Daniyal Mueenuddin’s This is Where the Serpent Lives (Knopf 2026) reads like Chekhov wrote a Dickens’s plot. This highly anticipated debut novel by Mueenuddin, whose short story collection was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer (among others), is likely to be a strong contender come awards season. Will it make theContinue reading “THIS IS WHERE THE SERPENT LIVES – Daniyal Mueenuddin”
Tag Archives: 2026 release
WESTWARD WOMEN – Alice Martin
“That’s how it goes, I guess. Sometimes you need to hurt first so you can finally go numb.” I went into Alice Martin’s Westward Women ( St. Martin’s Press 2026) entirely blind, and I can’t decide if that was a help or a hindrance to my reading experience. It’s a buzzy new release and MartinContinue reading “WESTWARD WOMEN – Alice Martin”
KIN – Tayari Jones
“Your first word was “mother,” and I think it will be the last one I say before they put me in the dirt.” While I own An American Marriage, Kin (Knopf 2026)is my first Tayari Jones novel, and I must admit to being disappointed. I love Jones’s writing – it is familiar and welcoming, aContinue reading “KIN – Tayari Jones”
A GOOD ANIMAL – Sara Maurer
“A strange grave, the lion and the lamb together. In the end, I thought, the dirt gets everything.” I read Sara Maurer’s debut novel, A Good Animal (St. Martin’s Press 2026) and I have “feelings” about it. If you don’t want it spoiled, stop now. Seriously. I’m going to spoil the stuffing out of thisContinue reading “A GOOD ANIMAL – Sara Maurer”
OUR NUMBERED BONES – Katya Balen
“I am failing. I want to go home. But not that home. Home to the past. I am so stupid that it burns. But not hot enough.” “stories and soil change and stay the same” Katya Balen’s first adult novel, Our Numbered Bones (HarperVia 2026), is a 237-page gut punch; the ache in the pagesContinue reading “OUR NUMBERED BONES – Katya Balen”
SAOIRSE – Charleen Hurtubise
“The past can haunt someone else now, she thinks, and turns her hand back to this drawing of Daithi, back to the things in her new life which can be named.” Saoirse (Celadon 2026) is Charleen Hurtubise’s US debut. A blend of domestic fiction and literary suspense thriller, the novel is told in shifting timelines,Continue reading “SAOIRSE – Charleen Hurtubise”
REBEL ENGLISH ACADEMY – Mohammed Hanif
“First you get accused of something you haven’t done. Then you do it… He was called a rebel and then he rebelled.” Mohammed Hanif’s Rebel English Academy (Grove Press 2026) is another novel I fully expect to see making the rounds during awards season. Hanif’s voice, the sharpness of that satire, renders this book asContinue reading “REBEL ENGLISH ACADEMY – Mohammed Hanif”
GEORGE FALLS THROUGH TIME – Ryan Collett
“You’re just a bunch of dust mites at the end of the day, so what if one of you flies through the window.” I wanted to love Ryan Collett’s George Falls Through Time (William Morrow 2026), I really did, but I feel a touch misled. I thought the novel would be full of humor andContinue reading “GEORGE FALLS THROUGH TIME – Ryan Collett”
CAPE FEVER – Nadia Davids
“I have learned not to tell stories that frighten children.” If you’ve been here a bit, you likely know that South African literature has a special place in this reader’s heart, with both Gordimer and Coetzee holding top rankings. When I read the summary of Nadia Davids’s debut novel, Cape Fever (Simon and Schuster 2026)Continue reading “CAPE FEVER – Nadia Davids”
CRUCIBLE – John Sayles
“They came, says Santos, they tried to beat the jungle, they lost, and they left. They left some good things. Tell me one. They educated my son here. He can speak English… Let’s hear some. Flavio – show him… ‘A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H’ —he chants, ‘I’ve got a gal – in Kalamazoo –‘” It’s rare that I’ll sayContinue reading “CRUCIBLE – John Sayles”
A Girl Named Tommi 