New Book Releases: February 4, 2020
Each Monday, I’ll catalog the biggest and most exciting adult and YA fiction — and the occasional nonfiction — coming out that week.
THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU, Michael Zapata. One of my own most anticipated novels of 2020! When cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home, a man discovers a long-lost science fiction manuscript and embarks on a journey to Louisiana to find the author’s mysterious son. Washington Post review, New York Times review, Indiebound, Amazon.
ALICE BY HEART, Steven Sater. In this YA fantasy, a young girl reads Alice in Wonderland to her sick friend during the Blitz, causing the war-torn world they’re in to blur with that of Alice’s. Indiebound, Amazon.
BLACK SUNDAY, Tola Rotimi Abraham. The bonds between four siblings are tested when the family loses their fortune and is drawn to the wealth-worshipping New Church. Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
EVERYWHERE YOU DON’T BELONG, Gabriel Bump. A young man leaves his home on the south side of Chicago, only to discover that danger follows him wherever he goes. An Indie Next List pick. Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
DJINN PATROL ON THE PURPLE LINE, Deepa Anappara. Three friends venture into the dangerous corners of their city to find their missing classmate. Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
A PERFECT EXPLANATION, Eleanor Anstruther. The traumatized granddaughter of a duke abandons her family and sells her son to her sister, a choice which reverberates throughout the entire family for decades. Indiebound, Amazon.
INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, A. D. Miller. A former diplomat in Kiev who lost everything in a horrible scandal stumbles upon the woman he holds responsible for his downfall, soon discovering that she’s far more complicated than she seems. Indiebound, Amazon.
LUX, Elizabeth Cook. Two men — Henry VIII and his imprisoned courtier poet Sir Thomas Wyatt — find their fates changed forever by the arrival of Anne Boleyn. Indiebound, Amazon.
MOLLY BIT, Dan Bevacqua. A woman chases Hollywood fame at the expense of her relationships. Indiebound, Amazon.
THE CACTUS LEAGUE, Emily Nemens. The star outfielder of a baseball team stationed in Arizona is coming apart at the seams, prompting obsessive inquiries from his fans, friends, and reporters. By an editor at The Paris Review. Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
REAL LIFE, Adeline Dieudonne, Roland Glasser (translator). A child spends her days playing in abandoned cars and avoiding her violent hunter father and submissive mother — until a terrible accident upends everything. Indiebound, Amazon.
THE AUTHENTICITY PROJECT, Clare Pooley. An elderly man writes down his secrets in a notebook and leaves it in a cafe, inspiring a string of strangers to do the same. Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
THE FREEDOM ARTIST, Ben Okri. In this dystopian sci-fi, when a woman goes missing after painting a question, “Who is the prisoner?” on a wall, her boyfriend begins to search for her, discovering he isn’t the only one searching for the truth. Marlon James calls it “a work of beauty, grace, and uncommon power.” Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
REMEMBERED, Yvonne Battle-Felton. As the city of Philadelphia burns outside, a woman sits by her son’s hospital bed, desperate to find out, by any means necessary, why people say he drove a streetcar into a business window. Indiebound, Amazon.
THE QUEEN’S ASSASSIN, Melissa De La Cruz. In this YA fantasy, a talented assassin and an ambitious apprentice must work together to destroy a sinister threat to their kingdom. Indiebound, Amazon.
THINGS IN JARS, Jess Kidd. In Victorian London, a female detective is drawn into the baffling world of the macabre as she searches for a kidnapped child with rumored supernatural powers. This one has been on my TBR for months, and I can’t wait to finally get my hands on it! Aggregated critical reviews, Indiebound, Amazon.
YES NO MAYBE SO, Becky Albertalli, Aisha Saeed. A delightful sounding contemporary YA about a senate race volunteer and a reluctant canvasser who fall in love. Indiebound, Amazon.
UPRIGHT WOMEN WANTED, Sarah Gailey. Another one from my most anticipated of the year list! From the author of the acclaimed fantasy novel Magic for Liars. In this reinvented Western, a woman stows away on a book wagon after escaping an arranged marriage to her best friend’s former fiance. Indiebound, Amazon.
VERA VIOLET, Melissa Anne Peterson. A high schooler escapes decrepit, meth-ridden Pacific Northwest for St. Louis, Missouri, only to discover it has much of the same problems. I included this on my most anticipated 2020 list, and can’t wait to finally get to it. Indiebound, Amazon.
