The Most Exciting Book Releases Of Summer 2020

Summer 2020 isn’t going to look like any summer anyone has ever had before. Rather than stretched out on a beach towel at the Rockaways or lingering over a spritz with a book on a shady patio, we’ll be stationed in the one sunny spot in our apartments, soaking up whatever semblance of outdoor sunshine we can find in our own homes. A stack of good books, though, makes this ten thousand times easier; one of the reasons I’ve managed to keep my own head above water is that I’ve been cramming books into my own head with a determination not seen since I was an angst-ridden high school student desperate for escape.

Each of the books below will transport you away from a reality of face masks and mass unemployment and into another, perhaps no less difficult but nonetheless someone else’s story. In Hannah Orenstein’s Head Over Heels, a young gymnast gives up her dreams of Olympic fame to guide another talented hopeful in that direction instead. In Cherie Dimaline’s Empire of Wild, a woman finally finds her husband who disappeared, only he seems more… supernatural than he did a year ago. P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout tells the story of a young bootlegger fighting the Ku Klux Klan in an alternate history. And Susanna Clarke, author of the much-beloved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, finally returns with a new novel, Piranesi, about a magical house and the man who lives there.