Aw, Tash. The South. Farrar. May 2025. ISBN 9780374616281. 304p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

In award-winning Aw’s (We, the Survivors) latest, Jay and his family have inherited a farm suffering from drought and disrepair. Jay’s father sends him to work the land, and he’s drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager. Over the course of the summer, Jay and Chuan’s connection intensifies, and their families face their own secrets.

Azar, Shokoofeh. The Gowkaran Tree in the Middle of Our Kitchen. Europa. May 2025. ISBN 9798889660972. 624p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Azar (author of The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, an LJ Best Book that was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize) writes a story spanning 50 years in modern Iran. It follows 12 children who were lost inside a mysterious palace one night. Their lives play out against the backdrop of war, revolution, and cultural transformation.

Crane, Marisa. A Sharp Endless Need. Dial. May 2025. ISBN 9780593733646. 272p. $27. LITERARY FICTION

Lambda Award winner Crane (I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself) returns with a coming-of-age novel about two teammates on a rural high school basketball team in 2004. Mack and new student Liv find chemistry on and off the court during their senior year, but Mack will have to fight for the life she wants.

Kwan, Susanna. Awake in the Floating City. Pantheon. May 2025. ISBN 9780593701409. 320p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Kwan debuts with a novel set in a flooded future San Francisco. After Bo’s mother was lost in a storm surge, she knows she should leave the drowning city. When an elderly woman in her building wants to hire her as a caregiver, Bo decides to stay, and they forge an unexpected friendship.

Lunzer, Fred. Sike. Celadon. May 2025. ISBN 9781250343123. 288p. $27.99. LITERARY FICTION

Lunzer writes a near-future debut novel in which Sike, an AI psychotherapy app, reshapes human interaction. Songwriter Adrian decides to try Sike after his latest failed relationship. Soon he falls for venture capitalist Maquie, who refuses to use the app. Alternating between their perspectives, the story follows their first year together and the impact of AI. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Ngangura, Tarisai. The Ones We Loved. Park Row. May 2025. ISBN 9780778387589. 304p. $28.99. LITERARY FICTION

Ngangura’s debut highlights the traditions of Zimbabwean oral storytelling, blending fable and fiction in a narrative that shifts back and forth in time. As three strangers escape for their lives—running from a crime, a loss, and a haunted past—their paths converge on a bus traveling across the rural landscape.

Ogrodnik, Mo. Gulf. Summit. May 2025. ISBN 9781668072141. 432p. $29.99. LITERARY FICTION

Ogrodnik, a filmmaker, writer, and profes­sor at NYU, makes her debut with this tale of five women from across the globe whose lives intersect in the Arabian Gulf. The women, all from vastly difference backgrounds, find that their actions of rebellion and resilience result in profound consequences as they navigate their challenging situations.

Ryan, Donal. Heart, Be at Peace. Viking. May 2025. ISBN 9780593834640. 208p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Ryan (The Queen of Dirt Island), a three-time Booker nominee and four-time winner of Irish Book of the Year, writes about a small town in rural Ireland, the same community featured in his acclaimed 2014 novel The Spinning Heart. Told in 21 voices, the story explores the forces that divide and bring people together as they try to weather past and present traumas.

Swift, Graham. Twelve Post-War Tales. Knopf. May 2025. ISBN 9780593803387. 176p. $27. LITERARY FICTION

Booker Prize winner Swift (Here We Are) presents a collection of new and previously published stories about lives shaped and haunted by war, from the aftermath of World War II to the Cuban Missile Crisis of the 1960s and into the present. Scheduled to be published the week of the 80th anniversary of V-E Day.

Thien, Madeleine. The Book of Records. Norton. May 2025. ISBN 9781324078654. 352p. $28.99. LITERARY FICTION

Lina and her father arrive at an enclave called “the Sea,” a mysterious place where people from the past and future collide, and Lina reckons with her family’s past. Thien (author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a Booker Prize finalist) considers fate, faith, and the search for home in this century-spanning novel.

Wei, Jemimah. The Original Daughter. Doubleday. May 2025. ISBN 9780385551014. 368p. $30. LITERARY FICTION

Stegner Fellow Wei sets her debut novel in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore. Sisters Genevieve and Arin depend solely on each other as they pursue academics and seek a better future. When a betrayal estranges them, Genevieve must reconsider her own ambitions and allegiances.