Our Most Anticipated New Book Releases of September 2022

Ian McEwan has returned to us with another literary novel filled with an intimate portrayal of a single man’s life as he lives through intense historical moments. Roland Baines’ life was turned upside down at eleven-years-old, and when his wife disappears, he begins to look into his family history for answers that will impact the rest of his life. Powerful and introspective, Lessons is the perfect read for every person wondering how living through “once in a lifetime” events time and time again can impact the lives of individuals. Tune into the Poured Over podcast this month as we discuss Lessons with Ian McEwan. 

If you loved Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell is back with Lucrezia’s story, and she’s back with a bang! Set during the Renaissance in Italy, The Marriage Portrait is a dramatic story of resilience and survival that will keep readers on the edge of their seat. As Lucrezia sits for a painting to preserve her image, it becomes clear to her that her survival is dependent on her provision of an heir, and readers will be enthralled by the alliances formed by marriage, her discovery of the man who was supposed to marry her sister, and a court who isn’t thrilled by her presence.  

That feeling when you can’t take your eyes off someone. That feeling transferred to reading a romance that features vampires. Need we say more? Look deeply as you turn the pages, and turn the pages, and turn the pages.

Ben Macintyre, a virtuoso chronicler of WWII and bestselling author of Operation Mincemeat, turns his focus from his more usual intrepid spies to the history of Colditz Castle, the infamous maximum security Nazi prison, and the audacious exploits of its escape-prone Allied denizens. Prisoners of the Castle is a propulsive, almost cinematic read. A bit Great Escape and a dash of Prisoner of Alcatraz!

What happens when you toss Arthur Less (yes, the one from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Less: A Novel), the death of an old lover alongside a sudden financial crisis, and a human-like black pug named Dolly into Rosina, a rusty camper van, for a series of literary gigs? You get the stunning follow up titled Less is Lost, of course. As Arthur Less tries to outrun his problems through his touring across the country, he tries to disguise himself as a true “Unitedstatesian” in a bolero and a cowboy hat (try being the operative word here), and the journey across the country isn’t the only journey Less is taking. Pick up your copy to fall into Less’s adventures. Tune into the Poured Over podcast this month as we discuss Less is Lost with Andrew Sean Greer. 

We’ve been big fans of Richard Osman since the first book in his Thursday Murder Club series landed. It has been our joy and surprise to get an annual follow up each year. The Bullet That Missed is the third book in the series, and delight, mystery and amateur crime solving abounds in the Coopers Chase retirement community. If we could only be part of ONE club, it would be the Thursday Murder Club. Someone please give us the secret handshake. In the meantime, we have book three.

From one Pulitzer Prize winning author to another, we have a new Elizabeth Strout coming, and we couldn’t be more excited about. Lucy Barton is stuck with her ex-husband William during lockdown, trading her life in Manhattan for a small-town in Maine where the two (and their complex past) spend several months in a small house by the sea. Full of the complexities and emotions that accompany human connections, Lucy by the Sea is the type of book that readers will return to time after time.  

Continue down the vast and creative rabbit hole of Stephen King’s imagination in Fairy Tale. Fantasy, horror and the universal appeal of good vs. evil abound.

It is no exaggeration to say we found The Butcher and The Wren by Alaina Urquhart to be the most intense cat-and-mouse thriller you’ll read this fall. The turn of the first page will send you to the next page. Read & repeat in one sitting.

The highly anticipated conclusion to the Beartown series is coming this month, and it is well worth the wait. With an old rivalry reignited by a late-summer storm, an investigation of the hockey club’s finances, and Amat, the former star of the team, injured and adrift, this book will leave readers examining the complexities of the mundane as well as reconsidering what it truly means to win, lose, and forgive. Emotional and deeply poignant, Winners will be the book readers simply cannot put down and is coming just in time to get readers in the mood for hockey season. 

Posthumously published in 1976, it’s been nearly 50 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder. Marple satiates our appetite for more Jane Marple by signing up Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Val McDermid, Ruth Ware and more stellar authors to bring us their fun twists and takes on Marple. All the while sticking to the tradition of a mystery convention. So much wonderful reading in your hands here.

Sixty-five young Marines in WWII’s Pacific Theater, many of them top-level college and professional football players, feeling the tension and tedium in the waiting time before the Battle of Okinawa, play a brutal to-the-finish football game dubbed the “Mosquito Bowl.” Who they were, where they came from, those who survived the conflict and those who did not is an epic, poignant, unique tale of football, war, and the bravado of youth.

Mesmerizing and gentle, an unusual, surprising slice of WWII history,  the strength of One Hundred Saturdays is found in its exquisite confluence of story, place, language, friendship, and art. Its lesson is that sometimes a person needs a quiet space within an intimate conversation to find truth and recognition.  

Naomi nails the landing 100% of the time, and this stunning conclusion to the Scholomance series is no exception. Monsters, magic, romance — this one has it all! Immediately picking up after the events of The Last Graduate, Novik wraps up this dark academia trilogy with the same level wit and imagination as she started it. A must-read series for fans of Ninth House and The Magicians.

Taking place in 1960s Memphis, The Two Lives of Sara is about a woman with nothing but secrets and a baby in her belly who leaves Chicago to outrun her past. Finding a warm welcome from Mama Sugar, the owner of the popular boardinghouse, she finds a segregated city with change on the horizon. As she finds her footing, she also starts to find romance with Jonas, a local school teacher, but Sara isn’t the only one with secrets. When Mama Sugar’s past has repercussions that affect both Sara and Jonah, Sara must make hard decisions that will impact the rest of their lives.  

Our love affair with Nadiya Hussain started after she won the sixth series of BBC’s The Great British Bake Off in 2015 and continues with this stunning cookbook all about pairing the perfect meal or dessert with the right occasion or mood. Mouth-watering photos and Nadiya’s signature warmth make this cookery book one you’ll turn to again and again for that perfect bake!

A sobering, eloquent work—with a reserved splash of hope—ranging across memoir, history, science, and literature, Annie Proulx’s Fen, Bog & Swamp opens our eyes to the history of our planet’s modest, grossly unheralded wetlands, humankind’s time-immemorial impulse to drain them away, and the dire consequences that could follow if we do not stop.

If you loved Queenie, then you’ll be ecstatic to know that Candice Carty-Williams is back with a witty story about the impact family has, even when they’re more like strangers than family. Following Dimple Pennington, this vibrant story brings her and her step siblings back together to get to know the absent father they never really knew, bringing a new wave of complexity to her life. This beautiful story about discovering family as an adult will keep readers enthralled with Candice Carty-Williams’ spectacular storytelling abilities! Tune into the Poured Over podcast this month as we discuss People Person with Candice Carty-Williams. 

A comprehensive exploration of Maurice Sendak’s work, Wild Things are Happening is the perfect gift book for art lovers, illustrators, and anyone who cherished the classic story, Where the Wild Things Are. Featuring previously unpublished sketches, storyboards, and paintings to showcase Sendak’s creative processes as well as his relationship to the history of art and his own art collecting, enthusiasts of Sendak’s oeuvre will find themselves enamored with this book.