Fall 2024 Publishing Preview
19 new releases to put on your radar for fall
Fall is my favorite time of year in publishing. For reasons unexplained to me, publishers have designated fall the season of literary fiction; i.e. the types of books that are later nominated for prizes. With the presidential election in November, however, the publishing calendar has been accelerated and concentrated into the month of September with a sprinkling of releases in October and only a few in November and December.
As I’ve done for past seasons, below is a list of the 19 new releases that I am most looking forward to this fall, ordered by publication date. While the list contains a lot of literary fiction, there are also a number of political and historical releases as well as a handful of mysteries, which I hope gives a comprehensive picture of this season’s publishing calendar.
Let me know in the comments what books you are most looking forward to this fall or if any on this list catch your eye!
September
Life and Death of the American Worker - Alice Driver - Non-Fiction/Investigative Journalism - Release Date: September 3
Alice Driver is a journalist based in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. Life and Death of the American Worker is about literal and figurative toxic workplace conditions in a Tyson Foods chicken processing plant in the state. Over the course of a decade, Driver spent time with and interviewed the employees of the plant, many of whom are immigrants, to learn about the fallout of the deadly chemical accident that is representative of a larger exploitative industry.
Colored Television - Danzy Senna - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 3
Jane and her family are housesitting for a year in Los Angeles while Jane attempts to finish her long-awaited second novel. Restless, Jane takes a meeting with a Hollywood producer who hires her to develop “diverse content” for a major streaming network, which seems like a dream come true until everything comes crashing down in this humorous, biting novel.
Death at the Sign of the Rook - Kate Atkinson - Mystery - Release Date: September 3
It’s been five years since readers last heard from Kate Atkinson’s signature detective, Jackson Brodie. Although recently retired in Yorkshire, when Brodie discovers an estate hosting murder mystery weekends with connections to unsolved art thefts, he reassumes his detective role as a inconspicuous guest to try to solve the case. Death at the Sign of the Rook is inspired by Agatha Christie’s locked door mysteries, promising an ideal setting for Atkinson’s cleverness and talent.
Blue Sisters - Coco Mellors - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 3
The three remaining Blue sisters are left reeling after the unexpected death of their fourth sister, Nicky. Scattered around the world in disparate careers, each dealing with nascent addictions and trauma, the three sisters return to New York on the first anniversary of Nicky’s death to prevent the sale of their childhood home. I really enjoyed Mellors’ debut, Cleopatra and Frankenstein, and loved hearing her discuss her writing process at an event for Blue Sisters. I am happy to see that her sophomore novel is enjoying widespread, well-earned publicity.
The Examiner - Janice Hallett - Thriller/Mystery - Release Date: September 10
Janice Hallett is one of the smartest mystery authors writing today. All of her books are told through a variety of secondary sources that leave the reader guessing what and who should be trusted. Hallett sticks with this unconventional structure in The Examiner, which tells the story of a small graduate program gone awry through texts, message boards, coursework, and final essays. I’m continually blown away by Hallett’s creativity and will read anything she writes.
The Siege: A Six-Day Hostage Crisis and the Daring Special-Forces Operation that Shocked the World - Ben Macintyre - Non-Fiction/History - Release Date: September 10
Ben Macintyre’s The Spy and the Traitor is one of the best works of narrative non-fiction that I have ever read, so I was obviously excited to see the announcement of the release of The Siege. The Siege is about the six-day 1980 hostage crisis in the Iranian embassy in London, which took place concurrently with the larger hostage crisis in the American embassy in Tehran. Told in minute detail over the course of the six days, Macintyre explores the event using the perspectives inside the embassy, the intelligence and rescue operation outside, and the larger geopolitical context.
Stolen Pride - Arlie Russell Hochschild - Non-Fiction/Politics/Sociology - Release Date: September 10
Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild made a name for herself with her 2016 book Strangers in Their Own Land, which sought to explain the views of the Tea Party movement in Louisiana and the contradiction between a need for government assistance and disdain for it. It was released before the election, but later people turned to it for an explanation of Trump’s victory. Stolen Pride, which is her first book since Strangers in Their Own Land, is about a town in Appalachia and its rightward shift from centrist politics in the last decade. As a sociologist, Hochschild’s reporting is done with an eye for detail. This is sure to be a relevant book regardless of the outcome of the election.
Tell Me Everything - Elizabeth Strout - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 10
Elizabeth Strout is back! In Tell Me Everything, Strout returns to Crosby, Maine, the home of her Pulitzer Prize winning collection Olive Kitteridge. For the first time ever, Lucy Barton, Olive Kitteridge, and Bob Burgess, the three protagonists that have guided nearly all of Elizabeth Strout’s works thus far, will cross paths as they deal with a crime and contemplate the lives they have lived. Strout is such a beautiful writer, and every line is a joy to read.
Entitlement - Rumaan Alam - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 10
As Brooke works with an elderly billionaire to give away his extensive wealth, she searches for meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in her life. Feeling rudderless, her sudden access to money reshapes her understanding of the world in what is being described as an unsettling novel about “our new gilded age.” Rumaan Alam is the bestselling author of the dystopian novel Leave the World Behind, which was turned into a Netflix movie by the Obamas. This is one of the most anticipated novels of the season and has already received great reviews.
Quarterlife - Devika Rege - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 10
Quarterlife is a sweeping debut novel about political change and the rising tide of Hindu nationalism in India. The book explores these themes through the lenses of multiple characters, including Naren, a Wall Street consultant who moves back to Mumbai for the promise of “better days” with his girlfriend Amanda. Upon moving home, Naren reconnects with his brother Rohit, who has fallen in with the Hindu nationalist movement. The two brothers are both trying to make sense of their changing selves within their changing country when everything erupts one night on the streets of Mumbai.
Intermezzo - Sally Rooney - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 24
This is the book that needs the least advertising of all given the amount of hype that surrounds anything written by Sally Rooney. In fact, Rooney is so popular that on September 24 bookstores across the country will be hosting publication day parties reminiscent of the release date frenzy of a new Harry Potter novel. Intermezzo, Rooney’s fourth book, follows Peter and Ivan, two brothers who couldn’t be more different yet united in their grief over the recent death of their father. In the early stages of their mourning the two seek solace in new relationships, setting the stage for what Rooney is best at — writing beautiful stories about ordinary people.
The Empusium - Olga Tokarczuk - Historical Fiction/Horror - Release Date: September 24
The 2018 winner of the Nobel Prize for Fiction has written a new novel set in a sanitarium in the Polish mountains on the eve of World War I. In September 1913, a young Polish man suffering from tuberculosis arrives at the sanitarium hoping to recover using its unconventional healing methods. Every night, the patients drink a hallucinogenic liqueur and debate hot-button topics. At the same time, the man begins to notice strange things about the the facility and the surrounding mountains. Is someone watching? What are their motives? How much is real and how much is imagined?
A Reason to See You Again - Jami Attenberg - Literary Fiction - Release Date: September 24
A family saga spanning forty years might be just what the doctor ordered for fall reading. Beginning in 1970 and leading to the semi-present, A Reason to See You Again follows the women of the Cohen family as they react to the death of the family patriarch. From Miami to San Francisco, readers watch as the Cohen sisters and mother reckon with their altered family structure and a new approach to living.
October
The Mighty Red - Louise Erdrich - Literary Thriller - Release Date: October 1
Louise Erdrich, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner, is back with The Mighty Red, a novel about the circumstances surrounding a young marriage during the financial crisis of 2008. Set in North Dakota in an indigenous community, Erdrich brings her trademark wit and compassion to a story about a love triangle, deeply embedded secrets, and the financial insecurity of ordinary people.
The Sequel - Jean Hanff Korelitz - Thriller/Suspense - Release Date: October 1
I was a big fan of the The Plot when I read it in 2021, which told the story of a writer who steals the plot of the next best-selling novel from a dead former student. The book ends dramatically and with a spoiler crucial to the premise of the aptly named sequel, The Sequel. In order to avoid spoiling The Plot, I won’t go into too much detail about what this book is about, but it appears similar themes of literary deception, artistic license, and blackmail are at play in the follow-up.
The Book of George - Kate Greathead - Fiction/Satire - Release Date: October 8
The publisher’s description of The Book of George leads me to believe that this is a character-driven rather than plot-driven story. As the title might suggest, this book paints a picture of flawed and lovable George as well as the people that surround him over the course of two decades. I’m a sucker for character-driven stories, especially ones that mix humor with serious, universal themes.
Our Evenings - Allan Hollinghurst - Literary Fiction - Release Date: October 8
Booker Prize winner Allan Hollingurst’s new novel follows Dave Win, the son of a Burmese man and a white British dressmaker, from the 1960s to the present. When he’s thirteen Dave wins a scholarship to a top British boarding school, where he struggles to fit in as a working-class person of color in a wealthy white world. As he ages, he discovers his sexuality, works as an actor in London, and grows old reflecting on the experiences that shaped him.
November
Bel Canto Annotated Edition - Ann Patchett - Annotated Literary Fiction - Release Date: November 5
Like Sally Rooney, Ann Patchett is an author who certainly doesn’t need my help advertising her work. The Bel Canto Annotated Edition, releasing on election day because Ann wanted to have something joyful as a distraction, is an updated version of her 2001 classic with Ann’s handwritten notes in the margins about writing, sentence structure, and the process of writing a novel. This edition is meant to serve as a type of user guide for aspiring writers or people who are interested in the writing process to peel back the curtain on what Ann still likes about the novel and what she would do differently with nearly 25 years of hindsight.
December
Rental House - Weike Wang - Fiction - Release Date: December 3
Keru and Nate met in college and married despite the differences in their upbringings. Keru was raised in a strict household by Chinese immigrants while Nate is from a conservative, white, working-class family. A few years into their marriage the couple decides to invite their families to join them on a vacation on Cape Cod and another in the Catskills, where their worlds collide and the contrasts between the families are on display.
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I frequently review ARCs outside of my normal monthly round-ups. If you want to stay up to date on what’s being published and what I thought of these books, you can find all of my reviews as they are posted here.