The August 2023 Prepub Alert posts are also available as a downloadable spreadsheet of titles. 

Fiction

MYSTERY

Andrews, Donna. Birder, She Wrote. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Meg Langslow Mystery, Bk. 33). Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250760241. $28. MYSTERY/COZY

Drafted by the mayor to run interference when rich newcomers complain about living next to working farms, Meg Langslow also finds herself drafted by her grandmother to help her and a Baptist church deacon find a Black cemetery. Instead, they stumble upon a fresh corpse. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Childs, Laura. Honey Drop Dead. Berkley. (Tea Shop Mystery, Bk. 26). Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780593200957. $28. MYSTERY/COZY

Tea maven Theodosia Browning’s Honey Bee Tea at Charleston’s new Petigru Park is mightily disrupted when an impostor beekeeper sprays the guests with toxic fumes, the paintings on display are ripped to ruins, and a guest—Osgood Claxton III, who’s running for state legislature–is shot dead. Now Theodosia has lots of cleanup to do, including finding a killer.

Finch, Charles. The Hidden City. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Charles Lenox Mysteries, Bk. 15). Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250767165. $28. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Recuperating from the trauma sustained during his investigations in Gilded Age New York and Newport (see An Extravagant Death), patrician sleuth Charles Lenox enjoys strolling around 1879 London. Along the way, he starts mapping odd markings on several buildings, which leads him to some nasty secrets. Meanwhile, his wife, Lady Jane, is secretly becoming interested in suffrage. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Hirahara, Naomi. Evergreen. Soho Crime. (Japantown Mystery, Bk. 2). Aug. 2023. 312p. ISBN 9781641293594. $27.95. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Two years after their release from the Manzanar concentration camp, Aki Ito and her family can finally return to California, where they live in a low-income hotel that’s soon shattered by a murder. In addition, Aki is working as a nurse’s aide when an older Issei man is admitted to the hospital with suspicious injuries. Following the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning Clark and Division.

Manning, Kirsty. The Paris Mystery. Vintage. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780593685549. pap. $17. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Looking for her big break in 1938 Paris, reporter Charlotte "Charlie" James plans to network at Lady Ashworth’s circus-themed costume ball, which everyone who is anyone will attend. Unfortunately, along with the jazz and champagne, there’s a murder. Australian author Manning entered the U.S. market in 2019 with the nicely received The Song of the Jade Lily.

Nesbø, Jo. Killing Moon. Knopf. (Harry Hole, Bk. 13). Aug. 2023. 464p. tr. from Norwegian by Sean Kinsella. ISBN 9780593536964. $29. MYSTERY/INTERNATIONAL

When a serial killer strikes in Oslo, the legendary Harry Hole is in Los Angeles, fired from his job and slowly drowning in drink. Then he learns that a woman who once saved his life is seriously endangered by the case, and he returns home to head a ragtag team of former operatives intent on capturing the culprit.

Preston, Douglas & Lincoln Child. Dead Mountain. Grand Central. (Nora Kelly, Bk. 4). Aug. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781538736821. $30. MYSTERY/POLICE PROCEDURAL

Years ago, nine winter backpackers perished in the New Mexico mountains, with the six bodies recovered suggesting that they were terrified by something—they ran barefoot into a blizzard. Now two more bodies have been found, one a suicide, and FBI Agent Corrie Swanson again joins with archaeologist Nora Kelly to discover what happened. Echoing a much-puzzled-over 1959 tragedy at Russia’s Dyatlov Pass, which Preston reassessed recently in The New Yorker.

Pryor, Mark. The Dark Edge of Night. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Henri Lefort Mystery, Bk. 2). Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781250825049. $28. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

The Germans occupying Paris in winter 1940 have compelled Police Inspector Henri Lefort to investigate the disappearance of neurologist Viktor Brandt, though Lefort would rather be pursuing the beating death of a Frenchman. Then he finds a link between the two cases. Series starter Die Around Sundown had a somewhat uneven critical reception but clearly had fans; the second book has a 50,000-copy first printing, along with the same intriguing setting.

Schaffhausen, Joanna. Dead and Gone. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 336. ISBN 9781250853370. $28. MYSTERY/POLICE PROCEDURAL

Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega is investigating the hanging death of former colleague Sam Tran when she learns that her own brother had recently asked Sam to track a stalker on his daughter’s college campus. To protect her niece, Annalisa plunges into a search for the stalker while reassessing Sam’s remaining cases. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

LITERARY FICTION

Acevedo, Elizabeth. Family Lore. Ecco. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780063207264. $30. CD. LITERARY

From National Book Award–winning YA author Acevedo, this first adult novel tells the story of a Dominican American family through its women. Flor is planning a wake, which understandably alarms her sisters, as she is able to predict the day of a person’s death. All the sisters, plus their nieces, teeter on the brink of major decisions. With a 250,000-copy first printing.

Barnhardt, Wilton. Western Alliances. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9781250090003. $29. Downloadable. CD. LITERARY

Author of the New York Times best-selling Lookaway, Lookaway, Barnhardt returns after a decade with a family saga featuring the dysfunctional Costa family, headed by Wall Street banker Salvador. Children Roberto and Rachel, who live off him instead of holding jobs, are beginning to examine their father’s actions as they tootle around Europe. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

Duncan, David James. Sun House. Little, Brown. Aug. 2023. 800p. ISBN 9780316129374. $35. Downloadable. LITERARY

A Jesuit priest questioning his faith after a Mexican girl’s senseless death. An actor who cannot get over losing his mother as a child. A young woman suddenly imbued with love for the world. All join on a solace-seeking journey to the area surrounding Montana's Elkmoon Beguine & Cattle Company. National Book Award finalist Duncan has been working on this saga for 16 years; with a 75,000-copy first printing.

Hoffman, Alice. The Invisible Hour. Atria. Aug. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9781982175375. $27.99. CD. LITERARY

Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter speaks directly to Mia Jacob, who lives in a repressive religious community in contemporary Massachusetts and recognizes her mother in Hawthorne’s Hester. Reading allows her to break the bonds that restrain her, even the bonds of time. From the ever magical, ever best-selling Hoffman.

Kiesling, Lydia. Mobility. Crooked Media: Zando. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781638930563. $28. LITERARY

A National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree for Golden State, Kiesling discloses the geopolitical tensions of the early 2000s as she tracks Bunny Glenn from her teenage years in Azerbaijan with her Foreign Service family through her career in the oil industry. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

McBride, James. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. Riverhead. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593422946. $28. lrg. prnt. CD. LITERARY

In this follow-up to the New York Times best-selling, Oprah’s Book Club–honored Deacon King Kong, a skeleton is discovered when foundations are dug in a 1970s Black and immigrant Jewish neighborhood in Pottstown, PA. And that might have something to do with efforts by residents to protect a deaf boy from institutionalization.

Mannion, Una. Tell Me What I Am. Harper. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780063314771. $30. LITERARY

When her sister Deena disappeared in 2004 Philadelphia, Nessa suspected Deena’s ex-husband of getting away with murder. Now he’s raising Nessa’s niece, Ruby, in upstate New York, and Ruby is starting to wonder what happened to her mother. From Philadelphia-born, County Sligo, Ireland–based Mannion, author of the Kate O’Brien Award–winning A Crooked Tree; with a 40,000-copy first printing.

Murray, Paul. The Bee Sting. Farrar. Aug. 2023. 656p. ISBN 9780374600303. $30. LITERARY

His once-gilded car business is going under, but Dickie Barnes would rather spend his time building a doomsday bunker in the woods. Meanwhile, his wife is selling her jewelry, his straight-A teenage daughter has turned to drink, and son PJ is planning to run away. What went wrong? From National Book Award finalist Murray (Skippy Dies); with a 75,000-copy first printing.

Sacks, Rebecca. The Lover. Harper. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780063284234. $29.99. CD. LITERARY

While studying in Tel Aviv, Canadian Allison falls in love with Israeli soldier Eyal. They’re inseparable whenever he’s home on leave, but something dynamites their relationship after his troubled return from an invasion of Gaza. Following Sacks’s debut, the Kafka Prize–winning City of a Thousand Gates.

Santiago, Esmeralda. Las Madres. Knopf. Aug. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780307962614. $28. LITERARY

In 2017, Luz returns home to Puerto Rico with family and friends—the “madres” of the title—hoping to recover memories lost in a 1975 accident that took the lives of her accomplished scientist parents. The first novel in a decade from an author whose memoir When I Was Puerto Rican was a major best seller.

Skyhorse, Brando. My Name Is Iris. Avid Reader: S. & S. Aug. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781982177850. $28. LITERARY

Meant to replace driver's licenses and other IDs, the high-tech wristband pitched by a Silicon Valley startup is issued only to those who can prove parental citizenship. As such, second-generation Mexican American Iris Prince (and millions of others) are suddenly “of unverifiable origin.” From the author of the PEN/Hemingway Award–winning The Madonnas of Echo Park.

Yu Miri. The End of August. Riverhead. Aug. 2023. 656p. tr. from Japanese by Morgan Giles. ISBN 9780593542668. $30. LITERARY

Lee Woo-cheol wants to compete in the Olympics, but because he lives in 1930s Japanese-occupied Korea, he would have to run under Japan’s flag. Decades later, when his Japan-based granddaughter plans to run a marathon, she asks Korean shamans to perform a ritual connecting her to his ghost. The author’s Tokyo Ueno Station won the 2020 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Short Stories

Brinkley, Jamel. Witness: Stories. Farrar. Aug. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9780374607036. $26. LITERARY

Chang, Alexandra. Tomb Sweeping: Stories. Ecco. Aug. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9780062951847. pap. $18.99. CD. LITERARY

Hadley, Tess. After the Funeral and Other Stories. Knopf. Jul. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9780593536193. $28. LITERARY

Millhauser, Steven. Disruptions: Stories. Knopf. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780593535417. $28. LITERARY

Oates, Joyce Carol. Zero Sum: Stories. Knopf. Jul. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9780593535868. $29. LITERARY

Watkins, LaToya. Holler, Child: Stories. Tiny Reparations: Random. Aug. 2023. 224p. ISBN 9780593185940. $27. LITERARY

From National Book Award finalist Brinkley, Witness offers 10 New York City–set stories about characters from children to ghosts who must decide whether or not to take moral action (75,000-copy first printing). From a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, Chang’s Tomb Sweeping sweeps across the United States and Asia as characters from immigrants to expectant parents to bonding strangers plumb the concept of loyalty (50,000-copy first printing). In After the Funeral and Other Stories, Windham-Campbell honoree Hadley shows how events can reverberate for a lifetime, as when a woman meets someone connected to her father’s death decades later and long-estranged sisters ignore each other when they inadvertently meet at a fancy hotel. The Pulitzer Prize–winning Millhauser’s Disruptions reveals the unsettling oddness within the everyday, as a woman drinks alone in her well-appointed home and a caller is drawn into heartfelt meditations by a prerecorded customer service message. In Zero Sum, the acclaimed Oates returns with high-stakes stories that include a woman confiding her fears about a stalker to the wrong person and teenage girls bent on punishing a sexual predator in their midst. Watkins follows up the warmly received debut novel Perish with a debut collection, Holler, Child, that continues her exploration of family in a Texas setting.

Literary Fiction Debuts

Alam, Nigar. Under the Tamarind Tree. Putnam. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780593544075. $27. LITERARY

Pakistan-born Alam revisits the horrors of Partition as she introduces us to Rozeena, thinking back on its consequences as she struggles to keep herself and her parents safe in 1960s Karachi even as her childhood friendships begin to crumble. Decades later, a request to watch after a friend’s teenage daughter brings back the past. Part of a surge of new books, fiction and nonfiction, addressing the Partition.

Binyam, Maya. Hangman. Farrar. Aug. 2023. 208p. ISBN 9780374610074. $25. LITERARY

A sub-Saharan immigrant who has been in the United States for a quarter century receives a mysterious call telling him to board a flight home, and the place he encounters when he lands seems entirely unfamiliar. While there, he ends up searching for his brother. A book about the impossibility of finding Black refuge; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Googins, Nick Fuller. The Great Transition. Atria. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781668010754. $27.99. LITERARY

After a dozen climate criminals are assassinated in a dystopian near-future, Emi Vargas’s mother disappears—not surprisingly, as she’s a suspect in the killings. To find her, Emi and her father travel from Greenland to a climate change–wrecked New York City, but they aren’t alone in their hunt. A big promotional push.

Hertz, Kyle Dillon. The Lookback Window. S. & S. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781668005873. $26.99. CD. LITERARY

For three years, Dylan was a victim of sex trafficking, with his abuser, Vincent, promising to marry him when he turned 18. As an adult, he’s managed to build a life for himself with his fiancé, Moans, but then the newly passed Child Victims Act grants him the right to sue Vincent. Is that the sort of justice he wants, and can he bear revisiting the past? Timely.

Khabushani, Khashayar J. I Will Greet the Sun Again. Hogarth: Crown. Aug. 2023. $27. ISBN 9780593243305. $27. LITERARY

K wants to live like any other kid in the United States, shooting hoops with his brother and tooling around the San Fernando Valley with his friends. Instead, he’s worried about being a good Iranian American son, trying to understand a father both tender and violent, and struggling with his own emerging sexuality. Key themes of immigration and queerness for readers today.

Zhorov, Irina. Lost Believers. Scribner. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781668011539. $28. LITERARY

In the 1970s, young Soviet geologist Galina is sailing above Siberia in a helicopter, scouting for minerals, when she spots a little hut surrounded by a garden. Investigating further, she discovers a family descended from the Old Believers who fled persecution by the Russian Orthodox Church. Even as she befriends matriarch Agafia, Galina realizes that her mission could wreck Agafia’s home. From Uzbekistan-born, U.S.-based Zhorov, a story of friendship, Soviet politics, and environmental crisis.

THRILLER SERIES

Bentley, Don. Tom Clancy Untitled. Putnam. (Jack Ryan Jr., Bk. 11). Aug. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9780593422816. $29.95. CD. THRILLER

Byrne, James. Deadlock: A Thriller. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Dez Limerick Novel, Bk. 2). Aug. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781250805782. $28. Downloadable. THRILLER

Glass, Ava. Game of Spies. Bantam. Aug. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9780593496824. $28. THRILLER

Graham, Heather. Cursed at Dawn. Mira: Harlequin. (Blackbird Trilogy). Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780778305217. $30; pap. ISBN 9780778334262. $9.99. THRILLER

Lodge, Gytha. A Killer in the Family. Random House Trade Paperbacks. (Jonah Sheens Detective, Bk, 5). Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780593242940. pap. $16.99. THRILLER

Moore, Taylor. Ricochet. Morrow. (Garrett Kohl, Bk. 3). Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780063292376. $30. CD. THRILLER

Reichs, Kathy. The Bone Hacker. Scribner. (Temperance Brennan, Bk. 22). Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781982190057. $27.99. CD. THRILLER

Rose, Karen. Beneath Dark Waters. Berkley. (New Orleans Novel, Bk. 2). Aug. 2023. 592p. ISBN 9780593336328. $28. THRILLER

Slaughter, Karin. After That Night. Morrow. (Will Trent Thriller, Bk. 11). Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780063157781. $32. lrg. prnt. THRILLER

In Bentley’s Tom Clancy Untitled, the second of three Clancy titles this year, Jack Ryan Jr. stands ready to protect President Jack Ryan Sr. from Chinese threats; going forward, three Clancy titles will be published each year, alternating between one or two Jack Jr. and one or two Jack Sr. titles. Following Byrne’s debut, the LJ-starred The Gatekeeper, Deadlock sends retired mercenary and eager band member Desmond (“Dez”) Aloysius Limerick to Portland, OR, to help a fellow musician’s sister, hospitalized by an attack following her coverage of an auditor himself killed while assessing a major multinational technology company (150,000-copy first printing). In Glass’s Alias Emma follow-up, Game of Spies, British spy Emma Makepeace goes undercover on a Russian oligarch’s superyacht after an MI6 agent is assassinated. Wrapping up a trilogy spun from Graham's “Krewe of Hunters” series, Cursed at Dawn pits FBI agents Della Hamilton and Mason Carter against self-proclaimed king of the vampires Stephan Dante, who’s just escaped from prison (400,000-copy paperback and 10,0000-copy hardcover first printing). In Lodge’s A Killer in the Family, a woman who uploaded her DNA with hopes of finding her missing father is instead contacted by series star Jonah Sheens, who explains that her DNA matches that of a serial killer. In Moore’s Ricochet, DEA Special Agent Garrett Kohl agrees to launch a hush-hush investigation at a nuclear weapons plant near his Texas ranch and discovers that Iranian operatives are blackmailing plant employees, aiming for sabotage. As she examines the deeply seared body of a lightning-strike victim in Reichs’s The Bone Hacker, durable forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan discovers an odd tattoo that ultimately leads her to the disappearance of young male tourists on the Turks and Caicos Islands over the last seven years. Rollins's Following the series starter Quarter to Midnight, Rose’s Beneath Dark Waters features new-in-town New Orleans public prosecutor J.P. “Kaj” Cardozo, who turns to Val Sorensen of Broussard Investigations when his young son is threatened with kidnapping. In After That Night, Slaughter returns with Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton (250,000-copy first printing).

THRILLER STAND-ALONES

Beukes, Lauren. Bridge: A Novel of Suspense. Mulholland: Little, Brown. Aug. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9780316267885. $29. Downloadable. THRILLER

Estranged from neuroscientist mother Jo owing to Jo’s obsessive belief in the dreamworm, said to facilitate travel to alternate worlds, Bridget Kittinger is shocked to discover the dreamworm in the depths of the freezer after her mother’s death. Visiting other worlds might help Bridget understand this one, but, alas, others would kill to get the dreamworm for themselves. A speculative thriller from the author of The Shining Girls.

Brennan, Allison. North of Nowhere. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9781250164421. $28. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

For five years, teenagers Kristen and Ryan McIntyre have been running from their father, who’s head of a crime family. Now he’s close at hand, and the man who’s been their protector is desperately piloting them high above the Montana wilderness to escape. When the plane crashes, their army veteran aunt (also a protector) rushes to discover what’s happened. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Brown, Sandra. Untitled. Grand Central. Aug. 2023. 448p. ISBN 9781538742945. $30. CD. THRILLER

Gunshots suddenly splatter a Texas county fair, and corporate consultant Calder Hudson awakens in a hospital after surgery, lucky to have survived but still infuriated. Then he meets children’s book author Elle Portman, who was also at the fair, but can they sustain their growing attraction given the violence surrounding their meeting? From Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner Brown; with a 500,000-copy first printing.

Garza, Amber. In a Quiet Town. Mira: Harlequin. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780778334255. pap. $18.99. THRILLER

Wife of a rigid pastor, Tatum has stayed secretly in touch with their estranged daughter, Adrienne, and is alarmed to learn that she hasn’t shown up for her shift at the bar. Though Adrienne has always been a sterling employee, no one thinks there’s a problem until a man appears who claims to be Adrienne’s fiancé. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

Goldin, Megan. Dark Corners. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781250280688. $29. Downloadable. THRILLER

Though not billed as a series title, this work marks the return of Rachel Krall, the true-crime podcaster featured in Night Swim. Popular influencer Maddison Logan has gone missing after visiting a man jailed for breaking and entering but suspected of multiple murders, and Rachel goes undercover at a busy influencer conference to figure out where she is. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Heller, Peter. The Last Ranger. Knopf. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780593535110. $27. lrg. prnt. THRILLER

This latest from the nationally best-selling Heller (The River) is set in Yellowstone National Park, where enforcement ranger Ren Hopper encounters a local poacher chasing a small black bear. The situation escalates to shattered windshields, red-ribboned animal traps, and finally conspiracy, highlighting tensions between rich tourists and the local town’s struggling residents.

Hightower, Lynn. The Beautiful Risk. Severn House. Aug. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781448309931. $24.99. THRILLER

In this latest from the internationally best-selling, Shamus Award–winning Hightower, hearing-impaired forensic accountant Junie Lagarde is adjusting to life without husband Olivier, a French safety consultant who died in a plane crash atop Mount Blanc. Then she’s sent a picture of a man who certainly looks like Olivier, with what appears to be the couple’s vanished German Shepherd.

Jaworowski, Ken. Small Town Sins. Holt. Aug. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9781250881670. $27.99. Downloadable. THRILLER

In a declining Pennsylvania coal and steel town, the actions of three people reveal their broken pasts and possibly threaten their lives. Volunteer fireman Nathan steals money he’s found in a burning building, nurse Callie risks illegality when she grants a dying young patient her final wish, and Andy, who’s recovering from heroin addiction, sets out to challenge a serial predator. From playwright Jaworowski, a staff editor at the New York Times; a debut novel with a 125,000-copy first printing.

Jewell, Lisa. None of This Is True. Atria. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781982179007. $28. CD. THRILLER

Podcaster Alix Summers encounters reticent Josie Fair at a local pub, then outside her children’s school, where Josie confides that her life is in upheaval and might make for an interesting podcast. She insinuates herself into Alix’s life but vanishes as the podcast is being made, and Alix becomes the subject of her own true-crime podcast. From the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Jewell.

Jones, Sandie. The Trade Off. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9781250836939. $29. Downloadable. CD. THRILLER

Deputy editor for the Daily Voice, Alex would do anything for a good story, but when she gleefully publishes scandalous information she’s given about a popular television personality, the woman commits suicide. Newbie reporter Jess is now working on the story and discovers that there’s a lot more to it than originally imagined. From the Reese’s Book Club honoree and New York Times best-selling Jones; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Joy, David. Those We Thought We Knew. Putnam. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780525536918. $28. THRILLER

A young Black artist returns to her North Carolina mountain home to trace her family history but instead turns her attention to the Confederate statue still standing in town. Meanwhile, the local deputies discover a drifter who turns out to be a high-up Klan member, and two violent crimes follow. From Dashiell Hammett Award winner Joy, though note that this is also BISACed as literary fiction.

McAllister, Gillian. Just Another Missing Person. Morrow. Aug. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9780063252394. $30. lrg. prnt. CD. THRILLER

For Julia, her latest case is particularly fraught: not only is 22-year-old Olivia missing after having been seen entering a dead-end alley, but the safety of Julia's own family depends on her not discovering what happened. From the Reese’s Book Club honoree and New York Times best-selling McAllister.

Patterson, James & Duane Swierczynski. Lion & Lamb. Little, Brown. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780316404891. $30. lrg. prnt. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Veena Lion, as smart as they come, and Cooper Lamb, investigator to the stars, are rival PIs working different sides of a high-profile case involving Grammy-winning singer Francine Hughes and her star quarterback husband, Archie Hughes. Patterson’s first novel set in Philadelphia; with a 400,000-copy first printing.

Pekkanen, Sarah. Gone Tonight. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781250283979. $29. CD/downloadable. THRILLER

Quiet, nose-to-the-grindstone Ruth Sterling lives for daughter Catherine, but that’s about to change; Catherine is aching to leave home. But Ruth is resistant; there's a reason the two have moved every few years and that Catherine knows nothing about Ruth’s past. With a 250,000-copy firsts printing.

White, Kiersten. Mister Magic. Del Rey: Ballantine. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780593359266. $28. THRILLER

The classic children’s program Mister Magic was shut down 30 years ago owing to a fatal accident, and after Val unexpectedly encounters her remaining castmates, they hold a reunion at the remote desert compound where the show was filmed. They never knew the identity of the show’s mysterious host, and Val is beginning to fear that they’ve been lured into a trap. From the No. 1 New York Times best-selling, Bram Stoker–honored White.

HISTORICAL FICTION

Benjamin, Melanie. California Golden. Delacorte. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780593497852. $28. CD. HISTORICAL

In 1960s California, Mindy and Ginger’s unconventional mother would rather be out surfing than hanging around at home, and the sisters miss out on basic motherly love. Mindy eventually proves to be a talented surfer herself, but Ginger looks for community among the burgeoning counterculture. From the New York Times best-selling author of The Aviator’s Wife.

Boyd, William. The Romantic. Knopf. Aug. 2023. 464p. ISBN 9780593536797. $28. HISTORICAL

As soldier, farmer, felon, and writer, County Cork–born adventurer Cashel Greville Ross travels across multiple continents during the 1800s, moving from Massachusetts to Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to Pisa, Italy, ever haunted by his one true love. From the Booker Prize short-listed Boyd, following Trio.

Chiaverini, Jennifer. Canary Girls. Morrow. Aug. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9780063080744. $32. lrg. prnt. CD. HISTORICAL

In this latest from historical fiction queen Chiaverini, the women urgently recruited by the British government to work in World War I munitions factories include Lucy Dempsey, wife of Olympic gold medal footballer Daniel Dempsey. Not surprisingly, she’s quickly drafted to play in the arsenal ladies’ football club, the Thornshire Canaries—so named because the toxic chemicals they handle turn their skin yellow, an issue forthrightly addressed in the book.

Donoghue, Emma. Learned by Heart. Little, Brown. Aug. 2023. 336p. ISBN 9780316564434. $28. CD/downloadable. HISTORICAL

The celebrated author of Room returns with a novel about orphaned heiress Eliza Raine, sent from India to England at age six, and rule-breaking Anne Lister, who meet and fall passionately in love at the Manor School in 1805 when they are 14. Drawing inspiration from Lister’s voluminous journal; with a 100,000-copy first printing.

Grodstein, Lauren. We Must Not Think of Ourselves. Algonquin: Hachette. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781643752341. $27. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

Asked to help secretly document events in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he’s forced to reside, Adam Paskow includes flatmate Sala Wiskoff among his subjects. Though she is married with two children, they fall in love. Then he discovers a possible escape route from the ghetto and must decide whom he can save. The New York Times best-selling Grodstein (A Friend of the Family) was inspired by an actual archive code-named Oneg Shabbat. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Han, Jimin. The Apology. Little, Brown. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780316367080. $28. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

Jeonga Cha strives to preserve her family’s good name, even sending away a daughter-in-law to hide an illegitimate birth, a decision that threatens to splinter the family decades later. The story is narrated by a 105-year-old South Korean woman who takes on ghosts in the afterlife to lift a family curse. From the author of the multi-best-booked A Small Revolution; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Martin, Madeline. The Keeper of Hidden Books. Hanover Square: Harlequin. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781335005779. $30; pap. ISBN 9781335455024. $18.99. HISTORICAL

Salvaging books from bombed-out buildings, Zofia and Janina build an underground library in German-occupied Warsaw, leaning on literature in hard times. It gets harder still when Janina is confined to the ghetto. Inspired by a true story, this work follows the New York Times best-selling The Last Bookshop in London. With a 150,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing.

North, Claire. House of Odysseus. Redhook: Hachette. (Songs of Penelope, Bk. 2). Aug. 2023. 464p. ISBN 9780316444002. $29. Downloadable. HISTORICAL

The World Fantasy Award–winning North works in multiple genres, here continuing a trilogy revisiting the Odyssey from a female perspective and thus joining many recent feminist retellings of Greek mythology. Awaiting her husband’s return, Penelope is caught between guilt-ridden, mother-murdering Orestes and his power-hungry uncle, Menelaus, king of Sparta, as war rages around them. With a 30,000-copy first printing.

Pearce, AJ. Mrs. Porter Calling. Scribner. (Emily Lake Chronicles, Bk. 3). Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781668007716. $28. HISTORICAL

The popular Pearce continues the story of rising journalist Emily Lake, now in charge of the “Yours Cheerfully” advice column in Woman’s Friend magazine in 1943 London. But the column is threatened when the Honorable Mrs. Cressida Porter becomes publisher and announces plans to turn the magazine into a glitzy fashion spread.

Power, Mona Susan. A Council of Dolls. Mariner: HarperCollins. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780063281097. $30. CD. HISTORICAL

The PEN Award–winning Power, an enrolled member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, chronicles three generations of Yanktonai Dakota women aided by their “council of dolls.” In the late 1800s, Cora’s beaded doll Winona is burned at the white-run school she’s forced to attend, but Winona’s spirit lingers. In the mid-1900s, a doll named Mae defends Lillian and her classmates at a similar school. And Sissy overcomes personal trauma in the Sixties with help from the doll Ethel. With a 75,000-copy first printing.

Williams, Pip. The Bookbinder. Ballantine. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593600443. $28. HISTORICAL

Peggy and sister Maude live on a narrowboat in Oxford and drudge through work at Oxford University Press’s book bindery, but Peggy wants more from life: to study books, not just bind them. Then World War I brings an influx of Belgian refugees into town, upending the world. Following the Reese’s Book Club pick The Dictionary of Lost Words.

FRIENDS, FAMILY, LOVERS 

Avery. Lara. The Year of Second Chances. Morrow. 384p. ISBN 9780063273757. $30. CONTEMPORARY

Award-winning YA author Avery (The Memory Book) goes adult with the story of newly widowed young widow Robin Lindstrom, who discovers that her husband signed her up for a dating service before he died because he didn’t want her to be alone. With a (75,000-copy first printing).

Burdette, Lucy. The Ingredients of Happiness. Severn House. Jul. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781448311149. $31.99. CONTEMPORARY

Taking a break from her multi-prize-short-listed “Key West Food Critic” mystery series, Burdette shares “the Ingredients of happiness” with the story of 32-year-old happiness guru Dr. Cooper Hunziker, whose picture-perfect life includes everything but happiness until she confronts a troubled past.

Dinan, Nicola. Bellies. Hanover Square: Harlequin. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781335490889. $30. LGBTQIA+

In Hong Kong/Kuala Lumpur–raised, London-based Dinan’s debut, two queer students connect wholeheartedly at a university drag-night event and launch a life together in London. Then Ming announces her intention to transition. With a 60,000-copy first printing.

Gundar-Goshen, Ayelet. The Wolf Hunt. Little, Brown. Aug. 2023. 320P. ISBN 9780316423472. $28. Downloadable. FAMILY

In this latest from Sapir Prize–winning Israeli author Gundar-Goshen, Black teenager Jamal dies of a drug overdose at a party held at the home of Israeli immigrants amid rumors of bad blood between him and the family’s son, Adam. With a 30,000-copy first printing.)

Leichter, Hilary. Terrace Story. Ecco. Aug. 2023. 208p. ISBN 9780063265813. $28. FAMILY

Annie and Edward live in a tiny apartment with daughter Rose, but a spacious terrace appears in the closet of whenever friend Stephanie visits. Still, there are repercussions. Based on a National Magazine Award–winning story and following Temporary, a finalist for NYPL Young Lions and Center for Fiction First Novel honors; with 75,000-copy first printing.

Lyon, J. Vanessa. Lush Lives. Roxane Gay: Grove Atlantic. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780802161987. $28. CONTEMPORARY/BLACK LIFE

Artist Glory Hopkins isn’t thrilled about inheriting her Aunt Lucille’s Harlem brownstone until she meets dynamic house appraiser Parkie de Groot. Still, theirs is a rocky relationship, and the house presents its own subtle mysteries. The second title from Roxane Gay Books.

Meltzer, Jean. Kissing Kosher. MIRA: Harlequin. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780778308096. $30; pap. ISBN 9780778334408. $18.99. ROMANTIC COMEDY/JEWISH LIFE

In this fitting follow-up to Meltzer’s big-hit debut, The Matzah Ball, the heir to a kosher baked-goods empire sneaks undercover at a family-owned Jewish bakery to steal their celebrated Pumpkin Spiced Babka recipe. Instead, his heart is stolen by the owner’s granddaughter.

Murphy, Tim. Speech Team. Viking. Aug. 2023. ISBN 9780593653845. $28. CONTEMPORARY

In Christadora author Murphy’s latest, an old friend’s suicide note leads four characters to confront a high school teacher whose vicious comments back in the 1980s undermined them all. Billed as The Breakfast Club all grown up.

Novak, Brenda. Talulah's Back in Town. MIRA: Harlequin. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780778308089. $30; pap. 368p. ISBN 9780778386179. $9.99. ROMANCE

In a series starter from the mega-best-selling Novak, Talulah returns to her Montana hometown 14 years after having left her fiancé at the altar. Though she plans to sell her late aunt’s house and rush back to Seattle, love has other plans. With a 300,000-copy paperback and 10,000-copy hardcover first printing.

Steel, Danielle. Happiness. Delacorte. Aug. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9781984821928. $28.99. lrg. prnt. CONTEMPORARY

Despite her writing, thriller author Sabrina lives a tamped-down life in the Berkshires until inheriting a title and an estate near London—and meeting the handsome estate attorney who escorts her around the grounds.

Wurzbacher. Ashley. How To Care for a Human Girl. Atria. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781982157227. $27.99. CONTEMPORARY

A National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree for the story collection Happy Like This, Wurzbacher returns with the story of two sisters wresting with past betrayal—and unplanned pregnancies—two years after their mother’s death.

SF/FANTASY/HORROR 

Blake, Olivie. Masters of Death. Tor. Aug. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9781250892461. $26.99. Downloadable. FANTASY

Vampire Viola Marek is an out-of-luck real estate agent desperate to sell a house that’s haunted by the ghost of a murder victim who won’t budge until his murder is solved. For help, she summons Fox D’Mora, who’s not much of a medium but is nevertheless the godson of Death. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Cañas, Isabel. Vampires of El Norte. Berkley. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593436721. $28. HORROR

When Nena is left for dead after being attacked in 1800s Mexico by a blood-drinking creature, her beloved Néstor flees, thinking that she is dead. Nine years later, war along the U.S.-Mexico border brings them together again, with Nena a curandera and Néstor a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros intent on blocking an Anglo invasion from the north. But that blood drinker is still around. Following Cañas’s acclaimed debut, The Hacienda, optioned for TV.

Carey, Jacqueline. Cassiel’s Servant. Tor. Aug. 2023. 528p. ISBN 9781250208330. $30.99. Downloadable. FANTASY/ROMANCE

In 2011, Kushiel’s Dart launched a New York Times best-selling series and claimed Locus honors for Best First Novel. Here, Carey retells the story from the perspective of Joscelin, a Cassiline warrior-priest and protector of Dart heroine Phèdre nó Delaunay. Though he’s sworn to celibacy and she to pleasure, they’re bound together by the gods. And then they are betrayed. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Chu, Wesley. The Art of Destiny. Del Rey: Ballantine. (War Arts Saga, Bk. 2). Aug. 2023. 544p. ISBN 9780593237663. $29.99. FANTASY

Once prophesied to be the Chosen One who would vanquish the Eternal Khan, an immortal god king, Jian is now just another young man trying to get by. Still, he’s managed to link up with grandmaster Taishi, and she’s got other plans, yanking a bunch of aging grandmasters from retirement to prepare Jian for one last task. From a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author and Astounding Award winner.

Huchu. T.L. The Mystery at Dunvegan Castle. Tor. (Edinburgh Nights. Bk. 3). Aug. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9781250883063. $29.99. Downloadable. FANTASY

In this continuation of Hucha’s USA Today best-selling “Edinburgh Nights” series, launched with the Nommo Award–winning The Library of the Dead, 15-year-old ghosttalker Ropa arrives at Dunvegan Castle for the biennial conference of the Society of Skeptical Enquirers and finds herself chatting with lots of ghosts when a magical attendee steals a valuable scroll. Edinburgh-based Zimbabwean author Huchu has also published under the name Tendai Huchu (e.g., The Hairdresser of Harare).

Kingfisher, T. Thornhedge. Tor. Aug. 2023. 128p. ISBN 9781250244093. $19.99. FANTASY

Kidnapped by the fae as a baby, Toadling is sent back to the human world as an adult to execute a simple task: bestow a blessing of protection on a newborn child. Centuries later, as a proverbial knight in shining armor approaches a castle shrouded in thick brambles, Toadling stands determined to continue upholding her duty. With a 150,000-copy first printing.

Lepucki, Edan. Time’s Mouth. Counterpoint. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9781640095724. $29. SPECUATIVE THRILLER

Gifted with the ability to travel through memory and revisit her past, Ursa holds sway (rather too roughly) over a sisterhood established deep in the woods near Santa Cruz in the 1950s. Her son eventually flees with his pregnant lover, and years later Ursa’s granddaughter must travel into the past to understand her family’s burdensome legacy. From the New York Times best-selling author of California. 

Macdonald, Helen & Sin Blaché. Prophet. Grove. Aug. 2023. 480p. ISBN 9780802162021. $29. SF

Award-winning H Is for Hawk author Macdonald joins with Black Irish musician Blaché to write a speculative debut novel featuring two intelligence officers—ice-cool U.S. agent Adam Rubenstein and fun-loving Sunil Rao, formerly with MI6—who are trying to understand how people’s memories are being weaponized by a disturbing, shape-shifting substance called Prophet. Buzzy.

Malerman, Josh. Spin a Black Yarn: Novellas. Del Rey: Ballantine. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780593237861. pap. $18. HORROR

Bird Box –triumphant here offers five novellas, tied together by unsettling premises. A dying man reveals secrets more terrifying than the murders to which he falsely confesses, an upwardly aspiring couple are trapped by all the fancy gadgets they’ve purchased, and a murderer fails to realize that he’s killed a triplet, whose remaining siblings play at haunting him to drive him mad.

Modesitt, L.E., Jr. Contrarian. Tor. Aug. 2023. (Grand Illusion, Bk. 3). 624p. ISBN 9781250847010. $30.99. FANTASY/GASLAMP

A new member of the Council of Sixty-Six and its first Isolate—that is, he’s impervious to emotional manipulation—Steffan Dekkard is left floundering when his patron is assassinated. Meanwhile, violent protest is destabilizing the country, and it appears that an authority figure has been arming the insurrectionists. Continuing veteran author Modesitt’s new gaslamp series; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

Okosun, Ehigbor. Forged by Blood. Harper Voyager. (Tainted Blood Duology, Bk. 1). Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780063112629. $32.

The nonmagical Ajes have occupied Dèmi’s ancestral homeland, and the king is killing off her people, the darker-skinned, magic-blessed Oluso. Dèmi is simply trying to survive as she learns to manage her magic, but a single mistake lead to her mother’s death, and now she is out for revenge. A debut inspired by Nigerian mythology, with a sequel to come; with a 75,000-copy first printing.

Parker-Chan, Shelley. He Who Drowned the World. Tor. Aug. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9781250621825. $28.99. Downloadable. FANTASY/HISTORICAL

Following the LJ best-booked She Who Became the Sun, Parker-Chan continues her reimagining of the Ming dynasty’s founding with Zhu Yuanzhang, the Radiant King, having successfully wrested southern China from Mongol control and eager to crown herself emperor. The only problem: courtesan Madam Zhang wants the throne for her husband. With a 200,000-copy first printing.

Salvatore, R.A. Lolth's Warrior. Harper Voyager. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780063029873. $32. FANTASY

Wily elf Drizzt Do’Urden has been around for 35 years, and he’s a legend in the drow city Menzoberranzan for having escaped its evils. Here, the city is on the edge as the drow begin questioning rampant corruption and the very story of the city’s founding, with Drizzt along for the ride to examine his role as father, friend, and quester. With a 75,000-copy first printing; wrapping up the “Way of the Drow” trilogy.

Ward, Catriona. Looking Glass Sound. Tor Nightfire. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250860026. $27.99. Downloadable. CD. HORROR

Holed up on the Maine coast, Wilder Harlow is seeking to complete a memoir about the killer who terrorized his childhood town, a memoir stolen in draft by former best buddy Skye and turned into a trashy novel titled Looking Glass Sound. Fact and fiction are starting to blur, and Wilder is finding notes from Skye around the cabin. The latest from horror hotshot Ward; with a 200,000-copy first printing.

Valdes, Valerie. Where Peace Is Lost. Harper Voyager. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780063085930. pap. $19.99. SF

Kel Garda once belonged to an Order whose military arm was shattered and scattered across the galaxy when the Pale empire arose, and she dwells at the edge of a remote star system, knowing that if her enemies find her they might destroy everything around her. Now a Pale war machine has been reactivated, and two strangers offer to help Kel deactivate it—for a price. From the author of LJ best-booked, Arthur C. Clarke short-listed Chilling Effect; with a 50,000-copy first printing.

NONFICTION

MEMOIR

Busch, Billy. Family Reins: The Heartbreaking Fall of an American Dynasty—and the Discovery of What Really Matters. Blackstone. Aug. 2023. NAp. ISBN 9798200798827. $27.99. CD. MEMOIR

Founder of the Busch Family Brewing & Distilling Company, Busch was an heir to the Anheuser-Busch billions. While raised in glamorous surrounds (he even had a pet elephant), Busch always felt that his father was really his boss, prepping him for a corporate leadership role to come. Here he tells a story of family, destructive infighting, and making his own life.

Chai Jing. Seeing: A Memoir of Truth and Courage from China’s Most Influential Television Journalist. Astra House. Aug. 2023. 304p. tr. from Chinese by Yan Yan. ISBN 9781662600678. $27. MEMOIR

News anchor Chai Jing began working at CCTV (China's official state news channel) in 2001 and came to prominence covering the SARS epidemic in 2003. Here she chronicles her career, folding in stories about SARS quarantine wards, a teenage suicide cult, domestic violence, industrial pollution, workplace sexism, and censorship; her 2015 documentary Under the Dome was viewed 300 million times in seven days before being censored.

Faust, Drew Gilpin. Necessary Trouble: Growing Up at Midcentury. Farrar. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780374601805. $30. MEMOIR

Former Harvard president Faust recalls growing up white in conservative, segregated Virginia, where female subordination and racial privilege were assumed. She instead broke out, engaging in the civil rights, student, and antiwar movements of the tumultuous Sixties and eventually becoming a Bancroft Prize–winning, Pulitzer Prize finalist historian. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Fritz, Ian. What the Taliban Told Me. S. & S. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781668010693. $28.99. CD. MEMOIR

An airborne cryptologic linguist in the U.S. Air Force from 2008 to 2013, Fritz sat in a low-flying gunship monitoring communications on the ground to determine who was Taliban and who was civilian. Here he communicates what he learned about the Afghan people from his work and the emotional turmoil it created that made it harder and harder to do.

Ianelli, Liz with Bret Witter. I See You, Survivor: Life Inside (and Outside) the Totally F*cked-Up Troubled Teen Industry. Hachette. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780306831522. $29. Downloadable. MEMOIR

It’s called the Troubled Teen Industry, known for its institutionalized abuse of teenagers, and Ianelli has seen it from the inside; from 1995 to 1998, she was confined at the Family School in upstate New York. Now she goes by Survivor993 online, and her hashtag #ISeeYouSurvivor has been posted more than 237 million times. A book aimed at survivors: “You are not broken. You are not unlovable. And you are not alone.”

Izgil, Tahir Hamut. Waiting To Be Arrested at Night: A Uyghur Poet’s Memoir of China’s Genocide. Penguin Pr. Aug. 2023. 256p. tr. from Uyghur by Joshua L. Freeman. ISBN 9781250246554. $28. MEMOIR

Tortured in 1996 for seeking to travel abroad, Uyghur poet/intellectual Izgil was then sent to a reeducation-through-labor camp. By 2017, persecution of the Uyghur people had escalated, with over a million people sucked into China’s internment camps for Muslim minorities, and Izgil knew that he and his family had to leave. He is the only Uyghur writer known to have escaped China and now lives in Washington, DC.

McCrae, Shane. Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping. Scribner. Aug. 2023. 272p. ISBN 9781668021743. $27. CD. MEMOIR

When he was three years old, multi-award-winning poet McCrae was kidnapped from his Black father by his white supremacist grandparents, who claimed that his father had abandoned him and refused to acknowledge his heritage. Eventually, McCrae ferreted out the truth, made a life of his own, and reconnected with his father. His forthcoming collection, The Many Hundreds of the Scent (Farrar, Oct.), unfolds this trauma in his typically inventive verse.

Maclear, Kyo. Unearthing: A Story of Tangled Love and Family Secrets. Scribner. Aug. 2023. 408p. ISBN 9781668012604. $29. MEMOIR

After the death of her father, Maclear discovered through DNA testing that that they were not biologically related. (Think Dani Shapiro’s Inheritance.) While reconstructing her life, she asks the big-picture questions: What does it mean to be a family, and is inheritance just about heredity? From the author of the No. 1 Canadian best seller Birds Art Life.

Shih, David. Chinese Prodigal: A Memoir in Eight Arguments. Atlantic Monthly. Aug. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9780802158994. $28. MEMOIR

For University of Wisconsin professor Shih, pondering his life after his father’s death in 2019 entailed considering what it means to be Asian American in an unaccepting country. Formatted as memoir through essay, his narrative moves from his being the only son of aspiring immigrant parents to the model minority myth, the 1980s murder of Vincent Chin, and current efforts to dismantle affirmative action.

Sinclair, Safiya. How to Say Babylon: A Memoir. S. & S. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781982132330. $28.99. CD. MEMOIR

Author of the Whiting Award–winning poetry collection Cannibal, Sinclair was raised by a reggae musician father who followed a strict sect of Rastafari that sought to counter corrupting Western influences (“Babylon”) and assure female purity. Here she explains how she freed herself from an upbringing that was initially a source of comfort and finally painfully repressive.

Thomas, R. Eric. Congratulations, the Best Is Over!: Essays. Ballantine. Aug. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9780593496268. $27. MEMOIR

Thomas follows up his best-selling, multi-best-booked, Lambda finalist Here for It with more acidulously funny essays on identity and the struggle for a meaningful life. Readers join him for 15 original essays featuring surprising trips to Urgent Care and his 20th-high school reunion and puzzle with him over a backyard invasion by gay frogs.

Weissman, Michaele. The Rye Bread Marriage: How I Found Happiness with a Partner I’ll Never Understand. Algonquin. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781643752693. $27. Downloadable. MEMOIR

Food/culture writer Weissman’s nearly four-decade marriage to Latvian refugee John Melngailis, now a retired professor of electrical engineering, has withstood ethnic, religious, and personal differences and compelled Weissman to investigate Melngailis’s homeland and war trauma. Then there’s his culturally rooted passion for rye bread; he eventually opened a rye bread bakery. A story of what love really means, despite the complications; with a 40,000-copy first printing.

DISCOURSES

Discourses of the Elders: The Aztec Huehuetlatolli; a First English Translation. Norton. Aug. 2023. 224p. tr. from Latin by Sebastian Purcell. ISBN 9781324020585. $25. PHILOSOPHY

Egginton, William. The Rigor of Angels: Borges, Heisenberg, Kant, and the Ultimate Nature of Reality. antheon. Aug. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9780593316306. $30. PHILOSOPHY

Eilenberger, Wolfram. The Visionaries: Arendt, Beauvoir, Rand, Weil, and the Power of Philosophy in Dark Times. Penguin Pr. Aug. 2023. 400p. ISBN 9780593297452. $30. PHILOSOPHY

Guzmán, Sandra, ed. Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women. Amistad: HarperCollins. Aug. 2023. 496p. ISBN 9780063052574. $32.99. Spanish ed. HarperEspañol. tr. by Raquel Salas Rivera. ISBN 9780063245136. Pap. $19.99. CD. LITERATURE

Hayes, Terrance. Watch Your Language: Visual and Literary Reflections on a Century of American Poetry. Penguin. Jul. 2023. 256p. ISBN 9780143137733. pap. $20. LITERATURE

Nuttall, Jenni. Mother Tongue: The Surprising History of Women’s Words. Viking. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780593299579. $29. LANGUAGE

Shapland, Jenn. Thin Skin: Essays. Pantheon. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780593317457. $24. LITERATURE

A specialist in Latin American philosophy, SUNY-Cortland professor Purcell offers the first full translation of Discourses of the Elders, an important Aztec document comprising conversations between elders and young people on attaining a meaningful life and recorded in Latin script by Spanish clergymen. In The Rigor of Angels, John Hopkins professor Egginton explores how Argentine poet Jorge Luis Borges, German physicist Werner Heisenberg, and Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant pushed against the limits of human understanding to give us a deepened view of the world. Following up the rave-reviewed Time of the Magicians: Wittgenstein, Benjamin, Cassirer, Heidegger, and the Decade that Reinvented Philosophy, about philosophy in the post–World War I era, Eilenberger investigates Hannah Arendt, Simone de Beauvoir, Ayn Rand, and Simone Weil to show how philosophy unfolded before and during World War II in The Visionaries. Emmy Award–winning author/filmmaker Guzmán brings together writing by Latine women from U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón and Guggenheim Fellow Maryse Condé to award-winning author Sandra Cisneros and U.S. Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez in Daughters of Latin America (20,000-copy English and 12,000-copy Spanish first printing). In Watch Your Language, National Book Award–winning poet Hayes uses illustrated prose to discuss a century of verse, drawing in forgotten Black poets; see also his forthcoming collection So To Speak (Penguin Poets, Jul.). In Mother Tongue, Oxford medieval literature professor Nuttall considers usage dating from Old English about women’s bodies and experiences, digging for words less loaded or distancing than language we use today. Following National Book Award finalist My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Shapland’s Thin Skin examines our entanglement in the world.

HISTORY

Harl, Kenneth W. Empires of the Steppes: A History of the Nomadic Tribes Who Shaped Civilization. Hanover Square: Harlequin. Aug. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781335429278. $32.99. CD. HISTORY

The Huns, the Mongols, the Magyars, the Turks, the Xiongnu, the Scythians, the Goths—all were nomadic tribes that emerged from the Eurasian steppes, and all mightily shaped world history even though they were labeled barbarian by successive generations in the West. Tulane professor Harl tells their story; see also Anthony Sattin’s recently published Nomads: The Wanderers Who Shaped Our World.

Kaplan, Robert D. The Loom of Time: Between Empire and Anarchy from the Mediterranean to China. Random. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9780593242797. $28.99. HISTORY

Noted for his engaging and ongoing look at geopolitics in books ranging from Balkan Ghosts to Adriatic, Kaplan goes beyond a regional focus to take in a wide swath of the world—“from the Mediterranean to China”—as he assesses the consequences of—and concerted resistance to—clashing empires.

Mahdavi, Pardis. Book of Queens: The True Story of the Middle Eastern Horsewomen Who Fought the War on Terror. Hachette. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9780306832130. $29. Downloadable. HISTORY

University of Montana provost Mahdavi limns the relationship between women and the Caspian horse, an ancient Iranian breed returned from the brink by U.S.-born Iranian horse breeder Louise Firouz, who intersected with the author’s family. Mahdavi opens with the woman who rode into battle during the Persian Empire, then moves to her Iranian grandmother’s smuggling victims of domestic violence to Afghan oases run by women warriors, to the women who trained horses used by U.S. Green Berets in the region in the early 2000s. With a 20,000-copy first printing.

Neguse, Joe. Courage in the People's House: Nine Trailblazing Representatives Who Shaped America. S. & S. Aug. 2023. 288p. ISBN 9781982191672. $30. CD. HISTORY

Neguse, the first Black American elected to Congress from Colorado, here profiles nine key U.S. representatives who have made a difference, ranging from Joseph Rainey (South Carolina), the first Black American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives, to the redoubtable Margaret Chase Smith (Maine) and visionary Texans Henry B. González and Barbara Jordan.

Sanderson, Sarah L. The Place We Make: Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate. Waterbrook: Random. Aug. 2023. 240p. ISBN 9780593444733. $25. HISTORY

In 1851, the biracial Jacob Vanderpool was expelled from the Oregon Territory for violating its Exclusion Law, which banned people of African descent. Sanderson not only chronicles this little-known event but, upon discovering that she was distantly related to the pastor responsible for Vanderpool’s prosecution, ponders her own unconscious biases and her responsibilities in light of her ancestor’s racism.

Stark, Peter. Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison’s Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation. Random. Aug. 2023. 416p. ISBN 9780593133613. $28.99. HISTORY

In the early 1800s, Shawnee warrior Tecumseh traveled from Minnesota to Florida to the Great Plains to persuade wide-ranging Indigenous peoples to join him in resistance to U.S. expansion. In a bid to control U.S. power, the British backed Tecumseh’s confederacy in battles along the western front during the War of 1812, where he faced off against future U.S. president William Henry Harrison. The New York Times best-selling Stark (Astoria) tells the story.

Turk, Katherine. The Women of NOW: How Feminists Built an Organization That Transformed America. Farrar. Aug. 2023. 448p. ISBN 9780374601539. $32. Downloadable. CD. HISTORY

Author of the award-winning Equality on Trial, Turk chronicles the founding, growth, and impact of the National Organization of Women by focusing on three key but lesser-known members: Aileen Hernandez, a federal official of Jamaican American heritage; Mary Jean Collins, a working-class union organizer; and Patricia Hill Burnett, a Michigan Republican and former beauty queen. With a 50,000-copy first printing.

BIOGRAPHY

Blais, Madeleine. Queen of the Court: The Many Lives of Tennis Legend Alice Marble. Atlantic Monthly. Aug. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9780802128324. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Funder, Anna. Wifedom: Mrs. Orwell’s Invisible Life. Knopf. Aug. 2023. 432p. ISBN 9780593320686. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Hartigan, Patti. August Wilson: A Life. S. & S. Aug. 2023. 592p. ISBN 9781501180668. $32.50. BIOGRAPHY

Huang, Yunte. Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History. Liveright: Norton. Aug. 2023. 384p. ISBN 9781631495809. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Jacobs, Sally H. Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson. St. Martin’s. Aug. 2023. 464p. ISBN 9781250246554. $32. Downloadable. BIOGRAPHY

Scobie, Omid. Endgame: Inside the Royal Family and the Monarchy’s Fight for Survival. Dey Street. Aug. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9780063258662. $32. CD. BIOGRAPHY

Wallach, Janet. Flirting with Danger: The Mysterious Life of Marguerite Harrison, Socialite Spy. Doubleday. Aug. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9780385545082. $30. BIOGRAPHY

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Blais resurrects Queen of the Court Alice Marble, who won 18 Grand Slam championships between 1936 and 1940. In Wifedom, the Samuel Johnson Prize–winning Funder investigates Eileen O’Shaughnessy, wife of George Orwell, showing how she both shaped his work and saved his life. Award-winning theater critic and arts reporter Hartigan knew August Wilson, which adds depth to her assessment of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize–honored playwright’s life and work. In Daughter of the Dragon, Huang—an Edgar Award winner and National Book Critics Circle Award finalist for the biography Charlie Chan—reconstructs the life of Chinese American movie star Anna Mae Wong, also the subject of novelist Gail Tsukiyama’s forthcoming The Brightest Star (HyperVia, Jun.). A George Polk Award winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist, journalist Jacobs limns the life of tennis great Althea Gibson in Althea, who broke her sport’s color line in 1950 (75,000-copy first printing, originally scheduled for January 2023). A Harper's Bazaar editor-at-large and Yahoo! News executive editor whose recent biography on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was a New York Times best seller, Scobie looks at Britain’s royal family in Endgame and wonders what comes next (125,000-copy first printing). In Flirting with Danger, Desert Queen author Wallach introduces readers to Marguerite Harrison, born into high society and a culture writer for the Baltimore Sun when she sought a job in U.S. intelligence, eventually working undercover in Germany and the Soviet Union post–World War I.