The books Southern indie booksellers are recommending to readers everywhere!

Literary

Spotlight on: Weyward by Emilia Hart

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Emilia Hart, photo credit Emilia Hart

“I began writing Weyward during the early days of the pandemic, fuelled by anger about the increase of domestic violence during lockdown. At the same time, I was also reading about the 1612 Pendle Witch Trials. The two seemed horribly linked. I wondered: how far have we really come in the fight against misogyny? How can we keep going?

For me, the answer is by connecting with the women around us, and those who came before us. And story is connection. At the heart of the novel is a manuscript written by Altha Weyward, on trial for witchcraft in 1619. Her descendants, Violet in 1942 and Kate in 2019, both find and read Altha’s story. For Violet and Kate, the act of reading – of connecting with a woman who lived centuries before – is life changing.” ―Emilia Hart, Harper Reach

Weyward by Emilia Hart

What booksellers are saying about Weyward

  • In this utterly captivating debut, Hart manages to weave an intricate, beautifully written novel about three women and their inextricable connection to nature. This intergenerational tale snared me from the first page and wouldn’t let go. If you enjoy complex conversations about legacy, gender and control, nature and witchy-ness, and female power, this should be next on your list.
      ―Hannah Kerbs, Parnassus Books in Nashville, TN | Buy from Parnassus

  • Eerily scandalous are the Wayward women! They are different and misunderstood but discover their strength when they need it! Mesmerizing tale! Couldn’t put it down!
      ―Stephanie Crowe from Page & Palette in Fairhope, AL | Buy from Parnassus

  • Weyward weaves a spellbinding tale empowering women through their supernatural connection to the natural world. Told in three different timelines across five centuries we get engrossed the lives of Altha, Violet and Kate as they discover the power and strength they never knew they had.
      ―Sharon Davis from Book Bound Bookstore in Blairsville, GA | Buy from Book Bound Bookstore
  • First-born women born into the Weyward family have a supernatural affinity with nature. This gift comes with a curse making them too attractive to abusive men. Hart’s novel interweaves the stories of 4 generations of Weyward women as they find their power and their way in a hostile world. Their stories hold just enough suspense to keep the pages turning and just enough hope to make the read satisfying. A worthwhile addition to witch shelves.
      ― Jan Blodgett from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books

About Emilia Hart

Emilia Hart grew up in Australia and studied English Literature at university before training as a lawyer. Weyward is her debut and was Highly Commended by the Caledonia First Novel Prize. Emilia lives in London.

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Spotlight on: Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow

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De'Shawn Charles Winslow, photo credit Julie R. Keresztes

“So many of the characters in Decent People are on a quest for respectability–– their own and/or that of their children. I wanted to show what lengths people would go to just to conceal truths: a child’s queerness, an addiction, hypocrisy. I don’t know that I was going for nuance, exactly. I think I was just portraying people the way I’ve often encountered them. ” ―De’Shawn Charles Winslow, interview, PEN America

Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

What booksellers are saying about Decent People

  • A complex, engaging story of a small Southern town grappling with racial justice, human rights, religion and murder in the mid 1970’s. Family ties and long-buried secrets are tested as a woman fights to clear the name of her beloved. An absolute page-turner filled with colorful characters in a rich setting.
      ―Jamie Fiocco from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Bookmarks

  • Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. Charles De’Shawn Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.
      ―Stephanie Jones-Byrne from Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC | Buy from Malaprops

  • The shooting deaths of two sisters and their brother, prominent members of the African-American community, set tongues wagging in West Mills, NC. Except for those holding their voice over secrets. Told from alternating perspectives, the mystery unfolds amid lives threatened by the racism and homophobia of the 1960s and 1970s. This is a great read on so many levels, can’t wait to hand sell this one.
      ―Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books

About De’Shawn Charles Winslow

De’Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Lambda Literary Award, and Publishing Triangle Awards finalist. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and now lives in New York.

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Spotlight on: Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow

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De'Shawn Charles Winslow, photo credit Julie R. Keresztes

“So many of the characters in Decent People are on a quest for respectability–– their own and/or that of their children. I wanted to show what lengths people would go to just to conceal truths: a child’s queerness, an addiction, hypocrisy. I don’t know that I was going for nuance, exactly. I think I was just portraying people the way I’ve often encountered them. ” ―De’Shawn Charles Winslow, interview, PEN America

Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow

What booksellers are saying about Decent People

  • A complex, engaging story of a small Southern town grappling with racial justice, human rights, religion and murder in the mid 1970’s. Family ties and long-buried secrets are tested as a woman fights to clear the name of her beloved. An absolute page-turner filled with colorful characters in a rich setting.
      ―Jamie Fiocco from Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, NC | Buy from Bookmarks

  • Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. Charles De’Shawn Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.
      ―Stephanie Jones-Byrne from Malaprop’s in Asheville, NC | Buy from Malaprops

  • The shooting deaths of two sisters and their brother, prominent members of the African-American community, set tongues wagging in West Mills, NC. Except for those holding their voice over secrets. Told from alternating perspectives, the mystery unfolds amid lives threatened by the racism and homophobia of the 1960s and 1970s. This is a great read on so many levels, can’t wait to hand sell this one.
      ―Jessica Nock from Main Street Books in Davidson, NC | Buy from Main Street Books

About De’Shawn Charles Winslow

De’Shawn Charles Winslow is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner and a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Lambda Literary Award, and Publishing Triangle Awards finalist. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and now lives in New York.

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The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane

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The Sun Walks Down by Fiona McFarlane
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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

Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow

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Decent People by De'Shawn Charles Winslow
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A March 2023 Read This Next! Title

Decent People is a compelling mystery that also deftly contends with racism, homophobia, classism and corruption. De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s fluid writing and pacing combine with wonderfully drawn characters–including the glorious busybody Josephine Wright–to make a truly marvelous novel.

Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow, (List Price: $28, Bloomsbury Publishing, 9781635575323, February 2023)

Reviewed by Stephanie Jones-Byrne, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, North Carolina

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas

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Vladimir by Julia May Jonas
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This book exceeded my expectations! The theme surrounds academia and obsession with several interesting pieces about women’s roles in society, power dynamics, and cancel culture. Both thought-provoking and intoxicating, Julia May Jonas captivated me with her vivid and fresh writing style.

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas, (List Price: 17.99, Avid Reader Press, 9781982187644, January 2023)

Reviewed by Janisie Rodriguez, Copperfish Books in Punta Gorda, Florida

Victory City by Salman Rushdie

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Victory City by Salman Rushdie
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A woman who suffers a horrifying childhood trauma is transformed into the creator of a city, buildings and denizens alike. Who else but Salman Rushdie has the imagination required to create this woman, who has an almost endless imagination? Rushdie is a modern, male Scheherazade, spinning his fanciful tales of romance, religion, politics, and corruption, with dollops of laugh-out-loud humor and magical realism.

Victory City by Salman Rushdie, (List Price: $30, Random House, 9780593243398, February 2023)

Reviewed by Anne Peck, Righton Books in St Simons Island, Georgia

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

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On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel
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I honestly can’t think of another novel that had quite the emotional impact on me that reading On The Savage Side did. Searing, brutal and unflinching in its portrayal of addiction and the devastation that it wreaks, the novel ripped my heart out and stomped all over it. In telling the story of identical twins Daffy and Arc, McDaniels gives voice to countless marginalized women, and her beautiful, lyrical prose reveals the humanity among the wreckage of lives, hopes and dreams lost to drugs.

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel, (List Price: $29, Knopf, 9780593320709, February 2023)

Reviewed by Jude Burke-Lewis, Square Books in Oxford, Mississippi

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka

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The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka
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Brilliant, sublime and surprising. On my forever favorite shelf. Julie Otsuka has the mystical gift of telling just as much of a story with what she doesn’t say. Reader, treat yourself with care if you have or have had a loved one with dementia…but I think The Swimmers is more than worthy of the heart ache.

The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka, (List Price: $16, Anchor, 9780593466629, January 2023)

Reviewed by Jessica Nock, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

The Applicant by Nazli Koca

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The Applicant by Nazli Koca
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The Applicant is the debut novel I truly think I’ve been waiting to find my whole life. We follow Leyla, a twenty-something-year-old Turkish woman living in Berlin and working at a hostel. Her days consist of cleaning Alice in Wonderland-themed bedrooms, dipping in and out of hazy, techno-heavy clubs, and trying to find a balance of love, all while also trying to retain her German citizenship. Everything is so well done in this, but the themes of immigration and modern love struggles were perfectly executed. It’s raw, it’s real, it’s brilliant.

The Applicant by Nazli Koca, (List Price: $26, Grove Press, 9780802160546, February 2023)

Reviewed by Grace Sullivan, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia

The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen

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The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen
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Fascinating setting and wonderful characters. This place – where Sweden, Finland, and Russia converge – is defined by the intensely cold climate. The church is converting indigenous Sapmi families, the government is imposing its colonizing laws, and this ensemble cast of characters is wrestling with who they are and how they fit in as change slowly sweeps through. Great writing, wonderful characters, and I learned so much about the cultures and some of the politics of this place during this era.

The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen, (List Price: $28.99, Henry Holt and Co., 9781250822901, January 2023)

Reviewed by Adah Fitzgerald, Main Street Books in Davidson, North Carolina

Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks

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Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks
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A January 2023 Read This Next! Title

Romantic love, familial love, and the love of place play out against the background of late 1950s – early 1960s civil rights era. After the loss of her last family member, Alice flees her former home and the overt racial and sexualized violence by the landowner. She disembarks by chance in an entirely Black town – and what is meant to be a brief stop on her way north becomes a new home. New Jessup rose back up from the swamp and from the ashes of a white race riot, and the town carefully maintains a very public anti-integration stance to protect itself from attention from the white side of town. When Alice falls for the son of a town founder, she slowly learns that her Raymond been involved in the civil rights actions in Montgomery – and his affiliation with a group that works towards desegregation elsewhere creates tensions within their love story. A beautifully written exploration of just some of the variety of opinions within the civil rights era Black community on freedom, equality, and safety.

Moonrise Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks (List Price: $28, Algonquin Books, 9781643752464, January 2023)

Reviewed by Ginger Kautz, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

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The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff
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It is an accomplishment when a novel can take on heartbreaking situations and also contain so much humor as well. Geeta’s husband left without a trace five years ago. All the villagers think she has murdered him. So when her women’s business loan group members start having problems with their drinking, abusive husbands, they naturally go to her to enlist her help in murdering them. A fun story about the ability of women friends to stick together and the joys of motherhood (not really). I will highly recommend this one.

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff (List Price: $28.00, Ballantine Books, 9780593498958, January 2023)

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

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet

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Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet
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After reading (and loving) A Children’s Bible, I was not expecting Dinosaurs to be so gentle, so earnest, so attuned to its characters’ flaws and traumas while being even more attuned to the ways their pain has strengthened them with empathy and circumspection. This is a brief and generous novel that begins with our hero’s 2,500-mile journey on foot from NYC to Phoenix and ends with him getting cactus barbs torn out of his back with pliers, with so much good stuff sandwiched in the middle there.

Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet (List Price: $26.95, W. W. Norton & Company, 9781324021469, October 2022)

Reviewed by Kat Leache, Novel. in Memphis, Tennessee

Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir

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Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
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Olafdottir takes us to Iceland a few days before Christmas where a midwife, Domhildur, has just delivered her 1,922nd baby. She comes from a long line of midwives on her mother’s side and her father’s family work as undertakers. Her family deals with beginnings and endings, life and death, and sunlight and darkness. “I have come to the conclusion that the one who calls himself the master of all creatures is in fact the most vulnerable of all animals…the most fragile of the fragile on the planet.” These words, written by Domhildur’s great-aunt, are discovered in some manuscripts left in a closet after her death. Domhildur reads her great-aunt’s reflections on humans, life, and loves, while a storm is moving into Reykjavik. Will the prediction in these pages come to be reality? Will mankind be “the most short-lived species on earth”?

Animal Life by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir (List Price: $17, Grove Press, Black Cat, 9780802160164, December 2022)

Reviewed by Nancy Pierce, Bookmiser in Marietta, Georgia

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