Discover Prize Finalists 2025

BN Editors, Nina Braca

Barnes & Noble booksellers across the country have read hundreds of new authors and debut novels published this year, and today, we are delighted to announce the six finalists for the 2025 Discover Prize.

These are extraordinary, indelible and surprising stories about beginnings and endings, coming-of-age, the secrets we keep and the lessons we learn. The 2025 Discover Prize Winner will be revealed the evening of October 9th.

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Tilt: A Novel

Emma Pattee

4.2

Hardcover

$27.99

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Notes From Your Bookseller

What would you do if the world started crumbling around you? Emma Pattee explores humanity, desperation, love and survival in this breathtaking read.

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The Artist and the Feast

Lucy Steeds

4.9

Hardcover

$27.99

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Notes From Your Bookseller

Get enamored by the landscapes of Provence in this deliciously crafted slow-burn romance between a curious journalist and the unexpected artist who emerges from the kitchen.

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Great Black Hope: A Novel

Rob Franklin

Hardcover

$25.99

$28.99

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Notes From Your Bookseller

Urgent, unique and utterly thrilling, this story about identity, home and hope is a triumphant introduction to a fresh voice in fiction.

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Maggie; or, A Man and a Woman Walk into a Bar (B&N Discover Prize Winner)

Katie Yee

3.6

Hardcover

$26.99

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Notes From Your Bookseller

When life throws her lemons, one woman chooses to find humor in heartbreak. Witty, full of heart and beautiful poetic prose — with a side of Chinese folklore — this refreshing novel is perfect for fans of short literary fiction.

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Lonely Crowds: A Novel

Stephanie Wambugu

3.8

Hardcover

$29.00

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Notes From Your Bookseller

Friendship. Ambition. Art. Desire. This is a thought-provoking exploration that captures the ups and downs of a lifelong bond between two women. Tethering love, obsession and the pressures of coming of age, this is a heart-stirring meditation on the passage of time.

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Kaplan's Plot: A Novel

Jason Diamond

4.8

Hardcover

$26.99

$29.99

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Notes From Your Bookseller

Buried secrets. Healing. Reflection. When his business fails, Elijah returns home where past and present collide and a riveting family mystery unravels. Delving into generational trauma and Chicago’s dark history, this is a suspenseful and haunting read.

Awards Holiday What We Are Reading

Poured Over: Emily Wilson on Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea

Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea by Emily Wilson takes readers on a tour through the ancient world for an entertaining examination of Greek and Roman literature and their impact on our modern world. Emily joins us to talk about the joys and challenges of interpreting antiquity, the stakes of poetic form and re-translating The Odyssey with cohost Jenna Seery.

Celebra el Mes de la Herencia Hispana con libros que inspiran, emocionan y dejan recuerdos imborrables.

Este Mes de la Herencia Hispana, te invitamos a descubrir una selección de libros para adultos y chicos que destacan el talento, la creatividad y la diversidad de grandiosos escritores latinoamericanos. Son historias que entretienen, inspiran, y nos permiten acercarnos a distintas experiencias y perspectivas, mientas celebramos las aportaciones de la comunidad hispana en los Estados Unidos.

The Black Shield: A Guest Post from Wilbur L. Cooper

In The Black Shield, reporter Wilbert L. Cooper explores the complex lives of Black cops living and working in Cleveland as part of the Black Shield organization. Read on for an essay from Wilbur L. Cooper about writing The Black Shield. When I talk about The Black Shield, I often tell people that I started writing it in 2020, the year of George Floyd's murder. I do this because the book is nominally about Black cops, and in the aftermath of Floyd's murder, there was a lot of talk about diversity as a panacea for the racial problems of American policing. Some people made the argument that the hiring of more Black cops would ensure that what happened to Floyd would never happen again. And it's true, I did spend 2020 talking to experts and historians, diving into police archives and reading studies. I did a lot of real journalism stuff. But if I’m being honest, I didn't start thinking about Black cops in 2020. I've been reflecting on the conflicting promise and plight of Black cops my whole life, because I was born into a family of Black cops. I've had family members in the Cleveland police department since the end of World War II up through the Black Lives Matter Era. And so I’ve been thinking about Black cops and what they mean and what they do since I was a child watching my mother, a strong Black woman named Gayle, don a blue uniform and a silver badge. Even as a little child, I desperately wanted to know who my mother transformed into when she went out into the world with a city-issued gun in her holster. And when there have been these visceral incidents of police violence like George Floyd or Tyre Nichols, I've wondered, What my mother's role could be in an institution like that? What does that killing have to do with the work of my father, my sister, my uncle and great uncles? To answer that question, I've been having talks with my family that I never had before, tracing their journeys into policing, as well as talks with their peers and Black cops from all across the country of various generations. So while The Black Shield encapsulates my own story, it's also filled with all of their testimony. Their witnessing for you from behind the blue wall is more harrowing than what you might hear from an activist who advocates for police abolition. For the readers who are still wondering if diversity can make policing work for Black folks, you will have a lot to think about when reading my book. But The Black Shield also addresses much bigger issues of family, assimilation, survival in America, and freedom. I hope that you all will go on that journey with me.