In the ebullient debut novel from Conklin (after the collection Rainbow Rainbow), a queer alt-folk singer embarks on a journey of self-discovery after a disastrous performance. Joan Vole is beloved in New York City’s underground music scene, and she gets off sexually on a crowd’s adoration. During a show at a punk club, she lets down her guard and satisfies her fetish by peeing on a fan on stage. After the show, she spirals from embarrassment, ducking her best friend Paige, a rising star in the underground scene, and flees the city to teach at a writing camp for teens in rural Virginia. There, Joan is revitalized by the free-spirited campers, who freely express their gender identity and sexuality, and by an intense connection with younger faculty member Sparrow, a cartoonist who is nonbinary and who has been following her work since they were a teen. The pair’s bond prompts Joan to reflect on her intense yearslong friendship with the beautiful and androgynous Paige, whose affection Joan wasn’t comfortable reciprocating. Conklin’s comedy of manners has a shrewd undercurrent, and much of the novel’s charm derives from the teens’ easy banter with one another, which helps Joan work through her hang-ups. It’s a winner. Agent: Samantha Shea, Georges Borchardt, Inc. (June)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

Franklin’s wry debut skewers the shifting social mores of late-stage capitalism. Mary, 32, is in a rut—recently fired from her dead-end London marketing job, she watches old episodes of Agatha Christie’s Poirot in place of a social life. Seeking excitement, she flies to Ibiza, where she meets alluring but aloof 36-year-old pharmaceutical marketer Tom. Their early interactions are stilted, and Tom, a fellow Brit, dispenses withering comments about her passive demeanor (“ ‘You’re one of those people who never shares anything, aren’t you?’ he said. ‘You’re a pervert. You like lurking’ ”). But as they continue partying together, their connection grows. Meanwhile, Mary hears from enigmatic Lara, 33, once her lover and friend, who ghosted her three years earlier. Lara, an artist turned entrepreneur, practically begs Mary to take a job at Openr, her new dating app for “open-minded singles and couples.” Back in the U.K., Mary ignores her instincts in favor of a paycheck and takes the role. Her days intensify as she balances developing edgy content for Openr and supporting Tom’s work on the pharmaceutical industry’s first prescription psychedelic. Franklin grounds the novel with textured characterizations, particularly in the contrast between Lara and Tom and in Mary’s conflicting feelings toward them. This smart novel has plenty of bite. Agent: Niki Chang, David Higham Assoc. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

An Italian American woman throws off the shackles of her constrictive New Jersey family in this sweet outing from Trigiani (The Good Left Undone). Giuseppina Capodimonte works for her savvy uncle Louie, drafting designs for fountains, bathrooms, and floors made from the distinctive Italian marble he imports. She’s left her hometown husband, Bobby, and is living in her parents’ basement, the dutiful daughter who’s with Grandma Cap when she dies, who’s always there to help Grammy B make the cavatelli, and whose college fund was used to put her brother Joe through law school. After Giuseppina takes over Cap Marble and Stone, she discovers that her uncle was in over his head with the IRS. The first thing she does is travel to Carrara, where the marble is quarried, and there her awakening begins. She rents a charming apartment overlooking a picture-perfect piazza, drinks superb espresso, acquires a stray kitten, and melts on multiple occasions into the arms of the landlady’s gorgeous son. As Giuseppina straightens out her family’s business, the Italian sojourn proves predictably life-changing. Trigiani’s fans will lap this up. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

The crisp and assured latest from Wang (Family Trust) follows a Taiwanese woman’s life in the U.S., beginning with graduate studies at Stanford in the 1970s and extending through two marriages and the fulfillment of a long-held dream. Joan’s first marriage, to a fellow student, is disastrous and blessedly brief. She then marries Bill, a wealthy man more than two decades her senior, with whom she has one child and adopts another. Along the way, she awkwardly learns to navigate Bill’s rarified world while raising a family in his famous modernist house in Palo Alto. Throughout the novel, Joan fantasizes about opening a café, the mission of which would be to address the “global deficit in satisfaction” by offering patrons sweet or savory treats along with the chance to meet a willing listener. After her children are grown and Bill dies from natural causes, she opens the Satisfaction Café on the site of a shuttered Chinese video store. Independent and pragmatic, but also secretly soulful, Joan is a character capable of surprising the reader at every turn, especially as she faces the difficulties of growing old. Wang has a light touch, whether in describing events that are heavy or mundane, and avoids sentimentality. This gratifies. Agent: Michelle Brower, Trellis Literary Management. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

In the satisfying if muted latest from Porter (The Disappeared), a middle-aged writer sets out to discover why his father abandoned him and his mother four decades earlier. Steve has recently begun a trial separation from his wife and young son, and his quest unfolds on two tracks: by road, as he travels up the California coast to visit his disgraced English professor father’s friends and relatives, and via memories, as he works through his last year with his father, beginning in summer 1983 when he was 11. He remembers his father’s boisterous backyard pool parties at their home in Fullerton, Calif., and the days his father would spend in the cabana with close friend and colleague Deryck Evanson. Looking back, Steve recognizes that his mother had caught onto his father’s affair with Deryck. His road trip includes a stop in Ojai to see his uncle Julian, with whom he discusses his father’s failed bid for tenure shortly before his disappearance. “He was railroaded,” Julian claims, defending his brother’s merit and referencing an obscure controversy. Further up the road, Steve uncovers a few secrets as he tries to make sense of his own life in relation to his father’s. Though there aren’t many surprises, there’s a comforting quality to Steve’s insights about fathers and sons. This therapeutic novel is worth a look. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

The lyrical and ambitious sophomore outing from Batsha (after Mother Ocean Father Nation) examines turbulence on the American home front during WWI and its aftermath. In 1917, Stanford graduate student Cora Tent meets Indian immigrant Indranath Mukherjee at a party. Their chemistry is passionate and combustible. Through his fight for Indian independence, Indra has aligned himself with the Germans and has come to California via that alliance. His activism excites Cora, and despite warnings from her best friend, Hazel, and her academic adviser, she goes all in on the romance. They wed and move to New York City, where Indra can more openly pursue his support for Indian independence. Batsha’s deep historic research informs the portraits of his protagonists, who bear similarities to anti-colonial feminist Evelyn Trent and her husband, M.N. Roy, and the novel pulls off a tricky balancing act between florid romance (“Her heart was being branded, no longer was it her own”) and freewheeling modernism (“They could be anyone, as long as they were together”). This one leaves a mark. Agent: Jamie Carr, Book Group. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

An Afro-Latina singer pursues her big break while contending with grief and predatory men in this dramatic if unfocused debut from Guerrero. Xiomara Sanchez, 29, was previously on the cusp of landing a breakout role on Broadway when her sister, Nena, suddenly died. Now, a year later, she’s waiting tables and singing in a tourist trap and toiling at a print shop, where the manager manipulates her into having sex with him. Despite how hard she works, Xiomara still falls short on the past-due rent for the cramped apartment she and her mom share in Washington Heights. When she hears that celebrated director Manny Santos is casting for his next show, she pushes herself to audition, despite being laden with grief. Manny loves her voice and the two begin an affair. He lavishes her with money, prompting her to quit the print shop, and she puts up with his increasingly controlling nature and unwelcome tendency to choke her during sex, holding out hope for a part in his play. Amid this turmoil, Xiomara has a falling out with her mom and regrets brushing off a good-hearted former coworker. In the third act, Guerrero guides her protagonist toward redemption but loses track of the plot. Still, the novel offers sharp insights on the effects of exploitation, loss, and self-debasement. The protagonist’s strong voice carries this slightly scattered coming-of-age tale. Agent: Sabrina Taitz, WME. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

The search for love and fulfillment takes bizarre turns in Irish writer Keating’s fearless debut collection. “Pineapple” centers on Jen and her swan wings, surgically attached by controversial artist Mary O’Mahony. Their implanting strains Jen’s relationship with her partner Oisín—whose OCD and fear of Jen’s body already complicate their bond—and draws her closer to Mary. Several stories explore body horror through loss of agency. In the amusing and eerie “Next to Cleanliness,” office worker Catherine submits to her patronizing yet alluring doctor’s extreme detox regimens, from raw meat diets to orgasm restrictions. While some stories feel thematically repetitive, Keating’s assured voice and vivid imagery carry the day. The collection especially shines when it’s grounded in the characters’ desperate bids for connection, even at their own expense. Fourteen-year-old Saoirse befriends the vampire from the 1931 film Dracula in “Bela Lugosi Isn’t Dead,” while the title story finds call center agent Doireann forming a tender bond with a ghost who persistently urges her to end her life. Not only are these stories delightfully weird, but they offer a deeply empathetic exploration of shame, desire, and loneliness. Agent: Ed Wilson, Johnson & Alcock Ltd. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

Shanbhag (Ghachar Ghochar) zeroes in on the growing cracks in an Indian family’s facade in this rich and stimulating novel. The comfortable life of Venkat and his wife, Viji, in Bengaluru is disrupted when two young men knock on their door, asking for the whereabouts of the couple’s daughter, Rekha, who is away from college at the family’s orchard in the country. What at first seems like a romantic quarrel soon reveals itself to be much more complicated when Rekha doesn’t return home. Venkat and Viji board a bus and head to the orchard, where they visit Suresh, a neighbor who was the last to see Rekha at the bus stand and who runs an activist magazine. Alongside the present-day plot, Shanbhag delves into Venkat’s past, including the disappearance of his uncle Ramana when he was young. The past and present join to create a fascinating and intricate portrait of Venkat, which in turn encompasses the contentious political, gender, and class dynamics of contemporary India. Throughout, Shanbhag is a master of restraint, spinning a deceptively simple story that culminates in an exquisite final act. This one’s a knockout. (June)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink

Machida (52-Hertz Whales) concocts a heartfelt and pleasantly quirky tale of a convenience store chain that serves just what its customers need. In the seaside town of Mojiko, the eccentric Mr. Shiba manages a Tenderness store, where his magnetic personality and handsome figure are nothing compared to his love for his customers and employees. The story follows multiple Tenderness patrons as they navigate hardships, with the store bringing them closer together. Among them are employee Mitsuri, a mother who struggles with raising a difficult teenage boy and finds solace in publishing her popular online manga. There’s also customer Yoshirō, an aspiring manga artist who strives to leave his job as a tutor; and Azusa, a middle schooler who yearns to step out of her friend’s shadow and discovers joy in the sweet treats at Tenderness, fueling her desire to become a pastry chef. Mr. Shiba’s interventions in others’ lives has mixed results—his encouragement of Yoshirō causes the young man to reel from embarrassment—but overall, the well-meaning proprietor seeds a sense of hope and purpose in those he encounters. Readers of healing fiction like Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold will be delighted. (July)

Reviewed on 05/23/2025 | Details & Permalink