I grew up in Alabama studying a curriculum full of Twain and Faulkner. I’ll never forget opening To Kill a Mockingbird and reading about a girl from Alabama written by a woman from Alabama. I wanted to be Scout Finch and write like Harper Lee. That’s the power of a good story – creating relatable characters that let readers imagine a different version of their lives. The books listed here feature strong, southern female characters written by talented, female writers. I feel inspired by their journeys and heartbroken by their struggles. I only wish they were real people so that we could share a pitcher of sweet tea and chat like old friends.
This transporting and illuminating debut novel will resonate with readers who have ever felt a little bit lost. When Camille Taylor’s husband dies unexpectedly, the carefully constructed life she worked so hard to build in Washington, DC, shatters. After struggling for almost a year, she reaches a breaking point, packs up her daughter, and heads for the Alabama coast where she grew up.
The salt air and slow rhythms of the coast soothe Camille’s spirit, but when she meets local fisherman Mack Phillips, she learns that things have changed in her hometown. With timely commentary on Alabama's fragile ecosystem and exploring themes of love, loss, and the courage of starting over, The River Runs South will appeal to southern fiction readers on the hunt for the nostalgia of Sweet Home Alabama.
In this classic Southern tale, six-year-old narrator Scout Finch steals the show.
This book tackles the good and bad in human nature, delivering astute commentary through gentle conversations between a smart, curious daughter and her wise father. Despite being written over sixty years ago, the relevance of this story persists.
From mysterious Boo Radley to dependable Calpurnia to humble Atticus Finch, Scout’s story is full of characters that will touch your heart.
'Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'
Atticus Finch gives this advice to his children as he defends the real mockingbird of this classic novel - a black man charged with attacking a white girl. Through the eyes of Scout and Jem Finch, Lee explores the issues of race and class in the Deep South of the 1930s with compassion and humour. She also creates one of the great heroes of literature in their father, whose lone struggle for justice pricks the conscience of a town steeped…
There’s so much to love in this story about female friendship.
Romance, murder, small towns, racism, ageism, and bar-b-que. I flew through the pages wanting more and more of the story, while also feeling my heart break at the journey these women experience. Flagg is masterful at tackling serious topics with addictive storytelling.
Folksy and fresh, endearing and affecting, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe is a now-classic novel about two women: Evelyn, who’s in the sad slump of middle age, and gray-headed Mrs. Threadgoode, who’s telling her life story. Her tale includes two more women—the irrepressibly daredevilish tomboy Idgie and her friend Ruth—who back in the thirties ran a little place in Whistle Stop, Alabama, offering good coffee, southern barbecue, and all kinds of love and laughter—even an occasional murder. And as the past unfolds, the present will never be quite the same again.
I loved this contemporary southern novel about twin sisters from small-town Louisiana.
Beautifully written and tightly plotted, Bennett explores identity and family bonds through the unraveling mystery of one sister’s disappearance and the new life she assumed. In addition to racial and sexual identity, Bennett tackles the strong pull of the South. Despite characters leaving home and moving thousands of miles away, they can never escape their Southern origin stories.
THE SUNDAY TIMES TOP BESTSELLER #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE
'An utterly mesmerising novel..I absolutely loved this book' Bernardine Evaristo, winner of the Booker Prize 2019
'Epic' Kiley Reid, O, The Oprah Magazine
'Favourite book [of the] year' Issa Rae
The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Ten years…
A contemporary romance written with lush prose and a transportive southern setting, this untraditional love story sticks in my mind.
A wife and mother is stunned to learn that her first love is the father of her son’s new girlfriend. Their secret, unresolved past unravels as she assesses her present life and the choices she’s made. The temptation of the one that got away lurks in her mind as she navigates a precarious balance between family, obligation, and desire.
I cried, gasped, and stayed up entirely too late reading Kya’s journey in this international bestseller.
Owens does a remarkable job describing the marsh where Kya lives, making it almost feel like a character in this book. It’s a rare combination to have a murder mystery, love story, and deep character exploration wrapped up in such a compelling package.
OVER 12 MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE A NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
For years, rumours of the 'Marsh Girl' have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be…
This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to rendezvous with the ship meant to carry them back to their home in southern Norway.
Beyond enduring the Arctic winter’s twenty-four-hour night, the couple must cope with the dangers of polar bears, violent storms, and bitter cold, as well as Astrid’s unexpected pregnancy.
The Last Whaler is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive under extreme conditions. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to rendezvous with the ship meant to carry them back to their home in southern Norway. Beyond enduring the Arctic winter's twenty-four-hour night, the couple must cope with the dangers of polar bears, violent storms, and bitter cold as well as Astrid's unexpected pregnancy. The Last Whaler concerns the impact of…
