--- description: The biggest books of the season include memoirs from Elizabeth Gilbert and Margaret Atwood as well as Zadie Smith's new essay collection. title: The Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2025 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39b07d9018c3b402/6998c933f1b08258876f19ef/Fall-Preview-Books-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The 24 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2025 by [Shannon Carlin](/author/shannon-carlin/) ## Shannon Carlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Carlin is a contributor for TIME. Aug 29, 2025 11:00 AM CUT  by [Shannon Carlin](/author/shannon-carlin/) ## Shannon Carlin Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Carlin is a contributor for TIME. Aug 29, 2025 11:00 AM CUT Say goodbye to your beach reads and hello to the most anticipated books of the fall. The upcoming season’s new releases include [Margaret Atwood](https://time.com/6968807/time100-summit-margaret-atwood-lauren-groff/ "undefined")’s long-awaited debut memoir, _Too Big to Fail_ author Andrew Ross Sorkin’s deep dive into the [1929 Wall Street crash](https://time.com/5707876/1929-wall-street-crash/ "undefined"), and Patricia Lockwood’s mind-melting follow-up to her critically acclaimed 2021 novel, [_No One Is Talking About This_](https://time.com/collection/100-must-read-books-2021/6120637/no-one-is-talking-about-this/ "undefined")_._ Between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, the “queen of royal fiction” Philippa Gregory returns to King Henry VIII’s court with the story of [Anne Boleyn](https://time.com/5739697/anne-boleyn-biography-women-history/ "undefined")’s sister-in-law. TIME editor at large and best-selling author of _Apollo 13_ [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/ "undefined") offers a cinematic retelling of the least appreciated—and most groundbreaking—space program in American history. [Elizabeth Gilbert](https://time.com/5592636/elizabeth-gilbert-city-of-girls/ "undefined") is back with her first nonfiction book in a decade, a memoir about reclaiming her identity after an unfathomable loss. [Salman Rushdie](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2023/6269825/salman-rushdie/ "undefined")’s latest—his third since he was [violently attacked onstage](https://time.com/6270878/salman-rushdie-interview-time100/ "undefined") in 2022—is a collection of stories that explore life’s final moments. From [Bolu Babalola](https://time.com/6189585/honey-and-spice-bolu-babalola-review/ "undefined")’s steamy follow-up to her 2022 best seller[_Honey and Spice_](https://time.com/6996649/honey-and-spice/ "undefined") to an ecological thriller from [_A Burning_](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2020/5904315/a-burning/ "undefined")author [Megha Majumdar](https://time.com/5839416/burning-megha-majumdar-review/ "undefined"), here are the 24 books you’ll want to add to your fall reading list. ## _Mother Mary Comes to Me_, Arundhati Roy (Sept. 2)  Withher debut memoir, [Arundhati Roy](https://time.com/6992921/arundhati-roy-pen-pinter-prize-winner/ "undefined") chronicles what it was like being raised by her mother Mary, an [influential educator](https://theprint.in/theprint-profile/mary-roy-was-more-than-a-teacher-to-her-students-she-was-a-dreamer-warrior/1740119/ "undefined") and formidable [women’s rights activist](https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/editorials/mary-roys-legacy-will-be-her-fight-to-ensure-equal-inheritance-rights-for-syrian-christian-women-furthering-gender-justice-8127825/ "undefined") who was “a terror and a wonder to behold,” according to her daughter. At the age of 18, Roy left her mom’s unpredictably volatile home in order to get away from her behavior, but, also, as the Booker Prize-winning author explains, “to be able to continue to love her.”_Mother Mary Comes to Me_ is a candidlook at the shadow Roy’s charismatic late mother cast over the author’s life, work, and memories. ## _Sweet Heat_, Bolu Babalola (Sept. 2)  Kiki Banjo, the protagonist of Bolu Babalola’slatest romance, _Sweet Heat_, hosts [a popular podcast](https://time.com/collections/100-best-podcasts/ "undefined") where she dishes out [modern love advice](https://time.com/5619100/why-we-love-advice-columns/ "undefined"). But the 28-year-old hasn't had much luck in the relationship department lately. Several years earlier, she fell head over heels for a smooth-talking filmmaker named Malakai Korede, only for him to leave her for Hollywood. While she’s since started seeing a wealthy app developer, she’s never quite gotten over her ex whose career is soaring just as hers is beginning to languish. When she finds herself face-to-face with Malakai at her best friend’s wedding—where not only is she the maid of honor, but he’s the best man—she must ignore the spark that still burns between them. Unfortunately for her, that’s easier said than done. ## _Mercy_, Joan Silber (Sept. 2)  [Joan Silber](https://time.com/5958288/best-books-may-2021/ "undefined")’s tenth novelbegins in an East Village apartment in the 1970s, where Ivan, a wayward cab driver, and his best friend, Eddie, a gregariousbartender, are experimenting with drugs. When Eddie suffers a heroin overdose, Ivan rushes him to the emergency room. Convinced that Eddie is going to die and he will be blamed for it, Ivan abandons him and never looks back. _Mercy_ is an expansive tale about guilt and forgiveness thattraces the ripple effects of one man’s most regrettable decision over five decades. ## _All the Way to the River_, Elizabeth Gilbert (Sept. 9)  Nearly 20 years after the release of _Eat Pray Love,_ Elizabeth Gilbert returns with her fourth memoir, which recounts how losing the love of her life led to her salvation. In 2000, Gilbert met [Rayya Elias](https://time.com/4482772/elizabeth-gilbert-love-rayya-elias-eat-pray-love/ "undefined"), a vibrant Syrian hairdresser and musician who would become one of her closest friends. Sixteen years later, when Elias was diagnosed with terminal pancreatic and liver cancer, the pair became lovers who shared everything—including their addictions. (Gilbert was addicted to love and sex, while Elias, who died in 2018, struggled with drug dependency.) _All the Way to the River_ is a collection of stories, poems, journal entries, photos, and drawings that act as [a loving tribute to Elias](https://time.com/5089653/elizabeth-gilbert-rayya-elias-death/ "undefined"), an unfiltered descent into substance abuse, and an intimate look at Gilbert’s hard fought road to recovery. ## _Replaceable You_, Mary Roach (Sept. 16)  With her eighth nonfiction book, Mary Roach offers a fascinating tour of the wonderful world of regenerative medicine. Across 288pages, she explores the earliest examples of cell repair, tissue engineering, and the creation of artificial organs. She interviews researchers, surgeons, pathologists, and [amputees](https://time.com/4103487/quadruple-amputee-veteran-todd-nicely/ "undefined") in an attempt to answer the difficult questions surrounding the creation, application, and efficacy of replacement body parts. She also travels to a burn unit in Boston, spends time in a [working iron lung](https://time.com/5815499/ventilator-history/ "undefined") from the 1950s, and visits a stem cell “hair nursery” in San Diego, to investigate the ever-expanding medical field firsthand. ## _The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny_, Kiran Desai (Sept. 23)  At nearly 700 pages, Booker Prize-winning author Kiran Desai’s _The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny_ is a sweeping romancethat spans decades and continents.After finishing college in Vermont, Sonia, a lonely aspiring novelist, returns to her family in India. On her way there, she meets Sunny, a struggling New York-based journalist who her grandparents once tried to set her up with. The two never got around to meeting back then, but over the course of an overnight train ride, they realize that they have a lot more in common than just their meddling relatives. Specifically, they are both looking for an escape from their current situations. In this epic about love, writing, and destiny, the pair embark on a journey that will change their lives forever. ## _Will There Ever Be Another You_, Patricia Lockwood (Sept. 23)  _Priestdaddy_ author Patricia Lockwood’s sophomore novel centers around a woman who is suffering from a mysterious neurological illness that has caused her to disconnect from reality. Inspired by Lockwood’s [own bout with](https://www.elle.com/culture/books/a63493964/patricia-lockwood-new-book-will-there-ever-be-another-you/ "undefined") COVID-19 in the early days of the pandemic, an unnamed author finds herself suffering from disorientation, short-term memory loss, and paranoid delusions amid a global catastrophe. _Will There Ever Be Another You_ follows the protagonist’s surreal trip down the rabbit hole to reclaim her identity. ## _Heart the Lover_, Lily King (Sept. 30)  Best-selling author Lily King’s sixth novel looks at a love triangle’s lingering consequences. In her senior year of college, _Heart the Lover_’s protagonist, an English major who goes by the nickname Jordan, meets Sam, a snobbish classmate who quickly becomes her boyfriend. He teaches her about literature, religion, and obscure card games, but, more importantly, he introduces her to his brainy best friend Yash. When Jordan starts having feelings for Yash, the two begin a whirlwind affair that ends in heartbreak, resentment, and regret. Decades later, when the pair unexpectedly reunite, she is forced to confront the decisions she made in her youth in order to finally move on with her life. ## _A Guardian and a Thief_, Megha Majumdar (Oct. 14)  In a near-future India that has been destroyed by extreme heat, drought, and a devastating food shortage, Ma has a chance to flee to the United States with her two-year-old daughter and agingfather. But a week before they’re set to leave, she realizes that her purse with all their immigration documents inside is gone. Set over the course of seven days, Megha Majumdar’s haunting second novel follows Ma as she embarks on an exhilarating search for her lost belongings and the person who stole them. ## _All That We See or Seem_, Ken Liu (Oct. 14)  [Ken Liu](https://time.com/collection/100-best-fantasy-books/5898502/the-grace-of-kings/ "undefined") returns with _All That We See or Seem_, the first book in his forthcoming techno thriller series that centers around Julia Z, a famous 20-something hacker who has given up her high-stakes cyber punk life for a solitary existence in the Boston suburbs. That is until she’s asked to find a woman who was recently kidnapped. The missing person in question is an artist named Elli, who created an immersive experience using dreams to combat loneliness. Elli’s been taken by a mysterious crime boss with a connection to her artwork. In order to save her, Julia must solve an increasingly complex puzzle that forces her to question reality. ## _Boleyn Traitor_, Philippa Gregory (Oct. 14)  Almost 25 years after the release of her best-selling novel [_The Other Boleyn Girl_](https://time.com/archive/6908780/the-other-boleyn-girl-when-child-stars-grow-up/ "undefined"), Philippa Gregory is back with a historical drama that focuses on a lesser known Boleyn girl. The _Boleyn Traitor_ tells the story ofJane Boleyn, the sister-in-law of King Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was beheaded after being found guilty of adultery, incest, and conspiracy against the crown. Historians believe it was Jane’s allegedly fabricated testimony that led to Anne’s tragic demise. But was Jane really a traitor or was she desperate to simply survive the royal court? This novel about ambition and betrayal looks to answer that very question. ## _Joyride_, Susan Orlean (Oct. 14)  Susan Orlean, the author and journalist behind much celebrated works of literary nonfiction including 1998’s [_The Orchid Thief_](https://time.com/archive/6734464/books-the-orchid-thief-by-susan-orlean/ "undefined"), which later inspired the Spike Jonze film _Adaptation_, is looking inward. Her memoir, _Joyride,_ takes a deep dive into her life, recounting the end of her first marriage, falling in love again, and becoming a mother while saying goodbye to her own. It also acts as a master class in journalism from a bygone era, offering insight into how the longtime [_New Yorker_](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/susan-orlean "undefined")writer comes up with story ideas, crafts a compelling narrative, stays on deadline, and confronts writer’s block. ## _1929_, Andrew Ross Sorkin (Oct. 14)  Andrew Ross Sorkin’s follow-up to _Too Big to Fail,_ which chronicles the events of [the 2008 financial crisis](https://time.com/6264436/bank-crisis-2008-2023/ "undefined"), dives deep into the [most infamous crash in Wall Street](https://time.com/3544350/black-tuesday-1929/ "undefined") history. Using historical records along with newly uncovered documents, letters, diaries, and transcripts, _1929_ looks at the cataclysmic event through the eyes of those most closely involved. Sorkin introduces readers to the politicians, visionaries, skeptics, and fraudsters who were involved in the era-defining moment, while also laying out the eerie parallels between those powerful 20th-century players and today’s most formidable U.S. leaders. ## _The Unveiling_, Quan Barry (Oct. 14)  Author and poet [Quan Barry](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2020/5904262/we-ride-upon-sticks/ "undefined")’s horrifying new novel, _The Unveiling_,begins on a luxury cruise set sail for Antarctica. Striker, a film location scout, has been hired to check out the area for an upcoming big budget blockbuster. The project is about explorer [Ernest Shackleton’s 1915 expedition](https://time.com/3783925/captain-scott-and-captain-shackleton-a-100-year-old-expedition/ "undefined") to the Antarctic and its doomed fate. When a freak accident leaves Striker, who is Black, and her fellow wealthy, mostly white passengers stranded on a remote island, she not only has to contend with her privileged shipmates, but the ghosts of shipwrecks past in this supernatural hair-raiser about identity, guilt, and survival. ## _The Third Love_, Hiromi Kawakami (Oct. 21)  Hiromi Kawakami’s 2020 novel, _The Third Love,_ newly translated from the original Japanese by Ted Goossen,is a centuries-spanning historical romance set in Japan. After discovering that her husband is cheating on her, Riko is given an opportunity to magically escape her flawed reality and live inside her dreams. Each night she is able to give love another chance. But there’s a catch: she’s not appearing as herself in her fantasies. Instead, she takes on different identities, from a high-ranking 17th century courtesan to a handmaiden to a princess from the Middle Ages. In this time-traveling meditation on marriage, Riko reconsiders what it means to be a modern wife. ## _This Is the Only Kingdom_, Jaquira Díaz (Oct. 21)  In Jaquira Díaz’s debut novel, _This Is the Only Kingdom,_ a mother and daughter deal with the fallout of a murder that rocks their tight-knit Puerto Rican community. In 1975, a 16-year-old house cleaner named Maricarmen falls in love with Rey el Cantante, a strong-willed musician and petty thief beloved by the barrio locals. But Maricarmen’s mother disapproves of the relationship—and throws her daughter out of the house because of it. Newly on her own, Maricarmen discovers she’s pregnant and is left to support herself and her baby girl after Rey goes on the run from the law. Fifteen years later, a shocking act of violence upends Maricarmen’s life, forcing her to make a difficult decision that puts her already complicated relationship with her grown-up daughter in jeopardy. ## _Dead and Alive_, Zadie Smith (Oct. 28)  With her wide-ranging new essay collection, _Dead and Alive,_ [Zadie Smith](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2020/5904244/intimations/ "undefined") finds light amid the darkness of our present moment by putting the focus on the art and artists thatshe admiresmost. Across 30 essays, Smith celebrates the work of painter [Kara Walker](https://time.com/5695978/kara-walker-fons-americanus-interview/ "undefined"), critiques the themes of the 2022 Cate Blanchett film [_Tár_](https://time.com/6210593/tar-review/ "undefined"), interrogates what it means to be someone’s muse, and pays tribute to the legacies of recently deceased authors [Joan Didion](https://time.com/6131414/joan-didion-grief/ "undefined"), [Martin Amis](https://entertainment.time.com/2005/10/16/all-time-100-novels/slide/money-1984-by-martin-amis/ "undefined"), and [Hilary Mantel](https://time.com/collection/must-read-books-2022/6228562/learning-to-talk/ "undefined"). ## _The Defender_, Ana Huang (Oct. 28)  _The Defender,_ the second book in best seller Ana Huang’s _Gods of the Game_ series, is a star-crossed [sports romance](https://time.com/collection/best-romance-books/ "undefined") set in the world of the English Premier soccer league. Vincent DuBois, the captain of the Blackcastle Football Club, is rich, successful, and in terrible danger after someonebreaks into his home. To keep safe from the mysterious intruder, he secretly shares an apartment with sports nutritionist Brooklyn Armstrong, who also happens to be his coach’s daughter and his sister’s best friend. For years they've been at odds, but when they find themselves playing house and liking it, Vincent worries that catching feelings for Brooklyn might be his inevitable downfall. ## _Book of Lives_, Margaret Atwood (Nov. 4)  [Margaret Atwood](https://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736275/margaret-atwood/ "undefined")’s long-awaited memoir acts as a travelogue through her unconventional life and celebrated career. In _Book of Lives_, she explores how a nomadic and often lonely childhood, often spent in the wild forest of Northern Quebec with her entomologist father and dietician mother, led to her becoming a writer. She reveals the real-life mean girl from her youth who inspired her 1988 novel, _Cat’s Eye_, and details how living in Berlin in the 1980s influenced [_The Handmaid’s Tale_](https://time.com/7203735/narges-mohammadi-margaret-atwood/ "undefined")_._ She also writes about her [outspoken support for women’s rights](https://time.com/6213107/margaret-atwood-climate-change-roe-v-wade-interview/ "undefined"), [adventures in Hollywood](https://time.com/4734904/margaret-atwood-elisabeth-moss-handmaids-tale/ "undefined"), and decades-long marriage to novelist [Graeme Gibson](https://time.com/5680297/author-graeme-gibson-dies-margaret-atwood/ "undefined"), who died in 2019\. ## _Bread of Angels_, Patti Smith (Nov. 4)  Fifteen years after the release of her National Book Award-winning debut memoir, [_Just Kids_](https://time.com/archive/6690688/patti-smith-and-mapplethorpe-bohemian-rhapsody/ "undefined"), [Patti Smith](https://time.com/3776609/patti-smith-photographers-muse/ "undefined") is back with her fourth autobiography, which follows her unlikely rise from an imaginative working class kid to a punk rock icon. _Bread of Angels_ covers Smith’s hard scrabble adolescence in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the making of her seminal 1975 album, [_Horses_](https://entertainment.time.com/2006/11/02/the-all-time-100-albums/slide/horses/ "undefined")_,_ and her marriage to MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith, who died in 1994 at the age of 46\. ## _The Eleventh Hour_, Salman Rushdie (Nov. 4)  [Salman Rushdie](https://time.com/7172906/knife/ "undefined")’s latest release is a collection of five stories—three novellas and two shorter tales—set across India, England, and the U.S. that examine life, death, and what might come after. _The Eleventh Hour_ includes stories about a musical prodigy from Mumbai who is hellbent on destroying her rich in-laws, the ghost of a Cambridge academic looking to enact revenge against his longtime tormentor, and a young American writer who is trying to solve the mystery of his mentor’s unexpected death. Rounding out the quintet is a modern parable about freedom of speech and a piece about a feuding pair of old men dealing with their own personal tragedy amid a national disaster. ## _Life on a Little-Known Planet_, Elizabeth Kolbert (Nov. 4)  Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist [Elizabeth Kolbert](https://time.com/collection/100-must-read-books-2021/6120648/under-a-white-sky/ "undefined")’s latest release, _Life on a Little-Known Planet,_ is a collection of essays on the wonders of nature and the [growing environmental threats](https://time.com/7279342/earth-day-environmental-justice-essay/ "undefined") that risk destroying it. Across 17 pieces, most of which originally appeared in the [_New Yorker_](https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/elizabeth-kolbert "undefined"), Kolbert takes readers around the globe to visit a carbon neutral island in Denmark, a melting Greenland ice sheet, and a Florida community that voted to give rights to waterways. She also introduces readers to those who are trying to protect our planet—a climatologist known as the “[father of global warming](https://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1663317%5F1663323%5F1669904,00.html "undefined"),” an entomologist racing to find rare caterpillars before they go extinct, and a biologist who is using AI to help humans communicate with whales—in hopes of encouraging others to do the same. ## _Palaver_, Bryan Washington (Nov. 4)  _Palaver,_ award-winning author [Bryan Washington](https://time.com/author/bryan-washington/ "undefined")’s follow-up to his 2023 novel, _Family Meal_, is an intimate look at a young gay man struggling to reconcile with his family. Since leaving his Houston home ten years prior, the story’s protagonisthas been working as an English tutor in Tokyo. In that time, he’s managed to build a community of close friends, but he still struggles to understand why his Jamaican-born mother chose his homophobic brother over him. When she unexpectedly arrives at his doorstep looking to make amends, he must confront the trauma of his past by giving her an opportunity to process her own. ## _Gemini_, Jeffrey Kluger (Nov. 11)  In the early 1960s, as the Vietnam War raged and U.S. politicians called for cuts to the space program, NASA launched Project Gemini, a series of ten manned missions across 20 months in which the tools and techniques to successfully send the first man to the moon were developed. With his new book_,_ TIME’s [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/5628733/apollo-11-space-time-cover/ "undefined") tells the thrilling story of the pioneering program that sparked a feud with the Soviet Union, led to the tragic deaths of three astronauts, and ultimately helped the U.S. win [the Space Race](https://time.com/5628348/race-to-the-moon/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7311382/best-fall-books-2025/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7311382/best-fall-books-2025/"},"headline":"The 24 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2025","datePublished":"2025-08-29T11:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-11T00:08:58.925Z","description":"From Margaret Atwood's new memoir to Zadie Smith's latest essay collection","url":"https://time.com/7311382/best-fall-books-2025/","keywords":["Books","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39b07d9018c3b402/6998c933f1b08258876f19ef/Fall-Preview-Books-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Shannon Carlin","jobTitle":"Carlin is a contributor for TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/shannon-carlin/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt39b07d9018c3b402/6998c933f1b08258876f19ef/Fall-Preview-Books-2025.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Fall Preview Books 2025","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/7311382/best-fall-books-2025/","name":"The 24 Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2025"}}]}] ```