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The 20 Best Books of Fall 2023

Including the most-anticipated reads we think your book club will love.

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best fall books

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It's officially time to swap our best beach reads for a great new book to usher in the fall season. And have we got fabulous news for TBR lists everywhere: there's a bumper crop of 2023 fall books for every taste and reading style. You'll see some familiar names on our list — Jesmyn Ward and Mona Awad both have stellar reads headed your way — as well as some rising star debut authors who just might quickly become your new favorites.

If the book you're just dying to read isn't out yet, hit that preorder button and pat yourself on the back! Ordering books before their release date gets them noticed for reviews and award consideration, not to mention give future you something to look forward to.

Whether you're in the mood for a spine-tingling psychological thriller, a romance novel to get you in the mood for some adult fun, dystopian fiction that will make you laugh out loud or a historical book to take you back in time, our list of the best fall books for 2023 has something for everyone. And don't forget to add the GH Book Club picks to your cart, for some amazing feel-good reads.

1
Release Date: August 2023

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel by James McBride

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The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: A Novel by James McBride

On Chicken Hill, the Black and immigrant Jewish residents live side-by-side on the margins of white society. You'll feel like you're living among them for a while as a yarn unspools about their secrets and sorrows, traditions and trials, and then there's the skeleton in the well. It's a tale that takes awhile to come to its conclusion, but the payoff is more than worth the wait.

2
Release Date: August 2023

Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

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Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo

Flor can predict the day someone is going to die, so when she plans a living wake for herself, her sisters are suspicious. She won't tell them what's up, but Matilde, Pastora and Camila have their secrets too. This novel takes us through the rich history and frenetic present of the Marte family and between Santo Domingo and New York City, culminating in a celebration of community, sisterhood and love that will have you wiping away happy tears.

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3
Release Date: August 2023

Pulling the Chariot of the Sun by Shane McCrae

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Pulling the Chariot of the Sun by Shane McCrae
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When Shane is kidnapped from his Black father at 3 by his white supremacist grandparents, they weave a deception that changes his entire trajectory. But over time, Shane begins to piece together his memories toward the truth, and find the father who can help him realize who he really is. This is a singular story that's also a universal truth in our country, told in beautifully poetic prose.

RELATED: Must-Read Books by Black Authors

4
Release Date: September 2023

Rouge: A Novel by Mona Awad

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Rouge: A Novel by Mona Awad

When skincare-obsessed Bella returns to SoCal to deal with her late mother's estate and the staggering debt she left behind, a cryptic invite to a life-changing spa treatment awaits her. But this is no ordinary facial, and no one could foresee the dizzying descent into the darker side of the mirror that comes next. This commentary on beauty, envy and grief feels like a Grimm Brothers fairy tale for the modern age.

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5
Release Date: September 2023

Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine

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Dearborn by Ghassan Zeineddine

In funny, poignant and sometimes heartbreaking stories, we meet a group of Dearborn, Michigan residents just trying to live their lives. That might mean trying to hide money from the IRS in frozen chickens, ogling a new speedo-wearing guy at the community pool, and coming to grips with sexuality, dreams deferred and the realities of creating a home far from the one you're still mourning. It's fresh, exciting, and as American as it gets.

6
Release Date: September 2023

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

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Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

Vesper fled her insular religious community at 18 and has vowed to never return. But then she gets an invitation to the wedding of her cousin and former best friend. She can't resist returning to the viper's nest, and the result is nothing like what you'd expect. This delightfully dark horror novel flips the fundamentalist trope on its head, to hilariously clever effect.

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7
Release Date: October 2023

Death Valley: A Novel by Melissa Broder

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Death Valley: A Novel by Melissa Broder

Grab a tall glass of water before cracking open this surreal, darkly funny novel about a woman who gets lost in the desert looking for a towering cactus that has an annoying habit of appearing and disappearing, and may be a portal, an oracle or something equally impossible as a saguaro in California. You'll find yourself mesmerized by the story as much as the deeper lessons beneath it.

8
Release Date: October 2023

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young

The Farrow women are known for their farm's remarkable flowers, as well as the curse that makes them all go mad. June has grown up under this shadow her whole life, so when she starts seeing things that aren't there, she fears it's come for her at last. But after her grandmother's death, she walks through a door that she once assumed was an illusion — and into a world of possibilities for the past as well as the future. Come for the fresh twist on time travel, stay for the star-crossed love story.

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9
Release Date: October 2023

Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender

Stars in Your Eyes by Kacen Callender

Mattie Cole is America's newest sweetheart who's struggling to find his way in Hollywood. Logan Gray is the bad boy everyone loves to hate, especially online. When they're cast to star opposite each other in a new rom-com, the production's success rests on the two of them selling their chemistry as convincing, especially after Logan publicly slams Mattie's talent. This is a will-they, won't-they like you've never read before.

RELATED: 24 Best Romance Novels of All Time to Get You in the Mood

10
Release Date: October 2023

Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward

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Let Us Descend by Jesmyn Ward
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After Annis is sold by the enslaver who fathered her, she begins a harrowing journey from his Carolina estate, through the slave markets of New Orleans and to a sugar plantation in Louisiana. The memory of her beloved mother, lost lover and stories of her African warrior ancestors bear her up and she meets spirits who comfort and cajole her battered will. This is a luminous masterwork from one of our best living writers, and it's not to be missed.

RELATED: Best Historical Fiction Books to Take You Back in Time

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11
Release Date: October 2023

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

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The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

This memoir from one of the biggest pop stars of all time really needs no introduction. Whether you've loved her music for decades, followed her courageous journey into speaking and living as her own woman or are just curious to learn what all the buzz is about, pick up this one STAT.

12
Release Date: October 2023

You Are Kind by Jonathan Abernathy

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You Are Kind by Jonathan Abernathy

Lying awake battling the Sunday Scaries? We guarantee Jonathan Abernathy has it worse. Friendless, hopeless, drowning in debt, he can hardly believe his luck when he gets a job removing unsavory elements from slumbering people's dreams. But soon enough, the lines between reality and sleep begin to blur, ditto that slippery border between right and wrong. This one's perfect for whatever stage of capitalism we're in, and might make your own job feel a little less soul-sucking too.

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13
Release Date: October 2023

America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien

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America Fantastica by Tim O'Brien

If you've never sympathized with a bank robber before, hold onto your hat. This rollicking good time follows the twisting tale of Boyd Harrison, a former journalist-turned disinformation troll-turned JCPenney manager-turned master of revenge (he hopes, anyway). He robs a bank and sets off to settle old scores, taking a talkative teller named Angie with him as a hostage. Along the way, he runs into a cast of colorful characters who turn his escapade into a downright caper. It's a wild ride, but a worthwhile one.

14
Release Date: October 2023

Night Side of the River by Jeanette Winterson

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Night Side of the River by Jeanette Winterson

At the height of spooky season, turn off the lights and immerse yourself in the spine-tingling delights of this frighteningly modern ghost story collection. Blurring the lines between nonfiction and campfire tale, this one imagines what would happen if there really was a ghost in the machine.

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15

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

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The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters

In 1972, a 4-year-old named Ruthie goes missing from near the Maine berry fields where her Indigenous family spends the summer picking. Her brother Joe, the last one to see her, can't shake the feeling of responsibility as her loss echoes through the family for decades. Not far away, a girl named Norma grows up the only child of two affluent but overprotective parents, haunted by dreams that feel a little too real. This dual-narrative book is a heartbreaking tale of family and loss, deathbed regrets and revelations. It's a force as powerful as any of those.

16
Release Date: November 2023

The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez

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The Vulnerables by Sigrid Nunez

Set in an eerily silent Manhattan in the early days of COVID-19, this novel explores what happens when two very different people have to go it together in an uncertain time. An older woman is facing her mortality with not a little sardonic humor, a disaffected young man is searching for belonging and a parrot named Eureka is holding it all together. It's a breath of fresh air for a time when it still sometimes feels like there isn't any.

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17
Release Date: November 2023

Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land

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Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land

You may remember Land from her groundbreaking 2019 memoir Maid, which became a hit Netflix series in 2021. This one picks up where that one left off, detailing Land's struggle to put herself through grad school as a single parent. It's a stark, gut-wrenching examination of food insecurity, class, the predatory student loan system and whose labor we value. It's an infuriating and energizing rallying cry, perfect for this moment in history.

18
Release Date: November 2023

Again and Again by Jonathan Evison

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Again and Again by Jonathan Evison

Nearing the end of his life, Geno is a cranky old man who claims to have lived thousands of years, much of that spent trying to reclaim a love lost all the way back in Medieval Spain. An attendant at his nursing home, Angel, is having his own struggles in love, not to mention a hard time believing Geno's tales. But as their relationship blossoms and we learn more about them both, this story winds its way toward an unexpected and satisfying conclusion

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19
Release Date: November 2023

The Future by Naomi Alderman

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The Future by Naomi Alderman

It's coming for us one way or the other, and nobody can escape — except, of course, billionaires who can literally control the weather. In this all-too-prescient dystopia, two women may hold the keys to the end of the world: A famous survivalist and a former member of a cult whose apocalyptic warnings are starting to come true. This is a novel about money, power and how both corrupt us, or set us free. Clear your schedule; this one's a breathtaking one-sitting read.

20
Release Date: November 2023

The Kingdom of Sweets: A Novel of the Nutcracker by Erika Johansen

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The Kingdom of Sweets: A Novel of the Nutcracker by Erika Johansen

If you watch The Nutcracker every year and say to yourself, "This would make a seriously creepy novel," you're not alone. And now we've got one. Twin sisters Clara and Natasha are cursed to be divided, one the privileged favorite and one cast aside and ignored. That is, until their powerful godfather brings them a magical nutcracker that grants the girls entry into the Kingdom of Sweets. That's where the journey toward their destiny really begins.

Headshot of Lizz Schumer
Lizz Schumer
Senior Editor
Lizz (she/her) is a senior editor at Good Housekeeping, where she runs the GH Book Club, edits essays and long-form features and writes about pets, books and lifestyle topics. A journalist for almost two decades, she is the author of Biography of a Body and Buffalo Steel. She also teaches journalism as an adjunct professor at New York University's School of Professional Studies and creative nonfiction at the Muse Writing Center, and coaches with the New York Writing Room.
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