The Best New Book Releases Out November 12, 2024

This one is so interesting. It disguises itself as a translation of a rediscovered book by a Japanese travel writer. What it really is is an exploration of two women who bond through food and travel, but who ultimately have something holding them back from getting closer. In 1938, young writer Aoyama Chizuko travels from her native Nagasaki to Taiwan after an invite from the Japanese government, which rules the island. She’s not really down for all the imperialist trappings, though, and instead seeks out an authentic island life experience. A younger Taiwanese woman, Chizuro, is hired as her interpreter and guides the novelist through scenic train rides and mouthwatering local dishes. Aoyama is sprung, but something is holding Chizuru back from taking the plunge into something real.

If the title of this YA romance sounds familiar, it’s because it takes a few cues from John Tucker Must Die. Just a few, though, because while there is a John Tucker-level f-boy cheater here (named Zak), the girls he played—ex-besties-turned rivals Meghna Rahman and Rani Choudhury—may find a little more than camaraderie at a big science competition.

Last year, Suzuki’s collection of stories, Hit Parade of Tears, was posthumously published, and now we have the model’s long-awaited debut novel. Set My Heart on Fire follows a young woman named Izumi who makes her way through Tokyo’s underground bar and club scene in her 20s, not unlike Suzuki herself, who worked as a model and actress during the same era. Chapter titles named after songs by The Zombie, The Supremes, and the Rolling Stones, as well as post-war ennui help cement these 13 tender and candid vignettes in the time.

The bestselling author of Boy Parts is back with a collection of stories that have her dark sense of humor…with a little body horror thrown in for good measure. Clark takes us from California to an incel-occupied IT department, to an unexplored planet in the future, unsettling us along the way.

The first of a romantic fantasy duology, The Courting of Bristol Keats, is feeding us. It starts off with Miss Bristol and her sister, who are struggling after their parents pass away, and who start receiving letters from an aunt they never knew existed. The aunt is willing to help, but meeting her comes with the discovery of the truth about Bristol’s family, which includes the fact that their father may not be dead (!). Once Bristol journeys to another realm, one with gods, fae, and monsters, she makes a deadly deal with fae king Tyghan…but she doesn’t know he has his own reasons for finding her father, and they are less than savory.

You’ve already seen this mentioned as one of the hottest books out this month, but today is its actual release date. While this is an opulent 1920s Vietnam-set whodunnit, I have to say, this isn’t just a fun mystery—it’s also a critique of French colonialism in Vietnam and wealth disparities that have some people starving while others live lavishly. Among the lavishly living are men who have been friends since childhood: Duy, Phong, Minh, and Edmond. When the four of them gather in a mansion to do rich guy things, one of them dies. This book shows their perspectives—as well as their servants’, mothers’, and lovers’—in the six days leading up to that fateful night.