The Kingdoms of Savannah

By George Dawes Green
A mystical and haunting book cover for "the kingdoms of savannah" by george dawes green, featuring an ornate and regal title design superimposed over a deep green, swampy backdrop with a solitary, striking red chair partially submerged in water.
Title: The Kingdoms of Savannah
Author: George Dawes Green
ISBN: 9781250767448
ON SALE: 07/19/2022

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ISBN: 9781250767448
A mystical and haunting book cover for "the kingdoms of savannah" by george dawes green, featuring an ornate and regal title design superimposed over a deep green, swampy backdrop with a solitary, striking red chair partially submerged in water.
ISBN: 9781250767431
A lone elegant red armchair stands amidst a flooded savannah landscape under a brooding sky, accompanied by a solitary bird perched on its backrest, evoking a sense of mysterious tranquility in the wilderness – a cover for "the kingdoms of savannah" by george dawes green.
ISBN: 9781250767431
Hardcover

"In his first novel in more than a decade, Edgar Award winner Green delivers a gripping and expertly researched Southern literary thriller that is anything but cozy. Green’s novels may not come around often, but when they do, they hit hard and stay with you long after the end.” — Kirkus, Starred 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.

A man with a joyful smile sitting on a tree trunk in a serene park setting, dressed in a casual suit ensemble.
George Dawes Green, founder of The Moth, is an internationally celebrated author. His first novel, The Caveman’s Valentine, won the Edgar Award and became a motion picture starring Samuel L. Jackson. 

Praise for George Dawes Green

“In the chilling literary thriller The Kingdoms of Savannah, a woman uncovers truths about a secret Southern community (formed by Black slaves who fought for the British during the Revolutionary War) and unveils the city’s sinister history.”

PARADE Magazine, Summer Reading Pick
"[The Kingdoms of Savannah is] layered, but like a parfait goes down sweet, chilled and easy...it has the flavor of Southern Gothic without the bitter aftertaste. Green wants to hammer home that undergirding Savannah’s beauty — all the flowers and fashion and conviviality — is unspeakable ugliness that must be given voice. If history is made up of crime stories, the author seems to be proposing, then why not a crime story to help rethink history?"
The New York Times

"This fascinating story takes readers from homeless encampments to elegant homes as Morgana and her children probe the doings of a strange, dysfunctional family and discover appalling injustices in the city’s past. Based on historical events, Green's literary thriller will draw those who loved John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

Booklist, Starred Review

"In his first novel in more than a decade, Edgar Award winner Green delivers a gripping and expertly researched Southern literary thriller that is anything but cozy. Green’s novels may not come around often, but when they do, they hit hard and stay with you long after the end.”

Kirkus, STARRED Review

“Deeply rooted in Savannah’s at times horrific history, yet looking hopefully toward the future, this provocative page-turner is sure to enthrall a broad spectrum of readers. Green is writing at the top of his game.”

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, Starred Review

"The Kingdoms of Savannah is a novel about a place and the people in that place that reads like a thriller, but could only have been written by someone who knows Savannah and its stories intimately and wants them to be told. It’s the apotheosis of Southern Gothic Noir."

Neil Gaiman
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