Austin, Emily. We Could Be Rats. Atria. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781668058145. 256p. $27.99. POP FICTION

Bestselling Austin (Interesting Facts About Space) returns with a story about the bonds of sisterhood. Sigrid has resisted conformity and the expectations of adulthood, frustrating her older sister Margit. As Sigrid grapples with a painful past and the loss of her best friend to the opioid epidemic, the sisters manage to find their way back to each other.

Carr, Charlene. We Rip the World Apart. Sourcebooks Landmark. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781728270449. 464p. $27.99. POP FICTION

Intertwining the stories of three women from one family, Carr (Hold My Girl) writes a multigenerational novel that explores motherhood, race, and trauma. A family flees Jamaica for Canada, hoping for a better life, but instead they experience racism, police violence, and an unplanned pregnancy.

Evison, Jonathan. The Heart of Winter. Dutton. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780593473542. 368p. $28. POP FICTION

Abe Winter and Ruth Warneke had a disastrous blind date in college that managed to turn into an enduring marriage. Bestselling Evison (Again and Again) portrays their 70-year relationship across decades of ups and downs, as the couple navigate how to continue to be there for each other while facing illness and dwindling independence.

Fagan, Kate. The Three Lives of Cate Kay. Atria. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781668076217. 288p. $27.99. POP FICTION

Fagan, Emmy Award–winning journalist and bestselling author of What Made Maddy Run, makes her fiction debut. Cate Kay is the reclusive author of bestselling books made into hit movies, but she’s been hiding her real identity for years after a tragedy sent her on the run. After a shocking revelation, she realizes it’s time to face her past.

Fargo, Layne. The Favorites. Random. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780593732045. 464p. $28. POP FICTION

Inspired by Wuthering Heights, Fargo (They Never Learn) creates a tempestuous love story set in the world of figure skating. Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha are a formidable duo on and off the ice, until a shocking incident at the Olympics ends their partnership. Ten years later, Katarina decides to finally share the whole story.

Genova, Lisa. More or Less Maddy. Scout. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781668026168. 368p. $28.99. POP FICTION

In the latest from neuroscientist Genova (author of the bestselling novel Still Alice, adapted into an Oscar-winning film), Maddy Banks is a stressed-out freshman at NYU. She’s depressed and overwhelmed, and then a manic episode leads to a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Now she must learn to navigate her new reality as she struggles with how being bipolar affects her identity, relationships, and dreams.

Goodman, Allegra. Isola. Dial. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780593730089. 400p. $28.99. POP FICTION

Goodman’s latest (after Sam, the bestselling Read with Jenna pick) is inspired by the real life of a 16th-century French noblewoman. When heiress Marguerite is orphaned, her controlling guardian, Jean François de la Roque de Roberval, makes her destitute. After discovering her relationship with a servant, Roberval maroons Marguerite and her lover on a desolate island, where they attempt to survive the harsh conditions.

Kauffman, Rebecca. I’ll Come to You. Counterpoint. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781640096714. 224p. $26. POP FICTION

Award-winning Kauffman (Chorus) writes a family saga full of ’90s nostalgia about the lives of a couple struggling to become pregnant, another couple with a health crisis, and a woman whose husband has left her; these plots intersect and converge dramatically over the course of a year.

Lange, Tracey. What Happened to the McCrays? Celadon. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781250328434. 352p. $28.99. POP FICTION

Two years after leaving his wife and family, Kyle McCray returns to his hometown to help his father recuperate from a stroke. He doesn’t receive a warm welcome, but he finds an opportunity for a second chance when he’s asked to coach the struggling middle school hockey team. Bestselling Lange’s (The Connellys of County Down) latest receives a 75K-copy first printing.

Littell, Robert. Bronshtein in the Bronx. Soho. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781641296861. 208p. $25.95. POP FICTION

Bestselling and award-winning Littell (A Plague on Both Your Houses) imagines 10 weeks in the life of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky in 1917. Driven from Russia and on the run, Trotsky arrives in New York and contemplates his purpose in the weeks leading up to the February Revolution that toppled Czar Nicholas II.

Okorafor, Nnedi. Death of the Author. Morrow. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780063391147. 448p. $30. POP FICTION

Bestselling Okorafor (Like Thunder) has won every major prize in speculative fiction (including the World Fantasy, Nebula, and Eisner Awards and multiple Hugos), and two of her series are in development at HBO with George R.R. Martin. Her newest is a work of metafiction about a disabled Nigerian American woman who writes a life-changing far-future epic about AI. With a 150K-copy first printing.

Steel, Danielle. Never Say Never. Delacorte. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780593498644. 256p. $29. POP FICTION

In the latest from bestselling chart-topper Steel (Resurrection), Oona Kelly Webster is devastated when her husband leaves her for someone else, and then her editing job is eliminated. After deciding to take their planned 25th wedding anniversary trip to France by herself, Oona unexpectedly finds a second chance at love and happiness in the French countryside.

Swyler, Erika. We Lived on the Horizon. Atria. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9781668049594. 288p. $27.99. POP FICTION

Bestselling Swyler (Light from Other Stars) pens a future dystopian tale. After a series of cataclysms, the walled city of Bulwark, run by an AI, was founded to house and protect human survivors. But now a war is brewing that could upend the order that has been established, and bio-prosthetic surgeon Enita and her personal AI are being drawn into it.

Underhill, Edward. The In-Between Bookstore. Avon. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780063357631. 336p. $28. POP FICTION

YA author Underhill (This Day Changes Everything) makes his adult debut with a healing novel of love and discovery. When Darby, who is trans, returns to his small hometown, he experiences a timeslip at the bookstore where he worked in high school. Encountering his pre-transition self, Darby wonders if he might be able to create a better present for himself. With a 75K-copy first printing.

Young, Adrienne. A Sea of Unspoken Things. Delacorte. Jan. 2025. ISBN 9780593598702. 336p. $29. POP FICTION

Bestselling Young’s (The Unmaking of June Farrow) newest features a set of twins. James has always been deeply connected to her brother Johnny, to the point that she can feel what he feels. Upon his death, she travels to California to settle his estate; there she meets again the only man she has ever loved and dives into a web of secrets.