Best Books Set in Louisiana

Every state is known for something. As you work your way through the list, don’t miss the best books set in Louisiana.

Louisiana is a southeastern U.S. state on the Gulf of Mexico. Its history as a melting pot of French, African, American and French-Canadian cultures is reflected in its Creole and Cajun cultures.

The largest city, New Orleans, is known for its colonial-era French Quarter, raucous Mardi Gras festival, jazz music, Renaissance-style St. Louis Cathedral and wartime exhibits at the huge National WWII Museum.

In this post:

Best Books Set in Louisiana

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A Lesson Before Dying (Oprah's Book Club)

Gaines, Ernest J. (Author)
English (Publication Language)

A Lesson Before Dying

Author: Ernest J. Gaines

A “majestic, moving novel … an instant classic, a book that will be read, discussed and taught beyond the rest of our lives” (Chicago Tribune), from the critically acclaimed author of A Gathering of Old Men and The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

Cane River

Amazon Kindle Edition
Tademy, Lalita (Author)

Cane River

Author: Lalita Tademy

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Beginning with her great-great-great-great grandmother, a slave owned by a Creole family, Lalita Tademy chronicles four generations of strong, determined black women as they battle injustice to unite their families and forge success on their own terms.

They are women whose lives begin in slavery, who weather the Civil War, and who grapple with contradictions of emancipation, Jim Crow, and the pre-Civil Rights South. As she peels back layers of racial and cultural attitudes, Tademy paints a remarkable picture of rural Louisiana and the resilient spirit of one unforgettable family.

Interview with the Vampire

New
Mint Condition

Interview with the Vampire

Author: Anne Rice

Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly sensual, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

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A Streetcar Named Desire (New Directions Paperbook)

Williams, Tennessee (Author)
English (Publication Language)

A Streetcar Named Desire

Author: Tennessee Williams

It is a very short list of 20th-century American plays that continue to have the same power and impact as when they first appeared―57 years after its Broadway premiere, Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire is one of those plays.

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The story famously recounts how the faded and promiscuous Blanche DuBois is pushed over the edge by her sexy and brutal brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.

Zeitoun

Eggers, Dave (Author)
English (Publication Language)

Zeitoun

Author: Dave Eggers

The true story of one family, caught between America’s two biggest policy disasters: the war on terror and the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun run a house-painting business in New Orleans. In August of 2005, as Hurricane Katrina approaches, Kathy evacuates with their four young children, leaving Zeitoun to watch over the business.