There’s no denying it: Charlottesville is a wordsmith-rich town. Whether you’re looking for a page-turner for the beach, autumnal meditations in the form of poetry, or a fireside companion for a winter’s night, there are enough local writers publishing books each year to keep your shelves well-stocked. Here are some of the titles published by area authors in 2017.
Fiction
Corban Addison, A Harvest of Thorns
A journalist seeks to expose an American retailer’s culpability in a factory fire in Bangladesh that killed hundreds of workers.
Hannah Barnaby, Garcia & Collette Go Exploring
Two friends go on separate adventures, one into space, one under the sea.
Rita Mae Brown, A Hiss Before Dying
Set in Crozet, two present-day murders point to a mystery dating from the American Revolution.
John Grisham
Camino Island
Diverging from his legal thrillers, Grisham spins a literary mystery, beginning with the disappearance of some F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts.
The Rooster Bar
A return to form, this legal thriller finds three law school friends confronting a moral dilemma as they discover their professional future is in jeopardy.
Jan Karon, To Be Where You Are: A Mitford Novel
Fourteenth in the series, this Mitford novel sees Father Kavanagh into retirement.
BettyJoyce Nash and Deirdra McAfee, Lock & Load: Armed Fiction
This edited anthology centers on the gun in contemporary American short stories.
Anne Marie Pace, Groundhug Day
A groundhog is invited to a Valentine’s Day party but is afraid he’ll see his shadow.
Caroline Preston, The War Bride’s Scrapbook
Through vintage postcards, photographs and historic headlines, Preston weaves a story of love and shifting gender roles during World War II.
Erika Raskin, Best Intentions
This medical thriller, which takes place in Richmond, raises questions about medical practice and social justice.
Sean Rubin, Bolivar
In this beautifully illustrated graphic novel, a dinosaur lives in New York City undetected, mostly.
Shelley Sackier, The Freemason’s Daughter
Told through the eyes of a Scottish lass, this YA historical novel tells the story of the Jacobites.
Non-fiction
Kathryn Erskine, Mama Africa!
This book illustrates the life of a South African singer who challenged apartheid.
Khizr Khan, An American Family
Khizr Khan recounts his life as a Muslim American immigrant, Harvard Law School graduate, and husband and father whose son, Humayun, died in the Iraq War in 2004.
Donna M. Lucey, Sargent’s Women
The author reveals the lives of four women who sat for American portraitist John Singer Sargent.
Stefan Bechtel and Laurence Roy Stains, Through a Glass, Darkly
This work explores Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s role in spiritualism and his communications with the dead.
Sharon Harrigan, Playing with Dynamite
A daughter seeks answers to questions surrounding her father’s mysterious death.
Elizabeth Meade Howard, Aging Famously
In this collection of short essays, Howard discusses aging with locals and celebrities.
Lisa Jakub, Not Just Me
Through her own experience and interviews with others, Jakub explores treatment for anxiety.
Joe Junod, INK: A Life in Letters
This memoir recounts the author’s career and experiences in journalism.
Jeff Kamen with Leslie Stone-Kamen, Warrior Pups: True Stories of America’s K9 Heroes
With color photographs, this book tells the stories of the humans and canines in the U.S. Military Working Dog Program.
Beatrix Ost, More Than Everything: My Voyage with the Gods of Love
Beginning in Munich at the end of World War II, this memoir follows the author into a marriage inevitably impacted by war.
Lisa Russ Spaar, Orexia
Spaar explores late-middle age desire in this collection of poetry.
Lynn Thorne, Who Am I, If You’re Not You?
This love story chronicles Jennifer and Marika, and Marika’s decision to transition from female to male.
Brendan Wolfe, Mr. Jefferson’s Telescope
An overdue library book from dropout Edgar Allan Poe and a key in the hands of a freed slave are among the objects that tell the history of the University of Virginia.