1. What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours by Helen Oyeyemi
Keys are a recurring theme in Helen Oyeyemi's highly imaginative short story collection What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours — keys both metaphorical and literal that unlock magical diaries and clues and hearts. Every story in What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours feels like its own enchanting, intoxicating world; you'll certainly get lost in them.
Publication date: March 8
2. Girls on Fire by Robin Wasserman
Robin Wasserman's novel Girls on Fire will utterly terrify you — in the best way possible. After the mysterious death of a high school basketball star one Halloween in the '90s, two girls form an intense friendship, but soon spiral into danger. A dark, chilling story of secrets, violence, and female friendship, Girls on Fire will burn in the mind long after you finish reading.
Publication date: May 17
3. The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan
With deep compassion, Karan Mahajan's The Association of Small Bombs explores what happens to both the victims and perpetrators of terrorism in its aftermath. When a series of small bombs detonate in a South Delhi marketplace, two young boys are killed and their surviving friend is forever traumatized. Thought-provoking and devastating, The Association of Small Bombs is a rumination on humanity, loss, grief, guilt, and redemption.
Publication date: March 22
4. Zero K by Don DeLillo
Set in a future where humans can control death, Don DeLillo's new novel Zero K centers around a secret scientific compound that preserves bodies indefinitely until technological and medical advances can heal and revive them. With humor and wisdom, DeLillo reflects on our relationship with death (and life), and our choices to preserve or leave behind those we love.
Publication date: May 3
5. Blackass by A. Igoni Barrett
A. Igoni Barrett's brilliant novel Blackass is a provocative, contemporary reworking of Kafka's Metamorphosis — but set in the bustling metropolis of Lagos and starring a Nigerian man who wakes up one day as a white man. A searing satire about race and identity in modern-day Nigeria, Blackass will make you both laugh and marvel at its insight.
Publication date: March 1
6. The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s debut novel The Nest follows the dysfunctional Plumb family as they wait to finally receive their joint trust fund in hopes of it solving all of their problems, but when the oldest sibling gets into a car accident, he suddenly endangers everything. A witty, tender portrait of a very peculiar family, The Nest is a testament to the consequences of our past choices and the ways in which expected inheritance can intimately change relationships.
Publication date: March 22
7. We Love You, Charlie Freeman by Kaitlyn Greenidge
In Kaitlyn Greenidge's debut novel We Love You, Charlie Freeman, an African-American family is invited to participate in an experiment teaching sign language to a chimpanzee by a New England research institute with a questionable past. With skill and humor, We Love You, Charlie Freeman thoughtfully examines history, race, and language in America.
Publication date: March 8
8. Some Possible Solutions by Helen Phillips
Helen Phillips's new collection Some Possible Solutions is a journey in possibility — every story involves a quirky "what if" scenario that often borders on downright bizarre. Sometimes surreal and always clever, Some Possible Solutions will make you reexamine your own reality.
Publication date: May 31
9. The Regional Office is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales
At the center of Manuel Gonzales's highly entertaining novel The Regional Office Is Under Attack! is an organization of super-powered female assassins called the Regional Office who protect the world from dark forces. After a prophecy foretells that someone inside the organization will bring it down, the Regional Office — very literally — is under attack! Wonderfully strange and fun, Gonzales's novel follows both the women attacking and defending the Regional Office and how their lives intersect.
Publication date: April 12
10. The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing's The Lonely City is a profoundly moving contemplation of loneliness as portrayed through iconic works of art and the lives of the artists, part memoir and part biography. Deeply affecting and insightful, The Lonely City looks at the role of loneliness in human existence and the meaning of connection.
Publication date: March 1
11. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing is an epic novel in every sense of the word — spanning three centuries, Homegoing is a sweeping account of two half-sisters in 18th-century Ghana and the lives of their many generations of descendants in America. A stunning, unforgettable account of family, history, and racism, Homegoing is an ambitious work that lives up to the hype.
Publication date: June 7
12. High Dive by Jonathan Lee
Jonathan Lee's brilliant novel High Dive takes readers back to the famous Brighton hotel bombing in 1984, an assassination plot intended for British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet. An intimate, poignant portrait of tragedy, family, and loyalty, High Dive explores the lives of those at the hotel in the precarious weeks leading up to the explosion.
Publication date: March 8
13. LaRose by Louise Erdrich
At the heart of Louise Erdrich's new novel LaRose is a tragic accident — a North Dakota man out stalking a deer shoots and kills his neighbor's youngest son, a boy who also happens to be his own son's best friend. In penance, he gives up his son LaRose to the grief-stricken neighbor’s family. Powerful and affecting, LaRose is the story of two heartbroken families and the fragile bond between them in the wake of a major loss.
Publication date: May 10
14. Shelter by Jung Yun
Jung Yun's thrilling debut novel Shelter follows a debt-stricken young man and his wife who live in a house they cannot afford, while in a nearby, wealthier neighborhood, his parents (who never showed him any kindness) live in material comfort. But when a violent act leaves his parents unable to live alone, he must take them in despite the tension and anger between them. Dark and gripping, Shelter exposes the jagged edges of parent-child relationships and the sacrifices we make in the name of family.
Publication date: March 15
15. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld
Curtis Sittenfeld's Eligible is a playful, wickedly smart retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Set in the 21st century, the modern Bennet family grew up in a sprawling Tudor home in Cincinnati but now lives in New York City, while Mr. Bingley is a doctor and recent reality TV star and Mr. Darcy is a neurosurgeon. Austen herself would surely approve.
Publication date: April 19
16. The Sport of Kings by C. E. Morgan
In C.E Morgan's new novel The Sport of Kings, the Forge family is one of Kentucky's oldest, most powerful families and the owner of one of the most powerful thoroughbreds — Hellsmouth. The Forges are obsessed with breeding the next superhorse, but a young black man who comes to work on their farm reveals the violence of their past. A tale of racism, prejudice, and the stark contrast between wealth and poverty, The Sport of Kings is a fearless meditation on the legacy of slavery in the South.
Publication date: May 3
17. Night Sky With Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong’s remarkable debut poetry collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds will haunt every corner of your mind. Fearlessly vulnerable, Vuong's dreamlike lines explore the raw sorrows and joys of human existence and identity and establish him as a fierce new talent.
Publication date: April 5
18. Bullies: A Friendship by Alex Abramovich
Alex Abramovich’s Bullies is the true story of an unlikely friendship — Abramovich runs into his childhood bully in California, decades after elementary school, who is now the president of a motorcycle club in Oakland. Provocative and thoughtful, Bullies gazes fearlessly at violence, masculinity, and the history and future of one of America’s most dangerous cities.
Publication date: March 8
19. The Bricks That Built the Houses by Kate Tempest
Poet, spoken word artist, and playwright Kate Tempest debuts her fiction talents in The Bricks That Built the Houses, a novel that perfectly captures the modern trials and tribulations of youth and urban life in London. At its core a love story, The Bricks That Built the Houses follows characters Becky and Harry through the pivotal moments of their pasts and present and the compromises they have made in the face of their ambitions.
Publication date: May 3