Bestseller Berg (Earth’s the Right Place for Love) serves up a deceptively simple story with hidden depths. Flo Greene, 92 and widowed with no children, has been given a four-to-six-week prognosis for her terminal cancer. She writes a long letter to her close friend Ruthie, a young woman who grew up next door and was like a daughter to her. Ruthie is married with children but is considering divorce, and Flo announces her intention to leave her modest house to Ruthie. As the letter unfolds over the length of the novel, alternating with sections of third-person narration, Flo reminisces about Ruthie’s childhood and adolescence and pointedly chronicles her own ups and downs with her late husband. Meanwhile, when Flo is not writing her letter, she befriends neighbor Teresa McNair, a death doula who helps people cope with the end of their lives. Flo, saddened by Teresa’s resignation to singlehood at 51, helps her navigate online dating. Berg exhibits great range in her portrayal of the folksy Flo, whose sweetness is far from saccharine; she believes in being honest and forthright, as when she steers Teresa away from talk of a miraculous recovery from her cancer, thinking after all she’s 92, and “her doctor is not a dope.” Readers will be charmed by this heartening tale. Agent: Suzanne Gluck, WME. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

In Mahajan’s immersive third novel (after The Association of Small Bombs), a family tragedy unfolds against the backdrop of political upheaval in India. As the story opens in 1980, Sanchin Chopra, grandson of a late revered Indian politician, is trying to forge a new life in Michigan with his wife, Gita, even as she longs to return to Delhi. During a visit there, Sanchin’s lecherous uncle, Laxman, sexually assaults Gita, and the other family members, including Sanchin, brush her off when she tries to tell them about it. Meanwhile, Laxman, a failed businessman, attempts to launch a new company with Karishma, the wife of Sanchin’s brother Brij, and embarks on an affair with her. Brij, a broken man following his service in the Indian Air Force, physically abuses Karishma and their two sons. After Sanchin and Gita move back to Delhi, Brij comes to deeply resent his brother’s presence, and eventually, Gita pushes Sanchin to grasp the depth of Laxman’s depravity. In the mid-1980s, members of the far-right Bhartiya Janata Party court Laxman, hoping to win over establishment voters by exploiting his family name, and the family tensions build to a tragic denouement. Even those unfamiliar with Indian political history will be swept up by the well-drawn characters and gripping drama. The author proves himself a consummate storyteller. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

Saenz’s darkly funny debut finds a college senior scrambling to pay her late mother’s debt to a drug dealer. Arvy Keening is still living at at her free-spirited mother’s Texas home months after the funeral when she discovers a baggie of illicit pills. Then a large woman and an armed man show up at her door and inform her that the pills are Mona, a rare drug that stimulates mind-blowing orgasms for women. The pair demands that Arvy cover the $10K they expected from her mother’s sale of the drugs, or they’ll kill her. In a panic, she turns to her classmates’ attractive drug dealer Wolf, who agrees to help off-load the pills. She also tests one of the Monas during an exam, which triggers vivid sexual fantasies involving Wolf and others that lead to a wild orgasm. Though a handful of women are happy to find solo satisfaction from the pills, Arvy still has too many left in the bag as the 36-hour deadline looms. Arvy and Wolf’s will-they-or-won’t-they subplot drags on a bit too long, but Saenz’s depiction of the erotic elements are delightfully over-the-top (Arvy’s Mona dose ends with her emitting the “breathy cackle of a madwoman”), and the quest narrative builds to a satisfying reckoning with the complicated legacy of Arvy’s mother. There’s a beating heart at the center of this titillating story. Agent: Jessica Spitz, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

A reincarnated Anne Boleyn pursues personal and social justice in this playful work of speculative historical fiction from poet Lehmann (The Sweating Sickness). Following her 1536 beheading, Anne awakes in a box, escapes, and sews her head back on. Deeply concerned about her daughter, Elizabeth, she flees London for seedy Southwark, where she’s shocked to hear people exulting at the death of the “whore queen” and begs help from a prostitute named Alice, who agrees to put her up in the brothel where she works. Anne claims to be running away from her abusive husband to rescue her daughter. Alice, suppressing her suspicion that there’s more to the story, takes Anne to her family in the swampy fenlands. There, Anne realizes that courtly life and her self-satisfaction in pushing reforms have blinded her to the plight of the common people. After telling Alice the truth, Anne makes plans to return to London, where she hopes to finally bring her agenda to fruition. Lehmann offers deep character work, portraying Anne’s early self-righteous naivete and discovery of her political savvy, and she successfully pairs a thrilling plot with a complex reflection on the limits of women’s power. Readers will be delighted. Agent: Massie McQuilkin & Altman Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

Two Korean American women wind up on a disastrous collision course in the complex if melodramatic debut from Sanders. When ambitious Columbia law student Shelley Hu is accosted by fellow subway rider Amy Cloverfield over a vacant seat, she goes on an embarrassing tirade. Soon, a video of the incident captured by journalist Auggie Flores goes viral, causing Shelley to lose her spot at Columbia and be fired from her law firm internship by her boss, Gene Struzik. Unmoored and humiliated, Shelley flees to her Florida hometown to work in a nautical-themed motel with her overprotective mother. One night, mysterious stranger Sophia Moon checks in with her family and tells Shelley she’s come there specifically to see her and has suffered the same kind of shame and mortification. Sophia offers to correct Shelley’s “karmic imbalance” by exacting revenge on Amy, Auggie, and Gene. As Sophia guides Shelley toward vengeance, she pushes her to change her name. Meanwhile, Sanders reveals Sophia’s duplicitous history in flashbacks. After they arrive in New York City, Shelley and Sophia’s machinations spiral out of control. The bonkers ending strains credulity, but Sanders proves adept at building tension, and she offers a meaty exploration of feminine rancor. It’s a wild ride. Agents: Jessica Macy and Erin Niumata, Folio Literary Management. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

The vitriol is strong in Self’s devilish latest (after Elaine), which takes place in his familiar middle-class milieu of boorish bankers, blocked artists, and hack writers. Among the multiple narrators is has-been novelist Will, who says of his interchangeable friends, “Their only salient feature were their dicks.” One of them, Phil Szabo, dies in his flat early in the novel, while hosting a dinner party. The subsequent chapters repeat Szabo’s death and its aftermath, becoming more sordid in each telling, especially when Phil narrates from the afterlife. Then, ex-psychiatrist Dr. Zack Busner, a recurring character in Self’s work, turns up and discloses the experiments he’s been conducting with a secret cabal of mad scientists, who use a semi-sentient organic computer named Margaret to measure people’s “morality quotient,” or “propensity to do things they hold to be either right or wrong.” Self’s caustic style is on full display, particularly with Busner’s entertainingly misanthropic philosophizing, as when he claims that psychotherapy makes self-obsessed people think they’re “good,” even as “their actions would be judged as entirely useless, selfish and harmful to one and all.” The novel retreads much of Self’s catalog but that’s hardly a bad thing when exhaustion and regurgitation are the point. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/16/2026 | Details & Permalink

The riveting debut by Scieszka sees a 213-year-old woman set out to uncover the cause of her eternal youth so she can finally die in peace. Vera Van Valkenburgh was raised in her family’s Catskills home in the late 18th century. At age 26, something happened that rendered her; her older brother, Eli; and their mother immortal. Afraid of alarming their neighbors, the family flees the area in 1826 before going their separate ways. Now, in 2014, Vera returns for the first time, having scored a job as a forest ranger as cover for her mission to reverse her immortality. At a town planning meeting, she learns that a billionaire-funded LLC called Fountain of Eternal Youth has been buying up land in the area. Eli, whom she hasn’t seen for nearly two centuries, is also in attendance. It turns out that he’s shacked up with the LLC’s biochemist, Lydia, who claims in her presentation that she plans to harness the source of immortality as a cure for deadly diseases. As Vera tries to grasp what Eli is up to, she warns Lydia about the danger of her discovery getting into the wrong hands. Scieszka adds gentle humor and romance to the tense plot, as Vera settles into her new life among bougie urban transplants and falls for a rugged local EMT. Readers will find plenty to admire. Agent: Ali Lake, O’Connor Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Haydu’s wonderful adult debut (after the middle grade fantasy One Jar of Magic) explores the interwoven lives of two families. After free-spirited Joni Dyer moves from Manhattan to suburban Sommersette, Mass., with her husband and their three-year-old daughter, Mae, she becomes best friends with neighbor Beth Ann Sullivan, a more conventional woman whose own daughter, Sydney, is also three. As the girls grow up, only Sydney is aware of the affair between her father, Barrett, and Joni, which ends in tragedy when Joni dies from a bee sting the night of Mae’s high school graduation. The girls keep in touch until their early 20s, when Mae finds out about the affair and ends their friendship. By the time they’re in their 30s both are pregnant and living in New York City. Sydney is married and has joined her mother at a midlevel marketing company that sells pashminas, while Mae, an artist, is single and living off the sale of a painting depicting her and Sydney as girls, which she made shortly after their rupture. Mae and Sydney eventually reconnect after Sydney reaches out via email, and they sift through their parents’ failed relationships and their own. Haydu expertly seeds the narrative with clues about the consequences of Joni and Barrett’s affair and stacks the plot with surprises. It’s a beautiful tale of complicated friendships. Agent: Victoria Marini, High Line Literary Collective. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Notorious 1920s medium Mina Crandon comes to life in the beguiling latest from Biaggio (Gun Girl and the Tall Guy). The novel is purportedly narrated from beyond the grave by the spirit of Mina’s older brother, Walter, who protects Mina from their father’s abuse as they grow up together on a bleak Ontario farm. After Walter dies in an accident at 28, Mina marries affluent Boston doctor Roy Crandon. Walter’s ghost still wants to help Mina, but he fails to make contact until she attends her first séance and invites him to connect. The siblings begin communicating telepathically, and Walter persuades Mina to hold séances herself. The combination of her feminine allure and his paranormal assistance (in addition to moving tables and stopping clocks, he uses her vocal cords to banter with attendees) makes “Margery,” Mina’s nom-de-séance, famous. She loves meeting illustrious fans including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, but her celebrity also poses dangers. Roy, hoping to exploit her renown with a book, begins faking supernatural phenomena, and celebrated anti-spiritualism crusader Harry Houdini vows to prove her a fraud. Walter’s narration is brisk and sassy—he calls Houdini a “shifty weasel”—and Biaggio cleverly leaves its provenance in question, like so much else relating to Margery. This fun story offers an enlightening view into spiritualism and the grip it once held on America. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink

Kawakami (All the Lovers in the Night) unfurls a remarkable noir-tinged tale of female desperation. The story opens in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, when narrator Hana, a single 40-year-old who works at a Tokyo deli counter, stumbles upon a web article about a woman named Kimiko, who once played a pivotal role in her life. Now 60, Kimiko has been accused of imprisoning a much younger woman in her home and assaulting her for 15 months. From there, the novel jumps back 25 years, to when a 15-year-old Hana is living with her often absent mother, Ai, a bar hostess in suburban Tokyo who’s prone to disappearing with boyfriends. Kimiko, an old drinking pal of Ai’s, steps in to fill the void while Ai is gone for a month, stocking the fridge with Hana’s favorite foods and charming her peers. Two years later, when they meet again, Hana leaves home and moves in with Kimiko, and together they open a small bar, Lemon. But Kimiko’s past and ties to Tokyo’s criminal underworld soon threaten Hana’s fragile stability. As the story hurtles toward chilling revelations in the present, Kawakami masterfully builds tension through her portrayal of Hana’s struggle to claw her way upward in a society where, as a runaway minor with no bank account or ID, she is nearly invisible. The author scales new heights with this gripping and propulsive novel. Agent: Amelia Atlas, CAA. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/09/2026 | Details & Permalink