November is National Novel Writing Month (also known as NaNoWriMo, which is somehow harder to say than the long version), when hundreds of thousands of people around the globe challenge themselves to write 50,000 words of a novel.

If you’re like us — balking at the thought of writing 5,000 words, let alone 50,000 — don’t worry: You can just read them, instead.

Here are some novels by local Austin authors to beef up your book list. (Pro tip: These books would make great Christmas presents, too.)

Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird | A woman born into enslavement in the Civil War south poses as a man and joins the army to escape.

The Husbands by Chandler Baker | A suburban attorney frustrated by her husband’s lack of support meets a group of high-powered women and gets entangled in their dark plot.

The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry | A woman writes letters in an attempt to save an area of Austin becoming increasingly corporatized. 📨

Waterloo by Karen Olsson | A local reporter stumbles into a political fight in this love letter to Austin and those who live there.

The Jetsetters by Amanda Eyre Ward | When a 70-year-old woman wins an essay contest, she and her family set off on a revealing and healing trip to Europe. ✈️

Little by Edward Carey | An orphan in Revolutionary Paris turns her ambition into a new life: As the famous wax sculptor Madame Tussaud.

Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann | March Briscoe’s return to his hometown in East Texas is accompanied by ended marriages, broken alliances… and even a death.

The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook | A young girl traverses the Texas Hill Country hunting the panther who killed her mother, gathering a posse of unlikely partners along the way. 🐈‍⬛

There are dozens of other novels by Austin authors. What’s on your book list? Email us and let us know.