Top new literary-fiction books in July 2023
Last updated:
July 31, 2023
July 2023 featuring new releases by Colson Whitehead, Laura Barrow, Fiona Valpy, Amy Engel, Nick Alexander, Eliza Clark, Laura Sims, Sarah Bernstein, Patrick deWitt, Richard Russo and many more.
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Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.It's 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army...historical-fiction · fiction · literary-fiction · mystery · crime · contemporary · poc-author · urban · family · thriller -
![Call the Canaries Home by Laura Barrow]()
Call the Canaries Home by Laura Barrow
Three estranged sisters reconnect in their Louisiana hometown to face an unresolved past in a heartfelt novel about family, grief, secrets, and forgiveness.Savannah was four years old when her twin sister, Georgia, went missing from their small Louisiana town, fracturing their family...fiction · mystery · contemporary · drama · audiobook · womens-fiction · family · literary-fiction · suspense · friendship -
![The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy]()
The Cypress Maze by Fiona Valpy
In this haunting tale from the bestselling author of The Storyteller of Casablanca, Beatrice kept a wartime secret to protect the innocent. Now, could telling it set her free?Tuscany, 1943. Stranded in war-ravaged Italy, Beatrice’s dream of an escapist year teaching English is shattered...historical-fiction · fiction · ww2 · historical · war · audiobook · drama · season-summer · grief · journey -
![I Did It For You by Amy Engel]()
I Did It For You by Amy Engel
A twisty thriller from the beloved author of The Familiar Dark, in which a woman returns to the town where her sister was murdered and finds a presumed copycat on the looseIt’s been fourteen years since Greer Dunning’s older sister, Eliza, was murdered, and Greer’s family has never been the same... -
![The Imperfection of Us by Nick Alexander]()
The Imperfection of Us by Nick Alexander
Dawn and Rob were never meant to be together. It’s the summer of 1990 and seventeen-year-old Dawn is infatuated with Billy. He’s cool, in a band and the opposite of her other besotted gentle electrician Rob. But then Billy disappears, and Rob is still around. He's there when Dawn falls pregnant and he’s there for the sleepless nights...romance · marriage · contemporary · womens-fiction · family · fiction · humor · breakup · domestic-drama · female-mc -
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![Penance by Eliza Clark]()
Penance by Eliza Clark
One of Granta's Best Young British Novelists 2023From the author of the cult hit Boy Parts comes a chilling, brilliantly told story of murder among a group of teenage girls—a powerful and disturbing novel as piercing in its portrait of young women as Emma Cline’s The Girls...fiction · mystery · contemporary · crime · literary-fiction · horror · audiobook · thriller · true-crime · lgbtq -
![How Can I Help You by Laura Sims]()
How Can I Help You by Laura Sims
A razor-sharp suspense about two local librarians whose lives become dangerously intertwined. No one knows Margo’s real name. Her colleagues and patrons at a small town public library only know her middle-aged normalcy, congeniality, and charm. They have no reason to suspect that she is, in fact, a former nurse with a trail of countless premature deaths in her wake...fiction · suspense · audiobook · contemporary · thriller · horror · crime · psychological · killer · dark -
![Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein]()
Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein
A haunting, compressed masterwork from an extraordinary new voice in Canadian fiction.A young woman moves from the place of her birth to the remote northern country of her forebears to be housekeeper to her brother, whose wife has recently left him...north-america · canada · fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · audiobook · 21st-century · female-author · horror · psychological -
![The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt]()
The Librarianist by Patrick deWitt
From bestselling and award-winning author Patrick deWitt comes the story of Bob Comet, a man who has lived his life through and for literature, unaware that his own experience is a poignant and affecting narrative in itself. Bob Comet is a retired librarian passing his solitary days surrounded by books and small comforts in a mint-colored house in Portland, Oregon...fiction · historical-fiction · contemporary · literary-fiction · humor · audiobook · friendship · satire · book · adult -
![Somebody's Fool by Richard Russo]()
Somebody's Fool by Richard Russo
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Empire Falls returns to North Bath, in upstate New York, and to the characters that captured the hearts and imaginations of millions of readers in his beloved best sellers Nobody's Fool and Everybody's Fool... -
![Kala by Colin Walsh]()
Kala by Colin Walsh
A gripping literary page-turner from a rising Irish talent in which former friends, estranged for twenty years, reckon with the terrifying events of the summer that changed their lives.In the seaside village of Kinlough, on Ireland’s west coast, three old friends meet for the first time in years...europe · british-isles · ireland · mystery · fiction · crime · literary-fiction · audiobook · suspense · contemporary -
![The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi]()
The Centre by Ayesha Manazir Siddiqi
A darkly comic, boundary-pushing debut following an adrift Pakistani translator in London who attends a mysterious language school which boasts complete fluency in just ten days, but at a secret, sinister cost...fiction · mystery · horror · contemporary · sci-fi · literary-fiction · audiobook · dark-academia · lgbtq · suspense -
![Counting Lost Stars by Kim van Alkemade]()
Counting Lost Stars by Kim van Alkemade
New York Times bestselling author of Orphan #8, Kim van Alkemade returns with a gripping and poignant historical saga in which an unmarried college student who's given up her baby for adoption helps a Dutch Holocaust survivor search for his lost mother...fiction · historical-fiction · historical · female-mc · lgbtq · ww2 · literary-fiction · 20th-century · book · adult -
![Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly]()
Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly
"Pete and Alice in Maine is a tender, big-hearted, clear-eyed portrait of a marriage, and a family, in crisis—set during the plague years when the entire world was in crisis. As she investigates the insidious effect of lies, betrayal, fear, and anger, not to mention the mundane joys and wrenching heartaches of everyday life, Caitlin Shetterly gets to the heart of what it means to be a family...north-america · usa · maine · urban · new-york-state · fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · audiobook · family -
![Goodbye Earl by Leesa Cross-Smith]()
Goodbye Earl by Leesa Cross-Smith
Four women take fate into their own hands in this big-hearted story of friendship, resilience, and revenge on monstrous men, from the award-winning author of Half-Blown Rose.Taking inspiration from the infamous, empowering song, Goodbye Earl follows four best friends through two unforgettable summers, fifteen years apart...fiction · contemporary · womens-fiction · suspense · audiobook · thriller · friendship · literary-fiction · abuse · found-family -
![Love Me Do by Lindsey Kelk]()
Love Me Do by Lindsey Kelk
She may have given up on love – but she can still play Cupid for somebody else . . .Lovelorn Brit Phoebe Chapman has barely set foot in her sister’s house in the Hollywood Hills when she’s swept up by lovable Bel, her sister’s personal trainer, and handsome Ren, the sweet and sensitive carpenter next door.Bel has a head-over-heels crush on Ren but Ren has no idea Bel even exists...romance · contemporary · womens-fiction · friends-to-lovers · mystery · fiction · love-triangle · insta-love · new-adult · family -
![Stealing the Show by Lucy Lennox]()
Stealing the Show by Lucy Lennox
The kiss is different every night.When the curtain goes up, the silent war between Jem and Dawson ends just long enough for their characters to wow the audience with a passionate embrace. As soon as they take their bows, the two Broadway actors go their separate ways. But one night, everything changes.The audience catches wind of the chemistry between them and the crowds go wild...romance · mlm · contemporary · lgbtq · enemies-to-lovers · audiobook · workplace · found-family · family · forced-proximity -
![The Stolen Coast by Dwyer Murphy]()
The Stolen Coast by Dwyer Murphy
Adrift in a sleepy coastal Massachusetts town, a man who ferries fugitives by day gets twisted up in a plot to pilfer diamonds in this Casablanca-infused heist novel.Jack might be a polished, Harvard-educated lawyer on paper, but everyone in the down-at-the-heels, if picturesque, village of Onset, Massachusetts, knows his real job: moving people on the run from powerful enemies...fiction · mystery · crime · audiobook · contemporary · noir · thriller · suspense · literary-fiction · family -
![The Little Village of Book Lovers by Nina George]()
The Little Village of Book Lovers by Nina George
A young woman with the extraordinary power to bring soulmates together searches for her own true love in this tender, lyrical standalone novel inspired by the “bona fide international hit” ( The New York Times Book Review ) The Little Paris BookshopIn Nina George’s New York Times bestseller The Little Paris Bookshop, beloved literary apothecary Jean Perdu is inspired to create a floating... -
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![The Militia House by John Milas]()
The Militia House by John Milas
Stephen King meets Tim O’Brien in John Milas’s The Militia House, a spine-tingling and boldly original gothic horror novel.It’s 2010, and the recently promoted Corporal Loyette and his unit are finishing up their deployment at a new base in Kajaki, Afghanistan...horror · fiction · mystery · war · contemporary · military · audiobook · haunted-places · suspense · gothic -
![One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris]()
One Summer in Savannah by Terah Shelton Harris
A compelling debut that glows with bittersweet heart and touching emotion, deeply interrogating questions of family, redemption, and unconditional love in the sweltering summer heat of Savannah, as two people discover what it means to truly forgive.It's been eight years since Sara Lancaster left her home in Savannah, Georgia...romance · fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · audiobook · drama · season-summer · family · poc-mc · womens-fiction -
![Under the Radar by Melanie Moreland]()
Under the Radar by Melanie Moreland
When two new roommates discover their mutual crush, New York Times bestselling author Melanie Moreland takes us on a journey of falling in love.One of the Donner boys. Troublemakers.That was the reputation that followed Chase his whole life. Until he grew up and realized he could do better. Be better.But that choice cost him. His freedom, his family, his chance at love...romance · contemporary · humor · small-town · friends-to-lovers · found-family · multi-pov · forced-proximity · kind-mc · suspense -
![The Beast You Are: Stories by Paul Tremblay]()
The Beast You Are: Stories by Paul Tremblay
A haunting collection of short fiction from the bestselling author of The Pallbearers Club, A Head Full of Ghosts, and The Cabin at the End of the World.Paul Tremblay has won widespread acclaim for illuminating the dark horrors of the mind in novels and stories that push the boundaries of storytelling itself...horror · fiction · anthologies · literary-fiction · fantasy · suspense · gothic · sci-fi · magical-realism · supernatural -
![With a Kiss We Die by L.R. Dorn]()
With a Kiss We Die by L.R. Dorn
Two college lovers suspected of a brutal double homicide enlist a podcasting crime journalist to proclaim their innocence in this psychologically riveting and compulsively readable novel of love, lies, and murder.I'm Ryanna Raines. And welcome to "The Raines Report".Ryanna Raines is the host of a popular true-crime podcast...mystery · audiobook · fiction · contemporary · suspense · crime · thriller · dark-academia · murder · psychological -
![Begin Again by Helly Acton]()
Begin Again by Helly Acton
The Good Place meets Sliding Doors , Begin Again is an uplifting novel about life's what if's, missed chances and new beginnings.Despite living firmly in her comfort zone, Frankie McKenzie feels unsettled. She can't help feeling something's missing...romance · contemporary · audiobook · fiction · sci-fi · humor · coming-of-age · friendship · family · literary-fiction -
![Someone Who Isn’t Me by Geoff Rickly]()
Someone Who Isn’t Me by Geoff Rickly
Geoff Rickly’s debut novel Someone Who Isn’t Me is a feverish journey through the psyche of someone who no longer recognizes himself. When Geoff hears that a drug called ibogaine might be able to save him from his heroin addiction, he goes to a clinic in Mexico to confront the darkest and most destructive versions of himself...fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · substance-abuse · mental-illness · dark · psychological · lgbtq · retellings · book -
![Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclare]()
Sugar, Baby by Celine Saintclare
In the vein of Luster and Queenie, an unflinching portrayal of high-paid sex work in the age of the internet-an intoxicating, bold debut from a dazzling new voice. Sugar, Baby follows Agnes, a mixed-race 21-year-old whose life seems to be heading nowhere...europe · british-isles · united-kingdom · england · urban · romance · fiction · contemporary · literary-fiction · drama -
![Triple Trouble by Jesse H. Reign]()
Triple Trouble by Jesse H. Reign
Two dude-bros, one beautiful femme boy, and a game of gay chicken that goes badly awry…It’s fair to say my best friend Mat and I are looking for trouble when we head out for a wild night on the town, and boy, do we find it. We find it in the form of Trouble, a guy with long, silky black hair, doe eyes, and thick, fleshy lips...romance · mlm · polyamory · contemporary · lgbtq · friends-to-lovers · steamy · new-adult · slow-burn · obsession -
![How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long]()
How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long
"I am in awe of her talent."— Julia Quinn In USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long’s thrilling new romance in the Palace of Rogues series, an infamous privateer’s limits are put to the test when he’s trapped during a raging tempest with a prickly female at the Grand Palace on the Thames. He clawed his way up from the gutters of St. Giles to the top of a shadowy empire...romance · historical · historical-fiction · industrial-era · regency · outlaws · fiction · fake-relationship · forced-proximity · wlw -
![Silver Fox's Secret Baby by Callie Stevens]()
Silver Fox's Secret Baby by Callie Stevens
He’s everything I should be avoiding.But how did I end up pregnant with his baby?Grant Neville is my father’s best friend.The person he trusts the most in the world.Forbidden territory personified.I know it is wrong on so many levels, but I can’t seem to get enough of his presence..romance · age-gap · billionaire · contemporary · audiobook · steamy · literary-fiction · fiction · book · adult -
![Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter]()
Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
A year into her dream job at a cutthroat Silicon Valley startup, Cassie finds herself trapped in a corporate nightmare. In addition to the long hours, toxic bosses, and unethical projects, she struggles to reconcile the glittering promise of a city where obscene wealth lives alongside abject poverty...fiction · contemporary · literary-fiction · sci-fi · dystopia · fantasy · womens-fiction · season-summer · drama · magical-realism -
![Someone Just Like You by Meredith Schorr]()
Someone Just Like You by Meredith Schorr
Two childhood rivals are forced to work together to plan their parents’ anniversary party in “this pitch-perfect enemies-to-lovers rom-com.” ( BookPage)New Yorker Molly Blum knows everything about her lifelong nemesis, Jude Stark. With their families so close, they should have been best friends. Instead, she thinks he’s a too-charming slacker, and he thinks she’s allergic to fun...urban · new-york-state · romance · contemporary · fiction · womens-fiction · audiobook · family · enemies-to-lovers · forced-proximity -
![En Garde by M.J. Duncan]()
En Garde by M.J. Duncan
After seven years as Nina Devereaux’s executive assistant, Serena Bowers is finally getting her shot at her producing shows for The Royal Ballet. The problem is her promotion depends entirely on the success of Illyria , Nina’s latest original ballet, and that means working closely with the Honorable Rowan Alexander—Olympic fencer and Serena’s arch-nemesis from University... -
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![A Good House for Children by Kate Collins]()
A Good House for Children by Kate Collins
Once upon a time Orla was: a woman, a painter, a lover. Now she is a mother and a wife, and when her husband Nick suggests that their city apartment has grown too small for their lives, she agrees, in part because she does agree, and in part because she is too tired to think about what she really does want...horror · gothic · fiction · mystery · historical-fiction · suspense · historical · spooky · haunted-places · paranormal -
![Excavations by Hannah Michell]()
Excavations by Hannah Michell
A former journalist turned stay-at-home mother ventures into the dark underbelly of Seoul, South Korea, to find her missing husband and protect her children in this gripping, page-turning exploration of the lengths one will go to unveil hard truths.At home in Seoul, former journalist Sae is waiting with two clingy toddlers for her husband to come home from work. He has never been this late before...asia · east-asia · south-korea · urban · fiction · mystery · historical-fiction · historical · crime · audiobook -
![In Defence of the Act by Effie Black]()
In Defence of the Act by Effie Black
Are we more like a coffee bean, a carrot or an egg? What happens to us when we are boiled in the trials and tribulations of life?Jessica Miller is fascinated by the somewhat perplexing tendency of humans to end their own lives, but she secretly believes such acts may not be that bad after all. Or at least, she did...fiction · contemporary · literary-fiction · mental-illness · lgbtq · humor · death · female-author · 21st-century · wlw -
![Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch]()
Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch
A glittering debut novel set in the golden age of Hollywood, following a former actress whose new career in gossip journalism grants her more power on the page than she ever commanded in front of the camera.As character actress Edie O'Dare finishes the final year of her contract with FWM Studios, the clock is ticking for her to find a new gig after an undistinguished stint in the pictures...historical-fiction · fiction · historical · lgbtq · literary-fiction · audiobook · womens-fiction · mystery · season-summer · female-mc -
![Hollow Veins by J. Rose]()
Hollow Veins by J. Rose
All I ever wanted was the chance to live. From the moment I left my cage, I’ve fought for every single breath. But my new life came at a cost.The rapture approaches. Hysteria is taking over the country.Michael Abaddon stole everything from me. My freedom. My sanity. My soul. As his reign of terror escalates, the time has come to take my life back.He wants to burn us all...romance · reverse-harem · contemporary · dark · mental-illness · mystery · new-adult · crime · serial-killers · found-family -
classics · literary-fiction · human-nature · historical · romantic-love · historical-fiction · fiction · book · literary · adult
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![Caught by the Kingpin by Evie Rose]()
Caught by the Kingpin by Evie Rose
Kidnapper. Stalker. Mafia boss. Guardian angel? I awake to the sound of gunshots. Then a hand over my mouth. In a blur of noise and smoke, he steals me away. At his mansion, he treats me like a princess, for all I’m a girl in cherry patterned pajamas. The mafia boss growls that I’m safe and he won’t touch me, but warns I shouldn’t try his patience by attempting to escape...romance · abuse · organized-crime · age-gap · stalking · billionaire · forced-proximity · dark · steamy · insta-love
