Can anyone recommend me any fiction books set in New Orleans that aren’t Interview with the Vampire or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (I’ve read both)? I’m visiting a friend who lives near the French Quarter soon and I love to read a book about the place I’m traveling before I visit, so I thought I’d come here to see if anyone has any good recs.
Can be any era, can be spooky or non spooky.
The only things I don’t like are gore or actual horror.
Looking forward to seeing your suggestions!
by AppropriateNovel7490
21 Comments
Toole – Confederacy of Dunces
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
The Awakening by Kate Chopin
Most of Walker Percy’s books are set around New Orleans. *The Moviegoer* is probably his most famous novel, and I believe it’s also the one most fully set within New Orleans proper.
Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire and the rest of that series. You can check out her house when you’re there!
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
The Dave Robicheaux books by James Lee Burke
Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
Things We Lost to the Water by Eric Nguyen
I love Poppy Brite’s series set in New Orleans restaurants— Prime is the first, I think, then Liquor. Tons of local atmosphere!
I thought Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was set in Savannah, wasn’t it?
Midnight in the Garden is set in Savannah.
If you want more New Orleans vampires, try The Beautiful by Renée Ahdieh
Walk on the wild side- nelson algren
Triksta- nik cohn
Nine Lives, about different people experiencing Katrina. Having some knowledge of how the hurricane affected the people and places of New Orleans enriches your visit and how you view the city. It also reads very much like a novel.
Cormac McCarthy-The Passenger
Monster Hunters: Sinners and Monster Hunters: Saints by John Ringo
Margot Douaihy has a series, first is Scorched Grace, that take place in New Orleans
Do you like mysteries? There’s a great series by Sarah Shankman where the third (Now Let’s Talk of Graves) is set in NO. Better if you start the series from the beginning, but still perfectly enjoyable (in fact really great) as a stand-alone.
Jitterbug perfume
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice. This isn’t a vampire book. It’s so good! It’s about “free people of color” and biracial characters prior to the Civil War.
Exquisite Corpse by Poppy Z. Brite
The Axeman’s jazz by Ray Celestin. It is about a killer in the city but I don’t remember it being gory.
I’ll cover only stuff I didn’t seen already mentioned:
I think most novels by Shirley Ann Grau are set in New Orleans, though I’ve only read *The House on Coliseum Street.*
William Faulkner lived in New Orleans for a bit. His one NOLA novel is *Pylon*, but he did rename the city.
NYRB has recently republished / published some work by Nancy Lemann. I haven’t had a chance to check either *The Oyster Diaries* or *Lives of the Saints* yet, but both sound compelling.
One or both of the last novels Cormac McCarthy published are partially set in New Orleans, but reviews weren’t glowing.
The two novels I love (in addition to *The Moviegoer* and *Confederacy of Dunces*) are Coming through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje and *Season of the Swamp* by Yuri Herrera.
Both are very creative works that are loosely historical fiction. *Coming through Slaughter* tells the story of Buddy Bolden, maybe the originator of jazz. *Season of the Swamp* is about Benito Juárez, exiled in 19th century NOLA, before he returns and ascends to the presidency.