Author of So Cold the River suggests:
As the heat and humidity rise, I often find myself searching for a whiskey-soaked Southern gothic. The novel to which I've returned this summer is Provinces of Night by William Gay. Set in a gorgeously depicted corner of rural Tennessee, Provinces of Night is a powerful epic featuring wayward brothers, voodoo hexes, a gifted banjo player, wounded lovers and some of the finest prose you'll ever encounter. Looking for summer atmosphere? Here's Gay on fireflies: "they'd seemed not separate entities but a single being, a moving river of light that flowed above the dark water like its negative image and attained a transient and fragile dominion over the provinces of night." Ready to take this one out to the screened-in porch yet?