Mr. Williams' story is filled with rollicking humor, wit, and wisdom. Vividly written, the reader is drawn into 18th century Charleston, and into the lives of two families, the Dorsets and the Symthes. Each and every character is memorable. You will laugh and cry reading this book. It has a permament place in my personal library. I loved it so much, I rushed out and bought several copies to give to friends and family. Mr. Williams deserves far more credit for his writing genius!

Williams' ambitious novel The True & Authentic History of Jenny Dorset is a refreshing medley of life in Charleston's 18th century, seasoned tastily with charming wit and intriguing characters. A truly enjoyable read, the tale is written with a sincere flare and comes alive to the reader.

More notably is the method in which Williams characterizes each member of the families involved in the story's plot - from the dueling heads, Mr. Dorset and Mr. Smythe, to Old Bob in his amusing stages of senility, and the ostentatious Jenny Dorset herself.

The reader will undoubtedly find the rich story line is highly entertaining, and written in a very lively manner. The tale is penned from the perspective of Henry Hawthorne, the Dorset's discerning and subdued family man servant. Hawthorne patiently abides by the family's somewhat eccentric and unruly lifestyle, and writes about his experiences first-hand, in memoir-like style.

Indeed, this novel is a great story-tellers' delight! The True & Authentic History of Jenny Dorset manifests very engaging humour with every flip of a page - more than once have I been in the throws of violent chuckles over it's whimsical comments and situations. It has quickly grown to be one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.

This book is funny and I loved it.

I found this book to be completely enthralling. I could not put it down. I laughed out loud all the way through it. Lucas' character was my favorite as you never knew what he might say or do next. This is a book about two endearing old men that set out on a journey that they had dreamed about their whole lives and, in a way, live out their fantasy's. It's a great inside look at old age and how to cope with it, and circumstances surrounding it. A very, very, good read!

"The Silent Stars Go By" is a Christmas story we all wish we could tell, but don't have a childhood like Williams' to reflect on. Throughout the work, Williams is able to recall the era of the late 1950s and how the fall and early winter of 1959 in particular impacted he and his family. Madison, Georgia at that time was a northeast Georgia village in love with its football team (the local high school won 3-of-4 state championship and many regional titles in and around the late 50s and early 60s)and Williams masterfully gives readers a clear depiction of what the town was like. In a style similar to his "Heart of the Distant Forest," Williams also creates a sense of his love for all things natural and devotion to family. The fact that the story is true, and based on his family's own struggle, is something many should treasure. An additional pleasant aspect of the story is that there is no "angry child syndrome." This is a joyous tale, I love the book and have read it twice.

... I set out to read one of his earlier novels - a touching piece entitled The Song of Daniel. It was a very heartfelt and sincere story about a young man named Daniel Mitchell, living in a world of his own. It was a peaceful life - an escape from reality that he created for himself, after he had been exposed to unspeakable violence in his early childhood. This realm of Daniel's remains untouched, until he meets worldly and somewhat cynical Rebecca. As a result, they learn much from each other. In this masterpiece, Williams has conveyed Daniel's thoughts, vulnerabilities, and deepest fears with such an indescribable intricacy that puts us in his shoes. Finally Daniel deals with the uprising of his past in his own way. I really enjoyed this book.

I read Song of Daniel some years ago, and I still think of it with wonder. The plot is moving, the characters unforgettable, and the writing tender and loving. In fact, the book is the best sort of "southern" novel. To a southerner, that does not mean that the book is about the South, although Williams' evocations of the southern setting are loving and poetic. Rather, the southern novel seems to distinguish itself by the author's love of language. Williams' voice is gentle, beautiful, and touching--sometimes to the point that it evokes tears. But don't think that the book is maudlin. The tenderness is genuine, authentic. Of special interest to those familiar with the marvelous (and largely forgotten) Georgia poet, Byron Herbert Reece, a subplot involves the research of a University of Georgia professor into just such a Georgia mountain poet. Song of Daniel gripped and moved me as few books ever have. Its power over the imagination and the emotions is so great that I have not reread it yet: after perhaps ten years, it is still too strong in my memory. But it holds a special place among those books that I _will_ reread. Although they are very different writers, the only southern novelist I would compare with Williams (based on this book) is Walker Percy, and that's the highest praise I can offer. Buy this book and take it to a quiet place.

I love the song of daniel. when you read it, you feel like you are sitting next to daniel in the cemetary, the details are so vivid. it's the first book I've ever read that I literally couldn't put down. I read it in one day, and would recommend it to anyone who needs to read a book they will never forget.

Having grown up not 50 miles from the setting of the Heart of a Distant Forest, I recognized the reality of the characters immediately. Philip Lee Williams' debut novel is a deeply insightful tale of a search for meaning at life's closing. The protagonist, Andrew Lachlan, is drawn with the finest pen, a beautifully captured representative of the academic Southern Gentleman. Lachlan finds himself betrayed by a body whose physical strength had been so important and perhaps more importantly, torn between a conservative heart and a liberal mind. Seeking acceptance and understanding of his life he retires to contemplate the end of his days in solitude. The novel is told as Lachlan's journal and is primarily a character study of this contradictory man, caught between his need for an almost paralyzing self-analysis and a desire to embrace life without regard for the consequences. Fear and love, intimacy and reserve, all do quiet battle for Lachlan's soul.

Philip Lee Williams is a fine author who specialises in introspective characters who find themselves somewhat unexpectedly at points of closure in their lives. His novels are flavored with nostalgia and regret, hopes and expectations unattained.

Slow Dance in Autumn is Williams' shot at a detective story--although displayed rather prominently on the cover are the words "A Hank Prince Mystery Novel" as though it were one in a series, it should more accurately say "The Hank Prince Mystery Novel", given that after some 13 years another has not appeared. Prince is a wise-guy almost-was baseball player turned hard-drinking, hard-smoking PI facing hard times; he's intelligent but not overly competent in the dectecting trade. For me, the character was rather too familiar--true, we haven't had many fictional PI's in Atlanta, but that is scarcely unusual. And that in the author's note before the novel begins Williams inadvertently gives an enormous clue to the puzzle Prince faces ruined quite a bit of the suspense.

With these caveats, Slow Dance in Autumn is a perfectly good detective story, but it didn't quite capture my imagination the way Williams' extraordinary other novels have, like All The Western Stars, Crossing Wildcat Ridge, or The Heart of a Distant Forest, all of which I most highly recommend. But Slow Dance in Autumn is not to be written off entirely--Williams has some very good lines, including perhaps the most intriguing line in detective fiction ever written: "The stretch of I-20 between Atlanta and Birmingham is like being stranded somewhere between Murmansk and Vladivostok with a phonetic alphabet book, no rubles and an empty bottle of vodka." Raymond Chandler must be rolling in his grave wishing he'd written that!

While the book is touted as a thriller set within the creepy confines of an underground maze of caves, most of the narrative conveys the thoughts within the mind's cave.

The author devotes most of the novel to presenting stories, dreams, and traumatic memories from the dark pasts of each character. Every time any present action is detailed, there's always an accompaniment of psychological analysis intended to explain the action. Characters frequently flashback to childhood hallucinations or dreams or problems with parents.

I was distracted, and a little disconcerted, by the author's determination to dedicate so much time to the thoughts and backgrounds of each of the five protagonists (six if you count the raging rainstorm as a character). Yes, this gang of five was menacing and dangerous, but did we have to get to know each one so closely? The main character, Sam Preston, seemed as deeply profiled as a cardboard cutout versus the 5 troublemakers.

I did love the character of Tom Meade, the fatherly town sheriff trying to be caretaker to all but himself.

I would guess that this book would be good assigned reading for a Psych 101 course. If you are interested in the realm of cause & effect psychological analysis, this is the book for you. If you're looking for a Grisham type thriller, this novel is not it.