The publishing world definitely slows down during the winter, but luckily for us, it doesn’t disappear completely into hibernation. As we look forward to the new year, we’ve rounded up ten of the titles we’re most excited to read this winter.
It is 1843 and Christmas is fast approaching, but Charles Dickens’ latest book is not doing so hot. His publisher tells him he must write a Christmas story if he wants to make any money, and thus begins Dickens’ journey to write his now-classic A Christmas Carol. Filled with holiday spirit and comedic relief, Silva’s Victorian London may be just the escape you need during what can be a frazzling time of year.
As a child, Ginny Polk witnessed the execution of her father’s murderer. As an adult, Ginny chooses to work as a cook for death-row inmates at a state penitentiary in Louisiana, the same prison where her father worked as a guard before he was killed. Ginny is determined to make each inmate’s last meal just right, but not everyone understands why she cares so much. Although set in the 1950s, readers interested in our criminal justice system and the treatment of prisoners may find many details to be still relevant today.
Release Date: December 26, 2017
This book, the first in a new series by award-winning mystery author Sujata Massey, features Parveen Mistry, who is tasked with executing a will while working for her father’s law firm. Mistry finds it suspicious that all three of her client’s widows signed their inheritance over to charity, and her suspicion of foul play is only reinforced when someone else turns up dead. Alternating between Mistry’s life in Calcutta in 1916 and her work in Bombay in 1921, this book will please historical fiction and mystery fans alike.
Release Date: January 9, 2018
One summer day in 1969, four young siblings visit a fortune teller to learn when they will die. Over the next several decades, with their foretold dates of death in mind, each sibling grows up–some older than others–and develops their own way of seeking immortality. This novel is a creative and beautifully told twist on the classic question: “What would you do if you knew when you were going to die?” (And the gorgeous cover doesn’t hurt.)
Release Date: January 9, 2018
The Perfect Nanny is Moroccan-French author Leila Slimani’s first novel to be published in the U.S., which is fitting considering the gruesome plot was inspired by a real-life 2012 murder in New York. The novel opens with the crime scene, which means the reader doesn’t need to wonder what happened, but only why. This why is explored through flashbacks as a Paris couple hires the seemingly perfect nanny to care for their two young children.
Release Date: January 9, 2018
Can’t wait for season 2 of The Handmaid’s Tale? This new novel does its best to tide you over. In the near future, Roe v. Wade has been overturned, and not only is abortion illegal, but so is in-vitro fertilization; even single parenthood is at risk of becoming outlawed. Told from multiple perspectives, the novel features four women in Oregon who each have their own reproductive battle to fight, as well as the perspective of a 19th-century female explorer.
Release Date: January 16, 2018
This is the story of two sisters, Miranda and Lucia, in the aftermath of their mother’s death. When Lucia begins hearing voices, Miranda–always the responsible one, taking on the traditional roles of oldest children–wants to care for her, but Lucia takes her own path, first marrying a man in New York City and then moving to Ecuador. The novel follows the sisters through their forties, including the perspectives of other characters along the way.
Release Date: January 16, 2018
In another redemptive story about two sisters, this book uses a past-and-present storyline to tell a tale of Korean enslavement during World War II. In 1943, teenage Hana saves her younger sister, Emi, from a Japanese soldier in Korea and becomes a “comfort woman” for soldiers in a Manchurian brothel. Decades later, in 2011, Emi is still struggling with the sacrifice her sister made, but she may finally have a chance to discover Hana’s fate.
Release Date: January 30, 2018
After a year of marriage, Roy is arrested for a crime his wife, Celestial, knows he did not commit. He is convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison, but whether Roy is innocent or guilty is not the question here; his conviction is vacated after five years. The question in this novel is how to find your way back into a life you no longer know, either as the person who was forced from it or the person who was left behind.
Release Date: February 6, 2018
Hannah follows up her huge hit from 2015, The Nightingale, with another haunting historical tale, this one set in 1974 Alaska. After returning from the Vietnam War, Ernt Allbright moves to Alaska with his wife, Cora, and their 13-year-old daughter, Leni. Leni adjusts to the sparse living conditions fairly quickly, but her father’s worsening behavior is harder to manage. Given Hannah’s wide success with her last book, expect to see this one everywhere in February.
Release Date: February 6, 2018
