New Literary Fiction Book Recommendations | October 2021

14 Oct 2021

New Literary Fiction Book Recommendations | October 2021

Looking to add to your literary fiction list this October? Check out these new novels by indie bestselling authors André Costa, T.L. Toma, Joy Sorman, Diane Williams, Mary Elizabeth Pope, and Amitava Kumar. Enjoy your new literary fiction book recommendations!

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The Search For Mukurob

by André Costa

Release Date: September 16, 2021

An uplifting contemporary novel, takes you on a thought-provoking journey deep into the roots of humankind…David Callaghan, a young Catholic priest in a small Irish town, is devastated by the brutal murder of his childhood friend in the hands of extremists and begins to question what went wrong in the human odyssey. This is when he stumbles across an article on the identification of the most ancient humans on Earth – the San people of the Kalahari Desert. To try to discover where it all went so terribly off track, David takes a sabbatical from the priesthood and joins an anthropological mission in Africa. Stuck in the middle of the desert with an eclectic bunch of scientists, murder, and romance intertwine on this unpredictable exploit. The inevitable clash of beliefs ultimately compels the priest and the anthropologists to embark on a philosophical battle, forcing David to profoundly question what it means to stay true to himself.

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Look at Us

by T.L. Toma

Release Date: October 12, 2021

A captivating, trenchant portrait of class and sexual dynamics by T.L. Toma…Martin, a market analyst, and Lily, a corporate attorney, have a life that many would envy—they share an expensive New York apartment with their twin toddlers, sample the delicacies of Manhattan’s finest restaurants, and take Caribbean vacations. But when the couple’s nanny announces her imminent departure, they panic: how will they ever find a replacement capable of managing their spirited boys? Enter Maeve, a young Irish émigré. Neither of them imagines how indispensable she will become, either to the household or to their marriage. As the family’s domestic bliss takes an unexpected turn, a different type of intimacy evolves, leading to an explosive finale.

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Life Sciences

by Joy Sorman

Release Date: October 12, 2021

An inventive coming-of-age novel from acclaimed French novelist Joy Sorman…Embarking on a dizzying and frustrating cycle of doctors, specialists, procedures, needles, scans, and therapists, seventeen-year-old Ninon becomes consumed by her need to receive a diagnosis and find a cure for her ailment. She seeks to break the curse and reclaim her body by any means necessary, through increasing isolation and failed treatment after failed treatment, even as her life falls apart. A provocative and empathic questioning of illness, remedy, transmission, and health, Life Sciences poignantly questions our reliance upon science, despite its limitations, to provide all the answers.

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How High? — That High

by Diane Williams

Release Date: October 12, 2021

Diane Williams, an American master of the short story who will “rewire your brain” (NPR), is back with a mind-bending new collection…Williams delivers visionary insights into what it means to be human in stories as short as one or two pages. Her startling sentences often function like wake-up trumpet blasts, and her latest collection of ultra-short masterworks is a container for the elliptical, the magisterial, the voluptuous, and the profane. Set in cafés and houses, taxicabs and gardens, the stories of Diane Williams, “the godmother of flash fiction” (The Paris Review), deliver moments of extraordinary beauty and wisdom.

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The Gods of Green County

by Mary Elizabeth Pope

Release Date: October 5, 2021

A compelling debut novel by Mary Elizabeth Pope…In 1926 in rural Green County, Arkansas, where cotton and poverty reign, young Coralee Harper hopes for a family and a place in her community, but when her brother Buddy is killed by a powerful sheriff, she can’t recover from his death or the injustice of his loss. When she begins to spot her dead brother around town, she wonders—is she clairvoyant, mistaken, or is she losing her mind?

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A Time Outside This Time

by Amitava Kumar

Release Date: October 5, 2021

A blistering novel about a writer’s creative response to the daily onslaught of fake news, memory, and the ways in which truth gives over to fiction…Mixing Satya’s experiences—as a father, husband, and American immigrant—with newspaper clippings, the president’s tweets, and observations on famous works of art, A Time Outside This Time captures a feverish political moment with intelligence, beauty, and an eye for the uncanny. It is a brilliant interrogation on life in a post-truth era and an attempt to imagine a time outside this one.

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