11 Fiction Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Fall

Jean Hanff Korelitz returns this fall with The Sequel, the highly anticipated follow-up to her “insanely readable” (Stephen King) and “perfectly told” (Malcolm Gladwell) literary thriller, The Plot. The new novel follows Anna Williams-Bonner, wife of writer Jacob Finch Bonner from Korelitz’s 2021 bestseller. Not only is Anna riding high off her husband’s dramatic literary achievements featured in the first book, she’s preparing to become a novelist in her own right. Her debut novel, The Afterword, delivers a thrilling amount of literary acclaim. But Anna’s bright future darkens when she begins receiving excerpts of a story no one should possess — and if they have access to it, what else do they know? Wickedly entertaining and packed with plot twists, The Sequel is “another taut and compulsively readable spellbinder from Korelitz” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). 

Publication date: October 1, 2024

We cannot wait to read Haruki Murakami’s The City and Its Uncertain Walls — it’s the author’s first book in six years! A spellbinding narrative, the novel blurs reality as it weaves together the ordinary and extraordinary. It offers up a town with a Dream Reader and an eerie secondary world where shadows become untangled from the self. 

Publication date: November 19, 2024

Jeff VanderMeer revisits his blockbuster sci-fi Southern Reach series in this new narrative. The novel, entitled Absolution, is structured into three parts and tells the story of the first mission into the Forgotten Coast, before Area X was called Area X. Fans of VanderMeer’s acclaimed and otherworldly speculative fiction series are sure to enjoy this surprise prequel.

Publication date: October 22, 2024

If you’re a fan of The Girl on the Train author Paula Hawkins, chances are you’re pumped for the upcoming release of The Blue Hour. Early readers share in that enthusiasm: Acclaimed thriller author Lee Child hails The Blue Hour as “the best Paula Hawkins yet — by a tense and haunting mile.” The new mystery is set on a remote island off the coast of Scotland where there’s just one residence. Years ago, a famous artist and her infamously unfaithful husband lived on the windswept isle. Then that husband vanished without a trace. Today, a happily solitary person named Grace calls the island home. But when a shocking discovery is made at an art gallery in London, a visitor comes calling, and the submerged mysteries of the past threaten to return to the surface. 

Publication date: October 29, 2024

Sally Rooney is back this autumn with Intermezzo, and we think it would make a fantastic addition to your fall reading list. The literary fiction novel centers on two brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek, as they grieve the death of their father. Peter, a successful lawyer, takes to self-medicating and juggling multiple relationships with women. Ivan, a much-younger chess player, becomes entangled with an older woman who has a turbulent past.

Publication date: September 24, 2024

Creation Lake has been named one of the most anticipated reads of 2024 by everyone from Harper’s Bazaar to Publishers Weekly. From celebrated author Rachel Kushner, the novel is about an American secret agent who infiltrates an anarchist collective in France. Sadie Smith uses every method at her disposal to earn the trust of the collective, including seduction. Soon, however, Sadie finds herself seduced by another — the enigmatic Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to other anarchists who only communicates electronically.

Publication date: September 3, 2024

Sergio de la Pava’s Every Arc Bends Its Radian isn’t out until November, but we might need a copy as soon as possible, as the premise of this layered, bookish mystery has us hooked. The book follows Riv, a poet and private detective who leaves New York City for Colombia after a tragedy befalls his ex. He gets tasked with tracking down a missing girl and soon finds himself plunged into the depths of a massive and dangerous criminal underworld.

Publication date: November 12, 2024

When a Pulitzer Prize–winning author like Richard Powers announces a new book, you make sure to write down its release date. Playground, due out at the end of September, is a no-brainer addition to our list and is already making waves in the literary world. In the book, four people meet on the French Polynesian Island of Makatea to float autonomous cities into the sea. The book weaves together themes of new technologies, climate change, and colonialism into a visionary narrative that only Powers could conjure. 

Publication date: September 24, 2024

Louise Erdrich’s The Might Red is another stunning new release from a Pulitzer Prize–winning author, and we can’t wait to read it. The story takes place in Argus, North Dakota, where Gary Geist is set to marry Kismet Poe. Young Gary will soon inherit two farms; Kismet is a former goth whose mother works for Gary’s family. Then there’s Hugo, also in love with Kismet and on a mission to steal her away. Love, humor, tragedy, visions of guardian angels — this one has it all. 

Publication date: October 1, 2024

As its title suggests, Rumaan Alam’s new book, Entitlement, delves into hot-button cultural concerns of privilege, fairness, power, and obscene amounts of wealth. Brooke, searching for a purpose in life, begins working for an octogenarian billionaire. The billionaire is in the process of giving away all his money and asks Brooke to help. But will Brooke’s proximity to unfathomable wealth make her a better person or transform her into something else entirely?

Publication date: September 17, 2024

Elizabeth Strout, a New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner, is the perfect person to round out our list. Strout’s new novel, Tell Me Everything, is the fifth in her Amgash series and returns to the coastal Maine town of Crosby, where lawyer Bob Burgess must defend a man accused of a heinous crime. At the same time, Bob develops a deep friendship with Lucy Barton, who herself has developed a friendship with Strout’s most famous character, Olive Kitteridge. Brimming with hope, heartache, and small-town charm, Tell Me Everything is sure to captivate this autumn. 

Publication date: September 10, 2024