I recently read three novels set in the South that I highly recommend:
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Absolutely addictive. What a talent for suspense this author has, unspooling this tale set in a reformatory school based on the infamous Dozier School for boys in the Jim Crow South. The supernatural elements help capture the hellish aspects of the reformatory school and the racism that 12-year-old Robbie faces, as his sister, Gloria, desperately works to find a way to save him. A nail biter from the first page.
Those We Thought We Knew by David Joy
Having family from the mountains of North Carolina where this novel is set, I appreciated David Joy's pitch-perfect ear for dialogue and expressions of that area. The setting— food, nature, hardscrabble living, the details of cars, wood chippers, firearms, flora and fauna—created an evocative world. This literary crime thriller tackles racism, generational trauma, and deep, unspoken secrets that tear the community apart
The Last of What I Am by Abigail Cutter
This novel includes visceral details of the Civil War, from the battlefields to the starving, tortured prisoners of war. The cruelties and violence are both enthralling and horrifying. The Last of What I Am reveals how the wealthy and powerful landowners were behind the Civil War, and how many farmers—poor and working class white men—were hoodwinked into believing the Confederate defense of slavery, and enlisted in a war that caused so much suffering. The ghostly elements added to the protananist’s epiphany and revulsion about fighting on the wrong side of the war. This novel was originally published by a micropress and deserves a wide readership.