New Book Releases: August 18, 2020

Each week, I’ll catalog the biggest and most exciting adult and YA fiction — and the occasional nonfiction — coming out that Tuesday.

BETTY, Tiffany McDaniel. In 1960s rural Appalachia, a young girl discovers family secrets that will haunt her forever. Read an excerpt here. Bookshop.

THE PATRON SAINT OF PREGNANT GIRLS, Ursula Hegi. In late 19th-century, three mothers grapple with the traumatic aftermath of a tidal wave that claims several children. The Boston Globe calls it “a lyrical meditation on motherhood and mourning.” Aggregated critical reviews, Bookshop.

THE HEAT WAVE, Kate Riordan. After a fire at her childhood home, a woman returns with her younger teen daughter to inspect the damage and ready it for sale, only to be forced to confront the secrets of her older daughter before it destroys the small family she has left. This is far from an average dead-girl thriller, and I liked it a lot; you can read my mini-review here. Bookshop.

THE NEW AMERICAN, Micheline Aharonian Marcom. After finding out he’s undocumented, a Guatemalan immigrant gets in a car accident and is deported to Guatemala, from which he tries to make his way back home…