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June 26, 2025 by Jess Peck, Dreamland Staff
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about “catnip books” — those stories whose themes or tropes your bookish willpower is completely helpless against. You stroll into a bookstore — just to browse (wink, wink) — but one peek at the back-cover synopsis and bam, it hits your favorite, oddly specific quirk. Suddenly, you’re figuring out how to wedge that book onto your already-leaning Tower-of-Pisa TBR (to-be-read) pile.
I once visited a romance bookstore where the entire shop was organized by trope — shelves for firefighter romances, amnesia stories, and intergalactic meet-cutes. It was a catnip bonanza! I think about that shop when customers come into Dreamland with their own specific reading obsessions. Everyone has their thing, and that just makes me so happy.
Some readers crave found-family plots; others sniff out witchy novels or historical fiction based on true events. I even keep a running list of fresh cannibalism titles for one regular (don’t worry, they’re lovely).
As for me? Besides my newfound desire to read every “Wuthering Heights” retelling ever written (“The Favorites,” anyone?), my main catnip is the big, epic, sweeping multi-generational family saga. Give me a door-stopper that spans decades and I’m hooked.
Which brings me to a book I can’t wait to gush about: “Ours” by Phillip B. Williams. This novel is an epic among epics — the sweepiest of all the sweeping stories. At nearly 600 pages, you truly get the chance to live inside it, following the characters not just through a single chapter of their lives, but through entire lifetimes.
The story follows a magical conjuring woman named Saint. She’s traveling around the American South, saving enslaved people from plantations by absolutely annihilating the plantations themselves — I’m talking burning the whole place down, self-proclaimed masters and all. She then leads the people she’s rescued to a town hidden in plain sight called Ours. Ours is completely concealed from the outside world by Saint’s magic (imagine if the entire town of Seward were covered in Harry Potter’s invisibility cloak), so the people who live there can finally experience safety, peace, and a life of ease. But as time passes, the residents begin to question what this freedom really means—and whether true freedom is even possible.
Ours is a book that asks for your full attention. There are many, many characters, and Williams gives every one of them the same care, humanity, and room to grow. Multiple storylines braid across different times and places, yet the novel never feels intimidating.
The language is easy to follow, often flowing like song lyrics that make you gasp with delight.
One last teeny-tiny disclaimer: you have to be comfortable not always knowing where the story is heading — the book loves a detour. Stay with it, and it will carry you somewhere unforgettable.
So, yes — this book hit all my catnip genres. Epic? Check. Multi-generational? Big check. Filled with complicated characters who grow, mess up, fall in love, grieve — basically some of the most layered, fully human characters I’ve ever read and cared for? Super check.
“Ours” is the kind of novel that feels less like reading and more like falling into a dream. I hope this sounds like catnip to some of you! And if it’s not? Come tell me what your bookish catnip is. I love keeping my eyes out for your reading needs — cannibals and all.
Still on the fence? Sneak a peek at an excerpt of “Ours” here and see if it works its magic on you, too.
Happy Reading!
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