This year American agents will be carrying bags filled with literary debuts as well as works by bestselling authors. Among the notable titles that will be talked up in the rights tent are the new memoir from The Daily Show host Trevor Noah, a love letter to libraries by Susan Orlean, and a memoir of the Obama years by Ben Rhodes, one of the 44th president’s White House staffers.
Aevitas Creative Management
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray
U.S. publisher: Berkley, pub date not available at press time
This debut novel by an Emmy and DuPont Award–winning journalist at CNN Worldwide examines how a family copes with the highs and lows of forgiveness.
Tell Me Everything by Cambria Brockman
U.S. publisher: Ballantine, summer 2019
Set at an elite college in an isolated New England town, this debut novel chronicles the shifting friendship of six students who maintain their alliance until one of them is murdered.
Invincible: The Heart of Peak Performance by Leah Lagos
U.S. publisher: HMH, fall 2019
An expert in heart variability/biofeedback and sports psychology uses her 10-week program to reduce the body’s autonomic response to stress.
Cure-All: Diagnosing the Modern Wellness Epidemic by Amy Larocca
U.S. publisher: Knopf, spring 2020
New York magazine’s fashion editor at large examines the obsession with health and “wellness” and how a multibillion-dollar industry plays on our anxieties to sell us products, classes, and cleanses.
Baror International
The Room on Rue Amélie by Kristin Harmel
U.S. publisher: Gallery Books, Mar.
In her latest novel, the bestselling author of The Sweetness of Forgetting and When We Meet Again tells the intersecting stories of an American woman, a British RAF pilot, and a French teenager who is Jewish, in occupied Paris during World War II.
Tyrant by Stephen Greenblatt
U.S. publisher: Norton, May
A Pulitzer Prize–winning author and Shakespeare scholar explores the bard’s insight into Richard III, Macbeth, Lear, and Coriolanus, and the societies over which they ruled.
The Pan-industrial Revolution: How New Manufacturing Titans Will Transform the World by Richard D’Aveni
U.S. publisher: HMH, Oct.
One of the top 50 strategists and management thinkers in the world, according to the Thinkers50 ranking group, looks at what will happen to global industry as 3-D printing becomes a worldwide phenomenon.
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
U.S. publisher: Tor, 2019
Newly appointed ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of a stellar empire and must uncover the truth behind her predecessor’s demise. All the while she must navigate an alien culture and keep hidden a deadly technological secret.
Elyse Cheney Literary Associates
The World as It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House by Ben Rhodes
U.S. publisher: Random House, June
The deputy national security advisor under President Barack Obama offers a behind-the-scenes account of his presidency, which the literary agency says is written in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger Jr.’s A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.
Into the Hands of the Soldiers: Freedom and Chaos in Egypt and the Middle East by David Kirkpatrick
U.S. publisher: Viking, Aug.
An international New York Times correspondent and former Cairo bureau chief examines how and why the Arab Spring sparked, then failed—and the truth about America’s role in that failure. Understanding Egypt’s fate, Kirkpatrick argues, is essential to making sense of the region today.
Imagine It Forward: Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change by Beth Comstock
U.S. publisher: Currency, Sept.
The former vice chair of GE and past president of Integrated Media at NBC Universal shares lessons learned over a 30-year career devoted to spotting trends and driving innovation. She shows, the agency says, how each of us must become a “change maker” in business and life.
Belonging: A German Reckons with History and Home by Nora Krug
U.S. publisher: Scribner, Oct.
In this graphic memoir artist Nora Krug, the recipient of medals from the Society of Illustrators and the New York Art Directors Club, tells the story of her attempt to confront the hidden truths of her family’s wartime past in Nazi Germany and to comprehend the forces that have shaped her life, her generation, and history.
The Clegg Agency
American Prison by Shane Bauer
U.S. publisher: Penguin Press, Sept.
The agency calls this Mother Jones senior reporter’s account of his undercover infiltration of a Louisiana private prison, and the American penal system itself, “shocking and timely.”
Someday by David Levithan
U.S. publisher: Knopf, Oct.
In the sequel to Every Day, the bestselling author and Scholastic Books publisher/editorial director takes readers further into the lives of A, Rhiannon, Nathan, and the person they think they know as Reverend Poole.
A Door in the Earth by Amy Waldman
U.S. publisher: Little, Brown, spring 2019
In her new novel, Waldman (The Submission) tells the story of an idealistic young Afghan-American woman who goes on a humanitarian journey to a remote mountain village in the land of her birth. When her loyalties get caught between the villagers and the U.S. military, she must reconcile the lies that brought her there with the truths she finds in their place.
Greenwood by Michael Christie
U.S. publisher: Hogarth, spring 2019
This saga, which spans the Great Depression to 2034, follows the lives of a reclusive man who finds and keeps an abandoned baby, an environmental-activist mother, a carpenter coming to terms with his past, and a young woman who works in one of the world’s last remaining forests.
DeFiore & Co.
Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
U.S. publisher: Mariner, May
In a debut story collection that the agency calls “surreal and heartbreaking,” Adjei-Brenyah examines what it’s like to be young and black in America.
Visualizing the Beatles by John Pring and Robert Thomas
U.S. publisher: Dey Street, May
Two graphic designers and Beatles geeks offer bespoke full-color infographics of the Fab Four.
Consent by Donna Freitas
U.S. publisher: Little, Brown,
Sept. 2019
The author reflects on her experience being stalked by her graduate professor.
Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson
U.S. publisher: Morrow, spring 2019
Bestselling novelist Jackson, author most recently of The Almost Sisters, writes about how a woman’s ordinary life is jeopardized when a mysterious neighbor moves in.
Sandra Dijsktra Literary Agency
Stellaluna (25th-anniversary edition) by Janell Cannon
U.S. publisher: HMH, Aug.
This picture book about a fruit bat, who is separated from her mother and taken in by a family of birds, is celebrating its first quarter century.
When Christians Were Jews by Paula Fredriksen
U.S. publisher: Yale Univ. Press, Oct.
Jesus was not a Christian, nor would his apostles have identified themselves with such a label. In her latest book, Fredriksen tells the story of the origins of Christianity from the disciples’ experience of the resurrected Jesus to the Roman destruction of Jerusalem.
Gods and Robots: The Ancient Quest for Artificial Life by Adrienne Mayor
U.S. publisher: Princeton Univ., fall 2018
In what the agency terms the definitive survey of the history of artificial intelligence, a research scholar in classics and the history of science writes about the inventions created by techno wizards of antiquity.
Dystel, Goderich & Bourret
The Astonishing Color of After by Emily X.R. Pan
U.S. publisher: Little, Brown, Mar.
This debut novel, which received a starred review in PW, alternates between real and magic, past and present, friendship and romance, hope and despair, as it tells the story of a biracial teenager traveling to Taiwan to meet her maternal grandparents after her mother’s suicide.
Tooth and Nail: The Making of a Female Fight Doctor by Linda D. Dahl
U.S. publisher: Hanover Square, July
An otolaryngologist describes her experiences as one of the only female ringside boxing doctors for the New York State Athletic Commission.
Eliza Hamilton: The Extraordinary Life and Times of the Wife of Alexander Hamilton by Tilar J. Mazzeo
U.S. publisher: Gallery, Sept.
From the bestselling author of Irena’s Children comes a biography of the wife of Alexander Hamilton, herself a powerful hero in America’s early days.
Last Woman Standing by Amy Gentry
U.S. publisher: HMH, Jan. 2019
In this thriller from the author of Good as Gone, two abused women (a stand-up comic and a tech genius) plot revenge on each other’s tormentor. But as their pact escalates, their paranoia grows until neither is sure whom she can trust.
Foundry Literary + Media
Two Dark Reigns by Kendare Blake
U.S. publisher: HarperCollins, Sept.
In the third book of the Three Dark Crowns series, Katharine sits on the throne, Mirabella and Arsinoe are in hiding, and an unexpected renegade is about to wage a war of her own. The crown has been won, but these queens are far from done.
Untitled by Trevor Noah
U.S. publisher: Random/Spiegel & Grau, Oct.
In his new memoir, The Daily Show host (Born a Crime) takes us along with him, from driving a taxi in South Africa to his rise to celebrity.
Era of Ignition by Amber Tamblyn
U.S. publisher: Crown, 2019
Never one to shy away from tough conversations or speaking her mind, the actress, director, and poet is “the public voice for female anger,” the agency says. She “illustrates the current state of feminism in America via her own interactions with it.”
Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline
U.S. publisher: Crown, pub date not available at press time
This is the sequel to Cline’s bestselling Ready Player One, which was recently adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg.
The Gernert Company
The Mere Wife: A Novel by Maria Dahvana Headley
U.S. publisher: MCD, July
In this modern retelling of the literary classic Beowulf, set in American suburbia, two mothers (a housewife and a battle-hardened veteran) fight to protect those they love.
Whiskey When We’re Dry: A Novel by John Larison
U.S. publisher: Viking, Aug.
From a writer the agency calls “a blazing new voice in fiction” comes this gritty tale about a young woman who disguises herself as a boy and heads west across the mountains to find her outlaw brother.
The Personality Brokers: The Strange History of Myers-Briggs and the Birth of Personality Testing by Merve Emre
U.S. publisher: Doubleday, Sept.
The author of Paraliterary recounts the history of a personality test that was devised a century ago by a pair of homemakers.
Pulse: A Novel by Michael Harvey
U.S. publisher: Ecco, Oct.
Journalist and documentarian Harvey, also the author of seven previous novels, tells the story of a Boston murder set in the 1970s that the agency describes as “defying all expectations.” It’s been optioned for film by 21 Laps, the company behind Stranger Things and Arrival.
Sanford J. Greenburger Associates
How to Read Poetry like a Professor: A Quippy and Sonorous Guide to Verse by Thomas C. Foster
U.S. publisher: HarperPerennial, Apr.
From the bestselling author of How to Read Literature like a Professor comes a primer on verse.
What Should Be Wild by Julia Fine
U.S. publisher: HarperCollins, May
In her debut novel, Fine, a writing teacher at DePaul University, tells the story of Maisie Cothay, who was born with the power to kill or resurrect at her slightest touch. She has spent her childhood sequestered in the family’s manor. But when her father disappears, Maisie must venture out to find him.
In the Region of the Summer Stars: Book 1 of the Eirlandia Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead
U.S. publisher: Tor, May
Ravaged by barbarian Scálda forces, the last hope for Eirlandia lies with the island’s warring tribes. Wrongly cast out of his tribe, Conor, the firstborn son of the Celtic king, embarks on a dangerous mission to prove his innocence and change Eirlandia forever.
The Biggerers by Amy Lilwall
U.S. publisher: Oneworld, June
In this debut novel set a century from now, full-size humans (or biggerers) keep minicreatures (neither human nor animal) as pets. But Bonbon and Jinx both retain some remnant of their human knowledge of language and emotion, and when they begin communicating with each other and with their owner, Susan, they must be very careful. This kind of behavior is illegal.
Spymaster by Brad Thor
U.S. publisher: Atria/Bestler, July
In the latest Scot Harvath thriller, a secret organization has begun attacking diplomats across Europe. Back in the United States, a foreign ally demands the identity of a highly placed covert asset. In the balance hang the ingredients for all-out war.
ICM Partners
(handled by Curtis Brown)
Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment by Francis Fukuyama
U.S. publisher: FSG, Sept.
In his examination of modern identity politics, the author of the bestselling The Origins of Political Order warns that unless we forge a universal understanding of human dignity, we will doom ourselves to continuing conflict.
Come with Me by Helen Schulman
U.S. publisher: HarperCollins, Nov.
From the author of the bestselling This Beautiful Life comes a novel set in Silicon Valley that challenges notions of attachment and love, purpose and fate. The agency describes it as “a dark comedy, searing, entertaining, and unexpected.”
Then by Siri Hustvedt
U.S. publisher: S&S, Feb. 2019
In her latest novel, Hustvedt writes about an aging writer working on her memoir, who looks back at diary entries from her first year in New York. When she starts hearing her neighbor chant bizarre things, she thinks it’s just another eccentricity of her new life. As the neighbor’s confessions grow more disturbing, the writer becomes fixated on discovering the truth.
XL by Scott Brown
U.S. publisher: Knopf, Feb. 2019
“Fiercely funny, honest, and poignant,” the agency writes to describe this tale of a high school sophomore who has a growth spurt gone wrong, by a writer-producer on Castle Rock for Hulu.
Inkwell Management
The Perfect Weapon by David E. Sanger
U.S. publisher: Crown, June
The chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times looks at how cyberwarfare is influencing elections, threatening national security, and bringing us to the brink of global war.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
U.S. publisher: S&S, fall 2018
A New Yorker staff writer offers a love letter to an endangered institution, which is told through the lens of Orlean’s quest to solve a crime carried out in 1986: who set fire to the Los Angeles Public Library, ultimately destroying 400,000 books, and why?
The Five Appetites: What Every Other Species Knows About Health and Diet That We Humans Don’t, and How We Can Fix That by David Raubenheimer and Stephen J. Simpson
U.S. publisher: HMH, 2020
Academic partners in the study of nutritional biology draw on their research into the eating habits of baboons, crickets, pregnant giant pandas, and more to distill lessons on how to eat correctly at every stage of our life cycle.
Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz
U.S. publisher: Random House, 2020
A Pulitzer Prize–winning staff writer at the New Yorker offers what her agency describes as “a profound meditation on the omnipresence of grief and the astonishment of joy in our finite, infinitely complicated lives.”
Janklow & Nesbit
(handled by Cullen Stanley International)
War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence by Ronan Farrow
U.S. publisher: Norton, Apr.
In an account that ranges from Washington, D.C., to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea in the years since 9/11, the acclaimed journalist and former diplomat illuminates the collapse of American diplomacy and the country’s abdication of global leadership.
Bearskin by James A. McLaughlin
U.S. publisher: Ecco, June
The agency describes this debut novel as “gorgeous and hallucinatory.” In it, a caretaker for a remote forest preserve in Virginia finds respite from the Mexican drug cartels he betrayed back in Arizona. But when he finds the carcass of a bear killed on the grounds, his quiet life is upended.
The Lies That Bind: Rethinking Identity by Anthony Appiah
U.S. publisher: Liveright, Aug.
The author of the “Ethicist” column for the New York Times and bestselling author of Cosmopolitanism explores how everyday notions of race are the detritus of discarded science; the very idea of Western culture is a shimmering mirage.
Your Duck Is My Duck by Deborah Eisenberg
U.S. publisher: Ecco, Sept.
In her latest collection of short stories, the MacArthur Grant winner writes about characters swimming or drowning in a disintegrating environment—among them, an entitled young man who has a love affair with a human-rights worker, and a woman whose face illustrates her family’s history.
There Will Be No Miracles Here: A Memoir by Casey Gerald
U.S. publisher: Riverhead, Oct.
The cofounder of MBAs Across America stands the American dream on its head and asks if to live as we are is destroying us, what would it mean to truly live? This is a BookExpo Adult Book Editors’ Buzz selection.
Stuart Krischevsky Literary Agency
Many Love: A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s) by Sophia Lucido Johnson
U.S. publisher: Touchstone, June
This illustrated debut explores the history and misconceptions about polyamory, and the author’s personal transformation from serial monogamist to proud polyamorist.
Lands of Lost Borders: A Journey on the Silk Road by Kate Harris
U.S. publisher: Dey Street, Aug.
The story of Harris’s journey by bicycle along the Silk Road, from beginning to end, is both “a literary examination of the stories borders tell and a meditation on the human need to explore,” the agency notes.
Scarface and the Untouchable: Al Capone, Eliot Ness, and the Battle for Chicago by Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz
U.S. publisher: Morrow, Aug.
Novelist Collins and historian Schwartz combine talents in this dual biography of Al Capone and Eliot Ness, the upright Prohibition agent who helped bring him down.
The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by Sarah Weinman
U.S. publisher: Ecco, Nov.
Weaving together true crime, cultural history, and literary investigation, Weinman uncovers how much Nabokov knew about then 11-year-old Sally Horner’s 1948 abduction and the efforts he took to disguise that knowledge in one of his best known novels. This is a BookExpo Adult Book Editors’ Buzz selection.
Massie & McQuilkin Literary Agents
The Lost Family by Jenna Blum
U.S. publisher: HarperCollins, June
Spanning the 1960s to the 1980s, this novel is told from the perspective of a German-Jewish concentration camp survivor, refugee, and restaurateur; his American wife; and their teenage daughter. According to the agency, Blum’s work is “a meditation on the cost of social change, the meaning of family, the price of silence, and the tenacity of hope.”
Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture Edited by Roxane Gay
U.S. publisher: HarperPerennial, June
Cultural critic and bestselling author Gay collects original and previously published pieces. Contributors include actors Ally Sheedy and Gabrielle Union and writers Amy Jo Burns, Lyz Lenz, Claire Schwartz, and Bob Shacochis.
Little Faith by Nickolas Butler
U.S. publisher: Ecco, Feb. 2019
Three generations of a Wisconsin family grapple with the power and limitations of faith when one of their own falls under the spell of a radical church, in the latest from Butler (Shotgun Lovesongs).
The Risk of Us by Rachel Howard
U.S. publisher: HMH, spring/summer 2019
Inspired by Howard’s own journey as a foster-to-adopt mother, this novel follows a 40-something woman and her husband, who take in a seven-year old girl. Her troubles threaten their marriage, and the couple has to decide if they should adopt the child or give her up.
Jenny Meyer Literary Agency
A Well-Behaved Woman by Therese Fowler
U.S. publisher: St. Martin’s, Oct.
The bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald tackles Alva Vanderbilt in this novel, which the agency calls a “riveting” tale about the heiress and her “illustrious family as they rule Gilded-Age New York.”
Heartland: A Daughter of the Working Class Reconciles the American Divide by Sarah Smarsh
U.S. publisher: Scribner, Sept.
In her debut, Smarsh, who has written about class and politics for publications like the Texas Observer and the Guardian, delivers a memoir about her impoverished childhood in Kansas in a book that, the agency says, “challenges us to look more closely at the class divide in our country and at pervasive myths about people thought to be less because they earn less.”
If, Then by Kate Hope Day
U.S. publisher: Random House, Feb. 2019
Set in an Oregon mountain town, the novel follows four friends who start seeing themselves “in an alternat reality.”
I Was Anastasia by Ariel Lawhon
U.S. publisher: Doubleday, Mar. 2018
Anastasia Romanov is a member of the Russian royal family thought to have been executed (along with the rest of her relatives) by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Two years later, however, a woman claiming to be the Russian grand duchess is found in Germany. The agency is comparing the novel, which it says is about “the nature of identity itself,” to works like The Talented Mr. Ripley and Memento.
Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency
Food Is the Solution: What to Eat to Save the World—80+ Recipes for a Greener Planet and a Healthier You by Matthew Prescott
U.S. publisher: Flatiron, Mar.
In this resource and recipe collection, a leader in the environmental food movement shows how we can help solve the world’s major issues by incorporating more plants into our diets.
A Dog Runs Through It by Linda Pastan
U.S. publisher: Norton, May
A two-time National Book Award finalist offers a selection of 31 poems for dog lovers, accompanied by line drawings.
House on Fire by Bonnie Kistler
U.S. publisher: Atria Books, spring 2019
Divorce lawyer Leigh Huyett knows that most second marriages are doomed. But she and Pete are committed to their blended family. Then Pete’s son, Kip, is arrested in a drunk driving accident—and Leigh’s daughter, Chrissy, is in the car. Twelve hours later, Chrissy is dead, and Kip is charged with manslaughter.
Zoë Pagnamenta Agency
Everything Happens for a Reason—And Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler
U.S. publisher: Random House, Feb.
In this bestseller, a professor and historian at Duke Divinity School who was diagnosed with stage IV cancer at 35, offers hard-won observations on dying and the ways it has taught her to live.
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker
U.S. publisher: Riverhead, May
The founder of Thrive Labs, a strategy and visioning firm that helps activists, elected officials, corporate executives, educators, and philanthropists create transformative gatherings, sets forth a human-centered approach to gathering for work and play.
American Fix: The Opioid Crisis in Three Acts by Chris McGreal
U.S. publisher: PublicAffairs, Nov.
A senior writer and award-winning journalist for The Guardian exposes the complex roots and human costs of the U.S. opioid epidemic—and examines why the rest of the world has largely avoided this crisis.
The Singing School: Music, the Mind, and Your Child by Joan Koenig
U.S. publisher: HMH, pub date not available at press time
The founder and director of a group of bilingual musical pre-schools in Paris explains how children learn and why music is so important for them (and all of us)—as it enhances neural pathways, language skills, and empathy.
Jane Rotrosen Agency
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
U.S. publisher: St. Martin’s, Feb.
The bestselling author’s latest is set in the turbulent 1970s as a family fights to survive in the harsh, terrible beauty of Alaska, America’s last frontier.
International Guy by Audrey Carlan
U.S. publisher: Montlake, July
From the author of the Calendar Girl series comes a new 12-part series following life and love coach Parker Ellis as he travels the world to help his female clients find happiness.
Vendetta by Iris Johansen
U.S. publisher: St. Martin’s, Oct.
In Johansen’s latest thriller, dying CIA operative Carl Venable gives his team a mandate: to keep his daughter, Rachel, safe at any cost. But Rachel Venable has a twisted past that comes rushing back.
The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib
U.S. publisher: St. Martin’s, 2019
“Aristotle at Afternoon Tea” blogger Zgheib writes about a young girl with anorexia, which was inspired by her own experience. The agency describes it as “Girl, Interrupted meets 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.”
Victoria Sanders & Associates
The Undertaker’s Daughter by Sara Blaedel
U.S. publisher: Grand Central, Feb.
The Danish author writes about widowed Ilka Nichols Jensen, a school portrait photographer in Copenhagen, whose life takes an unexpected turn when she inherits a funeral home in Racine, Wis. There she stumbles on an unsolved murder and a killer who is very much alive.
Skyjack by KJ Howe
U.S. publisher: Quercus, Apr.
The executive director of ThrillerFest writes about an international kidnap expert, who is escorting two former child soldiers on a plane from an orphanage in Kanzi, Africa. The plane is hijacked by her former nemesis, a Sicilian don, and forced to land on a deserted airstrip in the Libyan desert. He wants something or someone on that plane.
After the Flood by Kassandra Montag
U.S. publisher: on submission at LBF
In 2130 Earth has flooded, leaving an archipelago of mountaintops surrounded by water. Myra and her young daughter, join a large ship searching for safe haven. Her oldest daughter, Row, was kidnapped during the flood. When Myra convinces the crew to head north in an effort to rescue Row, the decision changes everyone’s fate.
The Afterbirth by Vanessa Lillie
U.S. publisher: on submission at LBF
The night Devon Burges almost died in childbirth, her friend Belina was murdered. While struggling with postpartum psychosis, Devon must use her skills as an attorney to investigate Belina’s life and find justice for her friend.
Trident Media Group
The Punishment She Deserves by Elizabeth George
U.S. publisher: Viking, Mar.
Det. Sgt. Barbara Havers and Det. Insp. Thomas Lynley confront the past as they try to solve a crime that threatens to tear apart a quiet, historic medieval town in England.
In Her Bones by Kate Moretti
U.S. publisher: Atria, Sept.
A bestselling author follows the daughter of a convicted serial killer who finds herself at the center of a murder investigation after a night she can’t remember. With the detective who arrested her mother hot on her trail, she must get to the truth of what happened before the police—or the real killer—find her.
Under the Rainbow by Celia Laskey
U.S. publisher: Riverhead, spring 2019
In her debut novel, Laskey writes about a town in Kansas named the most homophobic place in America, and a group of queer volunteers who move there, determined to broaden the community’s hearts and minds.
The Year We Were Born by Claire Lombardo
U.S. publisher: Doubleday, spring/summer 2019
This debut novel spans half a century and follows a madly-in-love married couple and their four complicated daughters, whose lives are deeply affected by the sudden arrival of a teenage boy who was given up for adoption 15 years prior.
Mutual Admiration Society by Mo Moulton
U.S. publisher: Basic Books, fall 2019
A lecturer in the history department of the University of Birmingham writes about crime novelist Dorothy L. Sayers and her group of friends, who were among the first women to receive full degrees from Oxford University.
William Morris Endeavor
There Are No Grown-ups by Pamela Druckerman
U.S. publisher: Penguin, May
The bestselling author of Bringing Up Bébé investigates life in the 40s and asks, what makes someone a grown-up anyway?
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier
U.S. publisher: Holt, June
A leading technology writer and one of the original forces behind the development of virtual reality argues for disconnecting from social media.
Out of Darkness, Shining Light by Petina Gappah
U.S. publisher: on submission
This historical novel, which the agency says is infused with the African-born writer’s “trademark mix of humor and empathy,” was inspired by the “longest march in history”—the pilgrimage by David Livingstone’s African companions to bury him at home in England following his death on May 1, 1873.
Primitive Technology by John Plant
U.S. publisher: Clarkson Potter, pub date not available at press time
The creator of the Primitive Technology YouTube channel and blog, in which he makes technology (weapons, clothing, and other items) using only materials found in the wilderness, provides a definitive how-to guide for his nine million followers.
Writers House
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green
U.S. publisher: Dutton, Sept.
In this much-anticipated debut novel, the cocreator of the YouTube channels Crash Course, Vlogbrothers, and SciShow spins a tale about a young woman who becomes an overnight celebrity before realizing she’s part of something bigger, and stranger, than anyone could have imagined.
Under My Skin by Lisa Unger
U.S. publisher: Park Row, Sept.
Immediately after Poppy’s husband, Jack, is murdered during his morning run through Manhattan’s Riverside Park, she disappeared for several days—only to turn up ragged and confused, wearing a tight red dress she didn’t recognize. One year later, questions remain: What happened to Poppy? And more importantly, what happened to Jack?
Ohio by Stephen Markley
U.S. publisher: S&S, Aug.
On a summer night in 2013, four former classmates return to their Rust Belt hometown. Debut novelist Markley weaves together a murder mystery and social critique set against the backdrop of a region ravaged by the Great Recession, the opioid crisis, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ohio is a BookExpo Adult Book Editors’ Buzz selection.
The God Game by Danny Tobey
U.S. publisher: Wednesday, 2019
This novel follows five best friends in a high school computer club, who get sucked into an underground hacker’s game run by a mysterious AI that thinks it is God. The game pits them against one another and turns their high school upside down. Win and you learn the meaning of life; lose and you die, for real.
The Wylie Agency
Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
U.S. publisher: Holt, Apr.
Under the spell of the drama teacher at their high school, Sarah and her peers live in a bubble, where the outside world can’t affect them—until it does. In the second section, we learn that this is not completely true, or false. This novel will “shock and resonate long after the final sentence,” the agency says.
The Assault on Intelligence: American National Security in an Age of Lies by Michael Hayden
U.S. publisher: Penguin Press, May
The author of Playing to the Edge and a former director of the CIA what the Wylie Agency terms a “blistering” critique of the forces undermining the American intelligence community, beginning with the president of the United States.
A Terrible Country by Keith Gessen
U.S. publisher: Viking, July
In his first novel in a decade, a founding editor of n+1 writes about Russia, family love, and loyalty. Andrei sublets his room in Brooklyn and returns to Moscow in 2008 to care for his ailing grandmother. She welcomes him into her home, even if she can’t always remember who he is.
Normal People by Sally Rooney
U.S. publisher: Hogarth, Apr. 2019
In her sophomore effort, the author of Conversations with Friends tells the story of Connell and Marianne, who grow up in the same small town in the west of Ireland, where Connell’s mother works as a cleaner in Marianne’s family home. After they are accepted at Trinity College in Dublin, a connection that has grown between them lasts long into the following years.
CORRECTION: This article initially referred to Moulton as a lecturer at the University of Bingham; Moulton is actually a lecturer at the University of Birmingham. This article also initially misnamed International Guy by Audrey Carlan. It also initially misstated the title of Pettina Gappah's novel, Out of Darkness, Shining Light.
