New Arrivals: The Best Recent Book Releases

In her first memoir, the Booker Prize–winning author of The God of Small Things honors the life and legacy of her mother, Mary Roy, a pioneering educator and activist. Written in the wake of her mother’s death, Roy’s book is both intimate and political—an exploration of thorny love, freedom, and the making of a writer.

This vibrant farewell brings together poems, letters, and personal reflections from one of the most influential voices in American poetry. A longtime cultural touchstone, Giovanni addresses joy, rage, memory, and protest in a collection that is both intimate and political. “She galvanized and inspired… and comforted and unified,” writes The Washington Post.

Set six years before Chocolat, this long-awaited return to Joanne Harris’s million-copy bestselling world follows Vianne to Marseille, where she arrives pregnant, grieving, and drawn to a mysterious new life. As she discovers the power of bittersweet chocolate and her own intuition, she begins to shape the future hinted at in the 1999 novel and its beloved 2000 film adaptation. People Magazine calls it “a sensuous prequel… [that] will make you a believer.”

The award-winning author of The Fiery Trial gathers his recent commentaries on American liberty—from slavery and the Civil War through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the civil rights movement, and today’s political flashpoints. Foner reflects on figures from Lincoln to Rosa Parks and warns that rights gained can also be lost without vigilance.

At a post-funeral dinner party in a Bowery loft, one narrator dismantles the pretensions of the art world in a single, night of wine and backhanded toasts that collapses into chaos. A savage and hilarious send-up of creative-class narcissism that the Financial Times calls "zingy" and "delicious to gulp in one go."

Building on her National Book Award finalist memoir Hold Still, the celebrated photographer returns with a richly illustrated reflection on a life shaped by artistic obsession. Known for her portraits of the American South, Mann turns inward here—through photographs, letters, and field notes—to explore ambition, rejection, and risk.

Harris once again illuminates the tumultuous aftermath of the Civil War with this epic story of two siblings emancipated from slavery but still pursued by bondage. Crossing the deserts of Mexico in 1866, Coleman and June confront danger, betrayal, and the fragile meaning of freedom. "A memorable, impeccably written tale that engages the reader, with its twists and turns, from beginning to end," praised Kirkus.

The new novel from the Danish novelist behind The Employees is a gothic tale narrated by a wax doll made by Christenze Kruckow, a noblewoman accused of witchcraft in 1600s Jutland. Drawing on letters, spells, and trial documents, Ravn blends history with horror. Publishers Weekly praised it as “gripping… a devilishly subversive feminist anthem one of a kind.”

In a small Ohio town, a wartime affair sets off decades of hidden truths and quiet consequences. As families grow and transform over the postwar decades, the emotional cost of one long-held secret deepens. Patrick Ryan brings warmth and precision to this sweeping novel that the Minneapolis Star Tribune calls “a magnum opus of depth and care,” noting there is “nary a false note” in its interwoven lives.

The acclaimed author of Monkey Grip turns her sharp eye to adolescence, following her grandson’s youth football season with tenderness and wit. She explores masculinity, camaraderie, and community with prose that, as The Guardian notes, “soars and dances, just like those young footballers.”