New Arrivals for the Week of June 2

The bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six ventures into new territory with her first thriller—a love story set against the backdrop of NASA’s space shuttle program in the 1980s. The novel follows a brilliant astrophysicist determined to become an astronaut, who finds herself entangled in a complex romance and a high-stakes mission that could alter the course of her career—and her life.

The National Book Award-winning author of Trust Exercise returns with a layered and lyrical mystery based on her acclaimed New Yorker short story. As one man's disappearance reverberates through time and across borders, his daughter pursues answers in a novel that bends chronology to explore grief, longing, and the nature of truth.

“A sweaty masterpiece... honestly, I haven't felt quite like this about a book since I was dazzled by Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections almost 25 years ago,” wrote Ron Charles of The Washington Post. In The Slip, a teen boxer’s disappearance in 1998 Texas sparks a complex, decades-spanning search. Told through incisive, compelling voices, this debut novel explores queerness, race, and transformation in a changing America.

In The Dry Season, Melissa Febos documents the year of abstinence she took in the wake of the tumultuous end to a long-term relationship. Having for so long defined herself by the relationships she constantly cycled through, she was determined to finally spend time alone. The result was a year of utter transformation which reshaped her friendships, spirituality, creativity, and her relationship with herself.

Highlighted in the New York Times “Great Summer Beach Reads,” this novel opens in off-grid Montana, where a teenage girl escapes her father's survivalist compound—and ends up immersed in the early days of Silicon Valley. “If the Unabomber had a daughter, this could be her story,” writes the NYTimes, calling it a novel that “might prompt a pop-up book club”—and will definitely make you think about our reliance on technology.

As the daughter of a second-wave feminist icon, Molly Jong-Fast grew up often yearning for a deeper connection with a mother that always seemed to have more important things going on. After her mother was diagnosed with dementia and her husband with a rare cancer, Jong-Fast's life was turned upside down. This memoir follows the transformative impact of these diagnoses and explores the complex relationship between Jong-Fast and her mother.

This darkly comic and intellectually rich novel follows a therapist, an environmental idealist, and a radio producer whose lives unexpectedly collide. Kirkus calls it “an elegantly arch but empathetic excursion into impending apocalypse”—and some of St Aubyn’s finest work.

An International Booker finalist reimagines the conquest story with a queer and surreal twist. Inspired by a real runaway nun who became a conquistador, this inventive novel mixes history and fantasy. The narrator, who leaves the convent and becomes Antonio, shares his journey as a muleteer, soldier, and caretaker in a vibrant New World full of danger and hope. Publishers Weekly calls it “sensuous and searing,” and says readers will be captivated by this queer, anticolonial adventure.

The PEN Ackerley Prize-winning memoirist and collaborator on Beyoncé’s Black Is King presents a captivating debut novel. The story follows two sisters who encounter a mysterious woman who could be their missing mother—or someone entirely unknown. This poetic novel is the first in a new series co-edited by Glory Edim, founder of Well-Read Black Girl."

From the acclaimed author of Lakewood and The Women Could Fly comes a haunting, imaginative tale of twin sisters forever changed when seven mysterious doors to another world appear. “A brilliant, magical tale of grief and growth,” raved Kirkus. Publishers Weekly calls it “mesmerizing... builds to a stunning conclusion.”