Top new literary-fiction books in February 2023
Last updated:
February 28, 2023
February 2023 featuring new releases by Jojo Moyes, Rebecca Makkai, Rachel Joyce, Pam Jenoff, Sadeqa Johnson, Mansi Shah, Weina Dai Randel, Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Tiffany McDaniel, J.M. Dalgliesh and many more.
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Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes
A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The Giver of Stars.Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off...adult · audiobook · book · contemporary · family · female-mc · fiction · friendship · holidays · humor -
![I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai]()
I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by TIME, NPR, The Seattle Times, Good Housekeeping, Today, Southern Living, and CrimeReadsThe riveting new novel from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great BelieversA successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely...adult · audiobook · boarding-school · book · contemporary · crime · dark-academia · female-author · female-mc · fiction -
![Maureen by Rachel Joyce]()
Maureen by Rachel Joyce
From the bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry comes a moving novel told from the point of view of Harold’s wife Maureen. Now undertaking her own journey, Maureen will discover a way to reconnect with the world she’s closed a door on.Maureen Fry has settled into the quiet life she shares with her husband after his iconic walk across England ten years ago...action-adventure · adult · aging · audiobook · book · contemporary · family · female-mc · fiction · friendship -
![Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff]()
Code Name Sapphire by Pam Jenoff
A woman must rescue her cousin's family from a train bound for Auschwitz in this riveting tale of bravery and resistance, from the bestselling author of The Lost Girls of Paris1942. Hannah Martel has narrowly escaped Nazi Germany after her fiancé was killed in a pogrom...20th-century · adult · audiobook · book · espionage · family · female-mc · fiction · friendship · historical -
![The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson]()
The House of Eve by Sadeqa Johnson
From the award-winning author of Yellow Wife, a daring and redemptive novel set in 1950s Philadelphia and Washington, DC, that explores what it means to be a woman and a mother, and how much one is willing to sacrifice to achieve her greatest goal... -
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![The Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah]()
The Direction of the Wind by Mansi Shah
A heartfelt story that spans continents and generations, about a young woman who searches for answers about a mother she barely remembers.Sophie Shah was six when she learned her mother, Nita, had died. For twenty-two years, she shouldered the burden of that loss. But when her father passes away, Sophie discovers a cache of hidden letters revealing a shattering truth: her mother didn’t die...adult · asia · audiobook · book · coming-of-age · contemporary · dark · family · female-mc · fiction -
![Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel]()
Night Angels by Weina Dai Randel
From the author of The Last Rose of Shanghai comes a profoundly moving novel based on the true story of a diplomat and his wife who risked their lives to help Viennese Jews escape the Nazis.1938. Dr. Ho Fengshan, consul general of China, is posted in Vienna with his American wife, Grace...europe · western-central-europe · austria · urban · china · historical-fiction · fiction · ww2 · historical · war -
![A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀]()
A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Ayobami Adebayo, the celebrated author of Stay With Me unveils a dazzling story of modern Nigeria and two families caught in the riptides of wealth, power, romantic obsession, and political corruption. Eniola is tall for his age, a boy who looks like a man...adult · audiobook · book · contemporary · family · female-mc · fiction · literary-fiction · poc-author · poc-mc -
![Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel]()
Sul lato selvaggio by Tiffany McDaniel
Six women—mothers, daughters, sisters—gone missing. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this harrowing novel tells the story of two sisters, both of whom could be the next victims, from the internationally best-selling author of Betty."Capture[s] what goes horribly wrong when women don’t fit a customary victim profile..adult · audiobook · book · coming-of-age · contemporary · crime · dark · family · fiction · historical-fiction -
![Dead to Me by J.M. Dalgliesh]()
Dead to Me by J.M. Dalgliesh
Let go of your past... or it will be the death of you...When a man's body is discovered crammed into the boot of an abandoned car in a remote location, DI Tom Janssen and his team must unpick his life to find out how he came to be there.The victim was a local man, popular with some although hated by others, and he had a habit of making enemies, enemies that any sane man would seek to avoid...action-adventure · adult · book · contemporary · crime · fiction · hard-boiled · kidnapping · law-enforcement · literary-fiction -
![Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry]()
Old God's Time by Sebastian Barry
From the two-time Booker Prize finalist author, a dazzlingly written novel exploring love, memory, grief, and long-buried secretsRecently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea...adult · aging · audiobook · book · classics · contemporary · crime · fiction · literary · literary-fiction -
![Big Swiss by Jen Beagin]()
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
A brilliantly original and funny novel about a sex therapist’s transcriptionist who falls in love with a client while listening to her sessions. When they accidentally meet in real life, an explosive affair ensues.Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. She spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om...21st-century · adult · audiobook · book · contemporary · dark-humor · female-author · female-mc · fiction · friendship -
![The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan]()
The Queen of Dirt Island by Donal Ryan
From the multi-award-winning and internationally bestselling author Donal Ryan, a searing, jubilant story about four generations of women and fierce love The Aylward women of Nenagh, Tipperary, are mad about each other, but you wouldn't always think it...adult · audiobook · book · british-isles · drama · europe · family · female-mc · fiction · friendship -
![The City Between the Bridges: 1794: A Novel by Niklas Natt och Dag]()
The City Between the Bridges: 1794: A Novel by Niklas Natt och Dag
A #1 international bestseller, this atmospheric and breathtaking sequel to the “cerebral, immersive page-turner” (The Washington Post) The Wolf and the Watchman explores the darkness hidden beneath the splendor of 18th-century Stockholm.Stockholm, 1794: A young nobleman, Eric Three Roses, languishes in a hospital as the rest of the city claims that he belongs in a madhouse... -
![Victory City: A Novel by Salman Rushdie]()
Victory City: A Novel by Salman Rushdie
The epic tale of a woman who breathes a fantastical empire into existence, only to be consumed by it over the centuries--from the transcendent imagination of Booker Prize-winning, internationally bestselling author Salman RushdieIn the wake of an insignificant battle between two long-forgotten kingdoms in fourteenth-century southern India, a nine-year-old girl has a divine encounter that will...action-adventure · adult · asian-mc · audiobook · book · epic · female-mc · fiction · historical · historical-fiction -
![Weyward by Emilia Hart]()
Weyward by Emilia Hart
I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackle Weyward Cottage, inherited from a great aunt she barely remembers. With its tumbling ivy and overgrown garden, the cottage is worlds away from the abusive partner who tormented Kate. But she begins to suspect that her great aunt had a secret... -
![The Temporary Wife by Catharina Maura]()
The Temporary Wife by Catharina Maura
From the author of The Wrong Bride and Forever After All comes an angsty and steamy marriage of convenience romance featuring a billionaire boss and his secretary.When Luca Windsor’s secretary quits her job shortly after he’s forced into an unwanted engagement arranged by his family, he sets out to solve both problems.… by secretly marrying his secretary instead.The rules are simple:1... -
![The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi]()
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
A sumptuous, gothic-infused story about a marriage that is unraveled by dark secrets, a friendship cursed to end in tragedy, and the danger of believing in fairy tales--the breathtaking adult debut from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi.Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada...adult · audiobook · book · coming-of-age · contemporary · dark · dark-fantasy · fairy-tale · family · fiction -
![The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood]()
The Shadow of Perseus by Claire Heywood
Danae: Banished from her homeland thanks to a prophecy foretelling that her unborn child will one day cause the death of her father, the king of Argos, Danae finds herself stranded, pregnant, and alone in a remote fishing village...adult · ancient-civilization · audiobook · book · female-mc · feminism · fiction · historical · historical-fiction · literary-fiction -
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![Abyss by Pilar Quintana]()
Abyss by Pilar Quintana
By the Colombian author of The Bitch, a 2020 National Book Award Finalist and PEN Awards Winner“An eight-year-old girl takes in a series of troubling events in this luminous and transfixing account of fractured family life from Colombian writer Quintana (The Bitch). Readers will be dazzled... -
![My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin]()
My Last Innocent Year by Daisy Alpert Florin
An incisive, deeply resonant debut novel about a nonconsensual sexual encounter that propels one woman’s final semester at an elite New England college into controversy and chaos—and into an ill-advised affair with a married professorIt’s the winter of 1998 and Isabel Rosen has one semester left at Wilder College, a prestigious school in New Hampshire with a wealthy, elite student body and the...abuse · adult · audiobook · book · coming-of-age · contemporary · dark · dark-academia · drama · female-author -
![A Dangerous Education by Megan Chance]()
A Dangerous Education by Megan Chance
A reformist teacher. A dangerous student clique. A powerful novel about secrets and redemption set in the shadows of McCarthy-era America.Rosemary Chivers is haunted by the choices she made as a teenager—and by those made for her by a controlling mother...20th-century · adult · audiobook · book · cold-war · dark · dark-academia · family · female-mc · fiction -
![Angeline by Anna Quinn]()
Angeline by Anna Quinn
After surviving a tragedy that killed her entire family, sixteen-year-old Meg joins a cloistered convent, believing it is her life's work to pray full time for the suffering of others. Taking the name Sister Angeline, she spends her days and nights in silence, moving from one prayerful hour to the next... -
![The Chosen Girl by Elle Gray]()
The Chosen Girl by Elle Gray
As the planets aligned, something otherworldly began.The town of Storyville was shifting, and amid the night the townspeople would experience the most spectacular and supernatural happenings...For over a year, FBI agent Coraline Pratt had been tracking the sadistic Postcard Killer...action-adventure · adult · book · crime · female-mc · fiction · kidnapping · literary-fiction · murder · mystery -
![Empty Theatre: or, The Lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria , Cousins, in Their Pursuit of Connection and Beauty... by Jac Jemc]()
Empty Theatre: or, The Lives of King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Sisi of Austria , Cousins, in Their Pursuit of Connection and Beauty... by Jac Jemc
A wildly over-the-top social satire reimagining the mad misadventures of the iconic royal cousins King Ludwig and Empress Sisi, from the incomparable Jac Jemc.History knows them as King Ludwig II of Bavaria and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, icons of the late nineteenth century who died young and left behind magnificent portraits and palaces...adult · audiobook · book · fiction · historical · historical-fiction · humor · literary-fiction · satire -
![Next of Kin by Hannah Bonam-Young]()
Next of Kin by Hannah Bonam-Young
Two bickering strangers, Chloe and Warren, are partnered by Child Protective Services to qualify for next of kin fostering of their younger siblings. When people-pleasing Chloe learns that her birth mother has unexpectedly had another baby, she doesn’t hesitate to become a next-of-kin guardian...adult · book · cheerful-mc · coming-of-age · contemporary · disability · enemies-to-lovers · family · female-mc · fiction -
![The Heist by Julie Weaver]()
The Heist by Julie Weaver
Freya I’ll do anything to escape the controlling monster who’s tormented me for years, even if it means putting my life at the mercy of a criminal. When Kane Daniels breaks into my gilded cage, he doesn’t realize his loot will include more than gold and diamonds—it’ll include me...romance · contemporary · military · dark · new-adult · action-adventure · steamy · forced-proximity · age-gap · organized-crime -
![Stealing by Margaret Verble]()
Stealing by Margaret Verble
A gripping, gut-punch of a novel about a Cherokee child removed from her family and sent to a Christian boarding school in the 1950s—an ambitious, eye-opening reckoning of history and small-town prejudices from Pulitzer Prize finalist Margaret Verble...abuse · adult · audiobook · book · coming-of-age · dark · dark-academia · death · fiction · historical -
![The Private Lives of Trees: A Novel by Alejandro Zambra]()
The Private Lives of Trees: A Novel by Alejandro Zambra
The second novel by the internationally celebrated writer Alejandro Zambra, a “short and strikingly original” (The New Yorker) book about the stories we spin for ourselves and our loved ones—now reissued by PenguinVeronica is late, and Julián is increasingly convinced she won't ever come home. To pass the time, he improvises a story about trees to coax his stepdaughter, Daniela, to sleep... -
![The Half of It by Juliette Fay]()
The Half of It by Juliette Fay
One perfect night. Forty years of buried hurt. One chance to make it right. Can the past ever be fixed? With humor, heart, and grace, USA Today bestselling author Juliette Fay delivers an immensely satisfying page-turner, perfect for fans of Josie Silver and Jojo Moyes.“I’m wondering if we can be friends again...romance · fiction · womens-fiction · contemporary · audiobook · friendship · family · coming-of-age · breakup · domestic-drama -
![VenCo by Cherie Dimaline]()
VenCo by Cherie Dimaline
Lucky St. James, a Métis millennial living with her cantankerous but loving grandmother Stella, is barely hanging on when she discovers she will be evicted from their tiny Toronto apartment. Then, one night, something strange and irresistible calls out to Lucky...action-adventure · adult · audiobook · book · contemporary · feminism · fiction · historical-fiction · horror · indigenous-mc -
![REGRET by Emilia Finn]()
REGRET by Emilia Finn
Preston Danes was born and raised on the streets.Unloved. Unwanted. And quickly discarded.Now he’s a man on the verge of a new career when the infamous Checkmate Security offers him a job.They want to shut down a mafia family, and they need the assistance of a skilled hacker to get the job done.Preston knows code like others know their left hands. He’s perfect for the job...contemporary · steamy · sports · fiction · literary-fiction · new-adult · action-adventure · female-mc · romance · humor -
![Couplets: A Love Story by Maggie Millner]()
Couplets: A Love Story by Maggie Millner
“ An astounding debut. ”― Adrienne Raphel, The New York Times Book ReviewA dazzling love story in poems about one woman’s coming-out, coming-of-age, and coming undoneA woman lives an ordinary life in Brooklyn. She has a boyfriend. They share a cat. She writes poems in the prevailing style. She also has of being seduced by a throng of older women, of kissing a friend in a dorm-room closet...romance · lgbtq · fiction · wlw · literary-fiction · audiobook · 21st-century · contemporary · female-author · urban -
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![My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig]()
My Nemesis by Charmaine Craig
From the acclaimed author of Miss Burma, longlisted for the National Book Award and the Women’s Prize, comes a tense and thought-provoking exploration of an intellectual affair and its reverberations across the lives of two couplesTessa is a successful white woman writer who develops a friendship, first by correspondence and then in person, with Charlie, a ruggedly handsome philosopher and...adult · book · breakup · contemporary · domestic-drama · family · female-mc · fiction · literary-fiction -
![Black Wolf by Kathleen Kent]()
Black Wolf by Kathleen Kent
A dazzling new spy thriller about a female CIA agent whose extraordinary powers of facial recognition lead her into the dangerous heart of the Soviet Union—and the path of a killer that shouldn’t exist. It is 1990 when Melvina Donleavy arrives in Soviet Belarus on her first undercover mission with the CIA, alongside three fellow agents—none of whom know she is playing two roles...adult · book · crime · espionage · female-mc · fiction · historical · historical-fiction · literary-fiction · mystery -
![The Walls We Break by Katelyn Taylor]()
The Walls We Break by Katelyn Taylor
Walls.They're immovable, resilient. Meant to keep things out and most the time they keep nearly everything out, except me.I'm the "Mike". The middle linebacker for the Seattle Crusaders. It's my job to break through anything in my path and make it out the other side and I'm damn good at it too.Until I meet Vi Nielson. A strong, hardworking, drop dead sexy single mom to an adorable little boy...romance · sports · contemporary · alpha-mc · friends-to-lovers · womens-fiction · age-gap · steamy · family · literary-fiction -
![Wild Hearts by Julie Capulet]()
Wild Hearts by Julie Capulet
The first time I saw Wolf Ramsey was at his family’s estate in Kauai. He was huge and imposing. Armed to the teeth. When he looked right at me, fascination wasn’t my first reaction. It was fear.His outrageous good looks were shadowed only by his wild intensity. You could tell he would be reckless and brutal... -
![When the Moon Turns Blue by Pamela Terry]()
When the Moon Turns Blue by Pamela Terry
One woman fights to hold on to her friends, her family, and all that she holds dear as the battle over a Confederate statue divides her small-town Georgia communityin this powerful novel from the author of The Sweet Taste of Muscadines.On the morning after Harry Cline’s funeral, a rare ice storm hits the town of Wesleyan, Georgia...adult · book · contemporary · drama · family · female-mc · fiction · friendship · historical-fiction · literary-fiction -
![Shaken by Bella Matthews]()
Shaken by Bella Matthews
Sawyer Kingston is an A**hole.The thing is, he’s got everyone fooled. To them, he’s the gorgeous billionaire who owns the hottest bar in the city.To me, he’s the cocky jerk whose favorite pastime has always been torturing me.The only thing we’ve ever agreed on is our mutual dislike for each other. But that was before I moved in next-door to him, and we shockingly agreed on something else... -
![Cruel Deception by Monica Kayne]()
Cruel Deception by Monica Kayne
He won me in a game of poker. Now I'm betting everything on him.Daniil Kozlov is the worst kind of monster. Sinfully gorgeous , wrapped in Hugo Boss and tattoos, underneath the surface he's a snake hiding behind a veneer of easy charm .We come from the same underworld but couldn't be more different. He's second in line to the Kozlov Bratva, a powerful player in New York's Russian mafia...romance · dark · organized-crime · arranged-marriage · enemies-to-lovers · age-gap · forced-proximity · steamy · multi-pov · new-adult
