The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Immigration

Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro

Eating Ashes is a haunting, profound examination of the complexities of grief, migration, and neglect. With a startling, arresting narrative voice, our unnamed protagonist spirals through memories of her brother before his tragic death, until she develops a compulsion toward touching and tasting her brother’s ashes. Never before have I encountered a book that so perfectly captures the way a mind twists in the throes of grief, the way our thoughts spit and claw and recur, trying to fill a void. This book is beautiful, and sad, and beautiful.

Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro, (List Price: $24.99, Liveright, 9781324096085, January 2026)

Reviewed by Charlie, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

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A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar

An extremely well-written novel set in near-future India, as climate change has decimated the country at all levels. A family is attempting to follow the Dad, who has already been accepted with a work Visa in the United States. Megha Majumdar provides us with a story about how far a mother will go to provide for her child in dire circumstances and how we might judge others while avoiding our own mirror. It is a timely novel that weaves in how policies and politics abroad can also derail your best-laid plans.

A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar, (List Price: $29, Knopf, 9780593804872, October 2025)

Reviewed by Jim Clemmons, Sundog Books in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida

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