Books Set in or about Appalachia

Playing Books and Bites Bingo? Here are some suggestions for the Books Set in or about Appalachia square.

Updated January 13, 2023
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Blood runs coal : the Yablonski murders and the battle for the United Mine Workers of America
Bradley, Mark A.
Paper Book
In the early hours of New Year's Eve 1969, in the small soft coal mining borough of Clarksville, Pennsylvania, longtime trade union insider Joseph "Jock" Yablonski and his wife and daughter were brutally murdered in their old stone farmhouse. Seven months earlier, Yablonski had announced his...
The giver of stars
Moyes, Jojo
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER |  A REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK   "A great narrative about personal strength and really captures how books bring communities together." --Reese Witherspoon   From the author of the forthcoming Someone Else's Shoes<...
Demon Copperhead
Kingsolver, Barbara
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE * WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION New York Times Readers' Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century * An Oprah's Book Club Selection * An Instant New York Times Bestseller * An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller * A #1 Washington Post...
Where all light tends to go
Joy, David
Paper Book
The area surrounding Cashiers, North Carolina, is home to people of all kinds, but the world that Jacob McNeely lives in is crueller than most. His father runs a methodically organised meth ring, with local authorities on the dime to turn a blind eye to his dealings. Having dropped out of high...
Appalachian reckoning : a region responds to Hillbilly Elegy
Harkins, Anthony
Paper Book
2020 American Book Award winner, Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Award Weatherford Award winner, nonfiction With hundreds of thousands of copies sold, a Ron Howard movie in the works, and the rise of its author as a media personality,...
Blacktop wasteland : a novel
Cosby, S. A.
Paper Book
Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner * New York Times Notable Book * NPR's Best Books of the Year * BookPage's #1 Mystery and Suspense of the Year * Sun Sentinel's #1 Best Mystery of the Year "I loved Blacktop Wasteland...[A] fast-paced,...
Revelator
Gregory, Daryl
Paper Book
ONE OF THE WASHINGTON POST'S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR * The dark, gripping tale of a 1930's family in the remote hills of the Smoky Mountains, their secret religion, and the daughter who turns her back on their mysterious god--from the acclaimed author of Spoonbenders. ...
The coal tattoo : a novel
House, Silas
Paper Book
Two sisters can't stand to live together, but can't bear to be apart. One worships the flashy world of Nashville, the other is a devout Pentecostal. One falls into the lap of any man, the other is afraid to even date. One gets pregnant in a flash, the other desperately wants to have child. ...
Death in Mud Lick : a coal country fight against the drug companies that delivered the opioid epidemic
Eyre, Eric
Paper Book
A New York Times Critics' Top Ten Book of the Year * 2021 Edgar Award Winner Best Fact Crime * A Lit Hub Best Book of The Year From a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter from the smallest newspaper ever to win the prize in the investigative reporting category, an...
The book woman of Troublesome Creek : a novel
Richardson, Kim Michele,
Paper Book
RECOMMENDED BY DOLLY PARTON IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE! A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A USA TODAY BESTSELLER A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER A PBS BOOK PICK The bestselling historical fiction novel from Kim Michele Richardson, this is a novel following Cussy...
Soul full of coal dust : a fight for breath and justice in Appalachia
Hamby, Chris
Paper Book
In a devastating and urgent work of investigative journalism, Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hamby uncovers the tragic resurgence of black lung disease in Appalachia, its Big Coal cover-up, and the resilient mining communities who refuse to back down.   ...
Hill women : finding family and a way forward in the Appalachian Mountains
Chambers, Cassie
Paper Book
After rising from poverty to earn two Ivy League degrees, an Appalachian lawyer pays tribute to the strong "hill women" who raised and inspired her, and whose values have the potential to rejuvenate a struggling region. "Destined to be compared to Hillbilly Elegy...
The twisted ones
Kingfisher, T.
Paper Book
Winner of the RUSA Award for Best Horror When a young woman clears out her deceased grandmother's home in rural North Carolina, she finds long-hidden secrets about a strange colony of beings in the woods in this chilling novel that reads like The Blair Witch Project...
Every bone a prayer
Blooms, Ashley
Paper Book
"Blooms has taken the voice and names of Appalachia, tended, and evolved them, and created a book that is at once haunting and hopeful."--NPR Praised by BuzzFeed, Good Housekeeping, POPSUGAR, Bustle, and more! Misty's holler looks like any of the thousands of hollers that fork...

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