Check out these highly anticipated new releases featuring fiction and nonfiction titles. Click on the title to request a copy or get your name on the waitlist. Don’t forget to watch for more featured releases next month!
FICTION
In this hair-raising debut from Hassan, a family of indentured servants is torn apart in contemporary Pakistan. Work at the primitive brickworks is backbreaking for seven-year-old Lalloo’s parents. What’s more, usurious loans force entire generations to spend their lives trapped in a cycle of debt. When his older brother, Jugnu, speaks out against the exploitation, Jugnu is beaten to death by the overseer’s goons. Lalloo’s parents send him away for his safety, and he eventually becomes an apprentice to an auto mechanic. As a frightened and lonely young man, Lalloo yearns for love and has recurring nightmares about Jugnu’s death, which he witnessed and blames himself for—otherwise, why would his parents have sent him away? Meanwhile, his sisters Pinky and Shabnam toil in the brickworks. When the owner of the garage dies, Lalloo finds work as a chauffeur for a wealthy family and determines to finance Shabnam’s dowry, as she’d prefer an arranged marriage to servitude. What starts out as a stultifying tale of hopelessness becomes a fast-paced drama full of betrayals, escapes, intrigue, and self-sacrificing heroism. It’s enlivened by charming scenes of street life and the bazaar, stark contrasts between the lives of the well-to-do and the servant classes, and unforgettable villains and allies. Hassan proves herself a gifted storyteller. Copyright 2025 Publishers Weekly
Can a lifetime of struggle be distilled into a single moment? Oslo-based Rishøi, author of the best-selling novel Brightly Shining (2024), shows it's possible in her riveting latest, three stories examining the multitudes contained within just a few short hours. With sympathetic characters, expert pacing, and palpable tension, Rishøi builds each tale toward a gripping conclusion. First, a young mother, almost out of cash, finds kindness from a stranger, her daughter's dreamy-eyed take on the world for once winning out over her own harsh reality. Then, a man recently released from prison prepares for a much-anticipated visit from his son and reflects on his relationship with the boy's mother, as a fuller picture emerges of what drove him to crime. Finally, a 17-year-old out of options tries taking her half-siblings to a refuge, under the looming threat of discovery or disaster. In a department-store fitting room, a pillow shop, or a snowed-in country road, Winter Stories explores how seemingly everyday interactions can carry extraordinary consequences. The past meets the present as promises, regrets, and betrayals intertwine; relationships that are over but not forgotten surface for characters tracing the choices that led to their current crucible moments—all while Rishøi finds light amid the darkness of a Norwegian winter. Copyright 2025 Booklist Reviews.
A 14-year-old boy’s suspicion that his mom’s boyfriend might be a Russian spy ignites this busy comedic thriller from Atkins (Don’t Let the Devil Ride). In 1985 Atlanta, Peter Bennett worries that his scientist mom’s new flame, Gary—who has a funny accent, is not in the phone book, and keeps a gun in his car—is less interested in romance than in gaining access to her work for a government contractor. Peter knows that nobody in authority will take a high school freshman seriously, so he gets in touch with his favorite author, crime novelist Dennis “Hotch” Hotchner, whose writing career flamed out a decade ago. Hotch agrees to help, but trouble soon follows: a Russian hit man appears on the scene, a coworker of Peter’s mom is found murdered, and the FBI gets involved. When Peter’s kidnapped, Hotch and his sidekick, a brawny drag queen named Jackie Demure, shift into high gear. Atkins peppers the exuberant action with colorful references to ’80s pop culture, but as the cast of characters expands, the book’s many subplots start to stall the narrative momentum. It’s hard not to admire his ambition, but Atkins has done better before. Copyright 2025 Publisher’s Weekly
NONFICTION
* McCracken (The Hero of This Book) has written many bestselling and award-winning books including four novels, three story collections, and a memoir. She has also, for over 35 years, taught students about writing and fiction at the University of Texas, Austin. This book delightfully distills advice from her expertise in the craft of writing. She approaches the task with a good deal of skepticism for the project, using the word “hogwash” in the opening pages. With a light touch, she deflates many lofty rules of writing, citing the fads and fashions in literary advice. What McCracken learned in the Iowa Writers’ Workshop in when she attended in 1988 is not what students absorb today, and she speculates that any piece of advice she has given over the years has since been disproved by some brilliant piece of writing. McCracken’s deep empathy for others is evident on every page. As much a book of philosophy as a treatise on writing, this work could even bear the subtitle Notes on Life. VERDICT A charming book that will have great appeal not only for aspiring writers but for all lovers of fiction and anyone interested in the complicated art of being human. Reviewed by Jennifer Alexander, Oct 01, 2025
A rip-roaring, seafaring adventure with a twist. Mazzeo, the author of The Widow Clicquot, has fashioned a captivating role-reversal tale. In crisp prose, it begins in Maine’s Penobscot Bay, home to hundreds of sea captains, including Joshua Adams Patten and his 19-year-old wife, Mary Ann. In 1854 he secured the captainship of a massive clipper, the dozen-sailed Flying Scud. He sailed from New York to Liverpool and back, earning a fine salary and a handsome race wager. In 1855 he was chosen to captain the clipper ship Neptune’s Car to circumnavigate the globe. If successful, he would receive a massive payout. He and Mary Ann agreed that she would accompany him. For the first time, he confronted dangerous waves in Drake’s Passage, between South America and Antarctica. Mazzeo does a fine job explaining how the waves affect ships and the nuances of celestial navigation. Despite an impressive 101-day voyage to San Francisco, Patten lost a $2,000 race wager by hours. In Hong Kong, he took on tea for cargo and sailed to London, where it would bring high prices. Once back home, Patten quickly received another commission for the same voyage, including a five-ship race wager and a new, disgruntled first mate. Patten had to demote him, so when the captain became ill, it was Mary Ann, who was pregnant and had no sea training, who scoured navigational maps and medical texts to steer a course through Drake’s Passage amid foul weather and a questioning crew. On September 5, 1856, with a gun hidden under her oilskin, she addressed the crew with “one hell of a speech.” For the first time ever, a woman became captain of a merchant ship—with the crew’s approval. Awaiting them were terrible weather and icebergs—and the hope of returning home. A thoroughly entertaining, delightful story. © Kirkus Reviews
Vulture podcast columnist Malin helps readers navigate the vast landscape of English-language podcasts in this insightful debut guide. He deems the current moment “the Golden Age of Podcasting,” explaining that 31% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly and ad revenue has exploded in recent years to a projected $4 billion in 2025. The 101 shows Malin highlights span all the major categories, including history, pop culture, true crime, comedy, science fiction, and self-help. In each entry, Malin describes the show’s merits and history and recommends a favorite episode. For Limetown, a science fiction podcast, Malin details, without spoilers, the plot—the unsolved disappearance of 300 people from their fictional Tennessee community—and outlines how the pilot episode rapidly found an audience, reaching “the top spot on the download charts without any famous cast members to promote it.” Each section is equal parts informative and evocative; Malin conveys what makes comedy podcasts, such as Jonathan Katz’s Hey, We’re Back, funny to so many listeners, and why certain investigative series are successful, like The Last Days of August, which he says avoided cheap thrills and brought compassion and humanity to the story of a pornographic actress who died by suicide. This is an essential overview of a wildly popular medium. © Publisher’s Weekly
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