Barry, Kevin. The Heart in Winter. Doubleday. Jul. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9780385550598. $28. F

Barry’s debut novel won the Dublin Literary Prize and his third, Night Boat to Tangier, is being adapted for film. His latest is set in the 1890s in a Montana mining town, where immigrant Irish worker Tom falls for the wrong woman; the young lovers run away together with a posse of gunmen in hot pursuit.

Gatwood, Olivia. Whoever You Are, Honey. Dial. Jul. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780593230442. $27. F

Following her poetry collection Life of the Party, Gatwood makes her fiction debut with a story that explores women’s identities and AI. On the outskirts of Silicon Valley, Mitty occupies a dilapidated bungalow in a town taken over by the tech elite. Her growing friendship with Lena, the new neighbor, will change everything as they confront their pasts.

Hur, Anton. Toward Eternity. HarperVia. Jul. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9780063344488. $26.99. F

Hur, an acclaimed translator, debuts with a thought-provoking speculative novel set in a near-future world in which robot nanites replace cancerous body cells and a living, thinking AI, with an understanding of poetry, gains freedom in an android body. Hur considers the definition of humanity and personhood and the consequences of technological progress.

Kang, Minsoo. The Melancholy of Untold History. Morrow. Jul. 2024. 240p. ISBN 9780063337503. $28. F

Historian Kang offers a debut novel inspired by East Asian mythology. Spanning thousands of years and interweaving multiple stories—a history professor mourning his wife, his protégé, four mountain gods, and a storyteller—the book deals with love, loss, and the idea of storytelling.

Kọ́láwọlé, Samuel. The Road to the Salt Sea. Amistad: HarperCollins. Jul. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780063050853. $28.99. F

Writing professor Kọ́láwọlé’s debut reflects upon the global migration crisis. Able God works at an upscale hotel in Nigeria, but an incident sends him running into the desert with a group of migrants. They dream of starting a new life in Europe but fall prey to human traffickers and must fight for their lives and freedom.

Manguso, Sarah. Liars. Hogarth: Crown. Jul. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9780593241257. $28. F

Manguso’s previous novel was the multi-best-booked Very Cold People. Her latest examines what it means to be a creative person in domestic life, as aspiring writer Jane marries filmmaker John and becomes a wife and mother. Their marriage falters as Jane’s career flourishes. Then John leaves, and Jane has to overcome the aftermath.

McKenna, Oisín. Evenings and Weekends. Mariner. Jul. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780063319974. $30. F

McKenna was named one of Ireland’s best spoken-word artists by the Irish Times and makes his grant-funded debut, set during a heatwave in 2019 London, where a whale is stuck in the Thames River and four acquaintances cross paths at a life-changing party.

Mengestu, Dinaw. Someone Like Us. Knopf. Jul. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9780385350006. $28. F

Award-winning Mengestu, whose three previous novels were all NYT Notable Books, here writes about the son of Ethiopian immigrants, Mamush, whose father’s unexpected death sends him on a journey for answers about his family’s past—which also affects his relationship with his wife and two-year-old son.

Mengestu, Dinaw. Someone Like Us. Knopf. Jul. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9780385350006. $28. F

Award-winning Mengestu, whose three previous novels were all NYT Notable Books, here writes about the son of Ethiopian immigrants, Mamush, whose father’s unexpected death sends him on a journey for answers about his family’s past—which also affects his relationship with his wife and two-year-old son.


Sennaar, Mai. They Dream in Gold. SJP Lit: Zando. Jul. 2024. 432p. ISBN 9781638931102. $28. F

Sennaar’s debut explores the African diaspora through a multigenerational story set in the Swiss countryside in 1969. Mama Eva prepares for the opening of her Senegalese restaurant, while her pregnant daughter-in-law anxiously waits for her overdue musician husband, Mansour, to return from tour. As the women share stories, their pasts, and the truth of Mansour’s disappearance, are revealed. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Thanki, Asha. A Thousand Times Before. Viking. Jul. 2024. 368p. ISBN 9780593654644. $29. F

Won in a heated auction, Thanki’s debut spans Partition-era India to modern-day Brooklyn as it follows generations of women who inherit a mysterious tapestry that allows them to experience the memories of those who came before. As Ayukta considers having a child with her wife, she must share the secret and consider if she should pass on her complicated inheritance.

Thompson, August. Anyone’s Ghost. Penguin Pr. Jul. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780593656563. $28. F

Thompson debuts with a coming-of-age story of love and tragic loss framed by a series of car crashes. Theron was there for the first two crashes—one during the summer he met Jake as a teenager in rural New Hampshire, and the second six years later in NYC—but he’s not there for the crash that kills Jake.

Todd, Ruby. Bright Objects. S. & S. Jul. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9781668053218. $28.99. F

In a debut that blends mystery, astronomy, and romance, young widow Sylvia searches for her husband’s killer as a rare comet becomes visible. A mystic claims that the comet is a divine message, and her town descends into a fervor over the comet in this literary thriller that considers the lengths people go to in pursuit of an obsession.

Vlautin, Willy. The Horse. Harper. Jul. 2024. 208p. ISBN 9780063346574. $25.99. F

Al Ward lives on an isolated mining claim in Nevada while insomnia and anxiety consume him. When a horse appears, Al considers whether it is real, and thinks back over his life as a musician as he considers how he ended up in this state. Vlautin’s The Night Always Comes was an Indie Next and a LibraryReads pick.

Yagisawa, Satoshi. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Harper Perennial. Jul. 2024. 176p. tr. from Japanese by Eric Ozawa. ISBN 9780063278714. pap. $17.99. F

Readers clamored for Yagisawa’s charming and internationally best-selling Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, a poignant and thoughtful portrayal of book lovers and bookstores. Here he returns to to the same bookshop in Tokyo’s famous used-bookstore district, revisiting store owner Takako and his niece Satoru as they decide whether or not to close the shop.

Zaher, Yasmin. The Coin. Catapult. Jul. 2024. 240p. ISBN 9781646222100. $27. F

In Zaher’s debut, a stylish young Palestinian woman strives to create her ideal self in the U.S. She’s teaching at a New York City middle school but is also involved in a scheme reselling Birkin bags. Attempting to feel more in control of her life, she becomes preoccupied with purity and cleanliness until ultimately, she spectacularly unravels.