New Arrivals: The Best Recent Book Releases

Set in a near-future Indian city reeling from collapse, this Kirkus Prize finalist unfolds over one tense week as two families—one fleeing, one stealing—collide in a desperate bid to protect their children. “The way Majumdar manages to connect all the storylines with a resolution that unfolds both globally and in one small living room is genius,” Kirkus wrote in its starred review.

Susan Orlean has profiled everything from orchid thieves to bullfighters to librarians to a 10-year-old boy with a pet ferret. In Joyride, the bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book traces her evolution as a journalist and storyteller—from her early days at alt-weeklies to decades at The New Yorker to Hollywood adaptations of her work. She writes candidly about deadlines and dead ends motherhood and reinvention writer’s block and obsession and the joy of paying very close attention to the world. “An ebullient frank moving and inspiring memoir” says Booklist.

When a perfectly preserved Iron Age woman is found in a northern English bog, an American anthropologist is pulled into a mystery that spans continents, centuries, and the fight over the land itself. Set between post-Brexit tensions and ancient rites, Bog Queen blends feminist folklore, environmental unease, and forensic suspense. "North reaches new heights with this brilliant novel," raved Publishers Weekly.

The new novel from Booker Prize finalist Brandon Taylor follows a young Black painter adrift in New York as he fixates on a long-forgotten artist—and a former seminarian who challenges his sense of faith and meaning. "This novel of ideas about art, selfhood, and faith is also a romance, a friendship story, and an enjoyable slice of one hazy Manhattan summer," praised Booklist.

In this sleek, cinematic page-turner created with Reese Witherspoon, a brilliant Army surgeon takes on a secret job for the ultra-rich—and finds herself caught in a deadly conspiracy that spans continents. Fast-paced and full of twists, Gone Before Goodbye explores how far people will go to protect privilege, and what happens when truth becomes the biggest danger of all.

From the bestselling author of Too Big to Fail comes a sweeping, cinematic history of the 1929 stock market collapse. Sorkin blends archival research with the tension of a thriller to reveal the greed, optimism, and denial that fueled the boom—and the devastation that followed.

From the founder of the Los Angeles Review of Books comes a cerebral neo-noir in which an assassin, a drifting sailor, a covert operative, and a military contractor find themselves assembled in the middle of the Indian Ocean, some by fate, some by force. Kirkus calls it “an eco-thriller that builds toward an explosive conclusion,” while Publishers Weekly notes that “Lutz keeps the plot moving at a steady clip while delving deep into his characters’ psyches, setting the stage for a shocking climax that lands with devastating emotional force.”

#1 New York Times bestselling author Philippa Gregory brings the shadowed corridors of Henry VIII’s court vividly to life through the eyes of Jane Boleyn, whose survival depends on cunning and silence. “Richly atmospheric,” writes Booklist. “A riveting portrait of Jane and the high-stakes drama of Henry’s reign.”

Pulitzer and National Book Award winner Adam Johnson returns with a visionary tale of exile, empire, and resistance set in a fractured South Pacific kingdom. A girl from a forgotten island is thrust into Tonga’s warring courts, where talking corpses, poetic parrots, and politics swirl like storm tides. “A majestic saga of political unrest in the South Pacific and a girl's quest to save her people,” raves Publishers Weekly. “This is remarkable.”

The acclaimed author of The Laughter returns with a fearless story about a 55-year-old woman who invites men to compete for her affection in a modern version of an ancient Indian ritual. What begins as satire turns into a meditation on desire, dignity, and reinvention.