August 2025 Most Anticipated New Book Releases

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

Indian Country

Shobha Rao

In this fearless novel from the award-winning author of Girls Burn Brighter, a couple from India—so different from generations of white colonialists who came before them—move to Montana, only to discover how brutal and unforgiving hubris can be.

Publication date: August 5

Moderation

Elaine Castillo

A bold and inventive novel about real romance in the virtual workplace—​bringing Castillo’s trademark wit and sharp cultural criticism to an irresistible story about the possible future of love.

Publication date: August 5

My Other Heart

Elaine Castillo

A missing child, two girls in search of their true identities – a stunning novel of mothers, daughters and best friends.

Publication date: August 5

People Like Us

Jason Mott

A darkly comic tale of two Black writers haunted by gun violence. While rooted in reality, People Like Us explodes with dreamlike experiences that pull a reader in and don’t let go, from the ability to time travel to sightings of sea monsters and peacocks, and feelings of love and memory so real they hurt.

Publication date: August 5

A Dog in Georgia

Lauren Grodstein

In this beautiful story of connection and self-reflection, a missing dog in Georgia sets Amy Webb on an adventure away from her tumultuous marriage and lack-luster personal life and towards a journey of self-discovery and joy.

Publication date: August 5

Dogs

C. Mallon

A singular, devastating debut novel, Dogs traces the fallout of one catastrophic night in the lives of five high school wrestlers, asking what can survive in the blast radius of latent trauma and violence.

Publication date: August 12

Cover of The Frequency of Living Things by Nick Fuller Googins

The Frequency of Living Things

Nick Fuller Googins

A heartbreaking American epic about three sisters who unearth lifetimes of family tensions as they are forced to rescue one of their own from peril, testing the limits of sacrifice, sisterhood, and forgiveness from the author of the profound work of great wisdom The Great Transition.

Publication date: August 12

The Sunflower Boys

Sam Wachman

A poignant coming-of-age story with the sensitivity and haunting power of What Belongs to You and Swimming in the Dark, about a young boy wrestling with his sexuality as war breaks out in modern Ukraine.

Publication date: August 12

Women, Seated

Zhang Yueran

A riveting story of a powerful Chinese family’s fall from grace. Taut and enthralling, Women, Seated is a high-stakes story of power and privilege, crimes and secrets, and the elusive pursuit of personal freedom.

Publication date: August 12

Ruth

Kate Riley

In this mesmerizing and profound novel, the arc of a woman’s life in a devout, insular community challenges our deepest assumptions about what infuses life with meaning.

Publication date: August 19

When the Cranes Fly South

Lisa Ridzén

A profoundly moving debut novel that follows an elderly man’s attempts to mend his relationship with his son before it’s too late: an emotional story of love, friendship, fatherhood, dogs, and atonement that is already an international sensation.

Publication date: August 19

Mona’s Eyes

Thomas Schlesser

Ten-year-old Mona and her beloved grandfather have only fifty-two Wednesdays to visit fifty-two works of art and commit to memory “all that is beautiful in the world” before Mona loses her sight forever.

Publication date: August 26

Dominion

Addie E. Citchens

A brilliantly crafted Black Southern family drama told with the captivating force, humor, and tenderness carried in the hearts of these women, Dominion wrestles with the many brutal, sinister ways in which we are shaped by fear and patriarchy, and studies how we might yet choose to break free.

Publication date: August 19

Loved One

Aisha Muharrar

From an Emmy Award–winning writer comes a funny, wise, heartbreaking story about a woman journeying into the unknown in the wake of sudden loss. An emotional mystery spanning years, continents, and relationship statuses, Loved One introduces Aisha Muharrar as a novelist intimately attuned to the intricacies of love, memory, and ambiguous loss.

Publication date: August 12


Historical Fiction

Cover of The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd-Robinson

The Art of a Lie

Laura Shepherd-Robinson

In 18th-century England, a widowed confectioner is drawn into a web of love, betrayal, and intrigue and a battle of wits in this masterful historical novel from the author of the “delicious puzzle-box of a novel” (The New York Times) and USA TODAY bestseller The Square of Sevens.

Publication date: August 5

Cover of The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis

The Hounding

Xenobe Purvis

The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this haunting debut about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth-century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs.

Publication date: August 5

Fonseca

Jessica Francis Kane

The story acclaimed English author Penelope Fitzgerald never wrote, of her real-life journey to Mexico with her son in search of a much-needed inheritance, by Jessica Francis Kane, bestselling author of Rules for Visiting.

Publication date: August 12

The Book of Lost Hours

Hayley Gelfuso

For fans of The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, a sweeping, unforgettable novel following two remarkable women moving between postwar and Cold War-era America and the mysterious time space, a library filled with books containing the memories of those who bore witness to history.

Publication date: August 26


Romance

Well, Actually

Mazey Eddings

An utterly delightful and sexy second-chance romance between a black cat and golden retriever with Mazey Edding’s signature sparkling voice!

Publication date: August 5

The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

Mason Deaver

Bestselling and award-winning author Mason Deaver’s adult romance debut follows a journalist in a dead-end job who agrees to teach his disastrous blind date how to be a better boyfriend. Readers will delight in this sweet and steamy queer romance with trans representation!

Publication date: August 5

Zomromcom

Olivia Dade

Teaming up with your neighbor during a zombie outbreak is a no-brainer, but if it turns out he’s a vampire . . . the stakes couldn’t be higher, in this infectious new paranormal romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Spoiler Alert.

Publication date: August 5

If Not for My Baby

Ashley Jordan

It’s the duet of a lifetime when a rock star and his backup singer find a new kind of harmony off stage in this sensational contemporary romance.

Publication date: August 5

The Re-Write

Olivia Dade

In this lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers rom-com, two exes are faced with one deadline. Will they make it to the end?

Publication date: August 12

Warrior Princess Assassin

Brigid Kemmerer

Fates collide and passions ignite in New York Times bestselling author Brigid Kemmerer’s steamy adult fantasy debut about three characters torn between chasing, betraying, and craving each other: a princess caught between duty and desire, the fearsome warrior king she’s promised to, and the assassin tasked with hunting them down.

Publication date: August 12


Thrillers & Mysteries

The Dead Husband Cookbook

Danielle Valentine

When infamous chef, restaurateur, and television personality Maria Capello’s husband died, the media circus was intense…and quick to cast the blame. Whispers claimed Maria murdered her husband to build her culinary empire on his bones, and that there was an all-too-grisly reason his body was never recovered. Yet for the past few decades, the Capello family maintained their stoney silence―until now.

Publication date: August 5

The Locked Ward

Sarah Pekkanen

A shocking psychological thriller about the complex bonds of sisterhood―and what happens when they are stretched to the breaking point, The Locked Ward will leave you guessing until the very end.

Publication date: August 5

Sheepdogs

Sarah Pekkanen

When a high-stakes heist goes wrong, an ex-CIA operative and a special operations pilot find themselves in the middle of a game of espionage and survival as they navigate a treacherous web of deception and shifting loyalties in a globe-spanning, action-packed thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of 2034.

Publication date: August 5

Too Old for This

Samantha Downing

A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Publication date: August 12

Cover of We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter

We Are All Guilty Here

Karin Slaughter

The first thrilling mystery in the new North Falls series from Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and the Will Trent Series. Welcome to North Falls—a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think.

Publication date: August 12

High Season

Katie Bishop

Set over two unforgettable summers two decades apart, High Season is a dark, tense exploration of the nature of memory, the enduring power of truth, and all the gray areas in between.

Publication date: August 12

The Once and Future Me

Melissa Pace

Dark Matter meets Girl, Interrupted in this gripping psychological thriller about a young woman teetering on the edge of reality.

Publication date: August 19

Forget Me Not

Stacy Willingham

Twenty-two years ago, Claire Campbell’s older sister, Natalie, disappeared shortly after her 18th birthday. Days later, her blood was found in a car, a man was arrested, and the case was swiftly closed. In the decades since, Claire has attempted to forget her traumatic past by moving to the city and climbing the ranks as an investigative journalist… until an unexpected call from her father forces her to come back home and face it all anew.

Publication date: August 26

The Break-In

Katherine Faulkner

After killing an intruder in self-defense, a wealthy London mother must unravel a terrifying mystery filled with twists and turns, from the author of the deliciously twisted thriller The Other Mothers.

Publication date: August 26


Horror & Gothic Fiction

Departure 37

Scott Carson

Horror meets coming-of-age in this thrilling novel in which forgotten Cold War mysteries make a terrifying reappearance, from a writer Stephen King has called “a master.”

Publication date: August 5

Lucky Day

Chuck Tingle

Four years ago, an unthinkable disaster occurred. In what was later known as the Low-Probability Event, eight million people were killed in a single day, each of them dying in improbable, bizarre ways. Vera, a former statistics and probability professor, lost everything that day and now must go up against horrifying odds to save the world.

Publication date: August 12

Tantrum

Rachel Eve Moulton

In this electric horror novel from the author of The Insatiable Volt Sisters, an exhausted mother thinks her newborn might be a monster. She’s right.

Publication date: August 12

The Possession of Alba Díaz

Isabel Cañas

When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn’t trust…from bestselling author Isabel Cañas.

Publication date: August 19

If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You

Leigh Stein

Fates collide after a tarot influencer disappears from a decaying Hollywood mansion in this unnerving gothic mystery and incisive social satire from the acclaimed author of Self Care.

Publication date: August 26


Fantasy, Science Fiction, & Magical Realism

Automatic Noodle

Annalee Newitz

A cozy near-future novella about a crew of leftover robots opening their very own noodle shop, from acclaimed sci-fi author Annalee Newitz.   

Publication date: August 5

The Magician of Tiger Castle

Louis Sachar

The beloved author of Holes presents his first adult novel, a modern fantasy classic of forbidden love, a crumbling kingdom, and the unexpected magic all around us.   

Publication date: August 5

Mad Sisters of Esi

Tashan Mehta

Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi meets Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler in this stunning meta fantasy about the power of stories, belief, and sisterhood. Myung and her sister Laleh are the sole inhabitants of the whale of babel—until Myung flees, beginning an adventure that will spin her through dreams, memories, and myths  

Publication date: August 5

Hemlock & Silver

T. Kingfisher

From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind.  

Publication date: August 19

The Society of Unknowable Objects

Gareth Brown

From the author of the internationally bestselling The Book of Doors, another fantastical, stand-alone novel in which a trio of seemingly everyday people are members of a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects—ordinary items with extraordinary properties. 

Publication date: August 12

Lessons in Magic & Disaster

Charlie Jane Anders

In the vein of Alice Hoffman and Charlie Jane Anders’s own All the Birds in the Sky comes a novel full of love, disaster, and magic. A young witch teaches her mother how to do magic–with very unexpected results–in this relatable, resonant novel about family, identity, and the power of love. 

Publication date: August 19

Katabasis

R. F. Kuang

Dante’s Inferno meets Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi in this all-new dark academia fantasy from R. F. Kuang, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Babel and Yellowface, in which two graduate students must put aside their rivalry and journey to Hell to save their professor’s soul—perhaps at the cost of their own.    

Publication date: August 26

What Hunger

Catherine Dang

A haunting coming-of-age tale following the daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, Ronny Nguyen, as she grapples with the weight of generational trauma while navigating the violent power of teenage girlhood, for fans of Jennifer’s Body and Little Fires Everywhere.    

Publication date: August 12


Short Stories & Essays

Extinction Capital of the World: Stories

Mariah Rigg

Magnetic, haunting, and tender, Extinction Capital of the World is a stunning portrait of Hawai’i—and a powerful meditation on family, queer love, and community amid imperialism and environmental collapse.

Publication date: August 5

You’ve Got a Place Here, Too: An Anthology of Black Love Stories Set at HBCUs

Ebony LaDelle

A heartwarming and unforgettable collection of love stories set at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, exploring hope, endurance, and what it means to leave a legacy, from some of today’s most prominent Black writers and edited by the acclaimed author of Love Radio.

Publication date: August 12

Where Are You Really From: Stories

Elaine Hsieh Chou

From the critically-acclaimed author of Disorientation, a multi-genre story collection that explores the limits and possibilities of storytelling. In these six singular stories and a novella that pivot from the terrible to the beautiful to the surreal, Elaine Hsieh Chou confronts the slipperiness of truth in storytelling. With razor-sharp precision and psychological acuity, she peels back the tales we tell ourselves to peer beneath them: at our treacherous desires, our self-deceptions and our capacity for cruelty, both to ourselves and each other.

Publication date: August 19


Memoirs & Biographies

Trying: A Memoir

Chloe Caldwell

Over the years that Chloé Caldwell had been married and hoping to conceive a child, she’d read everything she could find on infertility. But no memoir or message board reflected her experience; she wanted to offer something different. With the candor, irreverence, and heart, Trying intimately captures a self in a continuous process of becoming―and the mysterious ways that writing informs that process.  

Publication date: August 5

Tonight in Jungleland: The Making of Born to Run

Peter Ames Carlin

A fascinating behind-the-scenes account of the making of Bruce Springsteen’s ground-breaking album, Born to Run – one of the most iconic records in rock history – Tonight in Jungleland combines lush music writing with unprecedented inside access to Springsteen, his bandmates, and the full story behind every song… and coincides with the album’s 50th anniversary in August 2025.

Publication date: August 5

Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama

Alexis Okeowo

From a New Yorker staff writer and PEN award winner, a blend of memoir, history, and reportage on one of the most complex and least understood states in America. In this perspective-shifting work that is both an intimate memoir and a journalistic triumph, Okeowo investigates her life, other Alabamians’ lives, and the state’s lesser-known histories to examine why Alabama has been the stage for the most extreme results of the American experiment.

Publication date: August 5

This Happened to Me: A Memoir

Chloe Caldwell

For readers of EducatedThe Glass Castle, and Know My Name comes a powerful new memoir that is a remarkable testament of survival and resilience. At once harrowing and exquisite, haunting and inspiring, Kate Price’s story will leave readers with a profound assurance in the power to heal.   

Publication date: August 5

We Should All Be Birds: A Memoir

Brian Buckbee

A charming and moving debut memoir about how a man with a mystery illness saves a pigeon, and how the pigeon saves the man.  

Publication date: August 5

Glitz, Glam, and a Damn Good Time: How Mamie Fish, Queen of the Gilded Age, Partied Her Way to Power

Jennifer Wright

From the author of Madame Restell and Get Well Soon, a biography of Mamie Fish that explores how women used parties and social gatherings to gain power and prestige.

Publication date: August 5

Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State

Caleb Gayle

In this paradigm-shattering work of American history, Caleb Gayle recounts the extraordinary tale of Edward McCabe, a Black man who championed the audacious idea to create a state within the Union governed by and for Black people — and the racism, politics, and greed that thwarted him.

Publication date: August 12

Hotshot: A Life on Fire

Brian Buckbee

The fierce debut memoir of a female firefighter, Hotshot navigates the personal and environmental dangers of wildland firefighting. A work of rare intimacy, Hotshot provides new insight into fire, the people who fight it, and the diversity of ecosystems dependent on this elemental force.

Publication date: August 12

Anonymous Male: A Life Among Spies

Christopher Whitcomb

A no-holds-barred memoir about identity, from a former Hostage Rescue Team sniper who left the FBI on 9/11 only to lose himself, moving deeper into a world of spies.

Publication date: August 19

Baldwin

Nicholas Boggs

Drawing on new archival material, original research, and interviews, this spellbinding book is the first major biography of James Baldwin in three decades, revealing how profoundly his personal relationships shaped his life and work.

Publication date: August 19

Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler

Susana M. Morris

A magnificent cultural biography that charts the life of one of our greatest writers, situating her alongside the key historical and social moments that shaped her work. 

Publication date: August 19

A Truce That Is Not Peace

By Miriam Toews

Internationally bestselling author Miriam Toews’ memoir of the will to write-a work of disobedient memory, humor, and exquisite craft set against a content-hungry, prose-stuffed society. 

Publication date: August 26


Nonfiction

The Afghans: Three Lives through War, Love, and Revolt

Åsne Seierstad

From the internationally bestselling author of The Bookseller of Kabul, an expansive, deeply felt portrait of Afghanistan, examining the human cost of wars fought, lost, and won. The Afghans is an essential contribution to the American reckoning with our longest war and a profound work of empathy for three people shaped by a ruinous battle for the soul of their nation.

Publication date: August 5

Between Two Rivers: Ancient Mesopotamia and the Birth of History

Moudhy Al-Rashid

Humanity’s earliest efforts at recording and drawing meaning from history reveal how lives millennia ago were not so different from our own.

Publication date: August 5

The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb

Garrett M. Graff

On the 80th anniversary of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the Pulitzer Prize finalist whose work is “oral history at its finest” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) delivers an epic narrative of the atomic bomb’s creation and deployment, woven from the voices of hundreds of scientists, generals, soldiers, and civilians.

Publication date: August 5

Disney Adults: Exploring (And Falling In Love With) A Magical Subculture

AJ Wolfe

A fascinating and enlightening deep dive into the infamous Disney Adult community from the woman behind the popular website The Disney Food Blog.

Publication date: August 5

King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation

Scott Anderson

From the author of the landmark bestseller Lawrence in Arabia comes a stunningly revelatory narrative history of the Iranian Revolution, one of the most momentous events in modern times. This groundbreaking work exposes the jaw-dropping stupidity of the American government and traces the rise of religious nationalism, offering essential insights into today’s global unrest.

Publication date: August 5

Native America: The Story of the First Peoples

Kenneth L. Feder

An epic deep history of the Indigenous peoples of North America, covering more than 20,000 years of astonishing diversity, adaptation, resilience, and continuity.

Publication date: August 5

The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers

Cheryl McKissack Daniel with Nick Chiles

The riveting story of the McKissack family—the founders of the leading Black design and construction firm in the United States, from its beginnings in the mid-1800s to its thriving status today—in a moving celebration of resilience and innovation.

Publication date: August 12

The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces

Seth Harp

A groundbreaking investigation into a string of unsolved murders at America’s premier special operations base, and what the crimes reveal about drug trafficking and impunity among elite soldiers in today’s military.

Publication date: August 12

The Gods of New York: Egotists, Idealists, Opportunists, and the Birth of the Modern City: 1986-1990

Jonathan Mahler

A sweeping chronicle of four tumultuous years in 1980s New York that changed the city forever—and anticipated the forces that would soon divide the nation—from the bestselling author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning.

Publication date: August 12

Rehab: An American Scandal

Shoshana Walter

Pulitzer finalist Shoshana Walter exposes the country’s failed response to the opioid crisis, and the malfeasance, corruption, and snake oil which blight the drug rehabilitation industry.

Publication date: August 12

The Right of the People: Democracy and the Case for a New American Founding

Osita Nwanevu

A bold case for reimagining the American project and making American democracy real—from a formidable new voice in political journalism.

Publication date: August 12

Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization

Tim Queeney

A unique and compelling adventure through the history of rope and its impact on civilization, in the vein of single-subject bestsellers like Salt and Cod.

Publication date: August 12

To Lose a War: The Fall and Rise of the Taliban

Jon Lee Anderson

From one of the great foreign correspondents of our time, author of some of the most essential reporting from Afghanistan from before 9/11 to the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, the first full accounting of that entire era, combining previously published dispatches and new reporting into a single epic tapestry.

Publication date: August 12

Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City

Bench Ansfield

The explosive account of the arson wave that hit the Bronx and other American cities in the 1970s―and its legacy today.

Publication date: August 19

How to Be a Saint: An Extremely Weird and Mildly Sacrilegious History of The Catholic Church’s Biggest Names

Kate Sidley

Whether you’re a lifelong Catholic or a weird-history enthusiast, How to Be a Saint is your ultimate guide to understanding the hilarious, fascinating, and shockingly true history of sainthood.

Publication date: August 19

Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings That Made Christianity

Fergus Butler-Gallie

Karen Armstrong meets Pico Iyer in this sweeping history of Christianity that visits a dozen places of worship on every inhabited continent to tell their often wild stories and examine their sometimes difficult legacies.

Publication date: August 26