12 stars are hitting shelves this fall
Some of the biggest names in publishing — and biggest names, period — will hit bookstores in the coming weeks. Fall is always a jam-packed season, especially for titles from our leading literary lights, but the next few months present so many superstars that this list of 12 didn’t have room for bestselling writers such as Alexander McCall Smith and Richard Osman, who have new entries in their beloved mystery series (due Oct. 31 and Sept. 19, respectively).
Here are the even dozen who made the cut, in order of publication. It all ends with the door-stopper that’s destined to cause some pulled muscles.
Stephen King: “Holly”
With “Holly,” the horrormeister revisits the empath who starred in his “The Outsider” (as well as the HBO Max series of the same name, where Holly Gibney was played by Cynthia Erivo). Now the proprietor of a detective agency, she’s called in on a missing persons case that, like “The Outsider,” has an uncanny dimension. This time that dimension lives in the home of a seemingly kind elderly couple. Tuesday.
Zadie Smith: “The Fraud”
The English writer has produced one international bestseller after another since her 1997 debut, “White Teeth.” Her latest is her first historical novel, set in the 1870s. Its narrator is Eliza, a housekeeper who becomes fascinated with a (true) court case in which, despite considerable evidence to the contrary, a man claimed to be the missing heir to a fortune and title. His unlikely assertion was supported by the claimant’s companion, an enslaved man whom Eliza befriends and who exerts a powerful pull on “The Fraud.” Tuesday.
Maria Bamford:
“Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult”
The comedian and Minnesota native’s “Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult” is subtitled “A Memoir of Mental Illness and the Quest to Belong Anywhere.” Bamford has been vocal about her bipolar disorder and in “Cult,” she details the many, many groups she has joined (Overeaters Anonymous, Suzuki violin) in an attempt to figure out where she fits in. Tuesday.
Lauren Groff:
“The Vaster Wilds”
As freelancers reached out to the Star Tribune about the possibility of reviewing fall books, two titles were requested by virtually all of them: “The Fraud” and “The Vaster Wilds” from Groff, whose “Fates and Furies” — a marital portrait as thriller — was a huge hit. Here, she crafts an adventure tale, set in America’s Colonial years, about a servant woman on the run. It’s like “Robinson Crusoe” but with more worm-eating. Sept. 12.
Kerry Washington: “Thicker Than Water”
If Barbra Streisand weren’t finally unleashing her life story, Washington’s “Thicker Than Water” would be the biggest Hollywood name on bookstore shelves. Instead, the “Scandal” star will settle for second as she spills the beans on that show, sexism/ racism in Hollywood, activism and her marriage to NFL star Nnamdi Asomugha in this tell-all (or at least -some). Sept. 26.
Kate DiCamillo: “Puppets”
Jonesing for some new DiCamillo? She published a picture book last Christmas, but it’s been two years since her last novel, “The Beatryce Prophecy.” She’s been busy. “Puppets,” the first in a planned trilogy of illustrated fairy tales, hits stores Oct. 10 and next spring brings two more from the two-time Newbery Award winner, a middle-grade novel called “Ferris” and the first in a new chapter book series.
Jhumpa Lahiri: “Roman Stories”
With “Roman Stories,” the Pulitzer Prize winner returns to the format that earned her that award for “Interpreter of Maladies”: short stories. Inspired by her move to Rome and efforts to learn Italian, “Roman Stories” comes with an unusual flex: The U.K. native wrote the stories in Italian and then translated them, with the help of Todd Portnowitz, into English. Oct. 10.
John Grisham: “The Exchange”
How many times would you guess the author of “The Firm” has been asked to write a sequel to that blockbuster debut? A zillion? Well, it’s finally here. Lawyer Mitch McDeere, who fled the country after exposing crooks he worked with in “The Firm,” is back to lawyering in “The Exchange,” set 15 years later. And back to sticking his nose in business that may again force him to escape to somewhere remote. Oct. 17.
Sly Stone: “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)”
The other octogenarian with a career-spanning autobiography coming out in the next few months is the veteran rocker, whose book is named for one of his most popular songs with the Family Stone: “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin).” Back in the spotlight because of his electrifying appearance in the Oscar-winning “Summer of Soul” (whose director, Questlove, is publishing the book), Stone writes about success but also the many decades in which he has faded from public view.
Oct. 17.
Patty Wetterling:
“Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope”
Writing with Joy Baker, the blogger whom Wetterling credits with helping solve the murder in 1989 of her son Jacob, Wetterling offers behind-the-scenes details of the Minnesota case. But “Dear Jacob: A Mother’s Journey of Hope” is also about Wetterling’s efforts to help grieving parents and improve techniques used to investigate sex offenders. Oct. 17.
Michael Connelly: “Resurrection Walk”
“Lincoln lawyer” Mickey Haller and his half-brother, regular Connelly detective Harry Bosch, team up to spring a woman who’s in prison for the murder of her husband, a sheriff ’s deputy. She says she didn’t do it and, as Haller and Bosch bump into roadblock after roadblock during their investigation in “Resurrection Walk,” they search for the real killer. Nov. 7.
Barbra Streisand: “My Name is Barbra”
The “Funny Girl’s” memoir, “My Name Is Barbra,” is big in every way you can think of. Its press run is 1 million copies, a huge number at a time when only a few books each year sell that many. It’s 1,040 pages. And it’s priced at $47, gargantuan even considering inflation. The octogenarian EGOT, who said she’s been jotting down notes since 2009, officially announced her autobiography in
2015. It was supposed to be published two years later, but people who need people to tell us the stories of their lives will finally get Streisand’s when “My Name” hits stores Nov. 7.