Forget summer reading: Fall is the season for literary generosity. The coming months will bring with them a starry landscape filled with returns from the hottest names in the business, as well as bold newcomers with highly anticipated debuts. There’s a crime novel set in 1960s Harlem by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead, a posthumous novel by British teacher John Le Carré, the first book by acclaimed TV creator Michaela Coel, and the latest young adult narrative. They fight their way through Superstar Sally Rooney’s fight. that’s all to say: there really is something for everyone in this jam-packed season. here, the 34 most anticipated books to read this fall.
misfits: a personal manifesto, michaela coel (September 7)
michaela coel, creator and star of i can destroy you and bubble gum, makes her literary debut with a short manifesto written with the same perfect balance of sentiment and insight. and wit that made viewers fall in love with her on screen. Based on a speech given at the 2018 Edinburgh International Television Festival, Misfits describes her experience of racism, prejudice and trauma, and her empowering transformation from a person trying to fit in to a determined person. to make new space for herself. is a passionate and moving defense of staying true to oneself and helping others do the same.
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inseparable, simone de beauvoir (September 7)
Thirty-five years after the death of Simone de Beauvoir, her never-before-published novel Inseparable is finally released to the world. The iconic French philosopher (and author of the emblematic feminist text The Second Sex) describes a deep and passionate friendship between Sylvie and Andrée, two tenacious young women who meet as children and strengthen their bond as they become in adulthood in post-World War I France. is a vibrant exploration of female will and friendship in a world that still too often tries to limit both.
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matrix, lauren groff (September 7)
At the center of Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since her 2015 hit Fate and Furies, is teenaged Marie de France. It’s the 12th century and Mary has just been sent to an abbey in England after being expelled from the French royal court. matrix‘s fierce protagonist is entering a grim scene: disease is everywhere in the abbey and the nuns barely have enough to eat. Marie is tasked with improving the lives of these women, a challenge that is exciting and heartbreaking. Groff, a two-time National Book Award finalist, creates an electric work of historical fiction that charts Marie’s plight.
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warrior poet, joy harjo (September 7)
three times usa Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, the first Native American to hold the title, offers a follow-up to her 2012 memoir Crazy Brave with Warrior Poet, a lyrical study of the relation of her with poetry and music. alternating between poetry and prose, harjo ponders the stories and songs he grew up with, his artistic and ancestral influences, and how poetry informs and reflects his connection to his community and home. the result is a memory that is poignant and festive.
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On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Restraint, Maggie Nelson (September 7)
The latest book from poet and writer Maggie Nelson is a thoughtful and powerful examination of freedom. Looking at freedom through the realms of art, sex, drugs, and the weather, the author of The Argonauts explores the contradictions, complexities, and rhetoric surrounding the term. Combining thoughtful cultural criticism with anecdotes from her personal life, Ella Nelson offers an intriguing work of nonfiction that seeks to challenge readers’ definition of freedom and rethink how the concept operates in our lives.
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beautiful world, where are you, sally rooney (September 7)
sally rooney burst onto the literary scene in 2017 with her first novel conversations with friends. Then came her normal people equally beloved follow-up, now an acclaimed series on hulu. Rooney’s latest book, one of the most anticipated books of the year, is once again about Irish millennials navigating the turbulence of falling in and out of love and questioning the seemingly broken world around them. Tracing the lives of best friends Alice and Eileen, and the emails they write to stay connected to each other, Rooney unravels a poignant narrative about intimacy, religion, and romance.
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the magician, colm tóibín (7 sept.)
colm tóibín, the award-winning author of brooklyn and the master, returns with another sweeping historical novel, this time a fictional account of the life of thomas mann, the author winner of the nobel prize for death in venice. Extensively researched and lettered, the magician follows mann from his childhood in early 20th century germany, as a young boy dealing with desires he cannot reveal to his conservative family, through of his marriage, the journey that inspires his groundbreaking novel, his discomfort with his new role as a public intellectual during World War II, and his flight to the United States. is a complex yet empathetic portrait of a writer in a lifelong battle against his innermost wishes, his family, and the tumultuous times they go through.
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Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement, Tarana Burke (September 14)
In her debut memoir, tarana burke explores her past, from her coming of age as a black girl in the bronx to her rise in activism as the founder of the metoo movement. In candid terms, Ella Burke lays bare her relationship to trauma, exploring how her sexual assault affected her sense of identity and how she went on to use that experience to empower others and create meaningful change. Bold and inspiring, unbound is a penetrating look at leadership, activism, and empathy.
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harlem shuffle, colson whitehead (September 14)
Colson Whitehead, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, is known for narratives that vary widely in theme. His body of work contains multitudes, from his debut on the aftermath of an elevator accident to a zombie apocalypse story and penetrating accounts of violent periods in the USA. uu. history. Whitehead further shows his range as a storyteller, as Harlem Shuffle follows a 1960s furniture salesman leading a double life of crime. What follows is part heist novel and part family drama, all set against the backdrop of Harlem, which the author captures in rich, visceral prose.
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the book of form and emptiness, ruth ozeki (September 21)
ruth ozeki, the award-winning author of a tale for the time being, weaves a magical and moving tale in her latest book, which centers on 13-year-old benny and his mother annabelle as they figure out how to live after the unexpected death of their father and husband. Deeply distressed, Benny discovers that she can suddenly hear the voices of objects around her, and there are many objects around her, due to her mother’s hoarding of her. he develops a symbiotic relationship with the book, the omniscient voice that tells the story we are reading. Ozeki, a practicing Buddhist priestess, infuses her story with Zen philosophy, using themes of mindfulness and our connection to the living world to highlight pressing modern concerns like climate change, capitalism, and the role of art. inventive, vivid, and fueled by a sense of wonder, the book of form and emptiness will delight readers young and old alike.
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the land of cuckoos in the clouds, anthony doerr (September 28)
Sweeping and atmospheric, the land of the cloud cuckoo spans centuries and continents, following five protagonists united by an ancient Greek manuscript about a shepherd who dreams of escaping to paradise. In 15th-century Constantinople, Anna and Omeir are on opposite sides of a violent siege when Anna first discovers the missing manuscript; In 2020, Idaho, 86-year-old veterinarian Zeno clashes with teenage eco-terrorist Seymour against the backdrop of a suburban production of Greek history as a stage play; And in the 22nd century, 14-year-old Constance is aboard a spaceship en route to colonize a distant planet, secretly keeping the story told to her by her father on scraps of paper. These characters, like those in Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel All The Light We Can’t See, cling to their ideals and convictions, and through their resilience, Doerr explores the power universal hope in catastrophic times. p>
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a calling for charlie barnes, joshua ferris (September 28)
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It’s 2008, failed businessman Charlie Barnes has just found out he has pancreatic cancer, and his son, novelist Jake, has promised to tell his story. but the story we are reading, filled with multiple wives, divorces and children, larger-than-life inventions and doomed businesses, seems more mythical than real, leaving us wondering how trustworthy this narrator is and how much it costs. the answer really matters. Joshua Ferris makes the mundane extraordinary in this strange but poignant story about what gives life meaning.
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Believe: Our thirty-year journey to end gender-based violence, Anita Hill (September 28)
Combining her memoir with social and cultural analysis, anita hill dissects gender-based violence in the us. uu. and outlines three decades of history to show how this is a systemic problem. Hill’s personal experience of testifying before Congress during the 1991 confirmation hearings for then Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas is only part of her full account. the academic and advocate highlights how gender-based violence manifests and impacts people on a daily basis, culminating in an urgent argument and a call to leaders and legislators for change.
buy now: believe in the bookstore | Amazon
please don’t sit on my bed in your outerwear: rehearsals, phoebe robinson (September 28)
Although this is Phoebe Robinson’s third collection of essays, it is the first from her new imprint, Little Repair Books. The imprint, which Robinson announced last year, is committed to highlighting diverse voices to “reshape publishing by publishing books from a wide range of people.” Like her previous two books, please don’t sit on my bed in your outerwear, it illuminates the comedian’s thoughts on a variety of topics, from the black lives matter movement to quarantining. of covid-19 and the decision he made. made to not have children. Throughout, Robinson is brutally honest and cleverly applies her humor.
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stones: poems, kevin young (September 28)
with his latest collection of poetry, kevin young, director of the smithsonian’s national museum of black history and culture and poetry editor of the new yorker, reminds us of the power of looking back. In Stones , Young Mines tells his family story and recounts moments of sadness and joy, from reflections on his grandmother Mama Annie to poems that consider the generations of people who have lived in the American South. the result is a searing look at love, loss, and everything in between.
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what a storm what a thunder, myriam j.a. risky (October 5)
haiti-born author and guggenheim fellow myriam j.a. chancy’s new novel addresses the earthquake that devastated haiti in 2010. drawing on the years he spent speaking with survivors, chancy zooms in on the human toll (an estimated 250,000 people were killed by the earthquake) through evocative portraits and unforgettable stories of 10 interconnected characters whose lives are trapped in the rubble. there is a rich water executive and his daughter an architect for an NGO; a teenage girl trapped and abused in a DP camp and her brother, a boston taxi driver, wracked with guilt; a drug trafficker who takes his decisions into account; a sex worker saved by a split second; and more. At the center is Ma Lou, a vendor of local produce who has seen enough of the island’s tragedies, and the world’s contempt for them, to give him false hope. is a heartbreaking story of regret and resilience, and a fierce rebuke of racism, violence and greed.
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crossroads, jonathan franzen (October 5)
jonathan franzen, critically acclaimed and sometimes controversial author whose 2001 novel the corrections won a national book award and was a pulitzer prize finalist, publishes his sixth novel, a portrait of Nearly 600 pages of a Christian family in suburban Chicago in the 1970s. Patriarch Russ Hildebrandt is an associate pastor who has a crush on a new parishioner, a feud with the overly-charming youth group leader, and a marriage he lost. his spark soon after the children were born. His wife, Marion, is tending to her own secrets, processing a decades-old trauma. and her three oldest children are dealing with their own awakenings amid budding romance, drug use, financial freedom and the vietnam war. Franzen gives each of these five characters a distinct interiority, and his story is a compelling examination of faith, privilege, and ambition. Crossroads is the first in a planned trilogy that promises to follow the Hildebrandt family to this day.
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my monticello, jocelyn nicole johnson (October 5)
The main novel in jocelyn nicole johnson’s daring debut collection my monticello focuses on a group of neighbors seeking safety in charlottesville. While on the run from violent white supremacists, the group takes refuge in the vicinity of Thomas Jefferson’s historic plantation. The narrative is bold, harrowing, and unfolding with urgency. Johnson’s collection is filled with stories like this one, dealing with issues surrounding racial identity and the legacies of slavery and racism. together they create a disconcerting portrait of a country struggling with its ugly past and present.
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sankofa, chibundu onuzo (October 5)
Nigerian-British writer Chibundu Onuzo’s latest novel (after Welcome to Lagos) follows Anna Bain, a biracial woman raised by her white mother in London with no connection to her African roots. Now in her middle age, Anna finds herself in a moment of profound transformation: separated from her husband, her daughter is an adult, and her mother has just died, she seizes the opportunity to find the father she never knew, armed with her recent diary. discovered. Anna’s journey to the fictional African country of Bamana, where her father is a polarizing prime minister, triggers an internal reckoning with identity, race, politics, and belonging, and forces her to challenge the roles she has assumed in her life. life so far.
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smile: the story of a face, sarah ruhl (October 5)
Shortly after giving birth to her twins, playwright sarah ruhl, a two-time pulitzer prize finalist, found she couldn’t move the left side of her face. she had developed bell’s palsy, which meant that half of her face was paralyzed, and she assumed that she, like most bell’s palsy patients, would recover fairly quickly. but ruhl did not. Through a series of essays both heartbreaking and insightful, Ruhl takes readers through the ensuing decade, recounting her challenges and joys as she searched for a cure. smile is an intimate immersion into the mind of an artist and mother as she tries to make sense of her body, her relationships and more of her.
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such color: new and selected poems, tracy k. blacksmith (October 5)
pulitzer prize winner and former us president. uu. Poet Laureate Tracy K. smith returns with a retrospective comprising selections from her four previous collections along with 18 new poems. highlighting the existential questions that underlie smith’s work: how does a history of trauma affect the present? What does hate do to the body and spirit? how do you transcend hope? these poems are especially resonant in addressing anti-black racism and misogyny in the us. uu. haunting and vital, it is the perfect encapsulation of an extraordinary body of work.
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fight night, miriam toews (October 5)
Miriam Toews’s Women Talking was a scathing reimagining of a true-life story of women coming together to fight their abusers. In her new novel, it draws on similar themes of alliance and women’s survival, this time portrayed through 9-year-old Swiv and her petarada grandma. written as a letter from swiv to the father who abandoned her and her pregnant mother, an exercise encouraged by her grandmother, fight night describes a precocious young woman making sense of a harsh world and a woman committed to spending her later years passing on hard-earned wisdom about demanding and protecting one’s autonomy.
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lincoln highway, love towles (October 5)
bestselling author amor towles continues his internationally acclaimed 2016 novel a gentleman in moscow with another captivating piece of historical fiction, this one that transports readers back to 1950s america . Eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson has spent 15 months in a juvenile labor camp for manslaughter when he is released early to deal with the death of his father and the foreclosure of the family farm. When Emmett arrives home in Nebraska, his neighbors don’t like the fact that he didn’t serve his full sentence, and his little brother, Billy, is convinced that the mother who abandoned them is now in San Francisco, and that they you have to go find her. However, before they can leave, Emmett discovers two stowaways who left the detention center with him and are now insisting that he take them to New York. What follows is a hilarious cross-country adventure packed with unforgettable characters, vivid settings, and suspense that will keep readers flying through the pages.
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silverview, john le carré (October 12)
When he died last year, legendary British spy novelist John Le Carré left only one unpublished complete novel. silverview, to be published posthumously in October, is the iconic writer’s 26th novel. the new installment of le carré’s enormous oeuvre is another classic espionage story. This time, the focus is on a bookseller living in contemporary Britain and the spy chief who arrives in his seaside town to investigate a possible leak.
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dear memory: letters on writing, silence and pain, victoria chang (October 12)
Following her formally inventive book of poetry obit, a collection of obituaries of the people, articles and experiences she has lost, spurred on by the death of her mother, award-winning writer victoria chang explores more The themes of grief and remembrance are thoroughly explored in this book of letters to family, mentors, and creative influences, as well as abstract ideas. Built on interviews with Chang’s immigrant mother and interwoven with memories and formal documents, it is both a chronicle of her family’s history and a powerful and moving reflection on ancestry, inherited trauma, and home.
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state of terror, hillary rodham clinton and louise penny (October 12)
hillary rodham clinton teams up with powerhouse mystery novelist louise penny for state of terror, an action-packed political thriller packed with intrigue. It’s a new era in American politics, and the newly sworn-in president announces Ellen Adams, leader of a hugely influential media conglomerate and one of the president’s most powerful political enemies, as his pick for secretary of state. She faces a steep learning curve when a mysterious text message to a young diplomat in Pakistan reveals a calculated multinational conspiracy against the US. uu. government, a government that has spent the last four years losing ground as a world power. Through Adams and his ragtag defense team, working against an overwhelming enemy, Clinton and Penny create a poignant mystery about terrorism, corruption and diplomacy, meticulously written with the promise of details only an insider could provide. .
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oh william!, elizabeth strout (October 19)
At the core of Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout’s best-selling fiction are characters grappling with huge questions about love, loss and family in seemingly ordinary moments. the domestic dramas that fill her books lead to startling revelations about the complexities that come with marriage, parenthood, and aging. her new novel is no exception. In oh william!, strout revisits her beloved character lucy barton and explores the protagonist’s relationship with her ex-husband. The two have remained close since their split, and the discovery of a family secret could bring them even closer.
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the island of missing trees, elif shafak (November 2)
From award-winning British-Turkish writer Elif Shafak comes a magical story about nature, humanity and love. on the island of cyprus in 1974, two teenagers—kostas, who is greek and christian, and defne, who is turkish and muslim—nurture a deep but forbidden love in the tavern where they met, watched over by a fig tree that has been there since before the tavern was built. Shafak traces the long trail of Kostas and Defne’s love, from their secret courtship in the 1970s to London in 2010, where his 16-year-old daughter is frustrated by the secrecy of her family history. is a beautiful contemplation of some of life’s biggest questions of identity, history, and meaning.
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1000 years of joys and sorrows: memories, ai weiwei (November 2)
This highly anticipated memoir from renowned artist and political activist Ai Weiwei is both intimate and expansive, an interrogation of art and freedom. After China’s Cultural Revolution, Weiwei’s father, the celebrated poet Ai Qing, was sentenced to hard labor in a remote area called “Little Siberia,” with his family, including young Weiwei, in tow. In 1000 Years of Joys and Sadnesses, Weiwei describes his complicated relationship with his home, from his upbringing in exile to his decision to study art in the US. fame. is a fascinating sociopolitical story and behind-the-scenes look at how one of the world’s greatest living artists became who he is.
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the prayer, louise erdrich (November 9)
The latest novel from Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich is a deeply and darkly funny story about Minneapolis in 2020, shown through the lens of a local independent bookstore. takeie, a formerly incarcerated indigenous woman who works at birchbark books (a real minneapolis bookstore owned by erdrich), is now being literally chased by one of the store’s most annoying customers, a recently deceased white woman who was obsessed with claim Native American ancestry. . Spanning a calendar year, from Flora’s death on All Souls’ Day 2019 to November 2020, The Prayer follows Takeie as he tries to solve the mystery of the haunted shop while dealing with the specters. of the racism and corruption that haunts the entire city.
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five Tuesdays of winter: stories, lily king (November 9)
In her first collection of short stories, comprised of new and previously published works, Lily King explores the ups and downs of human connection. in one, a bookseller has feelings for his employee. in another, a teenager forms an unexpected bond with a pair of college students. like his acclaimed books writers & lovers and euphoria, the latest from king finds characters yearning for love and struggling against change.
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my body, emily ratajkowski (November 9)
multi-script celebrity emily ratajkowski (model, actress, businesswoman) adds “author” to her resume with the launch of my body, her collection of essays on feminism, sexuality, power and abuse . she’s no stranger to discourse and scrutiny about women’s bodies (her fame exploded in 2013, when she starred in the “blurred lines” music video). Ratajkowski brings a nuanced view to questions about the empowerment versus commodification of women’s bodies and sexuality. Mixing cultural criticism and personal stories, my body is intelligent and powerful.
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the last day of dava shastri, kirthana ramisetti (November 30)
When diagnosed with brain cancer at age 70, one of the world’s richest women, Dava Shastri, decides to end things on her own terms. the matriarch surprises her four grown children by leaking the news of her death while she is still too alive to read what everyone has to say about her. but soon the secrets she buried long ago come to the surface and she is forced to face the consequences. In her debut novel, Kirthana Ramisetti crafts a hilarious and moving narrative of legacy, power and privacy, all through the journey of an animated character who has limited time to make things right with the people she loves most. .
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Call Us What We Carry: Poems, Amanda Gorman (December 7)
In her new poetry collection, the first National Young Poet Laureate, Amanda Gorman, continues to share her vibrant voice and lyricism. Including the poem Gorman read at President Biden’s inauguration, “The Hill We Climbed,” this collection features poetry focused on everything from grief to memory to hope. “For me, this book is a receptacle, a time capsule made by and for her time,” Gorman said in a statement released by her publisher. “What is poetry but a mirror for our present and a message for our future?”
buy now: call us what we carry on amazon
more fall culture tips:
- The 33 Most Anticipated TV Shows of Fall 2021
- The 23 Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2021
write to annabel gutterman at annabel.gutterman@time.com.
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