Contemporary & Literary Fiction | Historical Fiction | Romance | Thrillers & Mysteries | Horror & Gothic Fiction | Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism | Young Adult | Nonfiction
Contemporary & Literary Fiction
Lazarus Man
Richard Price
East Harlem, 2008. In an instant, a five-story tenement collapses into a fuming hill of rubble, pancaking the cars parked in front and coating the street with a thick layer of ash. As the city’s rescue services and media outlets respond, the surrounding neighborhood descends into chaos. At day’s end, six bodies are recovered, but many of the other tenants are missing. In this electrifying novel, Richard Price, the author of Clockers and a writer on The Wire, gives us razor-sharp anatomy of an ever-changing Harlem.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Only Here, Only Now
Tom Newlands
A brilliant new talent writing from lived experience makes his debut with this irresistible and original story in the vein of Young Mungo and Hang the Moon, that pierces the beautiful, brilliant, and lightning-quick mind of a teenage girl growing up with undiagnosed ADHD in working-class Scotland.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: HarperVIA
Amazon | Bookshop.org
An Earthquake Is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth
Anna Moschovakis
After a seismic event leaves the world shattered, an unnamed narrator at the end of a mediocre acting career struggles to regain the ability to walk on ground that is in constant motion. When her alluring younger housemate, Tala, disappears, what had begun as an obsession grows into an impulse to kill, forcing the narrator to confront the meaning of the ruptures that have suddenly upended her life. The drive to find and eliminate Tala becomes an existential pursuit, leading back in time and out into a desolate, dust-covered city, where the narrator is targeted by charismatic “healing” ideologues with uncertain motives.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Soft Skull
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Haruki Murakami
From the bestselling author of Norwegian Wood and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World comes a love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for our peculiar times.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Knopf
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Time of the Child
Niall Williams
From the author of This Is Happiness, a compassionate, life-affirming novel about the Christmas season that transforms the small Irish town of Faha. Set over the course of one December in the same village as Williams’ beloved This Is Happiness, Time of the Child is a tender return to Faha for readers who know its charms, and a heartwarming welcome to new readers entering for the very first time.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Amazon | Bookshop.org
City of Night Birds
Juhea Kim
A once-famous ballerina faces a final choice—to return to the world of Russian dance that nearly broke her, or to walk away forever—in this incandescent novel of redemption and love. Painting a vivid portrait of the Russian ballet world, where cutthroat ambition, ever-shifting politics, and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with both profound intimacy and breathtaking scope.
Publication date: November 26
Publisher: Ecco
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Historical Fiction
Eleanore of Avignon
Elizabeth DeLozier
Rich with unforgettable characters, gorgeously drawn, and full of captivating historical drama, Eleanore of Avignon is the story of a healer who risks her life, her freedom, and everything she holds dear to protect her beloved city from the encroaching Black Death.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Dutton
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Sunflower House
Adriana Allegri
Family secrets come to light as a young woman fights to save herself, and others, in a Nazi-run baby factory―a real-life Handmaid’s Tale―during World War II. The Sunflower House is a meticulously-researched debut historical novel from Adriana Allegri that uncovers the notorious Lebensborn Program of Nazi Germany. Women of “pure” blood stayed in Lebensborn homes for the sole purpose of perpetuating the Aryan population, giving birth to thousands of babies who were adopted out to “good” Nazi families.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Amazon | Bookshop.org
All’s Fair in Love and Treachery
Celeste Connally
21 June, 1815. London may be cheering the news of Napoleon’s surrender at Waterloo, but Lady Petra Forsyth has little to celebrate after discovering that the death of her viscount fiancé three years earlier was no accident. Instead, it was murder, and the man responsible is her handsome, half-Scottish secret paramour Duncan Shawcross—yet the scoundrel has disappeared, leaving only a confusing riddle about long-forgotten memories in his wake. Bridgerton meets Agatha Christie in this dazzling next installment in a captivating Regency-era mystery series with a feminist spin.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Cross
Austin Duffy
A masterful tale of betrayal and violence in a tight-knit community in Northern Ireland during the last days of the Troubles, from an acclaimed Irish writer making their US debut…
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Meville House
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Shy Creatures
Clare Chambers
An alluring literary mystery full of secrets and lies, when an art teacher at a psychiatric hospital in 1960s England finds her life turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious patient who has spent decades living in complete isolation with his elderly aunts in a decrepit Victorian house. Perfect for fans of Ann Patchett, Barbara Kingsolver, and Tessa Hadley.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Mariner Books
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Story of the Forest
Linda Grant
It’s 1913 when Mina, the young and carefree daughter of a Jewish merchant, roams into a forest on the edge of the Baltic Sea looking for mushrooms. Instead, she encounters a gang of unruly, charismatic Bolsheviks―an adventure that will become the stuff of familial lore for generations to come. Intending to save her from further corruption, and in an act that forever changes the trajectory of their family’s life, Mina and her eldest brother, Jossel, board a ship to England. There the threat of a different war looms large.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Zando
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Romance
Lost & Lassoed
Lyla Sage
She thrives in chaos. He prefers routine. The only thing they have in common? How much they hate each other. From the bestselling author of Done and Dusted and Swift and Saddled, the highly anticipated next book in the Rebel Blue Ranch series, a small-town romance in which enemies turn to lovers when they’re forced to work together during one hot summer
Publication Date: November 5
Publisher: Dial Trade
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Co-Op
Tarah DeWitt
They say love and construction don’t mix. By that logic, hate and construction may as well be condemned. LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds had one short and contentious summer fling when they were teens―certainly nothing to build a foundation on. But a decade later, when their grandmothers have left them with shared ownership of their dilapidated Santa Cruz building, they’re thrust back together and have to figure out how to brace up the pieces.
Publication Date: November 12
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Love in Bloom
Lucy Eden
It took exactly twenty-four hours for Atlanta publicist Emma Walters’s life to go from near-perfect to a monumental disaster. One day to break up with her boyfriend, get fired and inherit a farm. All that’s left is for her to take the still-smoking remains of her dignity and flee to her new farm in Green Acres, Georgia. For fans of B. K. Borison and Sarah Adams comes a cheeky, small-town romantic comedy about finding yourself in the weeds . . . only to find love, too.
Publication Date: November 12
Publisher: Forever
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Is She Really Going Out With Him?
Sophie Cousens
Columnist Anna Appleby has left her love life behind after a painful divorce. Who needs a man when she has two kids, a cat, and uncontested control of the TV remote? Besides, she’d rather be single than subject herself to the hell of online dating. But her office rival is vying for her column, and no column means no stable source of income. In a desperate attempt to keep her job, Anna finds herself pitching a unique angle: seven dates, all found offline, chosen by her children.
Publication Date: November 19
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Jewel of the Isle
Kerry Rea
Two very indoor people rough it on a remote island after getting swept up in an archaeologist’s hunt for a famed jewel in this dazzling new adventure rom-com by Kerry Rea, author of Lucy on the Wild Side.
Publication Date: November 26
Publisher: Berkley
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Thrillers & Mysteries
The Author’s Guide to Murder
Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, & Karen White
Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire by New York Times bestselling team of novelists. There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: William Morrow
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Lake of Lost Girls
Katherine Greene
Using suspenseful podcast clips to weave a twisty tale of a missing student and her sister who is desperate for answers, The Lake of Lost Girls is perfect for fans of I Have Some Questions for You. This propulsive and chilling suspense is a sharp examination of sisterhood and the culture of true crime.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Crooked Lane
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Pony Confidential
Christina Lynch
In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he’s ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder he knows she didn’t commit.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Berkley
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Deadly Animals
Marie Tierney
Finding a dead body is not normal. But Ava is not a normal teenager. In this chillingly beautiful mystery, only the obsessive spirit of youth can save a desperate town from the savagery within.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Henry Holt & Co.
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Collaborators
Michael Idov
Slow Horses meets Red Sparrow in this “sharp, freshly conceived, [and] thoroughly entertaining” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) spy thriller featuring a brilliant young intelligence officer and a troubled heiress who stumble into a global conspiracy that pits present-day Russia against the CIA.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Scribner
Amazon | Bookshop.org
An Insignificant Case
Phillip Margolin
A new standalone legal thriller from the international bestselling author of Gone, But Not Forgotten. Charlie Webb is a third rate lawyer who graduated from a third rate law-school and, because he couldn’t get hired by any of the major law firms, has opened his own law firm, where he gets by handling cases for dubious associates from his youth and some court appointed cases. He’s appointed to be the attorney for a decidedly crackpot artist who calls himself Guido Sabatini (born Lawrence Weiss), who happens to also be an accomplished card shark and burglar. And what Sabatini has stolen this time threatens some very powerful figures…
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Those Opulent Days
Jacquie Pham
Jacquie Pham’s transportive debut, Those Opulent Days, delivers a classic historical murder mystery centered around the glamor, violence, wealth, and opium of 1920’s French-colonial Vietnam that meshes the structural brilliance of Lucy Foley’s The Guest List with the historical vitality of Vanessa Chan’s The Storm We Made, and the upstairs-downstairs drama of Downton Abbey.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism
The Teller of Small Fortunes
Julie Leong
A wandering fortune teller finds an unexpected family in this warm and wonderful debut fantasy, perfect for readers of Travis Baldree and Sangu Mandanna.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Ace
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Interstellar Megachef
Lavanya Lakshminarayan
Masterchef in Space! A fun, satirical, thought-provoking novel by the critically-acclaimed author of The Ten-Percent Thief.
Looking for your one shot to rise to the “top of the pots” in the cutthroat world of interstellar cuisine? Look no further—you might have what it takes to be an Interstellar MegaChef!
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Solaris
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Servant of Earth
Sarah Hawley
In the underground Fae realm, only the strongest and most ruthless have power—but a young human woman forced into a life of servitude is about to change everything. Surviving the trials and overthrowing a tyrant king will take cunning, courage, and an iron will… but even that may not be enough.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Ace
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Serpent & the Wolf
Rebecca Robinson
All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade. After losing her mother—her only remaining parent—to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid’s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die. But she is desperate to live. Rebecca Robinson’s thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Saga Press
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Songbird & The Heart of Stone
Clarissa Broadbent
New York Times bestselling author and BookTok sensation Carissa Broadbent returns with a brand new novel in the Crowns of Nyaxia series, The Songbird & the Heart of Stone, where A Court of Thorns and Roses meets Dante’s Inferno, in an epic fantasy romance of love and treachery between mortals and gods. Features beautiful case art and a detailed map.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Tor
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Courting of Bristol Keats
Mary E. Pearson
After losing both their parents, Bristol Keats and her sisters struggle to stay afloat in their small, quiet town of Bowskeep. When Bristol begins to receive letters from an “aunt” she’s never heard of who promises she can help, she reluctantly agrees to meet―and discovers that everything she thought she knew about her family is a lie. Even her father might still be alive, not killed but kidnapped by terrifying creatures to a whole other realm―the one he is from.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Memoirs & Biographies
Didion and Babitz
Dionne Brand
Joan Didion is revealed at last in this outrageously provocative and profoundly moving new work “that reads like a propulsive novel” (Oprah Daily) on the mutual attractions—and mutual antagonisms—of Didion and her fellow literary titan, Eve Babitz.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Scribner
Amazon | Bookshop.org
I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying
Youngmi Mayer
From standup comedian Youngmi Mayer, an unforgettable memoir written with “raw, enviable freedom that simply floors you,” interrogating whiteness, gender, and sexuality in America, navigating a tumultuous childhood in Korea and Saipan, and coming to terms with her parents’ shortcomings.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Little, Brown & Co.
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Carson the Magnificent
Bill Zehme with Mike Thomas
A much-anticipated biography—twenty years in the making—of the entertainer who redefined late-night television and reshaped American culture.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Simon & Schuester
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Name of This Band Is R.E.M.
Peter Ames Carlin
An electrifying cultural biography of the greatest and last American rock band of the millennium, whose music ignited a generation—and reasserted the power of rock and roll. Deeply descriptive and remarkably poetic, steeped in 80s and 90s nostalgia, The Name of This Band is R.E.M. paints a cultural history of the commercial peak and near-total collapse of a great music era, and the story of the generation that came of age at the apotheosis of rock.
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Doubleday
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Nonfiction
What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird
Sy Montgomery
A charming and eye-opening exploration of the special relationship between humans and chickens from Sy Montgomery, “one of our finest chroniclers of the natural world” (The New York Times).
Publication date: November 5
Publisher: Atria Books
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Vanishing Treasures: A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures
Katherine Rundell
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Katherine Rundell comes a “rare and magical book” (Bill Bryson) reckoning with the vanishing wonders of our natural world. Beautifully illustrated, and full of inimitable wit and intellect, Vanishing Treasures is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck, to reckon with the beauty of the world, its fragility, and its strangeness.
Publication date: November 12
Publisher: Doubleday
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Ghosts of Panama: A Strongman Out of Control, A Murdered Marine, and the Special Agents Caught in the Middle of an Invasion
Mark Harmon & Leon Carroll, Jr.
Panama, 1989. The once warm relationship between United States and Gen. Manuel Noriega has eroded dangerously. Newly elected President George Bush has declared the strongman a drug trafficker and a rigger of elections. Intimidation on the streets is a daily reality for U.S. personnel and their families. The nation is a powder keg. Using a blend of research and interviews with the NIS agents who were directly involved, Ghosts of Panama reveals the untold, clandestine story of counterintelligence professionals placed in a pressure cooker assignment of historic proportions.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Harper Select
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age
James Chappel
A learned and lively account of the history of old age in modern America, showing how we created unprecedented security for some and painful uncertainty for others.Historian James Chappel shows how old age first emerged as a distinct stage of life and how it evolved over the last century, shaped by politicians’ choices, activists’ demands, medical advancements, and cultural models from utopian novels to The Golden Girls.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Basic Books
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future
Vince Beiser
The powerful ways the metals we need to fuel technology and energy are spawning environmental havoc, political upheaval, and rising violence — and how we can do better.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Riverhead
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity
Robin Wall Kimmerer
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Braiding Sweetgrass, a bold and inspiring vision for how to orient our lives around gratitude, reciprocity, and community, based on the lessons of the natural world.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: Scribner
Amazon | Bookshop.org
The White Ladder: Triumph & Tragedy at the Dawn of Mountaineering
Daniel Light
A masterpiece of edge-of-your-seat narrative history, The White Ladder describes the epic rise of mountaineering’s world altitude record, a story of ever higher climbs by figures great and small of mountaineering during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Daniel Light describes how climbers used revolutionary techniques to launch themselves into the most forbidding conditions. The expeditions illustrate evolutionary changes in climbing style, the advancement of high-altitude science, and the development of mountain climbing as an industry.
Publication date: November 19
Publisher: W.W. Norton
Amazon | Bookshop.org
Looking for past month’s most anticipated lists?
