12 New Books Coming This September
This past month has been a whirlwind. C and I traveled back to Belfast to see my family, stopping off in Dublin on the way. We wrapped up the trip with a few days in Sweden, staying at the IKEA Hotel in Älmhult and spending a few nights in Stockholm. While I didn’t have a chance to visit a lot of bookstores, The English Bookshop in the SoFo district of Stockholm was a hit.
Reading highlights from the past month include Tart by Slutty Chef, Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton and Before I Forget by Tory Henwood Hoen (more on that next week). As we head into September, there’s lots I’m excited about, including a sequel from bestselling author Mona Awad and new work from National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy.
Here’s 12 books I recommend this September.
From the author of The Turner House, this “wonderfully ambitious” (Brit Bennett) novel, already a finalist for the 2025 Kirkus Prize for Fiction, follows five Black women over the course of their decades-long friendship.
Spanning from the late 2000s into the next twenty years, Flournoy traces the journey of these characters from young adulthood into fully grown women, exploring how they hold onto each other amid the increasing volatility of American life. The Wilderness, one of the year’s most anticipated releases, is on sale September 16th.
Praised by Kirkus in a starred review as “the most beautiful and moving mother-son story in recent memory,” Sam Sussman’s debut follows twenty-six-year-old Evan, who returns home to his dying mother, only to uncover the truth of his origins.
Evan has long been sheltered about his father’s identity and his mother’s turbulent past, including her complicated relationship with Bob Dylan. As her illness worsens, she begins to reveal the truths Evan has long been waiting for. This intimate exploration of loss, healing, and memory is on sale September 16th.
For fans of The Topeka School and Boyhood, Grady Chambers’ “elegiac and moving first novel” (Dana Spiotta) is set in early-2000s Chicago and follows six men as they navigate global wars, first loves, and addiction.
From youth to college, from the military to the uncertain world beyond, Great Disasters is a powerful exploration of friendship, loneliness, and loss. With a starred review from Booklist, this one is on sale September 30th.
In her highly anticipated follow-up to Bunny, bestselling author Mona Awad returns with a laugh out loud satire of academia. Focusing on a future Sam Mackey, who has just released her debut novel to critical acclaim. While on a book tour in New England, Sam is kidnapped by her former frenemies who are furious at how she has portrayed them. What follows is an intoxicating journey into the heart of dark academia.
A most-anticipated pick by GoodReads and The Millions, and perfect for fans of Frankenstein and Heathers, this one is on sale September 23rd.
For fans of Younger and Writers & Lovers, this highly anticipated debut novel follows two rival editors in publishing who are forced to “hot desk” in a post-pandemic workplace. Their rivalry reaches a breaking point when a renowned literary legend dies and his estate is up for grabs, forcing them to decide just how far they’ll go to get ahead.
Praised in a starred Kirkus review as “a unique, decades-spanning story of friendship, love, and literature,” Hot Desk is on sale September 2nd.
Praised by Ann Patchett as “funny and tender, realistic and strange,” this novel takes place in Ohio in the aftermath of the Allied victory in Europe. It follows two families who are bound by one life-altering secret, which eventually forces them to question who they thought they were and what their futures might hold.
Spanning decades and “filled with wit and emotion on every page” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Buckeye is on sale September 2nd.
For fans of Lucy Foley and Alice Feeney, this “absolutely thrilling, tautly plotted puzzle” (Shelf Awareness) brings six friends together at a dinner party in Notting Hill to honor their recently deceased ex-employer. What begins as a night of nostalgia soon spirals into a twisted, deadly game.
With shifting timelines and alternating perspectives, The Wasp Trap has all the ingredients of a standout thriller. On sale September 16th.
With starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus, this “bittersweet, thrillingly perceptive, enormously funny” (Kaliane Bradley) debut follows a character named Steph Harper on her relentless quest to become the first Cherokee astronaut.
Spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back explores ambition, belonging, and family. Hitting shelves September 2nd.
From the bestselling indie author of The Girls We Sent Away comes a sharp exploration of identity, motherhood, and the suffocating expectations of being a homemaker in the 1950s. We follow a character named Lulu Mayfield who has spent the past five years perfecting her role as the ideal housewife.
When a new neighbour moves in, Lulu begins to suspect something darker beneath the woman’s constant smile. What she uncovers forces her to question everything she thought she knew. A “suspenseful unraveling of women’s secrets” (Kristen Bird), The Mad Wife is hitting shelves September 30th.
Praised by The Guardian as “tremendously entertaining,” Spanish author Beatriz Serrano’s debut follows Marisa, a young office worker whose carefully curated persona begins to crack when she is forced to attend her company’s annual retreat.
Though her life looks picture-perfect, Marisa is drowning in existential dread and despises her job. She even fantasizes about being hit by a car and going on disability. Yet her professional success, mostly built on lies and stolen work, is on the verge of unraveling, and the team building retreat pushes her to the brink. On sale September 2nd.
With advance praise from Sheila Heti, this autobiographical coming-of-age debut from Canadian actor Marc Bendavid explores the life-altering bond between a young boy and his teacher.
We meet Marc at the beginning of sixth grade, newly enrolled in a special arts school, where he forms an intense connection with his art teacher, Klara. Despite the three decades between them, their relationship only deepens. Years later, when Marc is pursuing acting in Los Angeles, he receives devastating news from Klara’s daughter and the past comes rushing back to him.
I was lucky to have an early preview of this one and the prose is stunning. For readers of André Aciman and Ben Lerner, The Sapling arrives September 23rd.
For readers of A Man Called Ove and The Traveling Cat Chronicles, this charming debut is told through the eyes of a scrappy stray cat named Frankie. When Frankie is injured and in desperate need of care, he lands on the doorstep of Richard, a grieving older man who is on the brink of ending it all.
An exploration of human companionship, loneliness, and finding purpose, Frankie is on sale September 30th.
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