Publishing This Week: Jesmyn Ward, Tim O'Brien & Sandra Newman

Publishing This Week

Hello,

Among this week's 17 notable new books are America Fantastica, Tim O'Brien's first novel in two decades, and Jesmyn Ward's much anticipated Let Us Descend.

Also, Julia by Sandra Newman, a feminist retelling of Orwell's 1984 from the perspective of Winston' Smith's lover. I found it absolutely gripping, and am looking forward to BookBrowse's discussion opening in early December. Everyone is welcome to join in; if you think you might want to, I suggest you sign up to receive a one-time notification when it opens.

I've included brief details on 10 titles below, and you'll find reviews and jacket summaries for all in our New This Week section (under the "New" tab in our main menu).

The "New" section is also home to our Publishing by Month lists, where you can look forward to see what's publishing soon and back to previous months; debuts are indicated by a yellow highlight.

Enjoy!

The BookBrowse Team

This Week's New and Notable Books

There are too many books published each week for you to read about them all, let alone read them all. So we do the legwork for you, scouring the publishers' catalogs and the pre-publication reviews to pick out what we believe to be among the best and most interesting. You can see them all in our “What’s New” section.

More about how we pick and rate books.

Julia: A Novel
by Sandra Newman

On sale Oct 24 from Mariner Books
Genre: Literary Fiction. 400 pages
Critics' Opinion: 5/5

An imaginative, feminist, and brilliantly relevant-to-today retelling of Orwell's 1984, from the point of view of Winston Smith's lover, Julia, by critically acclaimed novelist Sandra Newman.

Read More
Reader Reviews

America Fantastica: A Novel
by Tim O'Brien

On sale Oct 24 from Mariner Books
Genre: Literary Fiction. 464 pages
Critics' Opinion: 5/5

An American Master returns: the author of The Things They Carried delivers his first new novel in two decades, a brilliant and rollicking odyssey, in which a bank robbery sparks "a satirical romp through a country plagued by deceit" (Kirkus, starred review)

Pay as You Go
by Eskor David Johnson

Debut Author
On sale Oct 24 from McSweeney's Books
Genre: Literary Fiction
Critics' Opinion: 5/5

An exuberant, fantastical odyssey, Pay as You Go wonders if what we're searching for is ever really out there.

Let Us Descend: A Novel
by Jesmyn Ward

On sale Oct 24 from Scribner
Genre: Historical Fiction. 320 pages
Critics' Opinion: 5/5

From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.

The Privilege of the Happy Ending: Small, Medium, and Large Stories
by Kij Johnson

On sale Oct 24 from Small Beer Press
Genre: Short Stories. 304 pages
Critics' Opinion: 5/5

A surprising and exciting new collection of speculative and experimental stories that explore animal intelligences, gender, and the nature of stories.

A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing
by Hilary Mantel

On sale Oct 24 from Henry Holt and Company
Genre: Essays. 432 pages
Critics' Opinion: 5/5

The final book from one of our greatest writers.

Our Secret Society: Mollie Moon and the Glamour, Money, and Power Behind the Civil Rights Movement
by Tanisha Ford

Debut Author
On sale Oct 24 from Amistad
Genre: Biography/Memoir. 368 pages
Critics' Opinion: 4/5

An engrossing social history of the unsinkable Mollie Moon, the stylish founder of the National Urban League Guild and fundraiser extraordinaire who reigned over the glittering "Beaux Arts Ball," the social event of New York and Harlem society for fifty years—a glamorous event rivalling today's Met Gala, drawing America's wealthy and cultured, both Black and white.

Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever
by Matt Singer

On sale Oct 24 from G.P. Putnam's Sons
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion. 352 pages
Critics' Opinion: 4/5

Once upon a time, if you wanted to know if a movie was worth seeing, you didn't check out Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB. You asked whether Siskel & Ebert had given it "two thumbs up."

Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream
by David Leonhardt

Debut Author
On sale Oct 24 from Random House
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion. 528 pages
Critics' Opinion: 4/5

The clear-eyed, definitive history of the modern American economy and the decline of the American Dream, from the Pulitzer Prize–winning columnist behind The New York Times's "The Morning" newsletter.

Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature's Toxins - From Spices to Vices
by Noah Whiteman

On sale Oct 24 from Little, Brown Spark
Genre: Science, Health and the Environment. 304 pages
Critics' Opinion: 4/5

An evolutionary biologist reveals the origins of natural toxins, why they evolved, and the biological basis for our attraction—and addiction—to them.

View all 17 new and notable books publishing this week

Publishing This Week is one of BookBrowse's four free newsletters. We also publish BookBrowse Highlights every Thursday; and Book Club News and Librarian News monthly.

Change settings and/or update your email address

BookBrowse

1-408-867-6500

1-800-745-5306

info@bookbrowse.com