10 New Must-Read Books Out This Week

Three Cameroonian women trapped in unhappy marriages must navigate a tangled web of social mores in this Prix Goncourt winner.

Vanessa A. Bee lived on three continents before age 18: in Cameroon, where she was born; in France and the UK, with the aunt who adopted her; and in the United States, where she went to college. Here, Bee reflects on the themes of home and belonging.

Nina left the Saturn Club three years ago, sacrificing the connections and upward mobility it promised her. But when a member comes knocking ahead of the Saturnalia carnival, she’ll have to return to the Club’s strange, occult world — whether she likes it or not.

This week, Andrea Hairston’s independently published sequel to Redwood and Wildfire gets a re-release from Tordotcom, and fantasy lovers will want to waste no time diving into this Lambda-nominated novel.

When 4-year-old Loan and her best friend, Nhu, moved out of a Vietnamese orphanage to live in America with their adoptive parents, they left Loan’s twin behind. Journalist Erika Hayasaki chronicles the twins’ separation — and what happened when they were reunited years later.

This new memoir about loss, grief, and life on the other side comes from the author of The Hot Young Widows Club. Focusing on the span of weeks when Nora McInerny lost her husband and father to cancer and suffered a miscarriage, Bad Vibes Only is a must-read.

When a breakup leaves him unmoored, Gil relocates from New York to Phoenix, where he grows close to his neighbors and their young son — a family that happens to live in a literal glass house.

Two teen girls from immigrant families — wealthy Parisa and working-class Gabriela — forged a tight bond after meeting on the first day of high school. But when the pandemic upends their senior year, their friendship is put to the test.

Originally published in the UK in 2018, Catriona Ward’s Little Eve makes its way to American readers this week. The story here follows Eve, a young girl living on a remote Scottish island, as she prepares to win a god’s favor.

It’s Family Weekend, and college student Cassie is about to get the shock of her life. After an amazing night with an older woman she met in a bar, Cassie goes to breakfast with her roommate the next morning — only to learn her one-night stand is also her roommate’s mom.