There’s

There’s
a back-to-school vibe that demands a new book haul each

autumn, and certainly nothing welcomes the changing seasons
like cosying up with a good cuppa and a great title. 2019’s
literary harvest includes Margaret Atwood’s long-awaited sequel to
The Handmaid’s Tale and the thought-provoking story behind #MeToo.
Treat yo’shelves.

Cosy up with these new titles this autumn

The Man Who Saw Everything by
Deborah Levy

Shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize, Levy’s seventh novel
is narrated by Saul Adler, who is knocked down on Abbey Road’s
zebra crossing (twice) and foresees the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Set in a world of cameras and surveillance, this is a book about
seeing, about being seen, and about what we fail to see both in
ourselves and others.

Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

What is the difference between fact and fiction? This modern
pastiche of Don Quixote follows television-obsessed salesman
Quichotte and his (imaginary) son as they travel across the US in
pursuit of love. Quichotte is, however, the fictive creation of spy
novelist Sam DuChamp, who’s in the throes of a midlife crisis.

Dominicana by Angie Cruz

It’s 1965 and Dominican teenager Ana Cancion has just married a
man twice her age and moved to Washington Heights. As Ana wrestles
between her new life and her duties to her family back home, this
book considers how immigration shapes lives.

Whose Story is This? Old Conflicts,
New Chapters by Rebecca Solnit

We are “moving on to a future with more people, more voices and
more possibilities” concludes Solnit in this provocative social
commentary. Surveying our fragmented world, she assesses the
stories of those – women, people of colour, queer people – who are
making themselves heard, and why their counter-narrative
matters.

She Said: Breaking the Sexual
Harassment Story that Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and
Megan Twohey

The tale behind #MeToo is one of power. In this anticipated
book, the Pulitzer-winning reporters who broke the Weinstein story
share an insider account of their investigative practices and the
genesis of the global movement against sexual harassment.

The Testaments by Margaret
Atwood

Picking up 15 years after Offred was whisked away in a van, The
Testaments continues the tale of totalitarian Gilead, the
too-close-for-comfort world which Atwood first introduced in her
1985 dystopia, The Handmaid’s Tale. Praise be.

Red at the Bone by Jaqueline
Woodson

Tracing the impact of an unplanned teenage pregnancy on three
generations of an African American family in Brooklyn, this slim
tome moves through time, exploring the forces – class, education,
ambition, race, desire, family – that divide and define us.

On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a
Green New Deal by Naomi Klein

In this call to arms against the climate crisis, Klein reports
from the front lines of natural and man-made disasters across the
world and makes a critical case for the rising political movement
that demands a global Green New Deal.

Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self
Love by Jonathan Van Ness

Our favourite member of the Fab Five (apologies Tan) has written
a book. Granted this title may not be shortlisted for the Booker
Prize, but between hard-hitting reads Van Ness’s inspiring journey
towards self-acceptance and positivity is something guaranteed to
brighten up even the gloomiest of autumn days.

The Year of the Monkey by Patti
Smith

From one queen to another, this meditation on ageing, loss,
politics and the American dream is the latest memoir from rock icon
Patti Smith. Fusing fact and fiction, Smith’s outward solo journey
becomes a poetic search for meaning in times of turbulence.

The Body: A Guide for Occupants by
Bill Bryson

After decades of globetrotting, Bill Bryson is turning his
attention inwards. Bursting with extraordinary facts (did you know
1,458 types of bacteria “unknown to science” have been found in our
belly buttons?), this eye-opening exploration of the body leaves us
in awe at the miracle of human life.

Grand Union by Zadie Smith

This collection of witty yet perceptive stories – some new, some
previously published – run the gamut in terms of genre and topic,
featuring historic, contemporary and dystopian tales. Through them,
Smith ruminates on ideas of identity, inheritance, politics,
rebirth and more.

Find Me by André Aciman

Does true love ever die? This sequel to Call Me By Your Name
continues the tale of Elio and Oliver, picking up decades after
they first met in Italy. Readers also join Sami, Elio’s father, for
whom a chance encounter on a train leads to a life-changing sexual
awakening.

The Topeka School by Ben
Lerner

Diving deep into Midwest America’s culture of toxic masculinity
at the turn of the 21st century, this novel asks: how can you raise
a good son? Following high-school senior Adam Gordon who befriends
loner Darren Eberheart, this narrative weaves together tales of
adolescence, transgression and the conditions that have given rise
to the New Right.