Every week, critics and editors at The New York Times Book Review pick the most interesting and notable new releases, from literary fiction and serious nonfiction to thrillers, romance novels, mysteries and everything in between.
You can save the books you’re most excited to read on a personal reading list, and find even more recommendations from our book experts.
historical fiction
The Remembered Soldier
by Anjet Daanje; translated by David McKay
In this provocatively labyrinthine novel, a Dutch soldier, an amnesiac veteran of World War I, is living in an asylum when he is released to a strange woman claiming to be his wife. But is she? Can he trust her? As our historical fiction columnist, Alida Becker, wrote, “As interludes of unexpected contentment yield to frightening blackouts, his mental lapses become increasingly frequent, haunted by glimpses of other people and places.” Read our review.
biography
Stan and Gus: Art, Ardor, and the Friendship That Built the Gilded Age
by Henry Wiencek
The works of the architect Stanford White and the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens brought both beauty and backbone to the formation of New York City in the 19th century. But their personal scandals and private liaisons — the pair were not only collaborators for decades, but also on-and-off lovers — prove to be equally worth examining in this lively dual biography. Read our review.
COMING-OF-AGE NOVEL
Lonely Crowds
by Stephanie Wambugu
Ruth is 9 when she meets Maria, the only other Black girl at their Catholic school in suburban Rhode Island, and is instantly mesmerized by her new friend — who soon becomes something more like a sister, and then something harder to define. This debut novel traces the intense and at times painful bond between two young women as they come of age, first amid the confines of their New England upbringing and then as artists in 1990s New York City. Read our review.
Fantasy
Angel Down
by Daniel Kraus
In France, during World War I, five soldiers are sent on a mission into No Man’s Land to put a mortally wounded comrade out of his misery. But in a supernatural twist, rather than finding a fallen serviceman, they find a literal fallen angel whose very existence could reshape the war. Read our review.
Historical Fiction
Daikon
by Samuel Hawley
What if not two but three atomic bombs wound up in the Pacific theater during World War II? And what if the third one fell into the hands of the enemy when an American plane crashed on the Japanese mainland? Despite our awareness of what the history books tell us, the tension in Hawley’s novel ticks up dramatically. Read our review.
Horror
The Library at Hellebore
by Cassandra Khaw
Khaw brings new meaning to the term “dark academia” with this tale of a school where students never graduate — instead, their professors eat them. Our horror columnist, Gabino Iglesias, wrote that “Khaw keeps readers hooked with the strange allure of Hellebore itself (which, in addition to being populated by terrifying beings, is an enchanting and morphing architectural feat in its own right) and with the tension that at any moment, a student could be devoured.” Read our review.
stories
An Oral History of Atlantis
by Ed Park
In his latest story collection, Park explores the absurdities of technology and the creative process, using his humor and free-roaming imagination to delight readers. But whether his subject is password prompts, space movies or specialized translations, the author (“Same Bed, Different Dreams”) remains committed to dissecting universal, human relationships. Read our review.
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