Our Most Anticipated Books of September 2023

Bestselling Zadie Smith (Swing Time) returns with her first historical fiction — a commanding novel that is well worth the wait. The Fraud is a dazzling story about authenticity and belief, as Smith bases this unforgettable work on the “Tichborne Trial” that divided Victorian England. Learn more about this insightful book when you tune into our Poured Over episode with Zadie Smith next month. 

From the author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie comes a multigenerational novel about one family’s fight for survival. Jesmyn Ward (Let Us Descend) hails The Unsettled as “Expansive and explosive… A book to be read and re-read.” Ayana Mathis joins us on our Poured Over podcast next month to discuss this searing story for readers of Brit Bennett. 

A staggering survival story about a servant girl alone in the wilderness, The Vaster Wilds is an engrossing new novel from Lauren Groff (Matrix). Lose yourself within the pages of this thrilling fable and listen to the live taping of our Poured Over podcast next month with Lauren Groff as she discusses this book and her gritty main character’s will to survive.  

Set in the near future when food supplies are drying up, Land of Milk and Honey is a haunting story of pleasure and privilege. Pick up this bold sophomore novel by award-winning author, C Pam Zhang (How Much of These Hills Is Gold), then tune into our Poured Over podcast next month to learn more about the world she created. 

Nathan Hill (The Nix) returns with a poignant and funny portrayal of a modern marriage in Wellness. Set over the course of several decades, this is a tender and intimate story of a couple trying to grow and change as individuals without losing each other. Hill joins us on our Poured Over podcast in September to talk about his smart, bittersweet novel.  

From the author of the bestselling novel Luckiest Girl Alive comes a psychological thriller about two women seeking justice in response to the murders of their friends. An unflinching story that flips the script on the cultural glorification of male serial killers, Bright Young Women shines a new light on the women whose stories are often glazed over in culture’s fascination with true crime and murderers.  

Our favorite elderly sleuths are back for the fourth book in the Thursday Murder Club series. After an old friend dies, the gang must try to figure out who to trust as they search for a missing package. Pick up our Barnes and Noble exclusive edition for special end papers and a bonus short story. 

A new standalone from William Kent Krueger, The River We Remember is a historical thriller about the wounds of war and the battles veterans fight after returning home. Our exclusive edition is signed by the author and includes an original bonus essay. 

Ann Cleeves returns with the third installment in her series about Detective Matthew Venn, and this time, Venn finds his judgement clouded by the murder of a celebrity and his own haunted connections to the town. No one is safe in this small community that circulates superstitions and rumors in a perfect storm of secrets. 

Kick off Spooky Season with a shiver-inducing story from the King of Horror himself. In Holly, one of Stephen King’s most beloved characters finally gets to be the center of her own story. See if she can outmaneuver two creepy octogenarians ruthlessly hiding a twisted secret as she tries to find a missing daughter in King’s latest.  

V. E. Schwab (The Invisible Life of Addie Larue) returns to the Shades of Magic Series with an all-new installment. Return to old friends and meet new enemies while the fate of four worlds hangs in the balance, pick up our exclusive edition for a short story about a pair of mercenaries who try to kill each other between jobs, and then tune into our Poured Over podcast with V. E. Schwab next month.  

When we first encountered acclaimed classicist Emily Wilson’s translation of The Odyssey, we knew Homer’s stories were in good hands. Her masterful translation and unique language bring readers back to ancient worlds and heroic conquests in her fresh, lean and highly readable rendering of The Iliad — it’s clear she’s done it again.  

Never give up on a turtle. This motto of the Turtle Rescue League’s founders might have you asking: what is it about turtles that inspires such devotion? Bestselling author Sy Montgomery (The Soul of an Octopus) answers that question in this compassionate and curious blend of memoir and natural science — and get ready for even more answers when she joins us on our Poured Over podcast this fall.  

Heather Cox Richardson (How the South Won the Civil War), historian and author of the popular daily newsletter “Letters From an American”, will change the way you read the daily news with her latest book. Democracy Awakening is a thought-provoking history of American democracy and its struggles.  

A painstaking account of the last forty years of education reform, Punished for Dreaming is an urgent book about the effects of poverty, housing, healthcare and policing on Black children in education. A detailed and persuasive call to action, Dr. Bettina Love’s latest book sits in conversation with The New Jim Crow, Caste and Poverty, By America in an unflinching critique of the way “justice” has created even more disparity.  

If you haven’t yet encountered the passionate and personable GrossyPelosi on social media, then now is the time. Use his very fun debut cookbook to create delicious Italian American recipes — and learn helpful tips to make your time in the kitchen as stress-free as possible.