Editing this issue of The Petigru Review has been an enlightening and eclectic journey. Prose and poetry selections depict a story-telling online review, the plight of oysters, orbits of planets during a low country autumn and the values of sound. The journey was a gift from our authors whose histories span our state, country and the globe. Ephemeral photographs are the finishing touch to this amazing 2019 issue of The Petigru Review. Appreciation to our TPR publishing team. Praise to all who contributed.

Sue Cryer, Co-Editor

Working with Amber and Sue has been a pleasure equal only to working with the variety of writers in this first ever fully digitized issue of TPR. Such diversity! As I read through the hundreds of submissions, I was struck with the variety of contributors and submissions. More than once, Tolstoy’s quote about minds and hearts popped into my mind. “I think… if it is true that there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.”

How did he or she think of that? I asked myself dozens of times. Where did that idea come from? “Gullah Geechee Queen” and “Lowcountry Elegy,” two of the issue’s many strong poems, had me asking those questions. So did That’s Not the Way I Remember It, one of the novel chapters. And Tolstoy’s hearts and minds angle shines through in just about every piece. Though different in tone, “Masses of Swamp Iris,” “Profits of the Heart,” and “Footed Pajamas” spotlight generational connections and love, with all its complications.

These are stories of our shared humanness. Flawed, unique, quirky, we struggle with the same challenges of love, loss, heartache, hope, joy, pain, jealousy, fear, courage, failure, and success. I hope you’ll read each piece with relish and enjoy them as much as we did.

Jayne Bowers, Co-Editor