Bookshelf: 3 Southern novels celebrate family and community

This fall marks the release of three new Southern novels by women authors, two of them based in metro Atlanta and one in North Carolina.

Thanksgiving in New Orleans is the setting for New York Times bestselling author Karen White’s latest novel, “The Lady on Esplanade” (Berkley, $30), which makes the holiday season the perfect time for fans of romance, ghosts and home renovations to give it a read.

A prolific Atlanta author who’s published more than 30 novels, White has already released one book this year, the standalone beach read “That Last Carolina Summer,” which came out in July.

“The Lady on Esplanade” is her third novel in the Royal Street series, which revolves around the newly sober Nola Trenholm, who has come to New Orleans to start over. She buys an old Creole house and begins to renovate it with contractor Beau Ryan, a reluctant psychic with whom she has a love-hate relationship. Things get tricky when they encounter ghosts along the way.

In the new book, Nola and Beau have started a murder house flipping business. Their first big project is a haunted shotgun house where a woman was reportedly murdered and a family mysteriously vanished. Complications ensue when the spirit of Beau’s mother makes an appearance, as well as other spectral entities — plus there’s a creepy doll that keeps turning up when least expected.

Learn more about “The Lady on Esplanade” when White gives the keynote speech at the Johns Creek Literary Fair Nov. 15.

The afternoon event also features “catnote” speaker former Gov. Nathan Deal, author of the children’s book “Veto, the Governor’s Cat,” and a historical fiction panel called “Writers of the Present, Women of the Past.” Panelists include “The Fabled Earth author Kimberly Brock, “The Mad Wife” author “Meagan Church, “American Daughters” author Piper Huguley and “Trudy’s Awakening” author Carolyn Newton Curry.

An additional two dozen or so authors of adult and children’s books will be in attendance as well. Festivities will be held at City Hall. For details, go to johnscreekga.gov.

White will also make appearances at the Book Exchange in Marietta Nov. 16; the Duluth branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library Nov. 17; and a New Orleans-themed Christmas stroll at Poe & Co. in Milton Dec. 11. For details go to karen-white.com.

"My Beloved" by Jan Karon continues the long-running saga of Father Tim, this time with a nod to the Christmas holidays. (Courtesy of G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Transition from Thanksgiving right into Christmas with “My Beloved” (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $32), another in author Jan Karon’s long line of novels set in the fictitious small town of Mitford, North Carolina. Centered around the rector of the Episcopal Church, Father Tim Kavanagh, and his parishioners, Karon’s books are as warm and wholesome as a big mug of steaming hot cocoa.

Formerly a longtime bachelor with “one lone cousin” as his only kin, Father Tim is now retired and happily married to Cynthia in “My Beloved.” He’s also the father of an adopted son, a father-in-law, a grandfather and a sibling to a half brother he recently discovered. In every way possible, Tim’s cup runneth over. He and Cynthia want for nothing, so for Christmas, she informs her husband that all she wants from him is a love letter.

After having “broken a sweat, as if digging a hole for a midsize tree,” Tim delivers two pages of heartfelt sentiment that he slips into a book and promptly misplaces. Through a series of happenstances, the letter passes through the hands of Mitford town folk who are transformed and uplifted by Tim’s words. It’s a feel-good read ideal for holiday reading.

"Good Hair Days" is ripe with humor, but deals with some serious issues, too. (Courtesy of TNZ Fiction)

Peppered with shout-outs to “Steel Magnolias” and Dolly Parton, “Good Hair Days” (TNZ Fiction, $18.99) by Atlanta author Grace Helena Walz is the bittersweet story of two sisters trying to save the family hair salon in small-town Georgia.

Passed down through generations of their family, the salon is run by younger sister June, who’s in the middle of making some much-needed repairs and is $50,000 in the hole. On the verge of losing everything, she calls on big sister Georgia, who’s living the big-city life in Atlanta, to help out.

The women come up with creative fundraising schemes ripe with humor, but this book deals with some serious issues, too. The sisters are forced to contend with another generational concern — an increased chance of breast cancer, which killed their mother and may or may not be inherited.