The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Ancient

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray

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I, Medusa by Ayana Gray
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I’m always up for an origin story and especially like to hear a familiar tale from a different character’s perspective. I, Medusa delivers this and more. Gray explores timely themes of power, diversity, agency and humanity through a mythological lens. Even though I knew Medusa’s ultimate fate, I wanted to go on this journey with her.

I, Medusa by Ayana Gray, (List Price: $30, Random House, 9780593733769, November November 2025)

Reviewed by Ginger Young, WordsWorth Books in Little Rock, Arkansas

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Bog Queen by Anna North

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Bog Queen by Anna North
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Anna North has written a tale with mysteries from a body found in the bog, believed to be 2,000 years old, and today’s struggle for the environment and development. Agnes is a young American forensic anthropologist who is hired to help identify a body believed to be buried in the bog from 196,1 and instead dates the remains as from the Druidic order of Celtic Europe, over 2,000 years old but preserved in the bog. Readers meet the young Druid as her mother has declared her, as she travels to Camulodunon and returns with gifts. She dies at a Solstice celebration and is buried in the bog. Readers will also know much of the life of Agnes as she spars with environmentalists and developers as she tries to save the bog. The mystery of the distant past and today’s conflict will haunt all who open these pages.

Bog Queen by Anna North, (List Price: $28.99, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781635579666, October 2025)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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Book Buzz: Bog Queen by Anna North

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Anna North, photo credit the Seth PomerantzI first saw a bog body in the British Museum, and I just thought, How amazing. This is a real person who lived and breathed 1000s of years ago, and I can still see him, and we can learn so much about him and his life, from his body and from studying him. And his people buried him in this place where I think they knew that he would be preserved, and I can imagine them, you know, hoping that maybe we would understand them. One day, I visited the bog where he was found. I really learned so much from that landscape, which today is quite degraded from its former state, but it’s still breathtaking to see, and there are spots of real biodiversity that could come back if protected properly. So I really got obsessed with bogs themselves and with the moss that creates the bogs, and the way it can operate as a colony, not as a single organism. And I really wanted in this book to talk about the non human world. I think that people tend to think that we always drive events on the earth, but there are many other organisms here that have huge impact on us, in our lives, and I really wanted to share that too.
  ― Anna North, Interview with Scott Simon, NPR Weekend Edition

Bog Queen by Anna North

What booksellers are saying about Bog Queen

  • Bog Queen follows two singular women thousands of years apart. One is an anthropologist called in to identify the body of the other, a druid at the dawn of the Roman occupation of Albion. Both women struggle to fit in to the world around them and both are living at a time of great change. Tying them together is an amorphous, timeless bog of moss. This book will make you think about your connection to the people and world around you and shows the complexity in every decision made. Nothing is black and white and it never has been. Please read this book, I loved it.
      ― Chelsea Bauer, Union Ave Books in Knoxville, Tennessee | BUY

  • In Bog Queen by Anna North, a forensic anthropologist unearths a centuries-old body from a peat bog, unraveling the buried life of a woman whose story echoes across time. Through interwoven narratives of past and present, the novel explores the fragility of civilization, the rise and fall of power, and our fleeting place in Earth’s vast history. A haunting work of climate fiction, Bog Queen invites readers to reflect on land, legacy, and the illusions of permanence.
      ― Jamie Southern, Bookmarks, Winston-Salem, North Carolina | BUY

  • I love a bog mystery and read this in one sitting. Story is told through the viewpoint of a present-day forensic anthropologist, a druid from the past, and my favorite part, for the bog moss.
    ― Heather Giese, Reading Rock Books in Dickson, Tennessee| BUY

  • Anna North has written a tale with mysteries from a body found in the bog, believed to be 2,000 years old, and today’s struggle for the environment and development. Agnes is a young American forensic anthropologist who is hired to help identify a body believed to be buried in the bog from 1961, and instead dates the remains as from the Druidic order of Celtic Europe, over 2,000 years old. The mystery of the distant past and today’s conflict will haunt all who open these pages.
    ― Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia | BUY

About Anna North

Anna North is the author of the instant New York Times bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Outlawed, America Pacifica, and Lambda Literary Award–winner The Life and Death of Sophie Stark. She is a senior correspondent at Vox. She lives in Brooklyn.

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Medea by Eilish Quin

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Medea by Eilish Quin
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There have been a lot of Greek mythology retellings in the past few years. But this one is something different, humanizing a character who’s often seen as a villain. Born to an abusive father, Medea grows up the black sheep of the family and teaches herself witchcraft in secret. When Jason and the Argonauts arrive in her homeland for the Golden Fleece, they only do so through her help. She joins them when they leave in order to escape her toxic father but gets no happy ending. Exciting, raw, and told by a powerful antiheroine.

Medea by Eilish Quin, (List Price: $27.99, Atria Books, 9781668020760, February 2024)

Reviewed by Daniel Tyler, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard

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Emperor of Romeby Mary Beard
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Mary Beard is a legend among historians, and a queen to history lovers. As both, I need everyone to know that this book is the perfect way to explore the psychology of what it meant to be THE Emperor of Rome. What it meant to the historical figures around them. Everything. It’s such a fascinating look at such complex figures that we realistically only know a limited amount about due to how long ago Rome was, and how often their successors attempted to erase them from history, even casually so after their deaths. If you’re looking for further exploration into the archetype of the Roman Emperor, you’ll delight in this book.

Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard, (List Price: $39.99, Liveright, 9780871404220, October 2023)

Reviewed by Caitlyn Vanorder , Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

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Ithaca by Claire North

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Ithaca by Claire North
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Ithaca takes place in a time while Odysseus is away, and is narrated by Hera, the goddess of women. Many suitors have arrived to try and take the hand of a could-be widow. It’s up to Penelope and her band of women to hold things together, not just for her, but for the sake of the entire kingdom. From unexpected visitors, suspenseful skirmishes, and a lust for power, this is the story of the not so quickly told, unsung protectors of Ithaca. What an amazing, gorgeous take on what was going on while Odysseus has been gone. Spoken from the viewpoint of Hera, this captivating story brings up many people that are usually left by the wayside as far as Greek mythology is concerned. There were a lot of characters, and at first it was a bit difficult to remember which person was which. For the most part, North solves this by giving insight into what each one of them is doing whenever mentioned. From traitors of the kingdom, to a coming of manhood for my personal favorite character, Telemachus, the suspense and build up never failed. The marathon of the middle was exactly that for me, but that is North’s beautiful attention to detail, pulp, and background building that I love from her writing. The ending was a shot out of nowhere. Wondering who would come out on top at the end was something I questioned during the entire read. All I know is, like with almost all of her books, the last five or six chapters tie everything together and are somehow always better than the rest of the book, if that’s even possible. All of my questions, answered. All loose ends, tied.Six stars out of five; I suggest everyone grab this book when it comes out if you are a fan of Greek Mythology, fiction, suspense, and all around good writing. This is the setup of a series, and it was extremely captivating the way North went out of her way to have all the geography, gods, and goddesses of ancient Greece historically accurate. She definitely showed the conflict between them and how some, if not all, are more “humanly” than I had considered when I went through school learning about Greece. It was really nice to have a change of pace from North’s usual writing, but this had her style all over it. Will be grabbing a physical copy in September, to add to my collection of Claire North books and I cannot wait to see what happens next in the story of Penelope.

Ithaca by Claire North, (List Price: $28, Redhook, 9780316422963, September 2022)

Reviewed by Doloris Vest, Book No Further in Roanoke, Virginia

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Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel

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Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
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Readers of Kaikeyi will be pulled into this lyrical counternarrative of the reviled queen from the ancient epic Ramayana. Known as a jealous, villainous stepmother who banished Rama and put her own son on the throne, Patel tells a much more nuanced, compassionate tale of a brave woman caught between manipulative gods and a patriarchal society who nevertheless tries to improve the lot of women in her kingdom. Kaikeyi’s voice is stunningly spirited, and Patel’s mesmerizing prose is immersive and inventive. This will definitely appeal to fans of mythological retellings in the vein of Circe.

Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel, (List Price: $28.00, Redhook, 9780759557338,  April 2022)

Reviewed by Hannah DeCamp, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

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