It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Or it almost is, anyway. If you’ve been here long enough, you know that we’re always counting down to fall. And not just because it’s our favourite season. (Hello, cozy sweaters and warm drinks and Halloween everything!)
As September draws near, so does a whole slew of new book releases for fall 2023. The TBR pile may be teetering, but we’re still going to put those Jenga skills to good use and make it a little bit bigger. So without further ado, here are Gen’s most anticipated releases for the latter half of the year.
Book Releases for Fall 2023: September
- The Fraud by Zadie Smith (September 5)
I love Zadie Smith so much. White Teeth is one of my all-time favourites, and I love her essay collections. She has such an insightful eye for current cultural trends in both politics and the arts. Naturally, any new Zadie Smith book is going on the list.
In her latest novel, The Fraud, Smith tackles the Tichborne Trial of 1873, a real-life historical trial that divided Victorian England. Our characters are Mrs. Touchet, Scottish housekeeper of novelist Williams Ainsworth (friend to Charles Dickens), and Andrew Bogle, who grew up enslaved on a sugar plantation in Jamaica. Bogle is called as a witness in the case, and Mrs. Touchet is captivated by the trial. But ascertaining the truth is not as simple as it seems.
- The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab (September 26)
Shades of Magic fans rejoice! We’re getting another book and a brand new adventure set in the overlapping worlds that Schwab introduced in A Darker Shade of Magic. This trilogy is my favourite of Schwab’s work, and I’m so excited to see what she does with it next.
It’s been seven years since anyone has seen Delilah Bard, Kell Maresh, or Holland Vosjik—the only known Antari with the ability to open doors between worlds—but a new one has arrived in White London. Kosika has taken Holland’s place and is drumming up a religious fervour. Meanwhile, in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is trying to stave off a growing rebellion. Amongst this instability arrives Tes, a girl with unusual magical power and a device that will either unite the four worlds or unravel them entirely.
- Foul Heart Huntsman by Chloe Gong (September 26)
You know we love Chloe Gong. We enjoyed reading These Violent Delights so much that we had to follow up with the sequel, Our Violent Ends. It was such a unique take on Romeo and Juliet, and Gong gave us an incredible cast of characters.
Foul Heart Huntsman is also a sequel. This time to Foul Lady Fortune, in which Gong puts her twist on Shakespeare’s As You Like It. I haven’t kept up with my reading enough to have started this duology yet, but it takes place in the same universe as These Violent Delights, in a spin-off of sorts, against a backdrop of 1930s Shanghai. Gong is fantastic at weaving together historical events with the more fantastical elements of her story. I have no doubt this one is just as riveting as her debut.
Book Releases for Fall 2023: October
- Starling House by Alix E. Harrow (October 3)
You might understand me well enough by now to know that if you use the word gothic to describe a book, I’m in. Add in Alix E. Harrow, author of The Ten Thousand Doors of January, and it’s going straight into my pre-order cart. Check-out. Purchase. Yes, please.
As the title suggests, this book is about a house. One set in a town haunted by its past and the horrors that lie beneath its haunted self. Opal should know better, and thinks the house feels like it could be a home. But other people are interested in the house, and she’ll have to fight for it. She’ll have to reckon with her family’s dark past and go down to the Underland before coming out the other side. (If you think it sounds like this book was tailor written just for me, you would be correct.)
- Moon of the Turning Leaves by Waubgeshig Rice (October 10)
I have been waiting for this book ever since I heard there would be a sequel to Moon of the Crusted Snow, Rice’s post-apocalyptic novel of survival in an Anishinaabe community that finds itself isolated after societal collapse. As supplies dwindle and winter sets in, they must learn how to survive by turning to their community and the land.
There’s not a lot of details about this sequel except that it takes place 10 years later. It is still a world without cell phones, satellites, and internet. What’s happened in those 10 years? We’re going to find out.
Book Releases for Fall 2023: November
- Held by Anne Michaels (November 9)
I read Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels in one of my fourth-year undergraduate seminars and was astonished by what could be done with words. It’s another of my all time favourites, beautifully written and at times difficult to read for its depiction of the Holocaust. Though I didn’t love her following novel, The Winter Vault, quite as much, Michaels is still an automatic read for me.
Held begins in 1917 during WWI and spans four generations. It is a novel of connections and consequences that resonate across history; an examination of desire and meaning. From Goodreads: “Held moves through history to light upon Darwin, Sir Ernest Rutherford, North Sea ganseys, early photography, Ella Mary Leather, modern field hospitals…while lovers find each other and snow drifts down across the centuries.” If it’s anything like Fugitive Pieces, the whole novel is going to read as beautifully as that last image.
- Critical Hits: Writers Playing Video Games edited by Carmen Maria Machado and J. Robert Lennon (November 21)
Look, I don’t even play video games. I find it a fascinating storytelling format, but I’ve never really played anything beyond Mario Kart and 007 on N64. (Yes, I’m giving away my age with that one.)
It’s pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: writers play video games and then, well, write about it. The fact that Carmen Maria Machado is one of the editors was the initial draw, but then I saw the list of contributing writers and that sealed it for me. We’ve got Alexander Chee, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, and Hanif Abdurraqib, among others. It’s going to be a great collection. Even if video games aren’t your thing, there will probably be something to grab you in this one.
Hello, Fall Reading
Anticipation is high, and we’ve got our cozy sweaters ready to go (in their own TBR pile of sorts). I know I can’t wait to curl up with one of these books as the leaves change colour and the weather grows colder.
Which book releases for fall 2023 are you looking forward to most?
