The Kingdoms of Savannah: A Novel

"Around these parts, the publication of a new George Dawes Green novel is an event. ... Green leans all the way into Southern Gothic, but the main grotesquerie is the city's history, built on the backs of enslaved people. His prose is languid, even luxurious, but at critical moments of suspense, he pares it back to ramp up the terror."
--New York Times Book Review

Savannah may appear to be "some town out of a fable," with its vine flowers, turreted mansions, and ghost tours that romanticize the city's history. But look deeper and you'll uncover secrets, past and present, that tell a more sinister tale. It's the story at the heart of George Dawes Green's chilling new novel, The Kingdoms of Savannah.

It begins quietly on a balmy Southern night as some locals gather at Bo Peep's, one of the town's favorite watering holes. Within an hour, however, a man will be murdered and his companion will be "disappeared." An unlikely detective, Morgana Musgrove, doyenne of Savannah society, is called upon to unravel the mystery of these crimes. Morgana is an imperious, demanding, and conniving woman, whose four grown children are weary of her schemes. But one by one she inveigles them into helping with her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths--truths that will rock Savannah's power structure to its core.

Moving from the homeless encampments that ring the city to the stately homes of Savannah's elite, Green's novel brilliantly depicts the underbelly of a city with a dark history and the strangely mesmerizing dysfunction of a complex family.

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304 pages

Average rating: 4.71

7 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Andrea Roberts
Jun 29, 2022
4/10 stars
ARC Review The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green Rating : 2/5 Thank you Celadon Books for gifting me this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really like the cover of this book it gives you the southern gothic mystery vibe. I thought the plot of the book sounded a little strange but interesting. Once I started reading this book my hopes for it kind of dwindled. The prologue was interesting but after that I struggled to get into the book. I felt there were just so many characters being introduced that didn’t really need to get that much attention or given so many details. And then the POV switching so often halted my flow with the book. Plus the chapters are so long (chapter one is 77 pages). I think the idea of this story is good but I just couldn’t get into the book. I didn’t really connect with any of the characters and I just didn’t look forward to picking up the book. I tried to get through the book but I had to DNF this one sadly. I think for people who read this genre more will like the books. I don’t read this genre very often and I haven’t read a southern gothic mystery before either. So if the southern gothic mystery is your style then you’ll love the book!

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