Why am I passionate about this?

Since reading To Kill a Mockingbird in my high school literature class, I’ve been drawn to coming-of-age tales about brave young girls who stand up and speak truth against oppressive systems. Scout was one of my childhood heroes. Along with spunky female characters like Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, and Ramona Quimby. As I became a novelist, these feisty female voices resurfaced, and I began writing stories about female protagonists who find their own way in the world, even when the world does everything in its power to stop them.  


I wrote...

Into the Free

By Julie Cantrell,

Book cover of Into the Free

What is my book about?

In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Great Alone

Julie Cantrell Why did I love this book?

I’ve loved all of Kristin Hannah’s books, but this one tops my list. It transported me to the beautiful but treacherous coast of Alaska, where a brave young girl must face steep obstacles to break free of the dangers all around her. Drawing from her own family’s experiences living in Alaska, Hannah takes readers through the complicated layers of his wild landscape while exploring the complicated tangles of an unhealthy family system. A must-read. 

By Kristin Hannah,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Great Alone as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

In Kristin Hannah’s The Great Alone, a desperate family seeks a new beginning in the near-isolated wilderness of Alaska only to find that their unpredictable environment is less threatening than the erratic behavior found in human nature.

#1 New York Times Instant Bestseller (February 2018)
A People “Book of the Week”
Buzzfeed’s “Most Anticipated Women’s Fiction Reads of 2018”
Seattle Times’s “Books to Look Forward to in 2018”

Alaska, 1974. Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes the impulsive decision to move his wife and daughter…


Book cover of The Poisonwood Bible

Julie Cantrell Why did I love this book?

It’s been years since this near-perfect novel was released by one of America’s greatest writers, Barbara Kingsolver, but it’s still one of my all-time faves. Not only is it a literary masterpiece, with brilliant plot structure and spot-on character development, but it explores incredibly rich coming-of-age themes all within the fascinating backdrop of Africa’s Belgian-occupied Congo. As a missionary’s daughter finds her way in this strange new world, she begins to question everything she’s ever known of truth. 

By Barbara Kingsolver,

Why should I read it?

18 authors picked The Poisonwood Bible as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

**NOW INCLUDING THE FIRST CHAPTER OF DEMON COPPERHEAD: THE NEW BARBARA KINGSOLVER NOVEL**

**DEMON COPPERHEAD IS AVAILABLE NOW FOR PRE-ORDER**

An international bestseller and a modern classic, this suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and their remarkable reconstruction has been read, adored and shared by millions around the world.

'Breathtaking.' Sunday Times
'Exquisite.' The Times
'Beautiful.' Independent
'Powerful.' New York Times

This story is told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959.

They carry with them everything they believe they will…


Book cover of Where the Crawdads Sing

Julie Cantrell Why did I love this book?

There’s a reason this novel was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club and then adapted to a film by Reese’s production company. And there’s a reason it’s still topping the charts. Delia brings to life one of the most stunning young protagonists the world has seen since Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. Readers around the world fell instantly in love with the “Marsh Girl” and rooted her to victory against some particularly shady characters. Shining a light on racism and classicism, hypocrisy and dysfunction, abuse and mental illness, creativity and nature, this story checks all the boxes and delivers a page-turning mystery to boot. 

By Delia Owens,

Why should I read it?

46 authors picked Where the Crawdads Sing as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

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…


Book cover of The Yellow Wife

Julie Cantrell Why did I love this book?

This book will break your heart a million ways, but you’ll still want your friends to read it. Phelby Brown is a teenage girl navigating the complicated world of cross-generational slavery. But just when she thinks she’s figured it all out, she’s put up against an especially cruel “Jailer” on the Devil’s Half Acre in Virginia, where the enslaved people are tortured and sold every day. How will she outsmart this dangerous man and turn the tables on this mad, mad world? Readers will be hooked from page one and cheering for Phelby every step of the way (even between their own tears).

By Sadeqa Johnson,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked The Yellow Wife as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Best Book of the Year by NPR and Christian Science Monitor

Called “wholly engrossing” by New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Grissom, this “fully immersive” (Lisa Wingate, #1 bestselling author of Before We Were Yours) story follows an enslaved woman forced to barter love and freedom while living in the most infamous slave jail in Virginia.

Born on a plantation in Charles City, Virginia, Pheby Delores Brown has lived a relatively sheltered life. Shielded by her mother’s position as the estate’s medicine woman and cherished by the Master’s sister, she is set apart from the others on the plantation,…


Book cover of Ellen Foster

Julie Cantrell Why did I love this book?

Long ago, Oprah Winfrey chose this novel for her Book Club, and I’ve been a devoted fan ever since. Kaye Gibbons gives us one of the most loveable young protagonists I’ve ever seen on the page, a courageous and spunky girl who says what she means and means what she says. Gibbons not only offers Ellen’s heartbreaking story of abuse and neglect, but she delivers dashes of humor and a heartwarming ending that reminds us of the redemptive power of love. 

By Kaye Gibbons,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Ellen Foster as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"Filled with lively humor, compassion, and intimacy."
—Alice Hoffman, The New York Times Book Review

"When I was little I would think of ways to kill my daddy." With that opening sentence we enter the childhood world of one of the most appealing young heroines in contemporary fiction. Her courage, her humor, and her wisdom are unforgettable as she tells her own story with stunning honesty and insight. An Oprah Book Club selection, this powerful novel has become an American classic.

Winner of the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction and the Ernest Hemingway…


Don't forget about my book 😀

Into the Free

By Julie Cantrell,

Book cover of Into the Free

What is my book about?

In Depression-era Mississippi, Millie Reynolds longs to escape the madness that marks her world. With an abusive father and a “nothing mama,” she struggles to find a place where she really belongs. For answers, Millie turns to the Gypsies who caravan through town each spring. The travelers lead Millie to a key that unlocks generations of shocking family secrets. When tragedy strikes, will the mysterious contents of the box give Millie the tools she needs to finally make her way into the free?

“Gritty, compelling, and beautifully told, Into the Free will take you into a coming-of-age story filled with heartrending hardship and luminous hope. Julie Cantrell is a writer to watch!” —Lisa WingateNew York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

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Snow on Magnolias

By Betty Bolte,

Book cover of Snow on Magnolias

Betty Bolte Author Of Notes of Love and War

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Author Author Editor Traveler Crocheter Reader

Betty's 3 favorite reads in 2023

What is my book about?

Magnolia Merryweather, a horse breeder, is eager to celebrate Christmas for the first time after the Civil War ended even as she grows her business. She envisions a calm, prosperous life ahead after the terror of the past four years. Only, all of her plans are thrown into disarray when her secret lover returns and starts asking questions she can’t answer without disaster following.

Bryce Day comes home to Alabama after he’s discharged from the First Alabama Cavalry USA with guilt weighing on his heart. His neighbors won’t cotton to his Unionist bent, and the woman of his heart likely…

Snow on Magnolias

By Betty Bolte,

What is this book about?

One terrible lie, a desperate measure to save her past, just might destroy her future…

Award-winning author of historical fiction presents a new novel of love and lies, secrets and sensuality, and the hands of fate weaving it all together.

The American Civil War is finally over and Christmas beckons. Magnolia Merryweather, backyard horse breeder, is eager to celebrate for the first time since the war began even as she continues to grow her business. She envisions a calm, prosperous life ahead after all the terror of the past four years. She’s preparing to follow in her mother’s matriarchal footsteps,…


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