Spooky Stories for the Season
Picture books Southern indie booksellers love for Halloween.
Giggling Ghosts!
“What a giggle! This silly little picture book is the perfect spooky season gift to get your kiddos moving, playing, and working off some post-Halloween candy energy.”
The Great Pumpkin Pancake Party
“A wonderful book about community and the celebration of a beloved holiday—Halloween—sharing new experiences.”
Judith, Octavia Books, New Orleans, LA
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Have You Ever Seen a Ghost?
“Love this sweet book! The illustrations are magical, and the story itself is full of imagination, play, and is confidence-building!”
Suzanne, Page 158 Books, Wake Forest, NC
Buy
Vote for the Southern Book Prize!
The 2026 Southern Book Prize recognizes and honors great Southern books and shows what indie bookseller support can do for the books they love. Voting is now open to select the winners: any reader who loves Southern literature and Southern independent bookstores is eligible to vote.
Bookseller Buzz
Partita
“When I began this novel, for some reason, well, I set out to write a love story, and I had the idea of having my protagonist be a really serious musician who was really in love with her art, in love with creating music. And then when she falls in love with a person, those two passions conflict. I also felt it was really timely. A lot of what this novel is about is the question of why do we need art? What good is music? What does it do for us?”
— Barbara Kingsolver, interview, NPR
Southern Indie Booksellers Are Saying . . .
“Partita is a beautiful tale about love—for others, for the job, for the talent and, most importantly, for yourself.”
— Shree, Hills & Hamlets Bookshop, Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia Buy
“We are so lucky to be living in the time of writers as masterful as Barbara Kingsolver! I didn’t want to leave Livia, she will steal your heart.”
— Cristen, Long Story Books, Atlanta, Georgia Buy
“Listen, it’s Barbara Kingsolver, the woman is simply incapable of writing a bad book. Partita is a gem, and Kingsolver’s prose is truly unmatched.”
— Lily, Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh, North Carolina Buy
“The delicious introspection of Kingsolver’s characters and writing never disappoints, hitting all the right notes, and Partita is no exception.”
— Ashly, Underbrush Books, Rogers, Arkansas Buy
Read This Now!
Fresh reads recommended by Southern indies.
Another Name for Red
“Astonishing debut—expertly crafted thriller with fully-formed characters trying to fill the void of a missing Eldest Sister. Life on their reservation has been dominated by bleak funerals since her disappearance after a bonfire over a year ago and her Middle Sister is essentially raising their younger siblings while their parents grieve on their own. I will think of this family, and all the missing girls who do not “merit” Amber Alerts, for a long time. I cannot wait to see what comes next from this incredibly talented new voice in authorship.”
Alissa, South Main Book Company, Salisbury, NC
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Solace House
“Imagine a landscape where time, memory, even identity shift and snap back. Add a touch of Lovecraftian influence and set it in 1970s England, and you have Solace House, a fever dream of a literary horror novel. Broke university student Alex jumps at the chance for steady housing and employment for the summer, joining a team charged with emptying out the massive mansion Solace House for school use. As they clear the neglected garden and grounds, the estate seems like a lost Eden in the summer heat—but one that can quickly morph into a horrorscape . . . Wherever you think Solace House is going, it’s not. The final twists of this layered puzzle of a novel will stay with you.” Read more.
Rosemary, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville, North Carolina
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Her Kind
“This is not my typical read, but I could not put it down. This is a beautiful story of found family mixed with Practical Magic. Ada and her son live with her aunt when Ada becomes plagued with visions of herself dying. With her aunt’s failing health, she invites her three best friends to come visit and stay with them to see who she could leave her son to if she dies. Relationship dynamics are tested, Ada’s aunt starts visiting her dead husband in the middle of the night, and Ada’s visions get worse. Make sure you have tissues on hand for the end!”
Anna, The Underground Bookshop, Carrollton, GA
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Licorice
“A feline-friendly retelling of Daphne du Maurier’s classic Rebecca! Feral and fearful Kitty finds her forever home. But it’s haunted by her predecessor, the sleek and savvy Licorice . . . or is it? This eerie tale takes many twists and turns as it tugs on readers’ heartstrings. A must-read middle-grade book this fall!”
Decide for Yourself
Bookstore reviews of banned or challenged books.
Fable
“Fable is what YA fantasy dreams are made of! Fable is the daughter of the sea. Her father, the most powerful trader in the Narrows, abandoned her on the island of Jeval after her mother drowned in a relentless storm. He promised her an inheritance if she survived and made it back to him. Four years of gem trading later, she is ready to claim what is hers. She convinces West, young captain of The Marigold, to transport her across the Narrows and back to her father. Epic adventure, intrigue, and romance ensue, and I guarantee you’ll be swept away from beginning to end.”
Jessica, Main Street Books, Davidson, NC
Buy
Southern Bestsellers
Hardcover Fiction
- The Calamity Club — Kathryn Stockett (Spiegel & Grau, $35.00, 9781954118812)
- Miss Wolcott’s Ghost (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel #21) — Louise Penny (Minotaur Books, $30.00, 9781250412607)
- Peck & Peck — Bonnie Garmus (Scribner, $30.00, 9781668251065)
- The Pirate Queen — Ariel Lawhon (Doubleday, $32.00, 9780385550345)
- The French Illusion (The French Illusion Series) — John Grisham (Doubleday, $35.00, 9780385550543)
Hardcover Nonfiction
- The American Way of Killing: The Invention of an Epidemic — Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown and Company, $34.00, 9780316603782)
- Simply Ina: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook — Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, $40.00, 9780593234174)
- The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World — Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking, $38.00, 9780525562238)
- Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State — Michael Lewis (W. W. Norton & Company, $29.99, 9781324131656)
- Sleeping Beauties: Why Good Ideas Go Dormant and How They Wake Up — David Byrne (Penguin Press, $36.00, 9780593655276)
Children’s Illustrated
- Room on the Broom — Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler (illus.) (Dial Books, $9.99, 9780593110409)
- Gruffalo Granny — Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler (illus.) (Dial Books, $19.99, 9798217238736)
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar — Eric Carle (World of Eric Carle, $10.99, 9780399226908)
- The Gruffalo — Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler (illus.) (Dial, $8.99, 9780803730472)
- Richard Scarry’s Halloween Cars and Trucks — Richard Scarry (Random House Books for Young Readers, $4.99, 9780593905166)
Parting Thought
“Books are the perfect entertainment: no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.”
— Stephen King