I grew up in the American South, and though I now live in Brooklyn, I will always consider myself a southerner. As everyone from the South knows all too well, you’re never really able to leave. It alters your DNA and seeps into the marrow of your bones. I knew I’d eventually set a book in the South, but I had no intention of writing a novel like Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books so soon. Then two things happened that made it clear that the time had come. First, my childhood best friend died tragically. Then folks down South started banning books.
The connection between the two can be summed up by a phrase that’s familiar to any southerner: heritage and history. My friend devoted the last years of her life to bringing down the Confederate statue that stands in front of our hometown’s courthouse. In return for her efforts, she received non-stop harassment and death threats. When she drove off the road one night and slammed into a tree, there were those in town who wondered if her death was truly an accident. She’s been gone for two years now. That statue hasn’t moved an inch.
Today, the South is torn between those of us who are eager to move forward—and those who long to return to an imagined past. The latter are the same southerners who’ve begun banning books about Black history, LGBTQ lives and the Holocaust. They claim they’re protecting our heritage and history. In truth, they’re out to whitewash the past and protect their perceived place in the world.
Their efforts may prove successful. It’s harder to get the truth out than ever before. In the United States, books remain one of the few ways to reach across the political divide. But if you want to send a message to the masses, you can’t browbeat or lecture. You must entertain.
“This is the kind of novel that could get me into a whole heap of trouble”
Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books is entertaining as hell. A tribute to the Southern storytelling tradition, it’s filled with eccentric characters and irreverent humor. But underneath is a message that’s deadly serious. It’s the kind of novel that could get me into a whole heap of trouble. But that’s okay. It’s time I stopped watching from the sidelines. I owe it to my friend to take up the fight.
-Kirsten Miller
About the book
Hardback: 9780008654269 | £16.99 | 20 Jun 2024
A gripping and deeply moving novel of bravery, friendship and standing up against book banning.
From the author of The Change, comes a novel about book banning and those brave enough to stand up against this censorship.
In Troy, Georgia, Lula Dean has decided to cleanse the town’s reading habits. All banned books have been removed from public spaces, and the townspeople are only allowed to read books Lula has deemed ‘appropriate’.
But a small group refuse to be told what they can and can’t read.
The revolution is coming …
