Fall’s Big Dogs: Hotly Anticipated Fall Releases
Fall is the splashiest season in book publishing. All the publishing houses schedule their big hitters for release in the months of October and November—the established, big-name authors and the lucky debuts they’ve deemed worthy of the full-court press of publicity.
Why? Because publishers want their books on our shelves and tables by the time shoppers start to turn out in force to make their holiday season purchases. These are the months they know they’ll have the greatest access to readers—whether they’re buying for loved ones or picking up a little something for themselves while they’re at it.
So which books can we expect to be the “Big Dogs” of Fall 2022? Several prominent names are already through the starting gate.
October kicked off with the publication of Our Missing Hearts from Celeste Ng, author of knock-out bestsellers, Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You all addictively mysterious family dramas.
Our Missing Hearts depicts America in the wake of an unparalleled economic crisis and violent unrest, in which the America First agenda is now the law of the land and those who take unpatriotic action risk having their children removed and placed in more “suitable” homes. China is blamed for the United States’ struggles, and “People of Asian Origin” become targets for hostility and violence. The reader views this new world through the eyes of 12-year-old Bird Gardner, whose librarian father has raised him to never ask questions about his missing Chinese American mother, a woman whose poetry is used by dissidents as a battle cry. But when Bird receives a mysterious message that unearths long buried memories, he sets out to track down his mother.
With her new novel, Demon Copperhead, published Oct. 18, Barbara Kingsolver offers a nod to Charles Dickens and his masterpiece, David Copperfield. Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead illuminates the ways in which society, just as it did in 19th century England, continues to allow children to suffer great harm at the hands of unearned poverty. Born to a trailer-dwelling, single mother, Demon Copperhead is a red-headed boy who will endure foster care, child labor, failing schools, addiction, and a seemingly endless string of losses. But Demon is gifted with caustic wit and a fierce talent for survival, promising to become a hero as unforgettable as Kingsolver’s stunning writing.
Booker Prize-winning author George Saunders was dubbed the “best short-story writer in English” by Time Magazine. Liberation Day is his collection of nine stories that explore what it means to live in community with our fellow humans, touching on topics of power, ethics, and justice.
October 25th marks the return of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy, who offers not one but eventually TWO books after a 16-year drought. The Passenger is the first in a two-volume series about siblings Bobby and Alice Western. Bobby is a salvage diver who discovers suspicious inconsistencies when investigating a crash off the coast of Mississippi. The mystery of the crash will ensnare him, but he is a man already haunted by a disturbingly complicated relationship with his genius mathematician sister, Alice, and by the horrific legacy of his father, the man who invented the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The Passenger is an exploration of morality and science and the legacy of sin.
The second volume in this duology releases December 6. Stella Maris is told from Alice’s perspective, one warped by paranoid schizophrenia and preserved in the transcripts of her psychiatric sessions. These transcripts illustrate her madness and delve into topics of physics, philosophy, God, truth, and existence.
November’s big star is Michelle Obama’s The Light We Carry, in which the former First Lady offers her insights on how one can weather change, find hope, overcome obstacles, create community, and live boldly. The book weaves together powerful wisdom with personal anecdotes from Obama’s experience as a mother, daughter, spouse, friend, and stateswoman.
On November 8, Madeline Miller, author of the bestselling titles Circe and Song of Achilles, will publish a beautiful hardcover edition of her short story “Galatea”. The slim volume reimagines the myth of the sculptor Pygmalion and Galatea, the woman he sculpted from marble who was given the gift of life by a goddess. Pygmalion expects Galatea to live in service to his pleasure, but she yearns for independence and holds the safety of her daughter above all else.
Rebecca Roanhorse, bestselling author of the indigenous historical fantasy Black Sun, publishes a new novel November 15. Tread of Angels is a dark historical fantasy set in 1883 in Goetia, a Colorado mining town. The booming prospecting town is populated by the descendants of an ancient war – there are the Virtues (the winners and ruling class) and the Fallen (the losers and pariahs). When her sister Mariel is accused of murdering a Virtue, card sharp Muriel sets out to defend her and seek justice.
Several popular series will see new installations in November, including:
A World of Curiosities, the 18th book in Louise Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series, a collection of thrilling homicide mysteries set in the beloved village of Three Pines, just north of the Vermont border in Quebec, Canada.
The World We Make, the sequel to The City We Became, by four-time Hugo Award-winning author N.K. Jemisin. This duology of speculative fiction centers on a New York City populated by avatars, who will have to protect the city from a malevolent new mayor espousing xenophobia, the perks of gentrification, and a love of “law and order.”
The Twist of the Knife, the fourth in a literary whodunit series in which the author, Anthony Horowitz, plays a role. In this book, Horowitz is named the prime suspect in a murder investigation and the only man who can prove is innocence is his new stranger partner in solving crime, Detective Hawthorne.
Before Your Memory Fades, the third in a translated series from the Japanese author Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Introduced in 2020 with Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this series takes us to a cafe hidden in a back alley in Tokyo, where coffee has been served for more than 100 years and where, at one particular table, customers can travel back in time. Before Your Memory Fades offers the stories of four new customers who seek the powers of the Café Funiculi Funicula to revisit the moments they wish they spoke or acted differently.
Meanwhile, Michelle Obama isn’t the only big name celebrity taking advantage of the holiday season. These well known personalities are also publishing memoirs in November:
Bob Dylan, The Philosophy of Modern Song, November 1
Bono, Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, November 1.
Patti Smith, A Book of Days, November 15.
Steve Martin, Number One is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversion, November 15
Matthew Perry, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, November 1
And it wouldn’t be the holidays if we didn’t have a few new cookbooks:
If you aren’t already familiar with the Smitten Kitchen, you should be. Deb Perelman is one the internet’s most beloved food bloggers, with two bestselling cookbooks under her belt. Smitten Kitchen Keepers: New Classics for Your Forever Files, coming November 15, is her long-awaited third collection. These recipes are focused on essential meals you’ll want to prepare again and again, from cozy chicken and dumplings to fettuccine with white ragu.
For those of us with a sweet tooth, Claire Saffitz offers What’s for Dessert, releasing November 8. Saffitz is the author of the uber-popular Dessert Person, and this collection promises 100 new delectable-but-easy recipes, including “Whipped Tres Leches Cake with Hazelnuts” and “Caramel Peanut Popcorn Bars.”
Last, but certainly not least…
While most of the season’s big titles will have made their debuts before December begins, make sure you don’t miss out on Jane Smiley’s new novel, A Dangerous Business. For a good number of years, Smiley called Ames home and wrote prolifically about our state in A Thousand Acres and the Last Hundred Years Trilogy. A Dangerous Business, however, pays homage to Smiley’s current place of residence with a murder mystery set in Gold Rush California as two young prostitutes follow a trail of missing girls.
With such a star-studded fall season, it’s hard to figure out what to be most excited for. What titles have you been looking forward to? What books will you be gifting this holiday season? Let us know in the comments below!
