The tensions of postwar America and expectations of womanhood play out across two Midwest families in this character-driven, emotionally resonant period piece by Silver, one of California’s most celebrated contemporary writers. Beginning in 1971, we alight on the relationship of two matriarchs thrust together by the imminent marriage of their children, and probe the relationship within their families and descendants, while flashing back to their respective childhoods. The 12 linked chapters span three generations of women, covering nearly a century of American social change. (Sept. 2)

Like his New York Times bestselling debut(and Oprah and Obama pick), The Sweetness of Water, the Chicago writer’s new novel focuses on the period following the Civil War. In the newly postbellum South – where beauty’s entwined with menace – two formerly enslaved siblings are kidnapped and pursued by their former master. As they discover the reality and complexity of emancipation, they must figure out how to take the freedom that’s theirs. (Sept. 2)

Ramage, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation who lives in Nashville, says she began writing this novel a decade ago in the hope of finding an answer to the question, “What does it feel like to be Indigenous now?” The engaging story about a young woman’s dream – and relentless journey – to become the first Cherokee astronaut, changed shape several times but the issues of identity and belonging stayed. (Sept. 2)

In this ninth adventure of the merry band of MI5 screwups known as “slow horses,” a secret long thought buried is revealed, while misdeeds that occurred during the Troubles come to light—all in Herron’s signature quipping prose. His cynical, shrewd tangle of espionage and scheming, as well as his agents’ oddly effective insubordination helps make the argument that Herron deserves the moniker of heir apparent to anti-Bond maverick Len Deighton. To further delight his devotees (like me), a fifth season of the Emmy Award–winning streaming adaptation with Gary Oldman and Kristin Scott Thomas arrives on Sept. 24, and a new series based on Herron’s detective debut Down Cemetery Road is out Oct. 29, starring Emma Thompson. (Sept. 9)

For a glimpse of what lies ahead for The Gilded Age, this Canadian author’s historical novel of Russian-born radicals (Sasha Berkman and one-time Toronto resident Emma Goldman) is a good primer. Set in 1890 New York, with its divided social landscape, Anarchists in Love has more drama than Julian Fellowes could dream up: polyamory, worker rights, class struggle and women’s suffrage, all standing in opposition to the anti-union propaganda of powerful industrialist Henry Clay Frick, one of the era’s robber barons. There’s even a Luigi-esque assassination plot. (Sept. 15)

Mickalene Thomas’s cover art draws out elements of Black women’s friendships probed in Flournoy’s latest – the big city dreams, political uncertainty, food, music, gossip, grief and laughter. The much-awaited second novel from acclaimed The Turner House author (a finalist for the National Book Award) covers a 26-year span of five now-middle-aged women as they figure out what their next chapter will look like. One of the season’s must reads, The Wilderness is a finalist for the Kirkus Prize.

(Sept. 16)

The prize-winning New Zealand author’s elaborately plotted latest is being likened to Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go, for the relationship between the past and the present, and the difficulty of restoring innocence. In an alternate, science fiction-tinged history – where the Second World War had no victor – 13-year-old triplets remain in an orphanage that harbours dark origin stories – secrets the three boys eventually share with a 13-year-old girl living nearby. A haunting read. (Sept. 16)

Out of the frying pan and into the fire – or from dark academia into publishing, as this case may be. In the follow-up to her hallucinatory 2019 hit Bunny, about navigating harsh university cliques, Awad’s heroine Samantha is now a published author on a book tour when she gets kidnapped by her frenemies, the Bunnies. Described as Heathers meets Frankenstein, this sequel pulls us back to a literary landscape worth revisiting. (Sept. 23)

For her first novel in nearly 20 years, the Booker winner (The Inheritance of Loss) traces two Indian expats on linked trajectories, one in New York, the other recently returned to India, as they pursue and navigate success on their own terms. At 650 pages, it’s a brick of a book. But it has to be in order to do justice to the incredible sense of place and the sweep of themes: the performance of class, being an outsider and forging connections. The result is a politically and culturally acute family saga that has been nominated for this year’s Booker and Kirkus prizes. (Sept. 23)

The Booker Prize winner (for 1998’s Amsterdam) tackles a post-apocalyptic story: in 2119, as  the U.K. lowlands are partly submerged by rising seas, local survivors become obsessed with a poem found in the archives from 2014. It’s pitched as a literary love story and a murder mystery.  “This is a novel about history, and what we can know of it, and of each other,” McEwan said when it was announced. “I’ve written a novel about a quest, a crime, revenge, fame, a tangled love affair, mental illness, love of nature and poetry, and how, through all natural and self-inflicted catastrophes, we have the knack of surviving somehow.” (Sept. 23)

Readers have been waiting for the next book since the the award-winning Laotian-
Canadian poet won the 2020 Giller and O. Henry for her short story collection How to
Pronounce Knife. This novel of class, labour and loneliness is unfurls over the course of
a typical summer day. It’s a day in the life (and internal monologue) of Ning, a quirky
and conflicted nail salon owner, overseeing staff as they toil over oblivious privileged
clients. To them, she’s one of the five generic, interchangeable immigrant service
workers (all named Susan). It’s a simple story that will linger with you. (Sept. 30)

The Dutch Renaissance artist Maria van Oosterwijck has only recently been recognized by the so-called canon. And now her life story forms the basis of a new offering from Sarah Jessica Parker’s literary imprint. Behind closed doors in 17th-century Amsterdam, Maria and her companion Gerta find a way to defy the strictures of class and gender in order to follow their romantic and artistic instincts. I’ve been waiting for a  love story of art, sex and politics that’s as engrossing as The Miniaturist (which was inspired by another Rijksmuseum work, Petronella Oortman’s doll house) and this might finally be it. (Sept. 30)