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The best new novels of 2023

The best books coming in 2023, from literary heavyweights to thrilling debuts.

A new year means new starts, and for bookworms, not just new books but a whole tranche of new authors to discover and enjoy. From new titles from established literary heavyweights to debut authors with books that might just change your life, 2023 has plenty to offer in the world of fiction.

Love stories

Amazing Grace Adams by Fran Littlewood (January)

A book that will resonate with anyone who has felt they are spinning more than their fair share of plates, this debut from Fran Littlewood will be devoured by those women who have been tempted to give it all up for a moment’s peace. Littlewood is a journalist-turned-author, and the mother of three teenage daughters, who firmly believes that there needs to be change in how we talk about women as they age. Amazing Grace Adams attempts to do that and with aplomb, a novel rooted in motherhood, marriage and female rage that isn’t afraid to delve into the female hormones of adult womanhood. 

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell (February)

For American author Laura Warrell, writing Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm has been a labour of love. Warrell, who is 51, decided a few years ago to give up on love, having survived a marriage, a divorce, and a string of relationships with men who failed to commit to her. She channeled her experience into her debut novel, a swirling modern classic that brings together a cacophony of women’s voices who all have the same man in common: mixed-race jazz trumpeter Circus Palmer. Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm interrogates love – and its absence – from deep within these decade-spanning relationships, resulting in a book that is varied, insightful and beautiful.

The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams (May) 

Debut author Ore Abgaje-Williams wrote a first draft of The Three of Us during NaNoWriMo, in lockdown, and is set to be one of the annual writing challenge's greatest successes yet: the novel won a six-book auction to get a deal. The Three of Us twists domestic noir into one tight, tense and darkly funny day while exploring an uncomfortably familiar question: what happens when your spouse and your best friend hate one another? The Three of Us has won comparisons to I May Destroy You by Michaela Coel, Oyinkan Braithwaite’s My Sister the Serial Killer and Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan. 

The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor (June)

Brandon Taylor’s third offering, after the Booker Prize-shortlisted Real Life and bestseller Filthy Animals is The Late Americans , a novel that places the endless intricacies of friendships, lovers and chosen family centre stage. Set in Iowa City around a potent friendship group of dancers, amateur pornographers, poets, landlords, meat-packing workers and mathematicians who occupy the city’s many facets, The Late Americans culminates in a reckoning that will change all of these young people’s lives.

Talking at Night by Claire Daverley (July)

Some love stories are so engrossing you can’t believe they’re not quite real. Claire Daverley’s debut novel is dedicated to Will and Rosie, who met as teenagers and, quite by accident, became one another’s great love story. But when tragedy strikes, obliterating any chance of their being together, the couple are drawn into an existence which neither can inhabit nor escape. Talking at Night is their captivating, heartbreaking tale.

Books you won’t want to put down

The Cloisters by Katy Hays (January)

A must-read for fans of The Secret History , The Cloisters is an intriguing and mysterious novel with murder at its heart. Art historian and author Katy Hays was inspired by a real Tarot deck and the fascinating medieval history of the occult to create this gripping novel of class, academia, secrets and future-telling. You’ll never look at Tarot in the same way again.

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben (March)

International bestselling author Harlan Coben has been a tearaway on Netflix since his show Stay Close launched this summer, but it’s on the page that his stories are the most compelling – and his forthcoming novel is no different. In I Will Find You , the worst tragedy strikes a family of three when their toddler goes missing – and all evidence points to his father, Will, having killed him. So when his sister-in-law arrives five years later with a life-changing bombshell, Will is set on a mission to clear his name – and find his son.

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson (April)

Book editors often make excellent novelists (think Harriet Evans or Abigail Dean) and Jenny Jackson pours twenty years of experience into Pineapple Street , her debut. Gabrielle Zevin , Emily St. John Mandel, Katherine Heiny and Kevin Kwan are among the stellar names on Jackson's roster (Kwan told the New York Times , “It was like finding out your spouse is an Olympic equestrian”) but the story and style are all hers. This is a glossy family drama about a colossally wealthy family navigating the challenges from the choices each of the now-adult Stockton children have made with family finances. Cord married outsider Sasha without a pre-nup. Darley rebelled against the family wealth to raise her children on a 'normal' budget, and young Georgiana is out of her depth working at a non-profit organisation. This is a beach read only in the sense that you need to be somewhere you can inhale this in one go. No surprise that it's been optioned for a TV series.

The Trial by Rob Rinder (June) 

As fans of Judge Rinder will know, Rob Rinder has seen enough courtroom trials in his career to know that truth can be stranger than fiction. No wonder, then, that his debut novel takes all of the drama he brings to proceedings and boils it down into a powerful thriller. Transporting the reader from the murky world of Chambers to the grandeur of the Old Bailey, Rinder’s character Adam Green, a trainee barrister who doesn’t quite fit in, is one to stick with. 

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop (May)

Summer romances are the stuff of many a novel, but debut author and seasoned backpacker Katie Bishop twists this familiar scene on its head in her debut. Don’t let the title fool you: The Girls of Summer tackles dark subjects such as rape, suicide and trafficking through a dual-history narrative – one set in the London of today, the other on a Greek island 16 years ago. When Rachel thinks back on the first love she believed changed her life as an adult, she realises just how far she had fallen. 

Feel-good reads

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman (January)

Children’s and non-fiction author Catherine Newman turns her experienced hand to fiction for this delightful read about long-term friendship and what happens when the unimaginable occurs. Edi and Ash have been best friends for over 40 years, sticking side-by-side through first loves, teenage shenanigans, marriage, loss, fertility troubles, and children. So when Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Ash sticks by her then, too. What unfolds is a novel that joyfully celebrates making the best out of life’s littlest things. 

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (April) 

Ever since she exploded onto the bestseller charts with Prep in 2005, author Curtis Sittenfeld has demonstrated a keen eye for satire and the ability to deliver a razor-sharp line. After nearly two decades of writing brilliant, witty and well-observed novels about high society, Sittenfeld is back with Romantic Comedy , about a loveless TV writer and her unlikely romance with a pop idol. After all, if average-looking men can bag beautiful, successful female dates, why can’t it work the other way around? 

The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece by Tom Hanks (May)

Yes, that Tom Hanks. This isn’t, however, a memoir, but the first novel from the beloved two-time Oscar winner. Hanks made his literary debut in 2017 with a collection of short stories that demonstrated the breadth and depth of the human condition. Now he’s back long-form with a novel that proves Hanks is as serious a writer as he is an actor. The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece spans eight decades as a host of characters come together in an attempt to make Hollywood magic – with the priceless pedigree of an insider’s knowledge.

Go As a River by Shelley Read (April)

A read that’s as transportive as it is beautiful, Go As a River offers a story of female resilience and power against a breathtaking landscape. Five generations of author Shelley Read’s family have lived in the Elk Mountains of the Western Slope of Colorado, and it’s this deep heritage that has inspired the bold story at the heart of her novel. Victoria Nash, her 17-year-old heroine, has her life turned upside down after a chance encounter with a mysterious drifter. When she follows, she risks losing everything she holds most dear.

Historical fiction

The New Life by Tom Crewe (January) 

As an editor at the London Review of Books , Tom Crewe knows a thing or two about what to read. He also knew about what he wanted to write before A New Life came on the scene: “This is the book I knew I wanted to write long before I actually wrote it,” he explains. Crewe’s intention was to “reveal to readers an unfamiliar Victorian England that will surprise and provoke”. A New Life follows two men and the queer relationships they are trying to make a better world for – even if it throws their lives into danger in the process.

Siblings by Brigitte Reimann (February)

Brigitte Reimann was one of East Germany’s most daring authors, whose life imitated that of her fearless fictional heroines. In Siblings , she takes the reader back to 1960, where the border between East and West Germany has closed, and with it relationships within one family. While the young painter Elisabeth sees the GDR as her generation’s chance to build a brave new future, her brother Uli sees it as a place of oppression. Fear and opportunity collide in this groundbreaking classic of post-war East German literature. 

Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati (March)

Modern retellings of Greek myths are having a moment, and into the arena enters Clytemnestra , debut novelist Costanza Casati’s passionate and poised retelling of the story of Greek mythology’s most notorious heroine. Casati studied Ancient Greek and Ancient Greek literature in Italy for five years, so she brings deep expertise to Clytemnestra , which is told from the vengeful queen’s perspective. Power, prophecies, hatred and love all combine in this fiery novel.

Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden (March) 

As those familiar with her YouTube channel, Books and Things, may know, Katie Lumsden has been a fan of Victorian fiction for decades. Now, she’s written her own take on 19th-century gothic: Secrets of Hartwood Hall . A must-read for fans of Dickens, Austen, and the Bronte sisters, Lumsden’s debut is a gripping and full-bloodied manor-house mystery. Young widow Margaret Lennox takes a governess position at the titular hall in 1852, but rather than having the chance to leave her past behind, she finds even more secrets, some of which threaten her very being.

Our Hideous Progeny by C. E. McGill (May) 

C. E. McGill took inspiration from one of the greatest novels of all time for this sumptuous gothic horror story. At its heart is Mary, great-niece of Victor Frankenstein, who knows of her uncle’s disappearance in the Arctic but not much more. Along with her husband, Mary is trying to find fame as a paleontologist, but neither have the connections or cash needed in 1850s London for such a feat. When Mary goes rummaging in some family papers, she discovers what her great-uncle really got up to: but will this knowledge be the couple’s meal ticket, or their demise?

Girl, Goddess, Queen by Bea Fitzgerald (July) 

TikTok star Bea Fitzgerald has won a devoted audience for her Greek myth parody videos over on @chaosonolympus , and now she’s taking to the page with YA novel Girl, Goddess, Queen . Taking the conventional telling of the Persephone story and having an absolute riot with it, Fitzgerald’s debut novel re-imagines one of the best-known myths as a love quest in which Persephone actively pursues Hades. It’s a plan that will shake Mount Olympus to its very core.

Otherworldly stories

Now She Is Witch by Kirsty Logan (Jan)

Kirsty Logan has made a name for herself as a purveyor of chilling stories, and Now She Is Witch is no different. A witch story unlike any other, Logan entwines the narratives of two searingly drawn female characters: Lux and Else, who are united in their mission to avenge a man who wronged them. Fearless, cunning and familiar with the art of poisoning, these are two women not to be underestimated. 

Victory City by Salman Rushdie (February) 

The acclaimed novelist has tackled the epic form for this immersive saga of love, adventure and myth. Set in 14th-century southern India, Victory City recreates the foundations of a utopian society from the mind of one remarkable child: nine-year-old Pampa Kampana. Grief-stricken after witnessing the death of her mother, Pampa becomes a vessel for the goddess Parvati, who challenges her to make the impossible real: a world of gender equality. In her quest, civilisation shifts, with wild consequences. 

This Other Eden by Paul Harding (February) 

Pulitzer Prize-winner Paul Harding is back with this extraordinary novel that imagines the final days of a once-thriving racial utopia. This Other Eden tells the stories of the Apple Islanders, a civilisation born of race and science, and in particular Ethan Honey, a man spared destruction because of his artistic skills and fair skin. Harding challenges us to consider mercy and tolerance in this visionary and shimmering novel, as otherworldly as the landscape it imagines.

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Torzs (July) 

In Emma Torzs’s world, magic exists – and that’s exactly why it needs to be protected. Ink Blood Sister Scribe is the story of a woman left behind with the heritage and heavy debt of the magic that formed – and destroyed – her family. Joanna Kalotay has been upholding her family’s reputation as the librarians of books capable of doing dark magic, but when her estranged sister returns to the family home, the pair must fix their relationship to stop devastating harm from taking place. 

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• Entertainment

The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2023

These are independent reviews of the products mentioned, but TIME receives a commission when purchases are made through affiliate links at no additional cost to the purchaser.

T he best works of fiction published this year took us on all manner of journeys. There were big, physical trips across countries and continents, and, in one case, on foot through the untamed woods. And there were heavy, emotional treks to uncover answers about love and loss. In these books, the destination was often less important than the lessons learned along the way. From a bored copywriter in Berlin who follows a K-pop star to Seoul to a girl fleeing a colonial settlement , these protagonists were all searching for something, whether a shot at safety, a sense of purpose, or a chance to finally return home. Their quests were hopeful, daring, and at times devastating. Here, the 10 best fiction books of 2023.

More: Read TIME's lists of the best nonfiction books, songs , albums , movies , TV shows , podcasts and video games of 2023. Also discover the 100 Must-Read Books of the year.

10. Tremor , Teju Cole

The protagonist of Teju Cole’s first novel in over a decade shares many similarities with the author. Like Cole, the incisive Tunde is a Nigerian American artist and photographer who teaches at a prestigious college in New England. Tremor begins in Maine as Tunde hunts for antiques with his wife Sadako while meditating on colonialism as it relates to the objects he sees. Tunde is always pulling at the loose threads of the history that surrounds him, contemplating how the world has been shaped by the past. Forgoing a traditional narrative structure, Tremor takes a philosophical form to investigate everything from how Americans view art to how a marriage can quietly unravel.

Buy Now: Tremor on Bookshop | Amazon

9. Y/N , Esther Yi

In an age when parasocial relationships run rampant, Esther Yi’s daring debut couldn’t be more relevant. Y/N begins with an unnamed narrator living in Berlin whose boring job as a copywriter for an artichoke company leaves something to be desired. She spends much of her time in the fantasy worlds inside her head and online, where she writes fan fiction about a popular K-pop star named Moon. When the real-life Moon unexpectedly announces his retirement, the young woman feels compelled to drop everything and go to Seoul in search of the man she views as her soulmate. What ensues is a snarky and astute takedown of internet culture.

Buy Now: Y/N on Bookshop | Amazon

8. The Hive and the Honey , Paul Yoon

The third short-story collection from Paul Yoon spans centuries of the Korean diaspora, with each piece centering on everyday people as they navigate what it means to belong and question how much of their identities are wrapped up in collective history. There’s an ex-con attempting to understand the world, a Cold War–era maid looking for the son she left behind in North Korea, and a couple living in the U.K. whose quiet existence is complicated by the arrival of a boy at their corner store. Yoon tells the stories of characters at odds with their relationships to home and explores how trauma can linger in the most unexpected ways.

Buy Now: The Hive and the Honey on Bookshop | Amazon

7. Tom Lake , Ann Patchett

Don’t let the setting of Ann Patchett’s latest novel fool you. Yes, it’s the spring of 2020 and her characters are in COVID-19 lockdown, but this is no pandemic story. Tom Lake takes place in Michigan, where Lara and her husband are enjoying the rare opportunity to live once again with their three grown daughters. There, as the family passes the days tending to their cherry trees, Lara finally tells her girls the story they’ve been longing to hear—about how, in her young adulthood, she fell in love with a man who would go on to become a movie star.

Buy Now: Tom Lake on Bookshop | Amazon

6. Temple Folk , Aaliyah Bilal

The 10 stories in Aaliyah Bilal’s collection examine the lives of Black Muslims in America. In one, a daughter is haunted by her father’s spirit as she writes his eulogy, and the ghost makes her reconsider his commitment to Islam. In another, an undercover FBI agent reckons with unexpected empathy for the Nation of Islam. Throughout, parents and their children learn about the limitations and possibilities of faith. The result is a collection of wide-ranging narratives that touch on freedom and belonging.

Buy Now: Temple Folk on Bookshop | Amazon

5. The Vaster Wilds , Lauren Groff

When Lauren Groff’s novel opens, a young, unnamed girl has just escaped her 17th century colonial settlement. Starving and cold, she doesn’t know where she’s headed and is constantly on the verge of collapse. But, somehow, she finds the will to keep pushing forward. In Groff’s timeless adventure tale, the girl endures the physical threats and mental tests of navigating the woods, all while remaining determined that there is a life worth living on the other side.

Buy Now: The Vaster Wilds on Bookshop | Amazon

4. The Bee Sting , Paul Murray

Paul Murray’s domestic drama follows the four members of the troubled Barnes family after an economic downturn sends patriarch Dickie’s car business hurtling toward bankruptcy. Feeling the crush of impending doom surround them, the once functional unit is falling apart. Dickie’s wife Imelda has become obsessed with selling her belongings on eBay, their teenage daughter Cass is drinking instead of studying for her final exams, and their preadolescent son PJ is talking to a stranger he met online. Murray probes what it means to love and be loved in a world that feels increasingly like it’s on the cusp of expiration.

Buy Now: The Bee Sting on Bookshop | Amazon

3. Our Share of Night , Mariana Enriquez

In Mariana Enriquez’s transporting novel, translated from the original Spanish by Megan McDowell, a young boy and his father take a terrifying road trip. The boy’s mother has just died under mysterious circumstances, and the duo is traveling across Argentina to confront members of the Order, the cult she was born into. The Order is made up of wealthy families who will do anything to achieve immortality. And the boy just might have the skills they are looking for—a possibility that makes him vulnerable.

Buy Now: Our Share of Night on Bookshop | Amazon

2. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store , James McBride

It’s 1972 and a skeleton has just been found in Pottstown, Pa. The question of who the remains belong to—and how they made it to the bottom of a well—pulls James McBride’s narrative decades into the past, to a time when the Black and Jewish residents of the neighborhood came together to protect a boy from being institutionalized. As McBride makes connections between the two storylines, he spins a powerful tale about prejudice, family, and faith.

Buy Now: The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store on Bookshop | Amazon

1. Biography of X , Catherine Lacey

At the center of Catherine Lacey’s novel is the fictional writer and artist X, one of the most celebrated talents of the 20th century. Though she’s hugely popular, most of her background is unknown; not even X’s wife CM knows her real name. When X dies, CM finds herself incensed by an inaccurate biography of her late wife. So she decides to write her own. The mystery of X’s identity is just the beginning of this daring story that seamlessly blends fiction and nonfiction to question the purpose of art itself.

Buy Now: Biography of X on Bookshop | Amazon

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The 10 best fiction books to read this summer

From thought-provoking fables to gripping thrillers, add these novels to the very top of your reading list

Now that summer has well and truly arrived, you'll most likely be looking for a fresh stack of fiction in which to bury yourself – whether you're lazing on a sun lounger on holiday with a cocktail in one hand, a tome in the other; or indulging in a moment of escapism closer to home.

There is also a dazzling list of debut authors to discover, including Rachel Eliza Griffiths, whose first novel, Promise , is a meaningful tale of heartbreak, courage and resistance. And if it's prize-winning writing you're after, look no further than Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead , which scored this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.

Wherever your summer takes you, be sure to have one of these novels stashed in your bag...

The top 10 fiction books to read this summer

Bobby palmer, 'isaac and the egg'.

The first book on this list almost defies classification: Isaac and the Egg is so unusual, so unique, that it can only be a stand-out choice. A beautiful, modern-day fable about loss, hope and the magic of the everyday, it tells the story of a broken man's transformative journey through a wood – and will stay with you long after you've turned the final page. A totally original novel, this gets to the core of what it means to be human.

Emma Cline, 'The Guest'

Cline's 2016 debut, The Girls , the story of a lost teenager who falls into a Manson-style cult in the heady days of the hippie movement in California, won worldwide praise. This year, Cline is back with The Guest , about a young drifter and the dark recesses of the rich and famous she discovers on Long Island. If you enjoyed The Girls , expect more of Cline's carefully measured prose in this eerie, masterfully written book, which will have you bookmarking perfect phrases every few pages.

Rachel Eliza Griffiths, 'Promise'

A luminous story of a two sisters and their journey into adulthood amid the escalating tensions, violence and prejudice of 1950s America, Promise is the first novel from writer Rachel Eliza Griffiths (the wife of Salman Rushdie). Set in 1957, as the news from distant parts of the country fills with calls for freedom, equality and justice for Black Americans, this is a powerful take on racism and resistance, told by one of the most talented writers working today. This is a book that will break your heart, then rebuild it all over again.

Louise Kennedy, 'Trespasses'

There is nothing special about the day Cushla meets Michael, a married man from Belfast, in the pub her family owns, but the encounter will change both of their lives forever. Set in the time of the Troubles – a world of car bombs, rubber bullets and people killed, beaten or left for dead – this is a vivid portrait of love and loss. It is bold in its scope, taking in topics from the Protestant/Catholic divide to politics, but Kennedy handles everything she touches with a deft ease, resulting in this passionate, tense thriller.

R.F. Kuang, 'Yellowface'

There's no doubt you'll have heard of Yellowface already, or at least seen its bright yellow cover in the hands of every second person on the tube. It's a surprise they don't all miss their stop, so gripping and witty is this biting satire of the publishing industry. The book tells the story of June Hayward, who steals the unpublished manuscript of literary darling, Athena Liu, and publishes it as her own. Deadly consequences ensue, as Hayward is determined to keep what she thinks she deserves. For a high-end beach read you'll practically devour, you can't do better.

Freya Berry, 'The Birdcage Library'

An outstanding new book from the best-selling Freya Berry, The Birdcage Library is a transporting, 1930s-set mystery that follows the endeavours of adventuress Emily Blackwood, as she attempts to locate a mysterious artefact hidden in a crumbling Scottish castle. A noticeable departure in theme from Berry's first book ( The Dictator's Wife , which won prizes and plaudits across the board) this new novel still has Berry's signature way of drawing a reader in, and keeping hold of them until the very last page. Lovers of crime, mystery and intrigue should order this immediately.

Megan Nolan, 'Ordinary Human Failings'

The subject of much hype even before its publication, Megan Nolan's second novel is a tour-de-force: taking place in 1990s London, it follows a reporter who begins to investigate an Irish family implicated in an atrocious crime, and the stories behind the headlines. A searing exposé of prejudice and privilege, this is at once a social commentary and a dramatic thriller. In short? Nolan fully deserves all the praise you'll have heard for this electric novel.

Barbara Kingsolver, 'Demon Copperhead'

Winner of this year's Women's Prize for Fiction, Barbara Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead is a remarkable reimagining of the Dickens classic, David Copperfield . Like the original, this is an immersive bildungsroman rich with character and an evocative sense of place. Set in Appalachia against the backdrop of the opioid epidemic, this is a sobering examination of poverty in America told with great charm, voice and intelligence.

Yomi Adegoke, 'The List'

Fun and thought-provoking in equal measure, The List is the latest from Yomi Adegoke, who is now as much a cultural icon and commentator as she is a writer, so on-the-money are her views. Clever and intricately plotted, The List examines the dark side of social media and its influence on even the closest of our personal relationships. Weaving in anonymous allegations and the way they call into question our responsibility and loyalty, this is a book that's just right for our times.

waterstone Naoise Dolan, 'The Happy Couple'

Charting the lives of the soon-to-be-married couple, the best man, the bridesmaid and a guest for an approaching wedding, this comedy of errors from the bestselling author of Exciting Times is entertaining, clever and excoriating. Naoise Dolan has a way with sparse prose, which says everything in just a few words. A different take on whether marriage really leads to a happy-ever-after, this is one you'll want to lend to friends, just so you can discuss it non-stop.

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Screen Rant

12 most anticipated new books coming out in may 2024.

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15 Most Anticipated Coming-Of-Age Books Coming Out The Rest Of 2024

Who is lily in ncis' season 21 finale parker’s mystery girl explained & what she means for season 22, “he will live to regret that”: sheldon’s reaction to george’s death explained by young sheldon co-creator.

• This May, readers can expect romance, adventure, and suspense with new releases from popular authors like Veronica Roth and Ruth Ware.
• Exciting debuts like The Ministry of Time and The Honey Witch offer unique genre-bending stories that promise a gripping read.
• Non-fiction lovers can look forward to Kathleen Hanna's memoir, while fans of horror can enjoy Stephen King's new short story collection in May 2024.

There are so many exciting book releases slated for 2024, and some of the year's biggest novels are hitting shelves in May . From highly anticipated thriller books to long-awaited fantasy releases , a wide range of novels are making their debut. There's something for every type of reader, whether they enjoy trope-filled romances or outlandish sci-fi stories. And some of May's releases are already getting positive reviews from early readers, boding well for their success.

Big-name authors like Veronica Roth and Ruth Ware have new books coming out in May 2024, and fans of their previous work won't want to miss out on their latest stories. There are also a few exciting debuts, including a genre-bending time travel story and a magical sapphic romance. There are so many options for readers, so they'll want to make note of the most-anticipated releases of May 2024.

The coming-of-age subgenre is more popular than ever with keen book readers, and in 2024, there are plenty of highly anticipated titles released.

12 This Summer Will Be Different By Carley Fortune

Release date: may 7, 2024.

Carley Fortune has written compelling summer romances like Meet Me at the Lake and Every Summer After , and her 2024 release is getting just as much excitement. This Summer Will Be Different already has a 4.28-star rating on Goodreads , and it's at the top of the platform's list of most popular May releases. This bodes well for its success when it arrives on May 7, and its cover certainly suggests it's a perfect beach read.

This Summer Will Be Different follows Lucy, who vacations on Prince Edward Island with her best friend every year. She also repeatedly hooks up with a local named Felix. Lucy can't seem to avoid temptation when it comes to Felix, but it's not for lack of trying. When she and Bridget take an impromptu trip to Prince Edward Island before the latter's wedding, Lucy does everything she can to avoid falling into Felix's bed — or worse, catching feelings. Romance readers can probably guess how well that goes, but it sounds like a compelling setup worth checking out this May .

11 The Ministry Of Time By Kaliane Bradley

One of the most-anticipated sci-fi books of 2024 , The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley debuts in May — and with its genre-bending premise, it sounds like a rollicking good time. Set in the not-so-distant future, The Ministry of Time follows a civil servant working as a "bridge" for the government's time travel research program. She resides with and monitors one of the expats being studied to determine if time travel is possible without negative consequences. The expat in question — Commander Graham Gore — soon develops a romance with the book's lead that sounds both comedic and compelling.

With its genre-bending premise, it sounds like a rollicking good time.

Meshing romance, science-fiction, and even a thrilling spy narrative, The Ministry of Time promises a read that never gets dull . With so much going on, it's inevitable that Bradley's debut will become one of the most-talked-about books of May 2024 — and possibly the entire year. It's a can't-miss release, and if the premise doesn't convince readers of that, the book's vibrant cover surely will.

10 When Among Crows By Veronica Roth

Release date: may 14, 2024.

Divergent author Veronica Roth has published several adult novels over the past few years, and When Among Crows is set to join them on May 14 . When Among Crows takes place in a dark and self-interested world, where monsters feed on emotions, knights sacrifice parts of their souls for strength, and witches make deals that lean heavily in their favor (via Goodreads ). Roth combines all three of these elements in the book's central narrative, which sees the knight Dymitr teaming up with a cursed girl named Ala to track down a legendary witch.

Ala hopes the witch will rid her of her deadly curse, but unbeknownst to her, Dymitr has other plans for their encounter with Baba Jaga. It'll be interesting to see how their time together impacts Dymitr's intentions — and whether Baba Jaga manages to outsmart them both. Roth always weaves narratives full of gripping story threads and compelling characters , and it sounds like When Among Crows will continue this trend. It's certainly a fantasy release to watch out for in May 2024.

9 The Honey Witch By Sydney J. Shields

Sydney J. Shields' debut novel, The Honey Witch , is a love story and fantasy tale wrapped up into one , and it's one of May 2024's most interesting ​​​book releases. Shields' novel follows Marigold Claude, the titular witch whose interests have always veered more towards communicating with spirits than seeking out romance. After many suitors fail to win Marigold's heart, her grandmother decides to train her to become the next Honey Witch of Innisfree — but there's a catch. The Honey Witch is permitted to fall in love, which is made complicated by the arrival of Lottie Burke.

Marigold's feelings about love change when she meets Lottie, who ironically doesn't believe in magic. Both of them are tested when dark magic emerges and puts Innisfree in harm's way. This adds greater stakes to what sounds like a fantastical sapphic romance. The Honey Witch is already getting attention ahead of its release, and it's poised to become one of May 2024's best fantasy novels . It's also perfect for readers who prefer standalone fantasy books over lengthy series.

8 A Crane Among Wolves By June Hur

Another book getting attention — and great Goodreads reviews — ahead of its May 2024 release is June Hur's A Crane Among Wolves. Hur's latest story is set in Joseon in 1506, and it's inspired by real Korean history. It follows 17-year-old Iseul, whose sheltered life is thrown into turmoil when the tyrannical King Yeonsan sets his sights on her sister. The king has a habit of destroying families and hurting women, and Iseul sets out to save her sister from his clutches. This gets her tangled up with Prince Daehyun, who hopes to stage a coup and dethrone his horrible step-brother.

A Crane Among Wolves sounds like a gripping tale with high stakes and plenty of political intrigue.

A Crane Among Wolves sounds like a gripping tale with high stakes and plenty of political intrigue. If it's anything like Hur's previous novels, it will deliver on those elements of the story and do it with gorgeously crafted prose. Reviews also promise romance, so this May release sounds like it will check off many boxes. It's no wonder so many readers are excited about its debut.

7 The Paradise Problem By Christina Lauren

The romance duo that goes by Christina Lauren is releasing The Paradise Problem on May 14 , and it's easily one of the most-anticipated romance books of the year. Its unique and comical premise sets it apart from other recent releases in the genre, though it does utilize a common (but beloved) trope: fake dating. The Paradise Problem follows Anna Green and Liam “West” Weston, both of whom married in college to secure subsidized family housing. They went their separate ways after graduation, but years later, West's wealthy grandfather is requiring him to be married to be included in his will.

The money is enough to bring the two characters back together, with Anna attempting to fit in with West's well-off family and make their romance convincing. However, it seems that the time West and Anna spend together elicits true feelings on both of their parts. The question is whether they can make a relationship based on lies last. And it'll be fascinating to see if they forfeit the money for one another before The Paradise Problem is finished. Christina Lauren's romances are always a fun time , and this one sounds no different. It's perfect for spring or summer reading.

6 Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk By Kathleen Hanna

Although many of 2024's biggest releases fall into the fiction category, there are also a number of highly anticipated non-fiction books debuting this year. Among them is Kathleen Hanna's memoir, Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk. Hanna is known for the Riot Grrrl movement, as well as for leading the bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. She'll detail all of these aspects of her life in her upcoming book , which promises to get deep about her experiences in both bands and starting her own feminist movement.

Hanna is already a much-needed voice for women in the punk community , and it's little wonder her 2024 memoir is getting so much hype ahead of its release. Anyone who's kept up with Hanna will want to pick Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk up when it comes out. And even those less familiar with her work could benefit from reading this book. After all, it seems Hanna has some important things to say, especially when it comes to women's experiences in male-dominated spaces.

5 The Dixon Rule By Elle Kennedy

Elle Kennedy's books are incredibly popular among romance readers, which makes The Dixon Rule one of May 2024's most exciting releases. The second installment in Kennedy's Campus Diaries series, The Dixon Rule will follow Diana as she pretends to date her apartment neighbor, Shane . Shane seems like a player — he's pursued most of Diana's cheerleading squad — but like Diana, the hockey player is still recovering from a former relationship. Their fake dating scheme starts as a way to make their exes jealous, but it promises to evolve into more than that.

The Dixon Rule sounds like the perfect lighthearted romance to pick up this spring or summer, and it will definitely appeal to anyone who enjoyed The Graham Effect. It utilizes a beloved romance trope and falls into the sports romance category, which has become increasingly popular. It's a book romance readers will not want to miss out on.

4 Lies And Weddings By Kevin Kwan

Release date: may 21, 2024.

Kevin Kwan, the author of Crazy Rich Asians, is releasing a new book this May — and Lies and Weddings could easily become one of the biggest releases of 2024 . Kwan's latest follows the future Duke of Greshambury, Rufus Leung Gresham, whose family's wealth has dwindled as they've become saddled with massive amounts of debt. Rufus' mother tasks him with finding a woman to marry while attending his sister's extravagant wedding. There's one rule: the woman he finds must have the money to pull them out of their present circumstances. Naturally, Rufus would rather pursue the doctor next door.

Kwan's latest promises an internal struggle between the desire for riches and the desire for love, and it's bound to have all the hallmarks of his other best-selling novels.

Kwan's latest promises an internal struggle between the desire for riches and the desire for love, and it's bound to have all the hallmarks of his other best-selling novels. The book's synopsis also teases twists and turns, so readers are in for an entertaining ride when picking up Lies and Weddings . It's a May 2024 book release that can't be missed, especially for fans of Crazy Rich Asians.

3 The Last Murder At The End Of The World By Stuart Turton

Stuart Turton, the author behind The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle , is back with another book in May 2024. The Last Murder at the End of the World features a wildly unique premise , and it's already catching readers' attention ahead of its release. Set in a future where the world has been destroyed by a deadly fog, the book follows the last remaining humans. They reside on an island that keeps out the fog with its security system. Unfortunately, when one of the scientists on the island is killed, that security system begins a countdown to lower itself.

An intriguing mystery with plenty of fantastical sci-fi elements, The Last Murder at the End of the World promises a thrilling narrative from cover to cover.

The rest of the people on the island must solve the murder before the timer runs out, as it's the only way to prevent all of their deaths. This is made complicated by the fact that all of their memories have been wiped as well. An intriguing mystery with plenty of fantastical sci-fi elements, The Last Murder at the End of the World promises a thrilling narrative from cover to cover. It sounds like it's well worth picking up this May.

2 One Perfect Couple By Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is a must-read thriller author, and her latest book sounds like the perfect spring or summer read for 2024. One Perfect Couple hits shelves on May 21 , and it will see five couples stranded on a tropical island after agreeing to participate in a reality TV competition that goes awry. As a storm rolls in and the group's technology renders them incapable of contacting the outside world, things go from bad to worse. The synopsis teases " life or death stakes, " which certainly isn't what any of the characters signed up for (via Goodreads ).

With its gripping narrative that puts a fun spin on the reality TV concept, One Perfect Stranger is poised to be one of the biggest thriller releases of 2024. Depending on how it's received, it could also climb to the top of Ware's lineup. After all, One Perfect Stranger is very different from her other stories. It'll be interesting to see how the author handles this concept — and how the central couples fare during their not-so-luxurious trip.

1 You Like It Darker By Stephen King

Whether it's a short story collection or full-length novel, a new Stephen King book is never one to miss . The author's 2024 release, You Like It Darker, falls into the former camp, delivering 12 tales that " delve into the darker part of life " (via Goodreads ). These horror and thriller stories promise to keep readers on their toes, weaving narratives about mysterious inheritances, disturbing job ads, and more.

King has a penchant for showing the perturbing elements of everyday life, and You Like It Darker vows to continue that trend . It's one of the most-anticipated horror books of 2024 , and it's perfect for anyone hoping to break up longer reads with short stories. Given that it's King, it's also likely to get attention from more casual readers and book lovers alike.

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The best new science fiction books of May 2024

A new Stephen King short story collection, an Ursula K. Le Guin reissue and a celebration of cyberpunk featuring writing from Philip K. Dick and Cory Doctorow are among the new science fiction titles published this month

By Alison Flood

A new short story collection from Stephen King, You Like It Darker, is out in May

Shane Leonard

Every month, I trawl through publishers’ catalogues so I can tell you about the new science fiction being released. And every month, I’m disappointed to see so much more fantasy on publishers’ lists than sci-fi. I know it’s a response to the huge boom in readers of what’s been dubbed “ romantasy ”, and I’m not knocking it – I love that sort of book too. But it would be great to see more good, hard, mind-expanding sci-fi in the offing as well.

In the meantime, there is definitely enough for us sci-fi fans to sink our teeth into this month, whether it’s a reissue of classic writing from Ursula K. Le Guin, some new speculative short stories from Stephen King or murder in space from Victor Manibo and S. A. Barnes.

Last month, I tipped Douglas Preston’s Extinction and Sofia Samatar’s The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain as books I was looking forward to. I can report that they were both excellent: Extinction was a lot of good, clean, Jurassic Park -tinged fun, while Samatar’s offering was a beautiful and thought-provoking look at life on a generation ship.

The Language of the Night: Essays on writing, science fiction, and fantasy by Ursula K. Le Guin

There are few sci-fi and fantasy writers more brilliant (and revered) than Ursula K. Le Guin. This reissue of her first full-length collection of essays features a new introduction from Hugo and Nebula award-winner Ken Liu and covers the writing of The Left Hand of Darkness and A Wizard of Earthsea , as well as her advocacy for sci-fi and fantasy as legitimate literary mediums. I’ve read some of these essays but not all, and I won’t be missing this collection.

Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen

This isn’t science fiction, not quite, but it is one of the best and most important books I have read for some time. It sees Jacobsen lay out, minute by minute, what would happen if an intercontinental ballistic missile hit Washington DC. How would the US react? What, exactly, happens if deterrence fails? Jacobsen has spoken to dozens of military experts to put together what her publisher calls a “non-fiction thriller”, and what I call the scariest book I have possibly ever read (and I’m a Stephen King fan; see below). We’re currently reading it at the New Scientist Book Club, and you can sign up to join us here .

Read an extract from Nuclear War: A scenario by Annie Jacobsen

In this terrifying extract from Annie Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario, the author lays out what would happen in the first seconds after a nuclear missile hits the Pentagon

The Big Book of Cyberpunk (Vol 1 & 2)

Forty years ago, William Gibson published Neuromancer . Since then, it has entranced millions of readers right from its unforgettable opening line: “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel…”. Neuromancer gave us the literary genre that is cyberpunk, and we can now welcome a huge, two-volume anthology celebrating cyberpunk’s best stories, by writers from Cory Doctorow to Justina Robson, and from Samuel R. Delaney to Philip K. Dick. I have both glorious-sounding volumes, brought together by anthologist Jared Shurin, on my desk (using up most of the space on it), and I am looking forward to dipping in.

You Like It Darker by Stephen King

You could categorise Stephen King as a horror writer. I see him as an expert chronicler of the dark side of small-town America, and from The Tommyknockers and its aliens to Under the Dome with its literally divisive trope, he frequently slides into sci-fi. Even the horror at the heart of It is some sort of cosmic hideousness. He is one of my favourite writers, and You Like It Darker is a new collection of short stories that moves from “the folds in reality where anything can happen” to a “psychic flash” that upends dozens of lives. There’s a sequel to Cujo , and a look at “corners of the universe best left unexplored”. I’ve read the first story so far, and I can confirm there is plenty for us sci-fi fans here.

Enlightenment by Sarah Perry

Not sci-fi, but fiction about science – and from one of the UK’s most exciting writers (if you haven’t read The Essex Serpent yet, you’re in for a treat). This time, Perry tells the story of Thomas Hart, a columnist on the Essex Chronicle who becomes a passionate amateur astronomer as the comet Hale-Bopp approaches in 1997. Our sci-fi columnist Emily Wilson is reviewing it for New Scientist ’s 11 May issue, and she has given it a vigorous thumbs up (“a beautiful, compassionate and memorable book,” she writes in a sneak preview just for you guys).

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes

Dr Ophelia Bray is a psychologist and expert in the study of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome, a fictional condition that affects space travellers in terrible ways. She’s sent to help a small crew whose colleague recently died, but as they begin life on an abandoned planet, she realises that her charges are hiding something. And then the pilot is murdered… Horror in space? Mysterious planets? I’m up for that.

In Hey, Zoey, the protagonist finds an animatronic sex doll hidden in her garage

Shutterstock / FOTOGRIN

Hey, Zoey by Sarah Crossan

Hot on the heels of Sierra Greer’s story about a sex robot wondering what it means to be human in Annie Bot , the acclaimed young adult and children’s author Sarah Crossan has ventured into similar territory. In Hey, Zoey , Dolores finds an animatronic sex doll hidden in her garage and assumes it belongs to her husband David. She takes no action – but then Dolores and Zoey begin to talk, and Dolores’s life changes.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying by Django Wexler

Davi has tried to take down the Dark Lord before, rallying humanity and making the final charge – as you do. But the time loop she is stuck in always defeats her, and she loses the battle in the end. This time around, Davi decides that the best thing to do is to become the Dark Lord herself. You could argue that this is fantasy, but it has a time loop, so I’m going to count it as sci-fi. It sounds fun and lighthearted: quotes from early readers are along the lines of “A darkly comic delight”, and we could all use a bit of that these days.

Escape Velocity by Victor Manibo

It’s 2089, and there’s an old murder hanging over the clientele of Space Habitat Altaire, a luxury space hotel, while an “unforeseen threat” is also brewing in the service corridors. A thriller in space? Sounds excellent – and I’m keen to see if Manibo makes use of the latest research into the angle at which blood might travel following violence in space, as reported on by our New Scientist humour columnist Marc Abrahams recently.

The best new science fiction books of March 2024

With a new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Mars-set romance from Natasha Pulley and a high-concept thriller from Stuart Turton due to hit shelves, there is plenty of great new science fiction to be reading in March

In Our Stars by Jack Campbell

Part of the Doomed Earth series, this follows Lieutenant Selene Genji, who has been genetically engineered with partly alien DNA and has “one last chance to save the Earth from destruction”. Beautifully retro cover for this space adventure – not to judge a book in this way, of course…

The Downloaded by Robert J. Sawyer

Two sets of people have had their minds uploaded into a quantum computer in the Ontario of 2059. Astronauts preparing for the world’s first interstellar voyage form one group; the other contains convicted murderers, sentenced to a virtual-reality prison. Naturally, disaster strikes, and, yup, they must work together to save Earth from destruction. Originally released as an Audible Original with Brendan Fraser as lead narrator, this is the first print edition of the Hugo and Nebula award-winning Sawyer’s 26 th novel.

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin

Just in case you still haven’t read it, Justin Cronin’s gloriously dreamy novel The Ferryman , set on an apparently utopian island where things aren’t quite as they seem, is out in paperback this month. It was the first pick for the New Scientist Book Club, and it is a mind-bending, dreamy stunner of a read. Go try it – and sign up for the Book Club in the meantime!

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Emily Henry's 7 best books, as ranked by GoodReads users

New York Times best-selling romance author Emily Henry spent the majority of her childhood in Northern Kentucky. Her family moved to Liberty Township when she was 14, and she attended Lakota East High School. After stints in Michigan and New York, she's back home, now residing in College Hill.

This week, she was the featured guest on The Enquirer's "That's So Cincinnati" podcast . If you're not familiar with the local author, first off, where the heck have you been the past 5 years? And secondly, we rounded up a list of her top-rated books on GoodReads (think social media for bookworms) to help you know what all the fuss is about.

GoodReads lists some other titles by Henry that are not included here. We limited this ranking to books with more than 10,000 ratings. All data was scraped at 2 p.m. May 9. There will be more ratings now. She's popular.

Top-rated Emily Henry books on GoodReads

1. 'funny story' (2024) – 4.42 (out of 5) average rating.

• Popularity: 112,320 ratings ... and rapidly counting.

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GoodReads description : "Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic – with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads – Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?"

2. 'Book Lovers' (2022) – 4.14 average rating

• Popularity: 1,073,151 ratings.

GoodReads description : "Nora Stephens’ life is books – she’s read them all – and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.

Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away – with visions of a small-town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.

If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again – in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow – what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves."

3 (tie). 'Happy Place' (2023) – 4.01 average rating

• Popularity: 826,697 ratings.

GoodReads description : "Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college – they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now – for reasons they’re still not discussing – they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best?"

3 (tie). 'Beach Read' (2020) – 4.14 average rating

• Popularity: 1,127,652 ratings.

GoodReads description : " Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no-one will fall in love. Really."

5. 'People We Meet on Vacation' (2021) – 3.88 average rating

• Popularity: 1,149,818 ratings.

GoodReads description : "Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart – she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown – but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together – lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?"

6. 'A Million Junes' (2017) – 3.84 average rating

• Popularity: 28,040 ratings.

GoodReads description : "For as long as Jack 'June' O’Donnell has been alive, her parents have had only one rule: stay away from the Angert family. But when June collides – quite literally – with Saul Angert, sparks fly, and everything June has known is thrown into chaos.

Who exactly is this gruff, sarcastic, but seemingly harmless boy who has returned to their hometown of Five Fingers, Michigan, after three mysterious years away? And why has June – an O’Donnell to her core – never questioned her late father’s deep hatred of the Angert family? After all, the O’Donnells and the Angerts may have mythic legacies, but for all the tall tales they weave, both founding families are tight-lipped about what caused the century-old rift between them.

As Saul and June’s connection grows deeper, they find that the magic, ghosts, and coywolves of Five Fingers seem to be conspiring to reveal the truth about the harrowing curse that has plagued their bloodlines for generations. Now June must question everything she knows about her family and the father she adored, and she must decide whether it’s finally time for her – and all the O’Donnells before her – to let go."

7. 'The Love that Split the World' (2016) – 3.58 average rating

• Popularity: 20,531 ratings.

GoodReads description : "Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the 'wrong things.' They’re just momentary glimpses at first – her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls 'Grandmother,' who tells her: 'You have three months to save him.' The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken."

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The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – reviews roundup

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard; A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu; Flowers from the Void by Gianni Washington; The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri; The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams; To the Stars and Back by various writers

The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard ( Atlantic, £16.99 ) This debut novel is set in an isolated valley caught between its own past and future. To the east is a valley 20 years ahead; to the west, the same place is 20 years in the past. To protect against catastrophic changes to the timeline, the borders are fenced and patrolled by armed guards. The governing Conseil grants a few brief supervised crossings every year, to elderly mourners desperate for a glimpse of their loved ones when they were still alive. Odile is a shy, studious girl training for a place on the Conseil when she glimpses two visiting mourners lurking outside the school. Recognising them as older versions of the parents of a funny, talented boy she likes, she faces an impossible choice. He is doomed to die, but if she tries to save him, she will destroy her own future. The experience changes her life and never stops haunting her until, years later, she must confront other ethical dilemmas. This is an unusual approach to time travel, a philosophical thought experiment and a deeply moving, ultimately thrilling story about memory, love and regret.

A View from the Stars by Cixin Liu ( various translators; Head of Zeus, £20 ) Essays and short stories from the past three decades by the author of The Three-Body Problem . His stories are filled with a sense of wonder as they push ideas about the future of humanity to their extremes, and the personal essays offer a rare glimpse into attitudes towards science fiction in China and how the genre has changed. A fascinating collection.

Flowers from the Void by Gianni Washington ( Serpent’s Tail, £14.99 ) The stories in this wide-ranging collection of horror and fantasy run from the gothic grotesque to even more disturbing tales about weird obsessions and fatal misunderstandings. Some border on science fiction, with alien creatures and lifesize living dolls, while a fantasy about an African witch trying to join an all-white coven in colonial Massachusetts is so richly imagined it feels like a novel in miniature. An impressive debut from a very talented new writer.

The Dark Side of the Sky by Francesco Dimitri ( Titan, £9.99 ) The tale of a cult told from the inside, through the voices of its members, collectively known as the Bastion. To outsiders, founders Becca and Ric are dangerous con artists, but those in the community believe they have found a better, more spiritual way to live, and that the Bastion is truly the last defence against our world’s destruction. They have seen the stars change when they gather in the pine forest, and are aware of being watched by hungry eyes on the other side of the sky. An absorbing, fascinating novel, cleverly devised so that the reader is never quite sure where reality ends and fantasy begins.

The Hungry Dark by Jen Williams ( HarperVoyager, £16.99) After seven fantasy novels, Williams changed direction to crime thrillers. Her latest involves the hunt for a serial killer, but sits firmly in the British folk horror tradition. As a child, Ashley was haunted by the sight of silent grey figures gathering around her, and had a premonition of a tragedy she was unable to prevent. As an adult, she makes a living as a psychic – but it’s all faked, until those strange figures appear again and lead her to the body of a missing child. Atmospheric and suspenseful, a well-plotted blend of supernatural and crime.

To the Stars and Back: Stories in Honour of Eric Brown, edited by Ian Whates ( NewCon Press, £13.99 ) All new stories from some of Britain’s top SF writers, including Alastair Reynolds, Justina Robson, Ian Watson, Philip Palmer and other friends and admirers of the author Eric Brown, who died last year.

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Editors at The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year.

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How Beautiful We Were

By imbolo mbue.

Following her 2016 debut, “ Behold the Dreamers ,” Mbue’s sweeping and quietly devastating second novel begins in 1980 in the fictional African village of Kosawa, where representatives from an American oil company have come to meet with the locals, whose children are dying because of the environmental havoc (fallow fields, poisoned water) wreaked by its drilling and pipelines. This decades-spanning fable of power and corruption turns out to be something much less clear-cut than the familiar David-and-Goliath tale of a sociopathic corporation and the lives it steamrolls. Through the eyes of Kosawa’s citizens young and old, Mbue constructs a nuanced exploration of self-interest, of what it means to want in the age of capitalism and colonialism — these machines of malicious, insatiable wanting.

Random House. $28. | Read our review | Read our profile of Mbue | Listen to Mbue on the podcast

By Katie Kitamura

In Kitamura’s fourth novel, an unnamed court translator in The Hague is tasked with intimately vanishing into the voices and stories of war criminals whom she alone can communicate with; falling meanwhile into a tumultuous entanglement with a man whose marriage may or may not be over for good. Kitamura’s sleek and spare prose elegantly breaks grammatical convention, mirroring the book’s concern with the bleeding lines between intimacies — especially between the sincere and the coercive. Like her previous novel, “A Separation,” “Intimacies” scrutinizes the knowability of those around us, not as an end in itself but as a lens on grand social issues from gentrification to colonialism to feminism. The path a life cuts through the world, this book seems to say, has its greatest significance in the effect it has on others.

Riverhead Books. $26. | Read our review | Read our profile of Kitamura

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

By honorée fanonne jeffers.

“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” the first novel by Jeffers, a celebrated poet, is many things at once: a moving coming-of-age saga, an examination of race and an excavation of American history. It cuts back and forth between the tale of Ailey Pearl Garfield, a Black girl growing up at the end of the 20th century, and the “songs” of her ancestors, Native Americans and enslaved African Americans who lived through the formation of the United States. As their stories converge, “Love Songs” creates an unforgettable portrait of Black life that reveals how the past still reverberates today.

Harper/HarperCollins. $28.99. | Read our review | Listen to Jeffers on the podcast

No One Is Talking About This

By patricia lockwood.

Lockwood first found acclaim as a poet on the internet, with gloriously inventive and ribald verse — sexts elevated to virtuosity. In “ Priestdaddy ,” her indelible 2017 memoir about growing up in rectories across the Midwest presided over by her gun-loving, guitar-playing father, a Catholic priest, she called tweeting “an art form, like sculpture, or honking the national anthem under your armpit.” Here, in her first novel, she distills the pleasures and deprivations of life split between online and flesh-and-blood interactions, transfiguring the dissonance into art. The result is a book that reads like a prose poem, at once sublime, profane, intimate, philosophical, hilarious and, eventually, deeply moving.

Riverhead Books. $25. | Read our review | Read our profile of Lockwood

When We Cease to Understand the World

By benjamín labatut. translated by adrian nathan west..

Labatut expertly stitches together the stories of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers to explore both the ecstasy and agony of scientific breakthroughs: their immense gains for society as well as their steep human costs. His journey to the outermost edges of knowledge — guided by the mathematician Alexander Grothendieck , the physicist Werner Heisenberg and the chemist Fritz Haber , among others — offers glimpses of a universe with limitless potential underlying the observable world, a “dark nucleus at the heart of things” that some of its witnesses decide is better left alone. This extraordinary hybrid of fiction and nonfiction also provokes the frisson of an extended true-or-false test: The further we read, the blurrier the line gets between fact and fabulism.

New York Review Books. Paper, $17.95. | Read our review

The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency

By tove ditlevsen. translated by tiina nunnally and michael favala goldman..

Ditlevsen’s gorgeous memoirs, first published in Denmark in the 1960s and ’70s and collected here in a single volume, detail her hardscrabble upbringing, career path and merciless addictions: a powerful account of the struggle to reconcile art and life. She joined the working ranks at 14, became a renowned poet by her early 20s, and found herself, after two failed marriages, wedded to a psychopathic doctor and hopelessly dependent on opioids by her 30s. Yet for all the dramatic twists of her life, these books together project a stunning clarity, humor and candidness, casting light not just on the world’s harsh realities but on the inexplicable impulses of our secret selves.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $30. | Read our review

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America

By clint smith.

For this timely and thought-provoking book, Smith, a poet and journalist, toured sites key to the history of slavery and its present-day legacy, including Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello; Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary; and a Confederate cemetery. Interspersing interviews with the tourists, guides, activists and local historians he meets along the way with close readings of scholarship and poignant personal reflection, Smith holds up a mirror to America’s fraught relationship with its past, capturing a potent mixture of good intentions, earnest corrective, willful ignorance and blatant distortion.

Little, Brown & Company. $29. | Read our review | Listen to Smith on the podcast

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City

By andrea elliott.

To expand on her acclaimed 2013 series for The Times about Dasani Coates, a homeless New York schoolgirl, and her family, Elliott spent years following her subjects in their daily lives, through shelters, schools, courtrooms and welfare offices. The book she has produced — intimately reported, elegantly written and suffused with the fierce love and savvy observations of Dasani and her mother — is a searing account of one family’s struggle with poverty, homelessness and addiction in a city and country that have failed to address these issues with efficacy or compassion.

Random House. $30. | Read our review | Listen to Elliott on the podcast

On Juneteenth

By annette gordon-reed.

This book weaves together history and memoir into a short volume that is insightful, touching and courageous. Exploring the racial and social complexities of Texas, her home state, Gordon-Reed asks readers to step back from the current heated debates and take a more nuanced look at history and the surprises it can offer. Such a perspective comes easy to her because she was a part of history — the first Black child to integrate her East Texas school. On several occasions, she found herself shunned by whites and Blacks alike, learning at an early age that breaking the color line can be threatening to both races.

Liveright Publishing. $15.95. | Read our review | Listen to Gordon-Reed on the podcast

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath

By heather clark.

It’s daring to undertake a new biography of Plath, whose life, and death by suicide at 30 in 1963, have been thoroughly picked over by scholars. Yet this meticulously researched and, at more than 1,000 pages, unexpectedly riveting portrait is a monumental achievement. Determined to rescue the poet from posthumous caricature as a doomed madwoman and “reposition her as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century,” Clark, a professor of poetry in England, delivers a transporting account of a rare literary talent and the familial and intellectual milieu that both thwarted and encouraged her, enlivened throughout by quotations from Plath’s letters, diaries, poetry and prose.

Alfred A. Knopf. $40. | Read our review

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Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

The complicated, generous life  of Paul Auster, who died on April 30 , yielded a body of work of staggering scope and variety .

“Real Americans,” a new novel by Rachel Khong , follows three generations of Chinese Americans as they all fight for self-determination in their own way .

“The Chocolate War,” published 50 years ago, became one of the most challenged books in the United States. Its author, Robert Cormier, spent years fighting attempts to ban it .

Joan Didion’s distinctive prose and sharp eye were tuned to an outsider’s frequency, telling us about ourselves in essays that are almost reflexively skeptical. Here are her essential works .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

20 Best Beach Reads for Summer Travel: Explore New Non-Fiction, Memoirs, Romance and More

We've sorted through the thrillers, fantasy novels, true crime books and more to find the best options to read this summer.

Soaking up the sun while reading a book you can't put down is something to look forward to this summer. Outside of deciding which insulated tumbler to take with you for hydration in the heat and finding a comfy spot on the beach or in a hammock, the most challenging part about settling in for a riveting read is choosing the novel itself.

E-readers and overnight online deliveries have put a library of unlimited books at our fingertips. From non-fiction to science fiction genres and  celebrity memoirs to book-to-screen adaptations , there are all kinds of incredible pages to peruse this spring. One of Amazon's most anticipated releases and biggest bestsellers for May is Erik Larson's latest book about the election of Abraham Lincoln and his presidency as the Civil War started.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War

President Lincoln was only in office for five months before the Civil War began. See what unfolded in those days in Erik Larson's latest non-fiction historical thriller.

Your summer library doesn't end there, because we've rounded up plenty of other newly released book picks, from steamy romance novels to chart-topping non-fiction books to edge-of-your-seat thrillers to magical worlds filled with sorcery and everything in between. Whether you read to enter a new world or to learn more about the world you live in, we've found a book you'll want on your reading list.

The Best Summer Reads of 2024

Long island (eilis lacey series).

An Oprah's Book Club pick, Long Island tells the story of Eilis Lacey, a women whose life is changed when her husband's baby from a secret affair winds up on her doorstep.

The Ministry of Time: A Novel by Kaliane Bradley

The Ministry of Time is spy thriller with a mix of time travel and romance. When a civil servant begins working a new time travel project, she must decide if falling in love is worth the consequences of changing history.

The Familiar: A Novel by Leigh Bardugo

This immersive romance novel taking place during the Spanish Inquisition tells the story of Luzia, a magic user enlisted to help the king.

The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah

Kristin Hannah, author of The Nightingale , has a new book that's made its way onto four of the top bestseller lists. The Women tells the story of Frances, a field nurse who enters the Vietnam War to return home only to find rising political tensions. 

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

A Reese's Book Club Pick, First Lie Wins  is a thriller that centers around Evie Porter, who is actually someone else and was given her identity by the mysterious Mr. Smith. Evie wants a new life, but one slip-up will change her future forever.

Rebel Rising: A Memoir by Rebel Wilson

Taking readers through the ups and downs of her career, Wilson's memoir ultimately teaches self-love with laughter along the way.

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride

While digging a foundation for a new development in the 1970s, the residents of Pottstown are shocked to find a skeleton. James McBride's novel  The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store intertwines the lives of the townspeople and their community during these times.

Our Fight: A Memoir by Ronda Rousey

As the UFC's first female champion, Ronda Rousey has made a name for herself in the world of mixed martial arts. Sharing her journey from the pursuit of perfection to the pursuit of happiness, this relatable story is about facing your fears.  

Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up by Abigail Shrier

Currently No. 1 on Amazon's Most Sold Non-Fiction Books for the week, Bad Therapy: Why the Kids Aren't Growing Up by Abigail Shrier explores the rising mental health crisis happening specifically in the Gen Z population. Interviewing experts in the field, Shrier explores some of the serious side effects of popular therapeutic approaches.

The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir by RuPaul

Save 30% when you shop RuPaul's new memoir on Amazon right now. Because reading is what? Fundamental! 

The Hunter: A Novel by Tana French

This much-anticipated book by Tana French tells the story of Cal Hooper, who develops a quiet life in Ireland with Lena and her unruly son Trey after retiring early from the Chicago P.D. When Trey's absent father shows up, the couple will do whatever they must to protect the boy.

Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere

Today  show host Savannah Guthrie explores how her belief in God can help her grapple with the challenging times happening in our world in her new book  Mostly What God Does: Reflections on Seeking and Finding His Love Everywhere .

The Teacher: A Psychological Thriller by Freida McFadden

In this story, a scandal rocks Caseham High School when the news of an inappropriate student-teacher relationship comes to light. However, nothing is what it seems in Freida McFadden's newest thriller.

Expiration Dates: A Novel by Rebecca Serle

New York Times best-selling author Rebecca Serle released a heart-wrenching story that made Amazon's best books of March. 

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

New York Times best-selling author Tia Williams' latest book is a No. 1 pick on Amazon. In  A Love Song for Ricki Wilde, misfit Ricki Wilde moves to Harlem to open a flower shop where a mysterious stranger sets her world ablaze. 

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

Award-winning journalist Antonia Hylton explains the 93-year-old history of Crownsville Hospital — a segregated asylum in Maryland — in her book  Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum , which was one of Amazon Editor's Best Book Picks. The hospital discussed in the book was shuttered in 2004 but the building still stands today.

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

Lana is a former movie star who invites her closest friends on a vacation to her private Greek island. But things suddenly take a turn when one of them is murdered in Alex Michaelides' new thriller The Fury .

Horse: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks

Horse , which was released in mid-January, is already an award-winning novel that focuses on race, art and history.

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange

Telling stories from those at the Sand Creek Massacre of 1864 and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Wandering Stars spans three generations of a family detailing their struggles and hopes for the future.

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