28 Best Fall Books of 2018

“There I was, four years old, decked out in my sister’s prettiest dress.” So begins late great Bill Cunningham’s story, which spans from his youthful fashion obsession to his rise as the New York Times‘ fashion photographer. (Penguin Press, September 4)

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Motherhood and road trips have some things in common: the inexorable tedium, the fleeting milestones. In this debut by the Millions staffer Lydia Kiesling, a mother takes her child on the road: a journey with an unexpected destination. (MCD, September 4)

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This debut novel combines magical realism and history to illustrate the paths of three extraordinary people with powers that help them cheat death, at the dawn of Liberia’s existence. (Graywolf, September 11)

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If there’s any comfort to be had while reading Vladimir Nabokov’s classic novel Lolita, it’s that the heinous crime described therein is fiction. Or, that used to be the case—this true crime book details the horrific real-life case of Sally Horner, an 11-year-old abducted in 1948. (Ecco, September 11)

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You might have read Sarah Smarsh’s viral New York Times op-ed, which deconstructed the myth of the “aggrieved laborer: male, Caucasian, conservative, racist, sexist” with reference to the experiences and opinions of her working-class father. In this memoir, she fully explores the impact of poverty on her family. (Scribner, September 18)

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First, there were Upper East Side revelations in Primates of Park Avenue and the psychology of stepmoms in Stepmonster. Now, Wednesday Martin looks into women who cheat with Untrue. (Little, Brown Spark, September 18)

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You can bring Reese Witherspoon into your life via your TV (Big Little Lies, her millions of movies), your clothing, and your homewares (Draper James, what’s up?). Why not invite her onto your bookshelf, as well, with this account of her southern style? (Touchstone, September 18)

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Put in the service of a new master, 11-year-old slave Washington Black is unexpectedly allowed to develop his burgeoning artistic talents as he works for a scientist. But another twist separates them, turning him toward a different kind of hardship. (Knopf, September 18)

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The author of the acclaimed twisty historical novel Life After Life heads back into the spotlight with a thriller spanning the 1940s and ’50s. Transcription, already garnering raves in the UK, tracks the travails of a young woman who worked for the MI5 and ten years later finds that period has a longer shadow than expected. (Little, Brown, September 25)

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“When I was growing up, I couldn’t find any stories about adoption that spoke to my experience,” wrote Nicole Chung in a 2016 essay. Her forthcoming memoir will more than fill that gap. (Catapult, October 2)

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Women are angry, and Rebecca Traister is just the person to chart the topography of their rage, its causes, and its effects. (Simon & Schuster, October 2)

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Enjoyed the short fiction of Carmen Maria Machado and Miranda July—writers who engage with the oddness of being a person who craves the tension, otherness, and oddness of other people? Then the unexpected, highly examined collisions in Tan’s stories will hit your sweet spot. (Emily Books, October 2)

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Beloved advice columnist Heather Havrilesky flows her wisdom into a new mold with this collection of essays focused on indulging the imperfect present. (Doubleday, October 2)

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English mansion? Check. Dazzling couple? Check. Yearning outsider? Now you have all the ingredients for a psychological powder keg, ready to explode during the summer of ’69. (Tin House Books, October 9)

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A new novel from crime queen Tana French is cause for celebration. In her seventh, the victim of a violent attack is shaken even further when a skull is discovered in the garden. (Viking, October 9)

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Everything you need to know about the scrunchie-loving, workout-having, jurisprudence-shaping Supreme Court justice. (Knopf, October 16)

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Imagine a supernatural Pied Piper who forces wrongdoers to reckon with their misdeeds. In this modern Gothic novel, a translator comes across accounts of such a being and grapples with her own catastrophes. (Custom House, October 16)

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Former biologist Barbara Kingsolver taps her scientific side with her new novel. In twin stories, set over a century apart, Willa Knox and Thatcher Greenwood fight unpopular battles: to preserve a crumbling family house, and to discuss Darwinian discoveries. (Harper, October 16)

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Ruler of Instagram and our hearts Busy Philipps brings her frank humor to the book world. Expect Hollywood, motherhood, and, broadly speaking, sisterhood. (Touchstone, October 16)

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In her tenth (!) book, May-Lee Chai explores the lives of Chinese protagonists—some in their homeland, others in the United States. (Blair, October 23)

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Rom-com fever got you in its grip? The Proposal will only make it worse; it begins with an unwanted scoreboard proposal at a baseball game and only gets more deliciously tangled from there. (Berkley, October 30)

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Crazy rich Asian Stanley Huang is dying; his family members contend with their disappointments and each other as they await a final division of his estate. (William Morrow, October 30)

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Glory Edim founded the Well-Read Black Girl online project, highlighting the work of black writers and the passion of black readers. The next step: a book uniting the perspectives of luminaries including Jesmyn Ward, Jacqueline Woodson, and Gabourey Sidibe. (Ballantine Books, October 30)

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More peppery, distinctive stories from the late author of the acclaimed A Manual for Cleaning Women. (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, November 6)

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Waiting until 2019 for the second season of Big Little Lies seems an impossible task. To while the many, many hours away, go back to the source: Liane Moriarty, who wrote the original book. Her new novel will make you reconsider that health retreat. (Flatiron Books, November 9)

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Karina Longworth tells tales from the Hollywood archives in her podcast, You Must Remember This. She returns to books with her fifth, about the tyranny of aviator, producer, and billionaire Howard Hughes. (Custom House, November 13)

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Soak up the inspiring story of the first African-American First Lady, recounted by the woman herself. (Crown, November 13)

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For anyone who’s ever kept a dream journal or fixated on the idea of lucid dreaming, a thorough exploration of the mysterious nightly phenomenon from a scientific point of view. (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, November 20)

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