Get ahead of the crowd with these great recent releases that may not be on the New York Times bestseller list, but that have critics and readers talking.
October - December 2025 Issue
See also:
- Featured Review: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz
- Nonfiction Recommendations
- Previous Issues
Adam, Claire. Love Forms.
A teenager from a family in Trinidad is sent to a convent in Venezuela in the 1980's to have her baby and give it up for adoption; decades later, although she is married and has other children, she searches desperately for the child she lost.
Adrian, Emily. Seduction Theory.
In this novel, which presents itself as an academic thesis, a University student, who is in love with her writing professor, tells the story of the professor's marriage, which is seemingly happy, but in reality damaged by jealousy and infidelity.
Castillo, Elaine. Moderation.
A Filipina American woman who works as a content moderator at a social media site, and uses her salary to pay down her mother's million dollar debt, gets a new job at a virtual reality company with a higher salary, but trouble and scandals ensue.
Cauley, Kashana. The Payback.
In this dystopian novel, three young Black women, with huge student debts they can't pay on their minimum wage salaries, launch a risky plan to free themselves from the brutal Debt Police. Ebook
Chou, Elaine Hsieh. Where Are You Really From.
A collection of somewhat surreal short stories and a novella, in which unexpected events cause the characters, mostly Asian or Asian American, to question their sense of themselves.
Citchens, Addie E. Dominion.
A prosperous and well-respected Black family in a town in Mississippi is revealed to harbor dark secrets; the father, a Baptist pastor, is a womanizer; his wife is addicted to alcohol and pills; and their youngest son, a talented musician and high school football player, has a history of assaulting women. Ebook, downloadable audiobook
Clark, Heather. The Scrapbook.
An American woman, graduating from Harvard with a degree in English, meets a young German man and falls in love with him, but it is not clear that he has come to terms with his family's Nazi past.
Clune, Michael. Pan.
In this somewhat autobiographical novel, a teenaged boy, whose parents have recently divorced, and who has moved in with his father in an unfamiliar neighborhood, starts having panic attacks, but he also begins to make friends in his new location, and discovers mythical roots in his affliction.
Daley-Ward, Yrsa. The Catch.
Two Black Londoners, twin sisters, went into adoption as children after their mother disappeared. Now that they are 30 years old, one of them meets a woman she believes is their mother, though she seems to be their age and to never have had children. Ebook
Dang, Catherine. What Hunger.
After a fourteen-year-old girl's older brother is killed in a car accident, devastating their Vietnamese American family, she goes to her first high school party, is raped, bites her attacker while trying to defend herself, and, in her distress, develops a sudden hunger for raw meat. Ebook
Dayle, Dennard. How to Dodge a Cannonball.
In this inventive historical adventure novel, a white teenager, caught up in the Civil War, where he serves as a flag bearer for first the Union and later the Confederate armies, barely survives the battle of Gettysburg and escapes by joining an all-Black Union regiment, claiming to be of mixed race. Downloadable audiobook
Franklin, Rob. Great Black Hope.
A young, queer Black man from an upper class family, depressed by the death of his roommate, who was his best friend, is surprised to find himself in legal trouble for possession of cocaine; his class protects him but his race does not. Ebook, downloadable audiobook
Giddings, Megan. Meet Me at the Crossroads.
In this novel that mixes realism and fantasy, seven mysterious blue doors have appeared around the world; two Black twin sisters, one living with their mother and the other with their father, try to keep close despite their physical separation, until one of them goes through a door and vanishes. Ebook, downloadable audiobook
Hawley, Samuel. Daikon.
In this novel that reimagines the last days of World War II, an American bomber crashes in Japan, leaving behind an unusual unexploded bomb that a Japanese officer and an army scientist realize is made of enriched uranium, and could be used to attack America.
Huneven, Michelle. Bug Hollow.
This novel tells the story of a family, with two parents and three children, in Altadena, California over several decades, beginning in the mid-1970's, when their oldest son meets a girl and changes his plans for college to stay with her and her hippie friends. Ebook
Joyce, Rachel. The Homemade God.
After a successful elderly artist suddenly marries a much younger woman, the pair move to his Italian villa, and he is found drowned in the lake; his four grown children meet there to try to understand what has happened, and why.
Kane, Jessica Francis. Fonseca.
This is a reimagining of a trip that British author, Penelope Fitzgerald, took to Mexico in 1952, when her marriage and the literary magazine she co-edited were struggling, to visit two elderly women who invited her and suggested that they might leave her an inheritance.
Khemiri, Jonas Hassen. The Sisters.
This complex novel set in Stockholm follows the lives of three sisters, half-Swedish and half-Tunisian, from their childhoods to middle age, as well as a young man who has a mysterious connection to them throughout their lives.
Kraus, Daniel. Angel Down.
This novel, written in one continuous sentence, tells the story of an American soldier in France near the end of World War I, who, with four companions, finds an angel caught in barbed wire in no-man's land, between the trenches.
Machida, Sonoko. The Convenience Store by the Sea.
This heart-warming novel takes place in a seaside town in Japan, where a 24-hour convenience store, run by a charming and caring man, provides food and a sense of community for its patrons.
McCall Smith, Alexander. The Winds from Further West.
A public health expert and University of Edinburgh professor has a comfortable life until a misunderstood remark and a hostile administrator destroy his career; in response, he takes a trip to the Scottish island of Mull to rethink his life.
Mott, Jason. People Like Us.
Two Black writers from North Carolina go on book tours – the older in Minnesota in the winter, where he speaks at a college that has just experienced a mass shooting; and the younger in southern Europe, where he meets a wealthy man who offers to be his patron if he promises to never return to the U.S. Ebook, downloadable audiobook
Nguyen, Benedict. Hot Girls with Balls.
Two Asian Trans women, who play for rival indoor men's volleyball teams, find tension arising in their relationship as they prepare for a championship and face pressure from each other and their fans. Downloadable audiobook
Orner, Peter. The Gossip Columnist’s Daughter.
The narrator of this novel, a struggling writer, becomes obsessed with the murder of Cookie Kupcinet, an actress who was found dead in her Hollywood apartment shortly after John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, and whose parents were once close friends with the writer's grandparents.
Oyeyemi, Helen. A New New Me.
In this surrealistic novel, a woman who lives in Prague, in the Czech Republic, has a different identity with a distinct personality each day of the week; each one communicates with the others through a journal. But when a handsome man is found tied up in the pantry, none of them know which of them brought him there or why.
Rao, Shobha. Indian Country.
A couple from India, living in an arranged marriage, move to Montana, where the husband, an engineer, has been hired to remove a dam. Though they are lonely as immigrants in a small town, and practically strangers to each other, they make friends with local residents, and learn about Native American traditions.
Reva, Maria. Endling.
In this multilayered dark comedy, a Ukrainian scientist, whose mission is to save rare snails from extinction, also works to help make ends meet on “romance tours” for foreign men looking for wives. While her coworkers plan a kidnapping, Russia invades Ukraine.
Reyes, Ruben, Jr. Archive of Unknown Universes.
Two Salvadoran American Harvard students plan a research trip to Havana and San Salvador to learn more about their family members and the effects of the Salvadoran Civil War, using an experimental AI video device that allows the user to see alternate histories. Ebook, downloadable audiobook
Riley, Kate. Ruth.
This novel depicts the life, from childhood to middle age, of a woman who is an obedient member of a fictional Anabaptist community, while still remaining inquisitive and independent in her thinking.
Runcie, Charlotte. Bring the House Down.
An art critic who attends a theater performance with a colleague known for his harsh reviews finds herself caught in the middle after he sleeps with a performer and then publishes a scathing review of her show.
Savas, Aysegül. Long Distance: Stories.
A collection of 13 short stories about millennials who feel rootless, disconnected, and unsure of their paths as their lives change.
Schaefer, Lucas. The Slip.
When an unhappy sixteen-year-old boy from Boston is sent by his single mother to stay with his uncle in Austin, Texas, he joins a boxing gym, acquires a mentor, and gets a volunteer job. Then he suddenly goes missing.
Swanson, Peter. Kill Your Darlings.
In this psychological thriller, which begins with a woman trying to kill her husband, the story of their marriage is told backwards, eventually reaching their first meeting, as teenagers.
Wambugu, Stephanie. Lonely Crowds.
This novel describes a long, unequal friendship between the daughter of Kenyan immigrants and a Panamanian orphan staying with her aunt; after years of schooling together, they both become artists, but the Panamanian woman is always more successful.
Yee, Katie. Maggie; Or, a Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar.
In this playful and sometimes funny novel about resilience, a husband tells his wife, while they are dining at an Indian restaurant buffet, that he is having an affair and is leaving her; a few days later, she is diagnosed with breast cancer. Downloadable audiobook