15 new paperbacks to read this month

Washington Post

16-05-2025

Set in the Kerala state of India, this sweeping novel from the author of 'Cutting for Stone' reads like a lavish smorgasbord of genealogy, medicine and love affairs, tracing a family's evolution from 1900 through the 1970s, in pointillist detail. What binds and drives this vast, intricate history as it patiently unspools are vibrant characters, sensuous detail and an intimate tour of cultures, landscapes and mores across eras.
Set in the Kerala state of India, this sweeping novel from the author of 'Cutting for Stone' reads like a lavish smorgasbord of genealogy, medicine and love affairs, tracing a family's evolution from 1900 through the 1970s, in pointillist detail. What binds and drives this vast, intricate history as it patiently unspools are vibrant characters, sensuous detail and an intimate tour of cultures, landscapes and mores across eras.
Perhaps the most talked-about (in hushed tones) book of 2024 and beyond, July's risqué novel explores the bounds and bonds of marriage. Its 45-year-old unnamed narrator sets out on a cross-country road trip but finds herself on another kind of journey — erotic, illicit and life-changing. Ron Charles praised July's prose 'for its infallible timing, its palpable sense of performance' and her bravado for taking on taboo subjects with verve and humor.
Perhaps the most talked-about (in hushed tones) book of 2024 and beyond, July's risqué novel explores the bounds and bonds of marriage. Its 45-year-old unnamed narrator sets out on a cross-country road trip but finds herself on another kind of journey — erotic, illicit and life-changing. Ron Charles praised July's prose 'for its infallible timing, its palpable sense of performance' and her bravado for taking on taboo subjects with verve and humor.
Brodesser-Akner's follow-up to her wildly successful debut novel, 'Fleishman Is in Trouble,' is a story about the Fletchers, a wealthy family on Long Island whose children struggle to fulfill the promise of their very successful parents. 'As always,' Charles wrote, 'Brodesser-Akner is a genius with the chaotic flow of embittered family dialogue. In her fiction, conversations dart and turn with the outrageous unpredictability of a flock of frightened birds.'
Brodesser-Akner's follow-up to her wildly successful debut novel, 'Fleishman Is in Trouble,' is a story about the Fletchers, a wealthy family on Long Island whose children struggle to fulfill the promise of their very successful parents. 'As always,' Charles wrote, 'Brodesser-Akner is a genius with the chaotic flow of embittered family dialogue. In her fiction, conversations dart and turn with the outrageous unpredictability of a flock of frightened birds.'
Chambers weaves irony and strong emotion throughout this gorgeous debut, a coming-of-age novel set mostly in the summer of 1987. Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the story centers on Diamond Newberry, a biracial teen living with her White mother in a decaying New England mill town and corresponding with an aunt about long-buried family secrets and mysteries.
Chambers weaves irony and strong emotion throughout this gorgeous debut, a coming-of-age novel set mostly in the summer of 1987. Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, the story centers on Diamond Newberry, a biracial teen living with her White mother in a decaying New England mill town and corresponding with an aunt about long-buried family secrets and mysteries.
Messud's novel, one of The Washington Post's 10 best books of 2024, is quilted from scraps of memory treasured in the author's attic for decades. The project was inspired by 1,500 pages of memoir written by Messud's paternal grandfather. Now, after a lifetime of reflection, the author has written a novel that imagines how three generations of the fictional Cassar family rode the geopolitical waves from World War II into the 21st century.
Messud's novel, one of The Washington Post's 10 best books of 2024, is quilted from scraps of memory treasured in the author's attic for decades. The project was inspired by 1,500 pages of memoir written by Messud's paternal grandfather. Now, after a lifetime of reflection, the author has written a novel that imagines how three generations of the fictional Cassar family rode the geopolitical waves from World War II into the 21st century.
The title character of this debut novel is an undocumented immigrant who grew up with her grandparents in New York after her parents died in a car accident in Ecuador. Catalina fulfills her dream of matriculating at Harvard, and when the story opens, she is in her final year at the storied institution, trying to figure out how to find her way in a country that considers her illegal.
The title character of this debut novel is an undocumented immigrant who grew up with her grandparents in New York after her parents died in a car accident in Ecuador. Catalina fulfills her dream of matriculating at Harvard, and when the story opens, she is in her final year at the storied institution, trying to figure out how to find her way in a country that considers her illegal.
Van der Wouden's novel, a shortlisted finalist for the Booker Prize, is about Isabel, a woman living in the Dutch countryside in 1961. She has devoted her life to keeping her mother's house intact, avoiding thoughts about the horrors she survived — or ignored — in that very home. 'The Safekeep' has a twist, but that's not what makes it remarkable; what does is the extraordinary, emotional story crafted around it.
Van der Wouden's novel, a shortlisted finalist for the Booker Prize, is about Isabel, a woman living in the Dutch countryside in 1961. She has devoted her life to keeping her mother's house intact, avoiding thoughts about the horrors she survived — or ignored — in that very home. 'The Safekeep' has a twist, but that's not what makes it remarkable; what does is the extraordinary, emotional story crafted around it.
The challenging, award-winning Énard's latest is built around two plots: In one, the elderly daughter of a German mathematician who survived Buchenwald remembers his life and an event on Sept. 11, 2001, that honored him and his work. In the other, a nameless soldier in a nameless war flees the conflict. In the novel, 'history itself comes to seem an impenetrable formula, a theorem awaiting its impossible proof,' the New York Times wrote.
The challenging, award-winning Énard's latest is built around two plots: In one, the elderly daughter of a German mathematician who survived Buchenwald remembers his life and an event on Sept. 11, 2001, that honored him and his work. In the other, a nameless soldier in a nameless war flees the conflict. In the novel, 'history itself comes to seem an impenetrable formula, a theorem awaiting its impossible proof,' the New York Times wrote.
The latest true-adventure book from Sides is a gripping account of the final voyage of Captain James Cook. The British explorer's journey took him from England to present-day South Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Hawaii, north to Alaska and beyond, and back to Hawaii, where he died in gruesome fashion. Sides's portrait, built on extensive research and terrific writing, is vivid and unsparing.
The latest true-adventure book from Sides is a gripping account of the final voyage of Captain James Cook. The British explorer's journey took him from England to present-day South Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Hawaii, north to Alaska and beyond, and back to Hawaii, where he died in gruesome fashion. Sides's portrait, built on extensive research and terrific writing, is vivid and unsparing.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Hahn does not set out to indict the American past but to reveal it — and to show that illiberalism has its own rich and mutable tradition here, 'deeply embedded in our history, not at the margins but very much at the center.' The result is a picture of American history with new protagonists, motivated by grim but not unfamiliar ideologies.
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Hahn does not set out to indict the American past but to reveal it — and to show that illiberalism has its own rich and mutable tradition here, 'deeply embedded in our history, not at the margins but very much at the center.' The result is a picture of American history with new protagonists, motivated by grim but not unfamiliar ideologies.
'Prequel' is a vivid, urgent, smart history of the years before and during World War II, when German agents, Nazi sympathizers, theocrats and others attempted to steer the United States away from fighting Germany. Maddow makes a vital contribution to the history of armed fascism in the United States, demonstrating that a broad-based social movement of Nazi activists was afoot in the 1940s.
'Prequel' is a vivid, urgent, smart history of the years before and during World War II, when German agents, Nazi sympathizers, theocrats and others attempted to steer the United States away from fighting Germany. Maddow makes a vital contribution to the history of armed fascism in the United States, demonstrating that a broad-based social movement of Nazi activists was afoot in the 1940s.
Before clothes shopping went digital, department stores were the center of the fashion world. Satow's compelling and colorful book traces the stories of three influential women in the history of 20th-century department stores: Hortense Odlum's leadership of Bonwit Teller during the Depression and into the 1940s; Dorothy Shaver's reinvention of Lord & Taylor between the 1930s and late '50s; and, in the decades following, the creation of the specialty boutique under Geraldine Stutz.
Before clothes shopping went digital, department stores were the center of the fashion world. Satow's compelling and colorful book traces the stories of three influential women in the history of 20th-century department stores: Hortense Odlum's leadership of Bonwit Teller during the Depression and into the 1940s; Dorothy Shaver's reinvention of Lord & Taylor between the 1930s and late '50s; and, in the decades following, the creation of the specialty boutique under Geraldine Stutz.
Wilson, an acclaimed military historian, has written a sweeping study that is also timely. As Europe confronts anew questions about war inside its borders and global influence, Wilson complicates the conventional wisdom about German militarism, going back more than 500 years to tell the story. The Telegraph in London said, 'The scholarship of this book is breathtaking. … No one interested in the history of Europe, and of the Germans in particular, can afford not to read this stupendous book.'
Wilson, an acclaimed military historian, has written a sweeping study that is also timely. As Europe confronts anew questions about war inside its borders and global influence, Wilson complicates the conventional wisdom about German militarism, going back more than 500 years to tell the story. The Telegraph in London said, 'The scholarship of this book is breathtaking. … No one interested in the history of Europe, and of the Germans in particular, can afford not to read this stupendous book.'
This moving family memoir doubles as a history of the musical instrument in its title. Álvarez, a son of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Washington state, traveled far to speak with musicians about the accordion and its importance to marginalized communities around the world. His more personal quest eventually takes him to Mexico, where he meets his grandfather, an accordionist who played a painful part in his family's history.
This moving family memoir doubles as a history of the musical instrument in its title. Álvarez, a son of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Washington state, traveled far to speak with musicians about the accordion and its importance to marginalized communities around the world. His more personal quest eventually takes him to Mexico, where he meets his grandfather, an accordionist who played a painful part in his family's history.
To write his latest book, the novelist and memoirist McAllister put constraints on himself: to write a series of relatively short essays, one for each year he's been alive, each piece preferably composed in one sitting. The resulting warm account of life's quotidian and significant moments starts in 1982 ('Though I did comparatively very little in 1982, it is fair to note here that one thing I did do was emerge, a living being.') and gets more eventful from there.
To write his latest book, the novelist and memoirist McAllister put constraints on himself: to write a series of relatively short essays, one for each year he's been alive, each piece preferably composed in one sitting. The resulting warm account of life's quotidian and significant moments starts in 1982 ('Though I did comparatively very little in 1982, it is fair to note here that one thing I did do was emerge, a living being.') and gets more eventful from there.