The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Australia

Woo Woo by Ella Baxter

, , , ,
Woo Woo by Ella Baxter
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

Ella Baxter‘s novel Woo Woo joins a handful of brilliant 2024 books featuring female creatives (All Fours by Miranda July, Colored Television by Danzy Senna, Exhibit by R. L. Kwon). The daily struggle and balancing act of being a productive artist is examined here as conceptual artist Sabine preps for a huge solo exhibition. She is trying desperately to be seen while also hiding from a stalker. She wants to use social media rather than be used by it and all the while her marriage feels off-kilter. Woo Woo gives us insights into a woman trying to come into her own while forces want to make her smaller.

Woo Woo by Ella Baxter, (List Price: $27, Catapult, 9781646222551, December 2024)

Reviewed by Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop in Athens, Georgia

Woo Woo by Ella Baxter Read More »

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane

, , , , , ,
The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.
Get the audiobook

I love nothing more than a place-driven, character-driven novel, so this book was right up my alley. Fiona McFarlane explores colonial Australia through the eyes of many of the inhabitants of a small farm town on the edge of the desert as they react to the disappearance of a young boy. McFarlane does not shy away from exploring the brutal history of European colonialism and the effects it had on this country. Her prose is captivating and her characters are multifaceted. I’m sure Cissy, the headstrong older sister of the missing boy, will be a favorite of many readers. Fans of Michele de Kretser and Maggie Shipstead will enjoy this book.

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane, (List Price: $28, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 9780374606237, February 2023)

Reviewed by Kate Storhoff, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane Read More »

Scary Monsters by Michelle De Kretser

, , , , ,
Scary Monsters by Michelle De Kretser
buy this book

Buy from your local indie.

A brilliant, expertly written novel that is at once horrifyingly real and also hilariously overstated. The two stories are surprising and suspenseful as each South Asian immigrant deals with the multi-layered pieces of their lives in the 80s and in the near future. As an Asian immigrant to Australia, the author captures these characters so thoroughly it is a shock to the system to step back out of their stories. Wonderful study on racism and how immigrants are received and perceived around the world.

Scary Monsters by Michelle De Kretser, (List Price: 17.95, Catapult, 9781646221097, April 2022)

Reviewed by Jamie Southern, Bookmarks in Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Scary Monsters by Michelle De Kretser Read More »

Scroll to Top