Coming from Fauve Press in 2026

Knowin' Sugar by Shelly Chatterelli

In the lush landscape of an Appalachian season, Sugar’s days are rich with the simple pleasures of playing hide and seek and catching crawdads. But the mystical whispers of truths, warnings of danger, and calls to action herald the stirrings of a gift passed down through generations. An awakening sensitivity that threatens to shatter her idyllic world.

As Sugar’s knowin’s become impossible to hide, her mother grows cold towards her. Confused, but unable to silence the truest part of herself to keep the love of her mother, Sugar must reckon with their family’s past and present to understand how to live with her gift.

Set in the 1940s, Knowin’ Sugar is an ode to the intertwined natural and human worlds of rural Appalachia. Sugar’s poignant coming of age story reminds us of what it means to belong to a place and a people, and the wavering line between destiny and choice. Coming June 23!

Shelly Chatterelli is a former commentator for NPR affiliate WKSU, an award-winning writer, and a poet based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As a second-generation Appalachian, she draws her inspiration from her family's deep roots in southeastern Kentucky. Knowin' Sugar, her debut novel, is forthcoming with Fauve Press.