The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

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What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn

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What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn
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I don’t usually like sad books, and yet this one became a fast favorite! It’s the writing. It’s just so good. Like being a fly on the wall of her mind. Elsey Jane is a widow grieving the loss of her partner who died of drug poisoning. Her actions and thoughts—often bizarre, delusional, and reckless—are sometimes incongruous with the expectations of someone grieving. At other times the agony and suffering and consumption she experiences are completely spot on of what we’d expect. This book is so absurd at times, I laughed, cringed, and tearing up all within minutes. It’s a beautifully written, complicated, intimate story that’s as weird as it is honest—just as grief often is. I highly recommend!

What Remains of Elsie Jane by Chelsea Wakelyn, (List Price: 19.99, Rare Machines, 9781459750845, February 2023)

Reviewed by Andrea Jasmin, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

The Invincible Miss Cust by Penny Haw

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The Invincible Miss Cust by Penny Haw
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Aleen Cust was born an English noblewoman in 1868 but developed a love for animals and a strong desire to be educated and become a veterinary surgeon. This ambition was unheard of in a woman, and it resulted in her mother and her siblings shunning her for life. Despite her family’s hatred of her desire to be educated and many societal obstacles , Aleen successfully trained in Scotland but was prohibited from qualifying because of her sex. She persisted in the field working with an Irish vet, Willie Byrne, with whom she developed an intense love relationship. She practiced veterinary science for 22 years before she was granted her diploma. Where would women be today if not for the brave, independent women who paved the path?

The Invincible Miss Cust by Penny Haw, (List Price: $16.99, Sourcebooks Landmark, 9781728257709, October 2022)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher

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The Paris Bookseller
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I enjoyed the novel of Sylvia Beach, who founded Shakespeare and Company book store in 1919 Paris and published James Joyce’s initial edition of Ulysses. It is full of the details of Sylvia’s life with Adrienne Monnier, who owns a French bookstore across the street, and the many trials Beach endures dealing with Joyce until she finally lets her interest in the book go.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher, (List Price: $26.oo, Berkley, 9780593102183, January 2022)

Reviewed by Beth Carpenter, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

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Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
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In this fascinating blend of essay and fiction, Labatut explores the nature of scientific discovery and the consequences of coming face to face with what we cannot understand. While there was quite a bit that I didn’t understand (quantum mechanics!!) I was fascinated and transfixed. Labatut’s prose is mesmerizing and I cannot wait to see what he does next.

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut, (List Price: $17.95, New York Review Books, 9781681375663, September 2021)

Reviewed by Gaël LeLamer, Books & Books in Coral Gables, Florida


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