Our Most Anticipated New Book Releases of October 2020

Leave the World Behind
Rumaan Alam
Atmospheric and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel starts off as a charming familial portrait that soon devolves into cinematic catastrophe. As two families are thrown into a nightmare, questions around the complexities of parenthood, and the nature of race and class are brought to the surface in a tense stand-off that will have you questioning just what you might do when faced with the collapse of civilization as we know it. Vibrant, tense and thrilling, “Leave the World Behind is a canny Trojan horse of a novel, and also a Pandora’s Box.”—Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me. With a movie already in the works (Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington are signed on!), this is one must-read everyone is going to be talking about.

Missionaries
Phil Klay
Phil Klay’s explosive debut following his National Book Award–winning short story collection, Redeployment, takes readers to Columbia in this suspenseful modern war novel that explores our history of good intentions and what really happens once the drones have left the skies. “Missionaries is a big, rich, clear-eyed book about death and life; wise, compassionate, and, yes, as cynical as it needs to be when necessary, but full of vivid people caught up in that organized human violence which is our species’ haunting passion.”—Ayad Akhtar, author of Homeland Elegies

The Cold Millions
Jess Walter
Tramps, suffragists, socialists and madams—what else do you need? The acclaimed author of Beautiful Ruins once again delivers a “literary miracle” (NPR)—a propulsive novel that centers around two brothers searching for a better word in early 20th-century America. “The Cold Millions is a literary unicorn: a book about socio-economic disparity that’s also a page-turner, a postmodern experiment that reads like a potboiler, and a beautiful, lyric hymn to the power of social unrest in American history. It’s funny and harrowing, sweet and violent, innocent and experienced; it walks a dozen tightropes. Jess Walter is a national treasure.”—Anthony Doerr, author of All the Light We Cannot See

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V.E. Schwab
Stunning and incredibly indelible, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the newest tour de force from a powerhouse author proving with this novel, she’s only getting started. Schwab has captivated readers for the better part of the decade with the smart and provocative Shades of Magic series and the equally iconic Villains series. With her signature wit and deliciously wicked imagination, V. E. Schwab is one author we just can’t get enough of. In The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, prepare to be mesmerized by Addie—our unflappable heroine, cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets after agreeing to a Faustian bargain and left to answer the question: “what is a person, if not the marks they leave behind?” What follows is a story as creative and unforgettable as Addie herself and a hands-down, not to be missed must-read this fall.

Memorial
Bryan Washington
A story about the nature and limits of love; one that transcends societal expectations and serves up a witty and profound look at joy in all forms. Washington brilliantly finds beauty in the everyday; love for food, home and each other and ultimately, what really makes a family. You will fall in love with every character again and again. “Memorial… casts a fresh take on the American family that becomes truer because of its disparate origins, the queerness of its genesis, and the buoyed wonder it finds in surviving grief and loss… This book, in what feels like a new vision for the 21st-century novel, made me happy.”—Ocean Vuong, author of On Earth We’re Briefly

Humans
Brandon Stanton
Humans of New York goes global! If you were among the millions of fans that loved and followed Humans of New York, then you saw the poignancy of Brandon Stanton’s photos as he captured ordinary people going about their lives in New York City. For a brief moment in time, they allowed Stanton, and us, into their world. New York Magazine said it was like “walking through a version of our city where startlingly honest thought bubbles appear over everyone’s heads.” Now with Humans, we find him moving about the globe, in a five-year quest, inviting all walks of life to tell their story, whatever it may be at that moment, painting a beautiful portrait of our shared experiences.

Dandelion (B&N Exclusive Book)
Gabbie Hanna
In her second vibrant book of poetry and illustration following her exhilarating debut, Adultolescence, Gabbie Hanna manages to balance the ruminations and joys that go running through our minds. Short, sharp and concise, these thoughts are what keep us up at night and sometimes—just sometimes—get us out of bed in the morning. Of course, we had to get some extra content: our Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition includes a collection of Gabbie’s intimate, thoughtful letters to strangers who have unknowingly had an impact on her life.

The Searcher 
Tana French
It’s been over 10 years since Tana French’s atmospheric debut In the Woods, the start of the Dublin Murder Squad series, cemented her as “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today”(Vox). Her newest novel, The Searcher, is a standalone that does not disappoint. A retired Chicago police officer that has moved to Ireland in search of solitude gets quickly drawn into a missing person case that unveils the darkness beneath a seemingly idyllic town. Once again, French uses the atmosphere, climate and circumstances of Ireland to flawlessly weave a captivating tale that will hook you from the start and leave you guessing—and guessing wrong—until the very end.

The Rise: Black Cooks and the Soul of American Food
Marcus Samuelsson, Osayi Endolyn (With), Yewande Komolafe (With)
Marcus Samuelsson’s latest cookbook can best be described as an indelible feast of food, culture and history—a unique celebration of contemporary Black cooking that seeks to recognize Black excellence throughout the culinary world. Just imagine cooking up your own chilled corn and tomato soup, grilled short ribs with a piri-piri marinade and saffron tapioca pudding—is your mouth watering yet? With 150 recipes that honor chefs, writers and activists alongside the stories that have inspired them along the way, The Rise is so much more than just a cookbook—it’s a celebration of a movement.

This Book Will Make You Kinder: An Empathy Handbook
Henry James Garrett
If you’re one of the many that follow Henry James Garrett on social media, you already know the joy his simple illustrations bring and the messages of kindness and understanding they convey. Let’s face it, it has been a year and we could all use a little more kindness—luckily, Garrett just created a guide for that! “This Book Will Make You Kinder blends distinctly human comics with an academic approach to understanding empathy, from a near-expert on the subject. The result is an affirming, charming book that ultimately lives up to its title.”—Adam J. Kurtz, author of 1 Page at a Time