Starred Reviews Releasing This Week

January 19, 2026 through January 25, 2026
All the books to receive starred reviews in PW that are hitting bookstore shelves this week.
FICTION

How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder

Nina McConigley. Pantheon, $26 (224p) ISBN 978-0-593-70224-6

Complete Review »

A Very Cold Winter

Fausta Cialente, trans. from the Italian by Julia Nelsen. Transit, $18.95 trade paper (276p) ISBN 979-8-89338-023-1

Complete Review »

Crux

Gabriel Tallent. Riverhead, $30 (416p) ISBN 978-0-593-71418-8

Complete Review »

The Sea Child

Linda Wilgus. Ballantine, $30 (304p) ISBN 978-0-593-97655-5

Complete Review »

Discipline

Larissa Pham. Random House, $28 (224p) ISBN 978-0-593-97964-8

Complete Review »

The Future Saints

Ashley Winstead. Atria, $29 (352p) ISBN 978-1-6680-2466-9

Complete Review »

Antic Hay

Aldous Huxley. Dalkey Archive, $17.95 trade paper (228p) ISBN 978-1-62897-568-0

Complete Review »

Eating Ashes

Brenda Navarro, trans. from the Spanish by Megan McDowell. Liveright, $24.99 (240p) ISBN 978-1-324-09608-5

Complete Review »

MYSTERY/THRILLER

A Gift Before Dying

Malcolm Kempt. Crown, $28 (272p) ISBN 978-0-593-80100-0

Complete Review »

ROMANCE/EROTICA

When There Are No More Stars to Count

María Martinez, trans. from the Spanish by A. Nathan West. Sourcebooks Casablanca, $17.99 trade paper (416p) ISBN 978-1-4642-2507-9

Complete Review »

SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

The Poet Empress

Shen Tao. Bramble, $29.99 (480p) ISBN 978-1-250-40681-1

Complete Review »

How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days

Jessie Sylva. Orbit, $18.99 trade paper (304p) ISBN 978-0-316-58591-0

Complete Review »

NONFICTION

One Aladdin Two Lamps

Jeanette Winterson. Grove, $28 (240p) ISBN 978-0-8021-6711-8

Complete Review »

The Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its Empires

Sophie Pinkham. Norton, $35 (352p) ISBN 978-1-324-03668-5

Complete Review »

Overinvested: The Emotional Economy of Modern Parenting

Nina Bandelj. Princeton Univ, $32.95 (384p) ISBN 978-0-691-27004-3

Complete Review »

Kings and Pawns: Jackie Robinson and Paul Robeson in America

Howard Bryant. Mariner, $32 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-330816-9

Complete Review »

The Flower Bearers: A Memoir

Rachel Eliza Griffiths. Random House, $29 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-73020-1

Complete Review »

The Elements of Power: A Story of War

Nicolas Niarchos. Penguin Press, $32 (480p) ISBN 978-0-593-49201-7

Complete Review »

The Discovery of Britain: An Accidental History

Graham Robb. Norton, $34.99 (464p) ISBN 978-1-324-07494-6

Complete Review »

CHILDREN'S

Two Artists

Charnelle Pinkney Barlow. Doubleday, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-57122-4

Complete Review »

Magick Hoodoo Child

Amber McBride, illus. by Violeta Encarnación. HarperCollins, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-339540-4

Complete Review »

Fustuk

Robert Mgrdich Apelian. Penguin Workshop, $25.99 hardcover (304p) ISBN 978-0-5936-5889-5; $17.99 paper ISBN 978-0-5936-5890-1

Complete Review »

Melodies of the Weary Blues: Classic Poems Illustrated for Young People

Langston Hughes, edited by Shamar Knight-Justice, illus. by Jenin Mohammed et al. HarperCollins, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-06-332705-4

Complete Review »

No Way

Adrienne Thurman, illus. by Kaylani Juanita. HarperCollins, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-063-29005-1

Complete Review »

Troubled Waters: A River’s Journey Toward Justice

Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Bryan Collier. Bloomsbury, $20.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-68119-818-7

Complete Review »

COMICS

The Name and the Mark (Vattu #1)

Evan Dahm. Iron Circus, $25 trade paper (270p) ISBN 978-1-63899-155-7

Complete Review »

POETRY

The Book of Alice

Diamond Forde. Scribner, $18.99 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-66807-840-2

Complete Review »

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