Heller McAlpin

Anne Tyler's latest novel — about a man who discovers that his calm, routine life may not be the one he really wants — is a balm for jangled nerves.

Kate Elizabeth Russell's new novel centers on a woman coming to terms with a relationship she had with a predatory teacher when she was 15. It's overworked and overlong, but still packs a punch.

Lily King's latest novel — about a young woman choosing between two loves while trying to live a creative life — proves literature doesn't have to be groundbreaking to be absolutely compelling.

Katie Roiphe's journal-like entries are a series of brief-but-potent meditations on women, autonomy, independence, and power — on "women strong in public, weak in private" — including herself.

Teddy Wayne's new novel is a portrait of loneliness and male insecurity set against the backdrop of academia in the mid-1990s — and a precious, rent-stabilized apartment in Manhattan.

In his latest book, Julian Barnes dives into the glittering life of Samuel Jean Pozzi, a celebrated French gynecologist who palled around with some of the brightest stars of the Belle Epoque.

Jenny Offill's darkly funny, urgent new novel follows a librarian who gets involved in doomsday prepping. It's a perfect portrait of our age of rising anxiety over climate change and

If the chances of dying in a plane crash are slim, being the sole survivor is even less likely — but that's the premise for two new novels, Ann Napolitano's Dear Edward and Rye Curtis's Kingdomtide.

Miranda Popkey's novel tackles the complicated issues of female desire, sex and failed relationships through a troubled, unnamed narrator who reports on her conversations with a series of other women.

Wilson's new novel centers on a young woman taking care of two kids with a disturbing ability: When upset, they burst into flames. But in Wilson's hands, what could be scary is funny, even beautiful.

In her new novel, Jami Attenberg dives deep into the dark heart of one family over the course of one long day, as their abusive, angry patriarch lies dying in the hospital after a heart attack.

Known for the punch of her columns, The New York Times' Gail Collins sprinkles conversational, sardonic asides throughout No Stopping Us Now in an effort to keep the decades-long hike spry.

Ten years after her Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout returns to the town of Crosby, Maine, where ornery Olive is learning about compassion, connection, and her own self.

Deborah Levy's new book considers themes of objectification, betrayal and focus, centered on a historian who goes to East Berlin and finds himself both the observer and the observed.

Smith's first short story collection is wide-ranging, covering everything from politics to murder to drag queens. Some of the slighter stories feel like footnotes, but many show off Smith at her best.

With her new essay collection, Jamison reverses the arc of The Empathy Exams by moving from the external to the internal, from others' longings and hauntings to her own.

Patchett's new novel is a story of paradise lost, dusted with fairy tale. It follows two siblings who bond after their mother leaves the family home — an ornate mansion she always hated.

In her first essay collection, Rachel Cusk writes like someone who has been burned and has reacted not with self-censorship but with a doubling-down on clarity.

Jacqueline Woodson's exquisitely wrought new novel follows two black families of different classes whose lives become intertwined when their only children conceive a child together in their teens.

Cathleen Schine's new novel follows redheaded twin sisters whose obsessive love of language brings them close as children — and begins to drive them apart as increasingly competitive adults.