Whether they are new novelists like Harriett\u2019s Bookshop owner Jeannine A. Cook, whose debut, It\u2019s Me They Follow, will be released in a few weeks, or seasoned scribes like Diane McKinney-Whetstone, whose ninth book, Family Spirit, hit bookstores in August \u2014 Philly authors are thriving, vibing, and, most importantly, writing. <\/p>\n
Here are eight titles from local authors for readers to curl up with \u2014 or listen to \u2014 as the sun sets earlier and the winds blow cooler. <\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s Me They Follow\u2019 <\/p>\n
Jeannine A. Cook, Amistad, $25<\/p>\n
Harriett\u2019s Bookshop<\/a> owner, activist, and benefactor Jeannine A. Cook<\/a> is adding author to her list of accomplishments. <\/p>\n It\u2019s Me They Follow is the fictional story of a Philadelphia bookshop owner, who in the midst of opening a bookshop in Fishtown, \u2014 sound familiar? \u2014 helps people fall in love. The Shopkeeper is looking for love too, but she has a debilitating problem: She passes out when people touch her. <\/p>\n It\u2019s Me They Follow is a 240-page quick read that\u2019s part fairy tale, part allegory. Get a copy to know if the Shopkeeper gets over her issues and finds true love.<\/p>\n \u2018Housemates\u2019 <\/p>\n Emma Copley Eisenberg, Hogarth, $29<\/p>\n 2025 Lambda literary finalist<\/a> Emma Copley Eisenberg\u2019s<\/a> 331-page novel about queer housemates Bernie and Leya\u2019s roadtrip through rural Pennsylvania is a tale of self-discovery. The women\u2019s journey along Pennsylvania\u2019s winding interstate allows them to chase their artistic dreams and embrace romance. <\/p>\n \u2018Family Spirit\u2019<\/p>\n Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Amistad, $26.99<\/p>\n Diane McKinney-Whetstone\u2019s<\/a> descriptions of West Philadelphia jump off every page in her latest novel, Family Spirit. She gets its right down to the description of the air on West 52nd Street \u201csmelling of popcorn and patent leather.\u201d <\/p>\n McKinney-Whetstone\u2019s<\/a> use of language pulls readers into the 243-page story about a clairvoyant college sophomore, Ayana, and the plot ensures they don\u2019t put the tome down. When Ayana\u2019s Aunt Lil, who was cast out of the family for breaking a sacred vow, returns, a chain of page-turning events follows. <\/p>\n \u2018Ravishing\u2019<\/p>\n Eshani Surya, Roxanne Gay Books, $28<\/p>\n When Indian American teenager Kashmira discovers Evolvoir, a magical cosmetic that lets women alter their features as they want, she chooses to look less like the father who abandoned her. It\u2019s as if she\u2019s found beauty nirvana. <\/p>\n That is until Kashmira, along with scores of other women, are hospitalized for ulcerative colitis. Complicating matters, Kashmira\u2019s brother, Nahil, works for Evolvoir. Emerging novelist and Philadelphia resident Eshani Surya<\/a> \u2014 who lives with the pain of ulcerative colitis \u2014 weaves a sinister tale about the true cost of beauty. <\/p>\n \u2018GPS for the Soul: Wisdom of the Master\u2019<\/p>\n Dana Hayne, Balboa Press, $14.98 <\/p>\n Retired Chestnut Hill Hospital labor and delivery nurse Dana Hayne spent 13 years living with Sri Lankan spiritual teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen<\/a> at his Wynnefield mosque. Muhaiyaddeen, according to a 1986 obituary in The Inquirer, became famous after he wrote to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, urging the release of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1978\u20131980. <\/p>\n In 2017, Hayne wrote a memoir about the time she spent with him, and that 217-page book will be rereleased this fall. The book highlights lessons Haynes learned about Muhaiyaddeen\u2019s teachings on drug addiction, marriage, and death. <\/p>\n \u2018A Family for Zoya: The True Story of an Endangered Cub\u2019<\/p>\n Written by Debra Kim Wolf and illustrated by Annalisa and Marina Durante, Platypus Media, $21.99<\/p>\n A Family For Zoya: The True Story of an Endangered Cub is a nonfiction children\u2019s book about a baby Amur tiger named Zoya who was abandoned by her birth parents in Philadelphia. Zoya was cared for by local zoologists before she was driven to an Oklahoma zoo and adopted by a family of Sumatran tigers \u2014 the first adoption of its kind. <\/p>\n A Family for Zoya introduces young readers to wildlife conservation and is available for sale at the Philadelphia Zoo gift shop. <\/p>\n \u2018Mounted\u2019<\/p>\n Bitter Kalli, Amistad, $22<\/p>\n Bitter Kalli\u2019s<\/a> collection of essays explores their intimate relationship with horses and how celebrities like Beyonc\u00e9 and Lil Nas X resurrected equestrian culture in the Black community. Kalli, founder of Philadelphia\u2019s Star Apple Farm and Nursery<\/a>, draws on their personal experiences as a former urban equestrian, and examines the horse as a profound symbol of power and identity in Black life. <\/p>\n They examine how horses, once as ubiquitous on the urban frontier as cars, became elitist and romantic. <\/p>\n \u2018Walking a Tightrope Backward in High Heels\u2019<\/p>\n Blondell Reynolds-Brown, Wordee, $32<\/p>\n Part political memoir, part leadership guide, former City Councilmember Blondell Reynolds-Brown\u2019s memoir, Walking a Tightrope Backward in High Heels, is a 282-page account of her 20-plus-year journey of being City Council member at-large while going through a painful divorce. <\/p>\n Reynolds-Brown writes about moving forward after her campaign manager, John McDaniel<\/a>, was accused of violating campaign finance laws, sullying her reputation and causing her to pay thousands of dollars in fines. Walking a Tightrope is an uplifting story about perseverance. <\/p>\n \u2018Black Genius: Essays on an American Legacy\u2019<\/p>\n Tre Johnson, Dutton, $30.00<\/p>\n In Black Genius<\/a>, Philly-based Tre Johnson\u2019s<\/a> nine intertwined essays ooze with the bliss of unapologetically living the Black experience, especially at the trifecta of Black Philadelphia summer events: Odunde<\/a>, the Roots Picnic<\/a>, and BlackStar<\/a>. <\/p>\n Black Genius, according to Johnson, is the corner store, the number hole, the neighborhood bar, grandma\u2019s soft pack of Salem cigarettes and her weekly trip to Atlantic City, the everyday business of living as a Black person in America. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whether they are new novelists like Harriett\u2019s Bookshop owner Jeannine A. 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