I don't know what it is but to me The South has always seemed romantic. Even though it has a bloody history, I find it fascinating and there's something that I have always felt a connection to in movies and books. Please take a look at my list of suggestions and I'd love to hear about books about The South you've read.
1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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Perhaps the quintessential Southern novel by the recently passed Harper Lee. A gripping tale of Southern attitudes towards law and race in the tense 1930s.
Buy at: amazon.com
2. Gone with the Wind
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Considered the ‘great American novel’, Gone With The Wind tells a tale of human passion and obsession in the heat of Georgia against a backdrop of the Civil War.
Buy at: amazon.com
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3. The Help
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An emotional and ultimately inspiring tale about the life stories of several black maids across Jackson, Mississippi.
Buy at: amazon.com
4. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
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A real slice of historical Southern culture as we join a young boy and his adventures along the Mississippi Valley.
Buy at: amazon.com
5. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flag
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A touching tale about the strength and strife of a group a various Southern women who had individuals battles to fight.
Buy at: amazon.com
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6. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
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A gripping story set in the South that revolves around Lily Owens, a woman whose life has been defined by the vague memory of her mother’s death.
Buy at: amazon.com
7. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
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A now iconic novel that tells the story of an abused and uneducated Southern woman’s battle for personal empowerment
Buy at: amazon.com
8. Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston
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A Southern love story that takes the reader on an enthralling journey from the very beginning to the very end.
Buy at: amazon.com
9. Southern Mystical Moments by Patricia H. Graham
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A brilliant book that comprises a number of different legend and myths that are common folklore in the state of North Carolina.
Buy at: amazon.com
10. A Streetcar Named Desire
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A steamy Southern story about a fading but beautiful woman who is pushed over the edge by her handsome and brutal brother-in-law.
Buy at: amazon.com
11. The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
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A famous novel about a deaf and mute man who comes to be a confidant to many different characters and misfits in a 1930a Georgia mill town.
Buy at: amazon.com
12. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
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A delicious and intricate novel about the deepest secrets and darkest tragedies of a Southern family.
Buy at: amazon.com
13. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
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A delightful novel that explores the lives and stories of three different generations of quirky Southern debutantes.
Buy at: amazon.com
14. Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
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A unique novel that tells the story of a romance that consumes the interest of an entire Georgia town in the early 1900s.
Buy at: amazon.com
15. Beloved by Toni Morrison
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A spellbinding novel that gives a unique insight in to the South’s past history with slavery.
Buy at: amazon.com
16. Roots by Alex Haley
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An iconic book that inspired an equally iconic TV series; another novel that explores the issue of slavery in the American South.
Buy at: amazon.com
17. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
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Set in New Orleans, The Awakening is a ground breaking novel from the late 1890s that explores a daring take on a woman’s approach to femininity and sexuality.
Buy at: amazon.com
18. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
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Maya Angelou’s iconic memoir covers many different issues that were arguably commonplace for a woman of her color and creed in the American South during that time.
Buy at: amazon.com
19. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
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A suspenseful novel that tells the mysterious story of a shooting that has hung over a Savannah town for nearly ten years.
Buy at: amazon.com
20. A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O’Connor
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A master class in Southern Gothic storytelling is given here by Flannery O’Connor in a collection of gripping short stories.
Buy at: amazon.com
21. Black Boy by Richard Wright
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Another hard-hitting tale about a young boy growing up in the harsh and potentially dangerous environment of poverty stricken Mississippi.
Buy at: amazon.com
22. Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina
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A gorgeous work of historical fiction that recounts the Battle of Blair Mountain and all of the events that led up to it.
Buy at: amazon.com
23. Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingslover
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A tale boasting strong Southern women set in the hazy depths of rural Virginia.
Buy at: amazon.com
Do you have a favorite? I’d love to hear about some lesser known books set in The South.
Comments
Liz: Try anything by Anne Rivers Siddons, Anne Rice. Oh by the way not every Southerner is racists. A lot of these books portray slavery and the worst of the South, the north had slaves too lets not forget.
Desiree: Excellent recommendations, most of them American classics. Funny, this books represent the best of Northern literature for me, I guess it all depends on geography.
Shaiqa: Try out vikaas swarup's books
Scarlett: Uncle Tom's Cabin is my all-time favorite book.
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