is evident in her first novel, Why Sarah Ran Away with The Veterinarian. The characters’ emotions and situations are universal. I smiled as I thought about how familiar her characters appeared.
She received degrees from Anderson College (now University) and Clemson University. She lives on a farm in the Wild Hog community of Pendleton, S.C., and continues to write short stories for a collection. Her poetry, short stories, and features have appeared in magazines and anthologies across the country.
I highly recommend You Don’t Have to Tell Everything You Know. The novel is available at McDowell’s Emporium book store and online.