THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY – Elizabeth Strout

“A page had been turned. It was that quiet and that simple, but Artie – having almost died – no longer wanted to.”

Elizabeth Strout is a talented writer, I’d just previously decided I don’t really like her leading characters. To be fair, I’ve only read Oh William! and I said the following regarding it: The novel is well-written, and Lucy is wonderfully developed and complex as a character, I just didn’t like her. Imagine getting seated next to an older woman, one who is slightly drunk and sad, on a long flight. It’s fun for a bit, but by the time you land you just want to give her your therapist’s number.  I’m pretty sure Strout recognized there may be a low threshold for tolerating Lucy – the novel is only 237 pages.

The Things we Never Say (Random House 2026) is getting a lot of buzz, and while I enjoyed Artie significantly more than Lucy, I was grateful the novel barely reached 200 pages. This novel is sad.  I mean profoundly sad. Not sad in that attention-grabbing way, but a slow growing, deep-seated sadness that cloaks you by the last page. And it’s sad because you’ll like Artie.  (And you’ll hate his wife.)

It’s hard to get away from politics and Covid in American fiction these days, and this novel is no exception. While a significant part of the sadness comes from political turmoil, this isn’t a political novel – it’s a life novel. And that life is sad because of, and this isn’t a spoiler, the things [they] never say.

Strout’s writing is phenomenal, and her sheer talent is why I gave the book 4 stars.  It wasn’t the plot or the characters, but how much emotion she rendered in well-developed characters a very short book.  This is the case of an excellent novel by a fantastic author that falls short only because of the reader.

*It’s a bit cheeky, but I like that one of Strout’s prior novels shows up in her new novel.

RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC – Ben Fountain

Ben Fountain is a born, bred and dead Carolina kid. (I’ll ignore the Duke years.) While he spent much of his legal career in Texas, he was born and raised in NC, educated at Carolina, and now lives in NC. And he’s written one helluva political satire in Rasputin Swims the Potomac (Flatiron 2026). I’m going to be honest – this would have been five stars if I’d been a bit further removed from the storyline; one might say “too soon” when it comes to its humor as the daily news seemed a continuation of the fictional novel I was reading.

The premise?  The Supreme Court has just handed down a decision that allows President ____ to run for a third term. (All names for the presidential family are redacted, but we all know.) Marjorie Taylor Green is his current VP, but he’s looking for someone new. Enter Rasputin, a wrestler who has legally changed his name to his stage name and believes he is *the* Rasputin. You know, the one assassinated in 1916 due to his political influence. Rasputin seems to have a calming effect over people, and he’s a magnetic personality. There’s a “weeping” sickness overtaking the country, and Rasputin seems able to cure a person with a brief touch and murmured words. The president thinks this figure will make an excellent VP choice.  Enter Clarence Thomas.  No, not that one.  A reporter.  Clarence uncovers a money trail that shows Rasputin has backing to run against the current president. The two enigmatic figures are pitted against each other, and there are rumors about the First Lady and the wrestler’s relationship.  There’s also Faith, a White House staffer – a former star from a country music reality TV show whose father is top secret. Faith is experiencing her own anxiety, her world seeming to glitch – more so when she’s on her phone – and she seems to be having a crisis of faith.

The novel is told from varying view points, press releases, White House memos (the errors in these are intentional and hilarious), and newspaper articles. While the ending was not satisfying, I’m honestly not sure how this novel could have concluded. 

ALL THEM DOGS – Djamel White

A buzzy debut with some Booker-heavy blurbs, including from the first Booker prize winner to serve as chair of the award, Djamel White’s All Them Dogs (Riverhead Books 2026) has been on my radar for a bit. It’s one of two releases that I anticipated would end up on my predictions list and hoped to get it read before the announcement. Luckily my hold finally came in, and I devoured the slim novel. It’s officially been added to my predictions list.  (This year’s prediction list will be made only from books I have read.)

I had zero clue what this novel was about – I know the cover called to mind A Little Life, but that was about it. I was not expecting a gritty, bloody, tender, and heartbreaking gangster novel told in first person from the POV of Tony Ward, a young man who is back in Dublin after he’d fled five years ago following murdering a rival gang member. A lot has happened in five years, including the death of his mentor, the return of his half-brother, and his best friend going straight. Tony is a bit unmoored and also a bit “paro” – he is paranoid that he is being haunted and hunted by the young boy he’d killed. He wants to reestablish himself within a gang and get protection, so he becomes the enforcer for a local crime boss. There’s not a lot of protection offered, but there seems to be room for advancement.

He finds himself making ready friends with the crime boss’s daughter, Fanny, and step-son, Darren “Flute” Walsh. The way  White crafts this friendship with the grimy gangster backdrop that all three friends are actively involved in is what makes the novel so tender and real. Fanny is one of my favorite characters, and the dialogue between her and Tony, with their equally biting remarks, is just fantastic. I don’t think it’s a spoiler since the cover talks about it, but Tony and Darren become violently and intimately involved.

Is this Shuggie Bain meets Wild Houses?

All them Dogs is gritty and dirty – it doesn’t shine a light on a seedy underbelly so much as drag you along as an accomplice. But where it excels is in the writing and in the tender, fragile moments that spark throughout.  A large man unfolding himself from a small car and the ensuing laughter, a boy who used to want to go into fashion design, a Christmas gift with snowman wrapping paper, the smell of sausage on Christmas morning. Tony’s just a kid, and those reminders, shining from under the blood and grit and gunpowder, is why this novel makes my predictions list.

THE NIGHT WE MET- Abby Jimenez

As you’ll recall, while I don’t typically read genre/formula fiction, I’ll pick one up now and again as a bit of a palate cleanser. If I’m going romance, Abby Jimenez will typically fit the bill. The writing is sharp, the dialogue is typically great, hilarity often ensues, and there’s going to be a dog. Oh, and her stories have heart.

I was a bit let down by last year’s Say You’ll Remember Me, but I still preordered The Night We Met (Forever 2026). While the “best friend’s girl” trope usually gives me the ick, it did feel like the Jimenez I fell in love with  was back.  It’s not my favorite – Part of Your World and Yours Truly hold a special place in my heart – but it’s cheeky and full of heart, and I devoured it like a nut-free grazing board.  That said, Larissa and Chris both need therapy before they need each other.

The novel hits that Jimenez formula that she does so well.  Our leading lady is, as always, beautiful. Larissa is a drop-dead gorgeous waitress with a nut allergy who estranged father has racked up significant debt using her social security number and whose mother is dating another alcoholic loser in a string of alcoholic losers. She is barely scraping by and picks up little side-jobs here and there. She wants someone to take care of her.  Chris is always prepared and always-available-to-help-a-friend pharmacist who wants to help her.  There’s just one problem – she’s is dating Chris’s best friend, Mike.  Well, there are other problems (like Chris’s unhealthy desire to “help” stemming from the trauma behind his mother’s death and Mike’s blackout drunk anxiety lapses and Lexi in general), but the main obstacle here is that Chris and Larissa “belong together,” but she is with Mike.

There’s an unhinged Yorkie, modeled after Jimenez’s own infamous Magwai, that serves as the catalyst that keeps Chris and Larissa in daily contact. (If you’re not following Jimenez on social media, you really should. She’s hilarious.) Mike also keeps them in steady contact as he often begs Chris to serve as his stand-in when he’s too drunk.

As far as covers go, I do think this one is beautiful (love the colors and fireworks) BUT again, it doesn’t match the book.  I’d have liked to see a deer on the cover and a comical billboard, if anyone is asking.

GHALEN: A ROMANCE IN BLACK – Walter Mosley

The first half of Walter Mosley’s Ghalen: A Romance in Black (Amistad 2026) is achingly tender. The love story between Ghalen’s mismatched parents is just beautiful; Robert is neurodivergent with a slower, different view of life, and Jamilah, a brilliant med student, falls head over heels with how he sees her. They  meet at a farmer’s market during a rain storm, and it’s a beautiful love story. Unfortunately, many people, including Jamilah’s mother, don’t approve of or understand the match. Jamilah is a child genius and Jamilah’s mother (and others) believe Robert is not fully competent. I previously said it reminded me of Forrest Gump, and that comparison is still there.  It’s strongest in a particular scene where Robert expresses his concern that “what is wrong with him” would pass to his child.

I should have known not to get too attached to Jamilah and Robert; the book is titled after their son, afterall.  But I did, which made the second half harder to swallow.  As a head’s up, Ghalen is going to give you heartburn. He’s a child genius, much like his mother, but he also has his father’s way of seeing things and his own unique approach to life.  There are some rather interesting choices made, and the novel takes a much grittier turn after Ghalen graduates high school. 

The novel deals with the return of grandparents thought dead, police brutality, undocumented immigrants and human trafficking, drugs, youth incarceration, immigrants fleeing civil war, rage, traumatic brain injuries, cancer, mental health – you name it, it’s likely here.   But it also deals with found family, hope, love, choices, loyalty, and resilience.  I enjoyed the first half significantly more than the second, but this is still a solid read.

MEETING NEW PEOPLE – Daniel M. Lavery

Have you ever read a book that is so well-written that it makes you absolutely angry that you don’t like it?  That’s me with Daniel M. Lavery’s Meeting New People (HarperVIA 2026). He is such a talented writer – just so smart and so funny – but I couldn’t bring myself to like it. Why not?  Because I hated Barbara. My feelings for this novel (and Barbara) reminded me quite a bit of Elizabeth Strout and her Lucy Barton.  Strout is also a phenomenal writer, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about Lucy.  I think Lucy and Barbara would be good friends – they are cut from such a similar cloth.  I do not want spend any length of time with them.

Twice-divorced Barbara has recently been broken up with by her best friend, and she’s not sure why.  This leads to her wondering about her prior friendships, and why she seems incapable of keeping a female friend.  (She’s less concerned about  keeping the husbands.)  It’s well written and Lavery is a sharp storyteller, but I was so glad to reach the last page.

I will say, do not read this book on an empty stomach.  There’s so much food, and it all sounds so good.

THE YOUNG WILL REMEMBER – Eve J. Chung

“I am in such despair that everything looks like a noose. But then I remember that I cannot leave, or you will have no home to return to. And so I stay.”

Eve J. Chung’s The Young Will Remember (Berkley 2026) is a captivating historical fiction novel that takes a deep dive into the humanity on both sides of a war and motherhood, echoing with the resounding truth that we are far more alike than we will ever be different. The novel is well written, with sections broken up by letters and telegrams about the ongoing conflict, and it keeps a nice pace.  And the plot is just… I loved it.

Ellie Chang is a Chinese American journalist covering the Korean war.  She doesn’t speak Korean, but she speaks Mandarin and Japanese, which she uses to advance her career. While on a military flight, her plane is shot down over North Korea. Enemy soldiers surround the plane when a woman starts screaming in Korean. It’s a case of mistaken identity – grief has convinced the woman that Ellie is her daughter who had been taken by the Japanese years earlier. In the confusion, the soldiers let her go with the woman. Once it becomes clear she’s not the woman’s daughter, they forge a friendship; Ellie will help her look for her daughter, and she will help Ellie get back to the Americans and safety.  Meanwhile, a war continues to rage around them and Ellie is very much in enemy territory. But how are these people her enemies?

Chung does not gloss over the horrors of war or of the previous Japanese occupation and the stolen girls who were forced into sexual slavery as “comfort women.”  The geopolitical aspects of this novel are so well done within the captivating historical framework.  I read a review that said the novel is “Kristin Hannah meets Pachinko.”  It’s an unpopular opinion to say I don’t care for Kristin Hannah because I think she writes trauma porn, so I won’t make the comparison here. I did love Pachinko though.  Th Young Will Remember is fantastic historical fiction that doesn’t rely on trauma for trauma’s sake.

Read this book.

RETURNS AND EXCHANGES – Kayla Rae Whitaker

Kayla Rae Whitaker’s Returns and Exchanges (Random House 2026) is likely going to wind up in my top five reads of the year – most definitely in the top ten. Spanning 1979-2015, the novel follows one Kentucky family – a rags to riches to reckoning story of resilience and risking it all to be seen, all carried on the back of the family matriarch, Fran Taylor (née Baker).

When Fran is 16, she runs from her home (and brothers) without looking back, joining her sister, Luce, who clawed her own way out of their home and into a better life.  Fran drags Fred along with her, and they get married.  Under Fran’s guidance (and with Luce’s money and some other investors), they build an empire with their chain of discount stores, Baker-Taylor’s. The novel opens with them on the precipice of an expansion like they never would have imagined. Fran makes the company what it is, and Fred just basks in the glory of it all.

Fran and Fred have four living children. Sam and Josiah grew up before the money started rolling. Benny and Birdie have few memories of those years; their childhoods were marked with glitz, glam and money.

As the novel moves forward, different POVs provide the rise and fall of the family. It starts with Fran, who has done everything for the stores, her husband, and her children. And she is exhausted.  When she goes to one of their stores for a meeting with a derelict GM, she meets one of their employees, Wendy. Fran is instantly smitten with the woman, and she is confused and fascinated by her feelings. That chance encounter marks the beginning of the end of Baker-Taylor’s, though it will take years for the empire to crumble.  But it also marks the beginning of Fran.

I loved this family, except for Fred, and I was sat to see how their lives would play out. It’s a family saga, so it’s going to sting, but what a beautiful family saga it is.  Even Fred gets somewhat of a redemption – because no one person is all bad or all good, we’re all grey.

Read this book.

AFTERNOON HOURS OF A HERMIT – Patrick Cottrell

Patrick Cottrell’s Afternoon Hours of a Hermit ( ECCO 2026) comes with some pretty hefty blurbs – Bryan Washington, Katie Kitamura and Rita Bullwinkle to hit the Booker and NBA names – and I can see why; the novel has that “je ne sais quoi” that makes it smell “Bookery.” It’s a noir detective novel, a study in grief, an existential dark comedy, a family saga, a comedy of manners, and it’s all wrapped up in the trappings of metafiction. Oh, and there’s an insanely unreliable first-person narrator in Dan Moran, and we know Booker loves that.

Dan is trans author. He is one of three adopted Koreans who are raised as siblings. The younger sibling, Kevin, died by suicide five years prior. Dan is returning home where most knew him pre-transition and refer to him by his dead name. The dead name appears in the novel simply as a blank.

The relationships between Dan and his parents and Dan and his surviving brother are interesting because we only see them from Dan’s POV – and that POV is not favorable. We know Dan wrote about his brother’s suicide and his family. We know he intentionally excluded his surviving brother from that narrative. We know no one in his family has read the novel. Through dialogue and context, we realize these memorial dinners have been happening with regularity.  We also learn that Dan is not “no contact” but very close to it, especially with the surviving brother who certainly crossed lines and possibly committed crimes when Dan was female-presenting. 

Dan has returned home after receiving an anon package that contained a picture of his brother. He’s decided to investigate his brother’s suicide for his upcoming novel, a psychological thriller. And he just drags us along, his madness and grief and self-importance roaring on each page.

The prose is lovely, but this one just didn’t work for me.

A BEAUTIFUL LOAN – Mary Costello

“How to understand why we do what we do, or tolerate what we tolerate, or love who we love.”

Named for a concept from the Quran where giving charity or lending to others for the sake of Allah is described as a beautiful loan (Christianity and Judaism have similar concepts), Mary Costello’s A Beautiful Loan (W.W. Norton 2026) is a beautiful book about a woman who is either a true chameleon, a doormat, or Camus’s Meursault. Had the novel been any longer, my patience for our narrator would have snapped.

When Anna Hughes is 19, she meets the much older Peter Gallagher at a pub. When he speaks Irish to her, she is immediately smitten.  She quickly becomes obsessed with the older man, molding herself to be what he wants and allowing him to treat her like trash. He tells her he loves her one single time in a relationship that spans over two decades. I hate him.

Later, she meets Karim. She fancies herself in love with him, a connection forged because she loves Camus, and they are both from Algeria.  She molds herself again, converting to Islam to connect with him more. He’s not as bad as Peter, but I can’t say he is a prize either.

In the blink of an eye, 25 years have passed and Anna is reminiscing as to how she ended up where she has.

The writing is poetic and beautiful, haunting and intimate. Anna is gorgeously rendered, but it’s the writing that makes this the novel it is.

Read this book.