It is my favorite time of the year!
Fall reading has finally graced our presence. The thicker sweaters can come out of storage, a mug of hot cider by our current read and the smell of pumpkin and spice in the air. It might be a while before fall weather reaches us, but we can still do a celebration dance for the great fall releases coming our way, which is impressive! So many beautiful books this fall that it was hard to narrow it down to just the top 25. But I managed to highlight the ones that need to be on your radar.
From locked-room thrillers to the power of librarians, this list of upcoming releases has something for every reader!
Agatha Christie: An Elusive Woman by Lucy Worsley
Expected Publication Date: September 6
“Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.”
Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was “just” an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn’t? Her life is fascinating for its mysteries and its passions and, as Lucy Worsley says, “She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern.” She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness.
So why–despite all the evidence to the contrary–did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure?
She was born in 1890 into a world that had its own rules about what women could and couldn’t do. Lucy Worsley’s biography is not just of a massively, internationally successful writer. It’s also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman.
With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley’s biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realize what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was–truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century. (Credit: Pegasus Crime)
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
Expected Publication Date: September 6
Florence, the 1550s. Lucrezia, third daughter of the grand duke, is comfortable with her obscure place in the palazzo: free to wonder at its treasures, observe its clandestine workings, and devote herself to her own artistic pursuits. But when her older sister dies on the eve of her wedding to the ruler of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio, Lucrezia is thrust unwittingly into the limelight: the duke is quick to request her hand in marriage, and her father just as quick to accept on her behalf.
Having barely left girlhood behind, Lucrezia must now enter an unfamiliar court whose customs are opaque and where her arrival is not universally welcomed. Perhaps most mystifying of all is her new husband himself, Alfonso. Is he the playful sophisticate he appeared to be before their wedding, the aesthete happiest in the company of artists and musicians, or the ruthless politician before whom even his formidable sisters seem to tremble?
As Lucrezia sits in constricting finery for a painting intended to preserve her image for centuries to come, one thing becomes worryingly clear. In the court’s eyes, she has one duty: to provide the heir who will shore up the future of the Ferranese dynasty. Until then, for all of her rank and nobility, the new duchess’s future hangs entirely in the balance. (Credit: Knopf Publishing Group)
Monsters Born and Made by Tanvi Berwah
Expected Publication Date: September 6
Sixteen-year-old Koral and her older brother Emrik risk their lives each day to capture the monstrous maristags that live in the black seas around their island. They have to, or else their family will starve.
In an oceanic world swarming with vicious beasts, the Landers–the ruling elite, have indentured Koral’s family to provide the maristags for the Glory Race, a deadly chariot tournament reserved for the upper class. The winning contender receives gold and glory. The others–if they’re lucky–survive.
When the last maristag of the year escapes and Koral has no new maristag to sell, her family’s financial situation takes a turn for the worse and they can’t afford medicine for her chronically ill little sister. Koral’s only choice is to do what no one in the world has ever dared: cheat her way into the Glory Race.
But every step of the way is unpredictable as Koral races against competitors–including her ex-boyfriend–who have trained for this their whole lives and who have no intention of letting a low-caste girl steal their glory. As a rebellion rises and rogues attack Koral to try and force her to drop out, she must choose–her life or her sister’s–before the whole island burns. (Credit: Sourcebooks Fire)
Marple: Twelve New Mysteries
Expected Publication Date: September 13
One doesn’t stop at one murder…
Jane Marple is an elderly lady from St Mary Mead who possesses an uncanny knack for solving even the most perplexing puzzles. Now, for the first time in 45 years, Agatha Christie’s beloved character returns to the page for a globe-trotting tour of crime and detection.
Join Marple as she travels through her sleepy English village and around the world. In St Mary Mead, a Christmas dinner is interrupted by unexpected guests; the Broadway stage in New York City is set for a dangerous improvisation; bad omens surround an untimely death aboard a cruise ship to Hong Kong; and a bestselling writer on holiday in Italy is caught in a nefarious plot. These and other crimes committed in the name of love, jealousy, blackmail, and revenge are ones that only the indomitable Jane Marple can solve.
Bringing a fresh twist to the hallmarks of a classic Agatha Christie mystery, these twelve esteemed writers have captured the sharp wit, unique voice, and droll ingenuity of the deceptively demure detective. A triumphant celebration of Christie’s legacy and essential reading for crime lovers, Marple is a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains one of the most famous detectives of all time. (Credit: William Morrow & Company)
The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker and translated by Robert Bononno
Expected Publication Date: September 13
A writer named Joël, Switzerland’s most prominent novelist, flees to the Hôtel de Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. Disheartened over a recent breakup and his longtime publisher’s death, Joël hopes to rest. However, his plans quickly go awry. It all starts with a seemingly innocuous detail: at the Verbier, there is no room 622.
Before long, Joël and fellow guest Scarlett uncover a long-unsolved murder that transpired in the hotel’s room 622. The attendant circumstances: the succession of Switzerland’s largest private bank, a mysterious counterintelligence operation called P-30, and a most disreputable sabotage of hotel hospitality. A European phenomenon, The Enigma of Room 622 is a matryoshka doll of intrigue-as precise as a Swiss watch-and Dicker’s most diabolically addictive thriller yet. (Credit: Harpervia)
The Guest House by Robin Morgan-Bentley
Expected Publication Date: September 13
How far would you go to protect the ones you love?
Jamie and Victoria are off for a last quick vacation before the arrival of their first baby. The remote country guesthouse Victoria chose seems like the perfect retreat–miles away from the distractions of work and their regular life. And the older couple that run the establishment, Barry and Fiona, are more than accommodating.
But when Jamie and Victoria awake on their first morning, they find the house deserted. Barry and Fiona are nowhere to be seen. All the doors are locked. And their cell phones and car keys have disappeared.
They have no way out and no way to call for help and the contractions are getting stronger. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
The Bullet That Missed: A Thursday Murder Club Mystery by Richard Osman
Expected Publication Date: September 20
It is an ordinary Thursday, and things should finally be returning to normal.
Except trouble is never far away where the Thursday Murder Club are concerned. A decade-old cold case–their favorite kind–leads them to a local news legend and a murder with no body and no answers.
Then a new foe pays Elizabeth a visit. Her mission? Kill or be killed. Suddenly the cold case has become red hot.
While Elizabeth wrestles with her conscience (and a gun), Joyce, Ron, and Ibrahim chase down the clues with help from old friends and new. But can the gang solve the mystery and save Elizabeth before the murderer strikes again? (Credit: Pamela Dorman Books)
People Person by Candice Carty-Williams
Expected US Publication Date: September 13
If you could choose your family…you wouldn’t choose the Penningtons.
Dimple Pennington knows of her half siblings, but she doesn’t really know them. Five people who don’t have anything in common except for faint memories of being driven through Brixton in their dad’s gold jeep, and some pretty complex abandonment issues. Dimple has bigger things to think about.
She’s thirty, and her life isn’t really going anywhere. An aspiring lifestyle influencer with a terrible and wayward boyfriend, Dimple’s life has shrunk to the size of a phone screen. And despite a small but loyal following, she’s never felt more alone in her life. That is, until a dramatic event brings her half siblings Nikisha, Danny, Lizzie, and Prynce crashing back into her life. And when they’re all forced to reconnect with Cyril Pennington, the absent father they never really knew, things get even more complicated. (Credit: Gallery/Scout Press)
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
Expected Publication Date: September 15
‘So to mortal men, we are monsters. Because of our teeth, our flight, our strength. They fear us, so they call us monsters.’
Medusa is the only mortal in a family of gods. Growing up with her sisters, she quickly realizes that she is the only one who gets older, experiences change, feels weakness. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know.
When, in Athene’s temple, desire pushes Poseidon to commit the unforgivable, Medusa’s mortal life is changed forever. Athene, furious at the sacrilege committed, directs her revenge on Medusa. The punishment is that she is turned into a Gorgon: sharp teeth, snakes for hair, and a gaze that will turn any living creature to stone. Appalled by her own reflection, Medusa can no longer look upon anything she loves without destroying it. She condemns herself to a life of solitude in the shadows to limit her murderous range.
That is, until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon…
This is the story of how a young woman became a monster. And how she was never really a monster at all.(Credit: Pan Macmillan)
When We Were Friends by Holly Bourne
Expected Publication Date: September 27
From the day they first meet as teenagers, Fern and Jessica are best friends. Despite their differences, they are there for each other throughout everything, navigating the difficulties of growing up and fitting in. That is, until Jessica crosses a line that Fern can’t forgive.
But now, more than ten years later, Jessica has unexpectedly reappeared in Fern’s life.A lot has changed for them both–but can their relationship be different now that they are older? Is it possible for either of them to rewrite the roles they’ve been cast in? Or will their shared history ultimately be doomed to repeat itself again?
Set between the present day and the early ’00s, When We Were Friends is a blisteringly funny and devastating novel: both a joyful celebration of female friendship and a razor-sharp look at the damage we can all cause to those we claim to love the most. (Credit: Mira Books)
Everything Is Ok by Debbie Tung
Expected Publication Date: September 27
Everything Is OK is the story of Debbie Tung’s struggle with anxiety and her experience with depression. She shares what it’s like navigating life, overthinking every possible worst-case scenario, and constantly feeling like all hope is lost.
The book explores her journey to understanding the importance of mental health in her day-to-day life and how she learns to embrace the highs and lows when things feel out of control. Debbie opens up about deeply personal issues and the winding road to recovery, discovers the value of self-love, and rebuilds a more mindful relationship with her mental health.
In this graphic memoir, Debbie aims to provide positive and comforting messages to anyone who is facing similar difficulties or is just trying to get through a tough time in life. She hopes to encourage readers to be kinder to themselves, to know that they are not alone, and that it’s okay to be vulnerable because they are not defined by their mental health struggles. The dark clouds won’t be there forever. Everything will turn out all right. (Credit: Andrews McMeel Publishing)
The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict
Expected Publication Date: October 4
The annual Christmas Game is afoot at Endgame House, the Armitages’ grand family home. This year’s prize is to die for–deeds to the house itself–but Lily Armitage has no intention of returning. She hasn’t been back to Endgame since her mother died, twenty-one years ago, and she has no intention of claiming the house that haunts her dreams.
Until, that is, she receives a letter from her aunt promising that the game’s riddles will give her the keys not only to Endgame, but to its darkest secrets, including the identity of her mother’s murderer.
Now, Lily must compete with her estranged cousins for the twelve days of Christmas. The snow is thick, the phone lines are down, and no one is getting in or out. Lily will have to keep her wits about her, because not everyone is playing fair, and there’s no telling how many will die before the winner is declared. (Credit: Poisoned Pen Press)
Black Hollywood: Reimagining Iconic Movie Moments by Carell Augustus
Expected Publication Date: October 4
Black Hollywood is a groundbreaking reimagining of Hollywood’s most beloved films, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Singin’ in the Rain, Mission: Impossible, Forrest Gump, and more. Visionary photographer Carell Augustus has created a who’s who of today’s Black entertainers recreating iconic cinematic scenes, renewing readers’ appreciation of the past while asking questions about representation in media and inspiring the artists of the future.
Compiled over the course of more than ten years and highlighting more than sixty-five stars such as Vanessa L. Williams, Dulé Hill, Karamo Brown, Shermar Moore, and others, Carell Augustus says, Black Hollywood is not just a book for Black people–it’s a book for all people about Black people. About the dreams we were never told we could achieve. About the places we were never told we could go. And now, finally, about how we can get there. (Credit: Ebony Magazine Publishing)
Trespassers by Claire McFall
Expected Publication Date: October 11
Tristan and Dylan have escaped the afterlife, defying fate: Dylan should have been killed in a horrific train crash, while Tristan should still be an immortal ferryman. Now, living in bodies they have no right to inhabit, they discover they’re connected by something stronger than love–their souls are bound together. Alone, they’ll die, but being together has its own difficulties. As they try to adjust to life in the real world, with Dylan slowly healing from her injuries and Tristan attending school for the first time, they realize that when they broke through the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead, they showed the way for others to escape. Now they must face the consequences. Dylan and Tristan’s beautifully told and richly imagined story–in development to be a major motion picture–continues in this sequel full of suspense, action, and intense emotion. (Credit: Walker Books US)
Fight Back by A.M. Dassu
Expected Publication Date: October 11
Thirteen-year-old Aaliyah can’t wait for a concert by her favorite K-pop boy band, 3W. She isn’t too concerned with stories on the news about the rise of the far right–after all, it doesn’t affect her–until a terrorist attack at the concert changes everything.
Local racists are emboldened and anti-Muslim rhetoric starts cropping up at school and on the street. When Aaliyah starts getting bullied, she knows she has to do something to stand up to the hate. She decides that, instead of hiding who she is, she will begin wearing a hijab for the first time, to challenge how people in her community see Muslims.
But when her school bans the hijab and she is attacked and intimidated for making her choice, Aaliyah feels alone. Can she find allies–friends to stand beside her and help her find ways to fight back? (Credit: Tu Books)
Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld
Expected Publication Date: October 18
Tom Gauld returns with his wittiest and most trenchant collection of literary cartoons to date. Perfectly composed drawings are punctuated with the artist’s signature brand of humour, hitting high and low. After all, Gauld is just as comfortable taking jabs at Jane Eyre and Game of Thrones.
Some particularly favoured targets include the pretentious procrastinating novelist, the commercial mercenary of the dispassionate editor, the willful obscurantism of the vainglorious poet. Quake in the presence of the stack of bedside books as it grows taller! Gnash your teeth at the ever-moving deadline that the writer never meets! Quail before the critic’s incisive dissection of the manuscript! And most importantly, seethe with envy at the paragon of creative productivity! (Credit: Drawn & Quarterly)
I Was Born For This by Alice Oseman
Expected Publication Date: October 18
For Angel Rahimi life is about one thing: The Ark — a boy band that’s taking the world by storm. Being part of The Ark’s fandom has given her everything she loves — her friend Juliet, her dreams, her place in the world. Her Muslim family doesn’t understand the band’s allure — but Angel feels there are things about her they’ll never understand.
Jimmy Kaga-Ricci owes everything to The Ark. He’s their frontman — and playing in a band with his mates is all he ever dreamed of doing, even it only amplifies his anxiety. The fans are very accepting that he’s trans — but they also keep shipping with him with his longtime friend and bandmate, Rowan. But Jimmy and Rowan are just friends — and Rowan has a secret girlfriend the fans can never know about. Dreams don’t always turn out the way you think and when Jimmy and Angel are unexpectedly thrust together, they find out how strange and surprising facing up to reality can be. (Credit: Scholastic Press)
My Pen Is The Wing of A Bird: New Fiction by Afghan Women
Expected Publication Date: October 18
Eighteen Afghan women living in, speaking about, and writing from the country itself tell stories that are powerful and illuminating, unique and universal – stories of family, work, childhood, friendship, war, gender identity, and cultural traditions.
A woman’s fortitude saves her village from disaster. A teenager explores their identity in a moment of quiet. A tormented girl tries to find love through a horrific act. A headmaster makes his way to work, treading the fine line between life and death.
These and more original, vital, and unexpected stories hail from extraordinary voices rooted in Afghanistan’s two main linguistic groups (Pashto and Dari), and were developed over two years through the writer development program Untold’s Write Aghanistan Project. (Credit: Grand Central Publishing)
Sister Novelists: The Trailblazing Porter Sisters, Who Paved the Way for Austen and the Brontës by Devoney Looser
Expected Publication Date: October 25
Before the Brontë sisters picked up their pens, or Jane Austen’s heroines Elizabeth and Jane Bennet became household names, the literary world was celebrating a different pair of sisters: Jane and Anna Maria Porter. The Porters-exact contemporaries of Jane Austen-were brilliant, attractive, self-made single women of polite reputation who between them published 26 books and achieved global fame. They socialized among the rich and famous, tried to hide their family’s considerable debt, and fell dramatically in and out of love. Their moving letters to each other confess every detail. Because the celebrity sisters expected their renown to live on, they preserved their papers, and the secrets they contained, for any biographers to come.
But history hasn’t been kind to the Porters. Credit for their literary invention was given to their childhood friend, Sir Walter Scott, who never publicly acknowledged the sisters’ works as his inspiration. With Scott’s more prolific publication and even greater fame, the Porter sisters gradually fell from the pinnacle of celebrity to eventual obscurity. Now, Professor Devoney Looser, a Guggenheim fellow in English Literature, sets out to re-introduce the world to the authors who cleared the way for Austen, Mary Shelley, and the Brontë sisters. Capturing the Porter sisters’ incredible rise, from when Anna Maria published her first book at age 14 in 1793, through to Jane’s fall from the pinnacle of fame in the Victorian era, and then to the auctioning off for a pittance of the family’s massive archive, Sister Novelists is a groundbreaking and enthralling biography of two pioneering geniuses in historical fiction.(Credit: Bloomsbury Publishing)
Foster by Claire Keegan
Expected Publication Date: November 1
It is a hot summer in rural Ireland. A child is taken by her father to live with relatives on a farm, not knowing when or if she will be brought home again. In the Kinsellas’ house, she finds an affection and warmth she has not known and slowly, in their care, begins to blossom. But there is something unspoken in this new household–where everything is so well tended to–and this summer must soon come to an end.
Winner of the prestigious Davy Byrnes Award and published in an abridged version in the New Yorker, this internationally bestselling contemporary classic is now available for the first time in the US in a full, standalone edition. A story of astonishing emotional depth, Foster showcases Claire Keegan’s great talent and secures her reputation as one of our most important storytellers. (Credit: Grove Press)
The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh
Expected Publication Date: November 8
It’s the party to end all parties….but not everyone is here to celebrate.
On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously invited the village to drink champagne with their wealthy new neighbors.
But by midnight, Rhys will be floating dead in the freezing waters of the lake.
On New Year’s Day, Ffion Morgan has a village full of suspects. The tiny community is her home, so the suspects are her neighbors, friends and family–and Ffion has her own secrets to protect.
With a lie uncovered at every turn, soon the question isn’t who wanted Rhys dead…but who finally killed him.
In a village with this many secrets, murder is just the beginning. (Credit: Sourcebooks Landmark)
We Are All Constellations by Amy Beashel
Expected Publication Date: November 8
Seventeen-year-old Iris is happy. She’s fearless, she’s strong. She is everything but a girl who lost her mum.
But Iris’s dad and step-mum have been keeping a secret. One big enough to unravel her. Only the magnetic Órla can provide an escape, until things get…complicated. As Iris questions who she is, it becomes clear she can’t run away from grief.What happens when someone who has never faced up to the darkness lets it in? (Credit: Rock The Boat)
Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Expected Publication Date: November 15
In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.
From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Café Funiculi Funicula’s time-traveling offer. Along with some familiar faces from Kawaguchi’s previous novels, readers will also be introduced to a daughter, a comedian, a sister and a lover, each with something they wish they had said differently.
With his signature heartwarming characters and immersive storytelling, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?
No Accident by Laura Bates
Expected Publication Date: December 6
When a small plane crash ends with a group of seven teens washed up on a deserted island, their first thought is survival. With supplies dwindling and the fear of being stranded forever becoming more of a reality, they quickly discover that being the most popular kid in high school doesn’t help when you’re fighting to stay alive.
And when strange and terrifying accidents start to occur all around them, the group realizes that they are being targeted by someone who was on the plane, and that the island isn’t their only danger. A terrible secret from a party the night before the flight has followed them ashore–and it’s clear that someone is looking for justice. Now survival depends on facing the truth about that party: who was hurt that night, and who let it happen?
A Million To One by Adiba Jaigirdar
Expected Publication Date: December 13
Josefa is an unapologetic and charismatic thief, who loves the thrill of the chase. She has her eye on her biggest mark yet–the RMS Titanic, the most luxurious ship in the world. But she isn’t interested in stealing from wealthy first-class passengers onboard. No, she’s out for the ultimate prize: the Rubiyat, a one of a kind book encrusted with gems that’s worth millions.
Josefa can’t score it alone, so she enlists a team of girls with unique talents: Hinnah, a daring acrobat and contortionist; Violet, an actress and expert dissembler; and Emilie, an artist who can replicate any drawing by hand.
They couldn’t be more different and yet they have one very important thing in common: their lives depend on breaking into the vault and capturing the Rubiyat. But careless mistakes, old grudges, and new romance threaten to jeopardize everything they’ve worked for and put them in incredible danger when tragedy strikes.
While the odds of pulling off the heist are slim, the odds of survival are even slimmer…
cup of tea with that book, please 