November's most anticipated books include new titles from May Cobb and Louise Kennedy
We can also look forward to a new epic fantasy from John Gwynne and a fiction debut that will almost certainly end up in your book club.
(Photos: The Wolves Of War (Orbit), The Squatters (The Dial Press), All The Little Secrets (Sourcebooks Landmark)
Things are slowing down a bit in the world of publishing as we look toward the end of the year and booksellers finalize their holiday shopping displays. (How are we talking about this already?) But fear not, book lovers: There are still quite enough heavy-hitting new releases to get you through to the Christmas season, from buzzy sequels to new stories from familiar faces. To help cut through the noise of new titles, here are our picks for a single must-read release in all the major genres this November.
Fiction: The Squatters by Salva Brelvi (November 10)
Salva Brelvi’s provocative debut touches on multiple hot-button topics, like migration, refugee resettlement, racism, xenophobia, wealth inequality, and what we owe (as a society and as individuals) to the least among us. The story follows an American expat in Surrey who volunteers to help asylum seekers and is horrified to learn of a heavily pregnant woman and her husband living in deplorable conditions. Driven by a sense of kinship, she moves the couple into temporary housing owned by a friend. But when they refuse to leave after the baby is born, things spiral into unexpected and uncomfortable conflict.
Thriller: All The Little Secrets by May Cobb (November 17)
May Cobb’s name will likely be familiar to many thanks to the runaway success of Netflix’s The Hunting Wives adaptation, and her latest will no doubt appeal to those who love her particular brand of soapy East Texas domestic thriller. The follow-up to All The Little Houses, which was published earlier this year, this easily bingeable sequel (Cobb’s first!) picks up after its predecessor’s cliffhanger ending and continues the already bonkers story of murder, infidelity, and sharp social sniping in Longview, Texas.
Historical Fiction: Stations by Louise Kennedy (November 3)
The second novel from the author of Trespasses (which was just turned into a four-part PBS drama) follows the story of teenager Róisín McCaffrey after her family moves south from Northern Ireland when sectarian bullying causes her father to have a mental breakdown and leave them behind. Unhappy in her small town outside Dublin, she finds a rare kindred spirit in local bad boy Red, and their youthful connection will see them drift in and out of one another’s orbits for decades to come as each navigates family secrets, addiction, survival, and class issues in Margaret Thatcher’s London.
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