PW’s editors chose these titles for one reason: they’re the books we couldn’t stop thinking about.
Two rival actors form a unique bond after tragedy strikes in this scintillating sapphic thriller. Nadine and Harper have been at odds since they first met at a London drama school in 1992. Both are back in London for the BAFTAs when Harper shows up at Nadine's hotel after the ceremony, covered in blood and seeking help. Fitzgerald's rendering of the thorny relationship between her leads will hook readers from the first page.
This magnificent novel begins with the canine narrator, a shepherd mix raised happily on a coastal farm, being conscripted and trained to sniff out land mines and disarm enemy soldiers for an American unit aiding his unnamed country's war effort. When the war ends, Etna travels the country, hoping to recover his sense of self. Yoon pulls off a fresh take on well-worn Homeric themes and convincingly captures a dog's perspective.
After screwing up at his IT job and getting dumped by his cheating boyfriend, Canadian 20-something Daniel impulsively flies to China to see his bestie. She's away when Daniel arrives but has booked him a private tour of the Great Wall with guide Yang, a PhD student. Plenty of sightseeing, fabulous meals, and tender moments add up to a slow-burning romance tailor-made for armchair travelers.
There's plenty to enjoy in this rollicking caper about a woman who gets roped into a potential smuggling scheme. Adora, a philosopher on fellowship at a museum in New York City, begins a romance with Digby, who soon reveals they met not by chance but because he was following her. Initially convinced Digby is attempting to recover a stolen artwork from the museum's collection, Adora investigates, and a series of alarming misunderstandings ensue.
In this tour de force told in alternating narration, two motherless girls from rural Honeysuckle, La., follow very different paths into adulthood. Niecy is orphaned as an infant and raised reluctantly by her free-spirited aunt. Before Niecy learns to talk, she befriends her neighbor Annie, who lives with her grandmother. The best friends' lives diverge when Niecy leaves for Spelman College and Annie sets out to search for her mother, but through the years, they remain the most important person to the other.
This lovely near-future foray brings hope and humor to a postapocalyptic world. The nameless narrator is a former robot assassin who secluded themself at the abandoned New York Botanical Garden for 20 years. When they venture out, they discover that all is not as it should be in the world outside. Joined by charming companions, the narrator must confront their past if they hope to achieve their dream of an equitable future.
The comedic fantasy series Discworld, which comprises 41 novels and takes place in a flat, circular world atop the backs of four elephants, is full of fantastical creatures. Series devotees will eat up this lavishly illustrated compendium by Kidby—Pratchett's longtime artist—which provides a field guide to beasts including the Terrible Man-Eating Sloth of Clup ("Being eaten by it is a drawn-out, horrible and somewhat tedious experience") and the Inflatable Mongoose ("benign but unpleasant").
This smart, simmering sapphic love story reimagines the origins of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. Danni, a Polish-born Jewish seamstress, recalls the summer of 1936, when she became housekeeper at the Cornish estate that, in Tremain's telling, inspired Rebecca's setting of Manderley. When du Maurier comes to visit, she and Danni are undeniably drawn to each other. It's an intimate portrait of desire and creativity.
To her millions of Instagram followers, Natalie is a "flawless Christian woman" leading an idyllic life on the self-sustaining Yesteryear Ranch with her hardworking husband, Caleb, and their five kids. In reality, the family's remote Idaho farm is a money pit. When Natalie wakes one morning in a rustic facsimile of her home, it appears that she's traveled back in time to 1855. This tradwife satire is ripe for anyone who missed out on one of the year's most buzzed-about novels.
The latest from Atlas Obscura tours the weird and wonderful across 50 states, five territories, and Washington, D.C.—in the latter, visitors can dial up knock-knock jokes, kid jokes, and random thoughts via the public Jokes Phone. The World Famous Crochet Museum, a former photo-processing booth in Joshua Tree, Calif., is packed with dozens of works by anonymous fiber artists. Themed sidebars, such as a mini guide to folk-art hub Lucas, Kans., encourage deep-dive excursions.
The latest in Rothman's popular Anatomy series is a sweeping, hand-lettered look at food sources and feather patterns, vision and vocalization, and courtship, conservation, and more. She delights in avian minutiae, illustrating, for instance, eight collective nouns (a charm of finches; a siege of herons) and 11 beak shapes (e.g., filter-feeding, fish-catching, and seed-cracking). The subject is close to Rothman's heart: her dad, who cameos in the book, leads bird walks in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx.
This winning roundup profiles the lives and careers of dozens of working felines across New York City neighborhoods. Though it's illegal to keep pets in a business that serves food—store names and addresses are withheld from the book—shop owners have long used cats as organic pest control. Evocative photos by Kilkis pair with Rimada's commentary on how bodega cat culture reflects the diverse, busy city; a cat's name "is not always a settled fact. It depends on who is speaking, what language they use, what shift they work, and how long they have known the cat."
In this dazzling exploration, Wilson, bestselling translator of Homer's Odyssey (2018) and Iliad (2023), serves as an intrepid guide to the storm-tossed seas of literary translation. She acknowledges that modern culture influences interpretations of ancient texts but urges readers and translators to instead "open ourselves to the strangeness of the past, and allow it to change us." Buoyant, accessible analyses and dynamic examples make this essential reading.
For this cozy collection of classic diner fare, actor Patterson draws inspiration from his childhood in New Jersey diner country and his role as Gilmore Girls diner owner Luke Danes. Behind-the-scenes info and Easter eggs for show fans pop up throughout: the Discontinued Monte Cristo refers to an obsolete menu item featured in one episode, while Connecticut Paella and New England clam chowder both nod to the show's Northeast setting.
In this frank account, Girls cocreator Dunham takes an unsparing look at the physical and emotional costs of her first decade in the spotlight, wincingly taking stock of all the ways she ignored signals to slow down. Though the subject matter is heavy, Dunham's self-deprecating humor and penchant for gossipy anecdotes provide crucial counterweight. Fans of Girls will welcome this dispatch from, as Dunham's character Hannah Horvath put it, "a voice of a generation."
Coddington came to public attention for her steadfast, unpretentious turn in the 2009 Vogue documentary The September Issue. Her latest book spans the decade since she stepped down as the magazine's creative director and serves as a platform for the imaginative shoots she continues to produce. No matter how outlandish the scenario, she writes, there's one through line in her work: "You must see the dress. That's the contract. If you can't see the clothes, it's not a fashion picture—it's just a photograph."
Journalist Moor defines trees as "a way of being" in this impassioned examination of their history and biology. Since human ancestors lived among their branches, trees have shaped humanity's sense of time, self, and life, the author contends. Moor's nature writing, which synthesizes reportage and philosophy, is beautiful and refreshingly original.
Spanning two centuries, this collection touches on both historical moments and significant photographers from around the world, seeking to capture the medium's impact on art, science, nature, celebrity, politics, and society. Herschdorfer includes well-known photographers like Man Ray and Diane Arbus, and famous images like Eadweard Muybridge's 1878 photoset of a galloping horse, and offers rarer treasures as well, such as Rosalind Franklin's first photo of a DNA molecule, in 1952, and a set of 1915 Autochrome color photos by Sergei Prokudin-Gorskii capturing traditional Russian culture.
The parallel histories of Japanese and American comics inform this crackerjack postmodern paranoia thriller. It's 1949, and Japanese American cartoonist Kevin Yamagata has scored a hit with his comic starring a cartoon bat. Haunted by the possibility that he unconsciously plagiarized something he saw while stationed in Japan during WWII, Kevin travels back to Tokyo, where he's plunged into a convoluted conspiracy straight out of one of his Billy Bat detective stories.
Ignatz winner Lust presents an entertaining, whimsically drawn prehistory focused on human cooperation and creative effort. Contrary to 19th-century male historians' notion that prehistoric men did all the work of survival, this argues that early cultures could only have thrived through the hard work of everyone in a community. Lust's naturalistic art, in warm earth tones, vividly evokes the paleolithic world. It's an illuminating look into what makes humans human.
In 2009, self-taught artist Kish, inspired by his lifelong love of Moby-Dick, set out to draw one image for each page of the 552-page Signet Classics edition, using torn-out pages from discarded books, ballpoint pens, markers, crayons, and watercolors. It took him nearly 18 months, and the result—reissued here 15 years after its first release—is a layered, fascinating epic all its own.
A Christmas fable gets a sociopolitical booster shot in this unexpectedly stirring steampunk holiday tale. In The Coalition, a frozen city, Peggy and her fellow workers struggle to get the coal they need to heat their homes by meeting their annual quota of bad behavior. When Peggy fails to meet her quota, she and fellow rebels are exiled to the realm of the mysterious Baron, who dreams of a world free from tyranny and violence.
Cartoonist and environmentalist Ireland offers a humorous graphic analysis of animals, sex, and how badly science has failed to understand the nuances of gender and sexuality within the animal kingdom. In cogent comics explainers that synthesize decades of studies, Ireland describes the complex reproductive system of marine animals and profiles "lesbian" albatrosses, "polyamorous" prairie voles, and sexually cannibalistic spiders. The result is sharp, accessible, and scientifically rigorous.
Torikai's searing science fiction reshuffles the hierarchy of reproductive power. Chiropractor Sanada and her housemate-with-benefits, sex worker Reiho, live in a dockside town where Reiho is the only man. Human fertility is plummeting, and reproductive science is controlled by an elite community. When the Health Ministry abducts Reiho to use as a stud in its latest experiment, his friends band together to rescue him. This reverse Handmaid's Tale challenges and dazzles.
Swoon-worthy first love and a touching exploration of the connective power of loss unfold in this romance set in small-town Oregon. Working at her family's funeral home has given 17-year-old Bliss an unusually intimate view of death. As preparations for a funeral unfold, Bliss, who is Black, develops feelings for 18-year-old newcomer Solomon, whose father is Black and whose mother is white. They bond over reflections on life and mortality and a fascination with the community's roots in the Great Migration.
In this appealing tale for animal and mystery lovers alike, shelter feline Kitty believes she's finally found a forever home with 11-year-old Max. Instead, she discovers a family still haunted by the memory of Licorice, Max's beloved cat who disappeared. The mystery surrounding Licorice's vanishing deepens Kitty's anxieties until the truth about the cat's fate comes to light, reshaping Kitty's understanding of the household and her own presence there.
Caldecott Honoree Myers delivers a luminous visual love letter to Black childhood and New York City with a stunning wordless story that follows five kids bicycling across the boroughs. As the companions meet up and ride from landmark to landmark, their nocturnal adventure celebrates joyful freedom of movement. Myers and a team of artisans rendered each scene in stained glass that was later illuminated and photographed, layering vibrant colors that make every page glow with expressive life.
Shusterman revisits the thought-provoking dystopia of the Arc of a Scythe series in this prequel. Scythe, the Printz Honor recipient that kicked off the series, established that 2042 marked the end of the Age of Mortality, ushering in a seeming utopia governed by the totalitarian Thunderhead. This book rewinds to explore the forces—including teenagers in a chat room debating the future—that tipped humanity toward immortality.
This series launch sees the daughters of classic literary characters and historical figures embark on high-octane fantasy adventures. In 1909, Rose Moriarty, the teenage daughter of Sherlock Holmes's infamous rival, is known for mystery-solving and monster-slaying. Separated from her formidable companions—including brilliant inventor Nikki Tesla and physically enhanced Seffy Moreau—Rose must navigate both external dangers and internal doubts. The novel's emphasis on women in scientific and intellectual pursuits contending with interpersonal challenges is refreshing.
Winter's chill leads to communal warmth in this wordless fantasy. A child awakens at night and sneaks downstairs to find that a snowperson has arrived on the porch. They spend the night playing outside and build a sparkling, window-filled structure together the following day. The child's sorrow at leaving their friend alone at dinnertime, and a hasty return through the village, results in dozens of children and snowpeople arriving at the snowmansion for an icy bash.
A 12-year-old orphan named Nothing—Ing for short—searches for his "best purpose" in this rousing mythic fantasy told in a visually arresting style. The prince of the kingdom undertakes a quest to kill the giantess terrorizing the countryside, inspiring Ing and friends Põppy the dog and mOmO the mouse to embark on their own journey. The trio's trek is illustrated via the text, with specific words, lines, and passages arranged to evoke objects, actions, or emotions—a mostly blank opening page, for instance, concludes with "A boy named Nothing woke up on the floor."
This propulsive picture book follows a massive truck and its mysterious cargo from dockside to destination. As the vehicle's cheerful red cab pulses across hilly landscapes under sun-rayed skies, expressive typography does double duty as both reportorial text and visual event: "LONG" stretches across the page as the truck makes a tight turn, and "TALL" looms vertically when the vehicle detours around a tunnel. It's a well-engineered story that delivers the goods.
Reminiscent of the Odyssey, this gleefully chaotic tale sees a magical feline and raven embarking on a journey to find their missing witch. Though their opposing personalities often put them at odds, self-important male calico cat Butter and flighty corvid Owl faithfully serve as companions to witch Penelope. When Penelope unexpectedly leaves home without them, the two venture out to find her, learning to cooperate as they encounter powerful gods, terrifying monsters, and dangerous traps.
