Kinley Bryan Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Kinley Bryan is a published American author.

Her first novel to come is titled Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury. It was inspired by the Great Lakes Storm of 1913 as well as her own personal family history. It was well received and was the winner of the 2022 Publishers Weekly Selfies Award for adult fiction.

Kinley is a native of Ohio. She attended Kent State University, where she graduated summa cum laude with her degree in English. She then went on to John Carroll University where she got her master’s degree in communication management.

She is married and resides with her husband and three kids in South Carolina. She has since come out with a second novel, titled The Lost Women of Mill Street.

Sisters of the Sweetwater Fury is the debut novel written by Kinley Bryan. Three sisters, two Great Lakes, and a terrible storm.

The year is 1913. Sunny Colvin is a Great Lakes galley cook, and she is currently really busy with her schedule because she is cooking enough to feed a freighter crew every single day of the week for nine months out of the year.

Sunny loves what she does, but she also has her own dream. Her dream is to go back home and open a restaurant, but at the same time, she doesn’t think that she would ever be able to convince her husband the steward to leave behind the life of seafaring that he loves so much.

Sunny’s Lake Huron hometown is where her sister Agnes Inby is mourning her husband. He’s a U.S. life-saving serviceman who passed away in an accident that she thinks she could have personally prevented. Full of regret and longing to have more than just her job at the dry goods store, she ends up looking for solace in a secret infatuation.

Two hundred miles away from them in Cleveland, the youngest sister Cordelia Blythe has put all of her hopes to find adventure on her marriage to a lake freighter captain. She is alone and restless in her new town, so she decides to join with him on going on the last trip up the lakes for the season.

November 8, 1913 is the date when a deadly storm comes down on the Great Lakes where it brings with it hurricane-force winds, white-out blizzard conditions, and huge waves that last for days. In the middle of all of this mess, three women are given a brief glimpse of the clarity they have been looking for, if they have the bravery to see it.

This story was inspired by real events that took place during the Great Lakes Storm of 1913. The book is well researched and told in an interesting fashion and is a strong debut.

The Lost Women of Mill Street is the second novel by Kinley Bryan. If you have been looking for something new to read from a fresh voice in fiction, be sure to check out this book and see what you think!

The year is 1864, the time is July. Sherman’s army is making their way towards Atlanta, while a cotton mill that is being commandeered by the Confederacy is directly in its path. Inside of the mill, Clara Douglas is weaving cloth and looking after her sister Kitty, waiting until her fiancé comes back from the West.

When Sherman’s troops go through the town on a raid and make sure that the mill is destroyed, Clara finds that her plans to begin a new life in the state of Nebraska are threatened. Also, seen as traitors by the Federals, Clara, Kitty, and others are exiled to go to a refugee prison that is hundreds of miles away from their home.

Separated from all that they have ever known, Clara does her best to remain hopeful while also wrestling with the doubts that she has about the ambitions of the man she is engaged to and the truths that surround his absence. As the days go on, the sisters find themselves on the streets of Cincinnati, a city that can be full of hostility and uncertainty.

Clara is going to have to go into reserves of strength, ingenuity, and courage that she didn’t even know that she had if she’s going to survive with Kitty in a strange land that doesn’t welcome her. Inspired by the events of the final year of the American Civil War, this novel is a story that is all about the bonds of sisterhood, women’s strength, and the repercussions that war has on the lives of the individual. Grab a copy for yourself to follow along with this tale!