Former New Yorker staff writer and investigative journalist Becky Cooper’s true crime debut, WE KEEP THE DEAD CLOSE, earned a pair of glowing reviews this week. In a starred review, Kirkus calls the book “[a]n intricately crafted and suspenseful book sure to please any fan of true crime—and plenty of readers beyond.” Meanwhile, Booklist notes: “In her work of excavation, Cooper seeks ideas of power and truth, and the outer limits of our human desire to be present, somehow, in the past.” Grand Central Publishing will publish the book on November 10, 2020.

Former Buzzfeed culture reporter Anne Helen Petersen’s new book, CAN’T EVEN, published on Tuesday to a wealth of praise. The Atlantic writes: “Over the course of CAN’T EVEN, Petersen convincingly draws a line from society-level economic shifts that took place decades ago to how overwhelmed—by work, by debt, by everyday life—many 20- and 30-somethings feel today.” The book also received great attention from NPR, Salon, BuzzFeed, and The Wall Street Journal. HMH published the book on September 22, 2020.

THE OLD DRIFT by Namwali Serpell is the 34th winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award. This annual award is given to the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. Hogarth published the book on March 26, 2019.

STRANGE RITES by Tara Isabella Burton received a positive review from Reason. Liz Wolfe calls it “a rich book, one that gave me insight not just into my society but into myself.” PublicAffairs published the book on June 16, 2020.

Publishers Weekly praised FREEDOM FROM THE MARKET by Mike Konczal as “persuasive and methodical,” adding that “[w]ith carefully selected examples and lucid prose, Konczal makes a convincing case that the American project has long depended on rigorous regulation of capitalism. Progressive voters and policy makers will find plenty of ammunition for their arguments in this cogent history.” The New Press will publish the book on January 12, 2021.

Booklist calls Daniel Hornsby’s VIA NEGATIVA “a beautifully crafted story of a man reflecting on his life and his moments of inaction . . . a striking debut that forces readers to consider what holds us back from action.” Sam Sacks of the Wall Street Journal praised the novel’s “stripped-back, sturdy prose” and how “subtly and movingly, the novel teases out the relationship between loneliness and godliness.” The book was also highlighted in The New York Times’ New and Noteworthy as “a promising, energetic debut,” and in The New Yorker’s Briefly Noted, which praised it as a “novel of troubled faith and unlikely connection.” Knopf published the book on August 11, 2020.

IN WEST MILLS has won an American Book Award. The award was created to recognize extraordinary literary achievement from the entire spectrum of America’s diverse literary community. The book was also announced as a finalist for the Willie Morris Awards for Southern Writing 2019 fiction shortlist. Bloomsbury Publishing published the book June 16, 2020.

Gabriella Burnham’s debut novel IT IS WOOD, IT IS STONE, set in the glittering city of São Paulo, received banner treatment in the Goodreads newsletter this week for Hispanic Heritage Month. Along with fellow J&N author Michael Zapata’s THE LOST BOOK OF ADANA MOREAU, it was one of three books headlining the site’s recommendations of 52 new titles to read by Hispanic and Latinx authors. One World published the novel on July 28, 2020.

Arvin Ahmadi’s HOW IT ALL BLEW UP, a YA contemporary novel about a gay, Muslim Iranian-American teen who runs away to Rome to escape coming out to his family, has received a starred review from School Library Journal. They hails the novel as a “fast-paced coming out/coming-of-age/coming home story” and a “funny and propulsive read, nuanced and full of heart.” Viking Books for Young Readers will publish the book on September 22, 2020.

ALICE’S FARM by Maryrose Wood has charmed reviewers for Booklist, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. Drawing favorable comparisons to CHARLOTTE’S WEB, SLJ warmly endorsed the novel’s “quirky characters [and] whimsical adventures.” Booklist praises its "exhibitions of uncommon courage, loyalty, humor, and tolerance―not to mention extreme cuteness,” PW calls it a “resonant cross-species saga of perseverance, loyalty, and magnanimous friendship,” and Kirkus writes: “these characters – animal and human, predator and prey – are lovingly observed . . . Stoutly non-speciesist, this is an effervescent delight.” Feiwel & Friends published the book on September 1, 2020.