Top novels and story collections for the first quarter of the year.
I'm not done reading all the books of 2022 yet, but time waits for no one — here comes 2023. These are just some of the novels and story collections we're most looking forward to in the first quarter or so of the year. Next week we'll bring you the top nonfiction on the horizon.
"Small World," by Laura Zigman. (Ecco, Jan. 10) The author of "Animal Husbandry" is back with a novel about two newly divorced sisters who move in together — to the detriment of their relationship.
"Tomb of Sand," by Geetanjali Shree, translated by Daisy Rockwell. (HarperVia, Jan. 31) The fifth novel by the first Hindi writer to win the International Booker Prize is about an elderly woman who crosses into Pakistan in search of her ex-husband.
"Victory City," by Salman Rushdie. (Random House, Feb. 7) An epic tale set in India about a girl who becomes a vessel for a goddess, who speaks from the girl's mouth.
"Maureen," by Rachel Joyce. (Dial Press, Feb. 7) A companion to Joyce's "The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry," in which Harold's wife, Maureen, goes on a pilgrimage of her own.
"I Have Some Questions for You," by Rebecca Makkai. (Viking, Feb. 21) When a woman is invited to teach at the boarding school she once attended, she is drawn back into a murder mystery and a reckoning of her own past.
"The Crane Husband," by Kelly Barnhill. (Tor, Feb. 28) Set in the American Midwest, this retelling of the Japanese folk tale "The Crane Wife" is a story of power, sacrifice and family.
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"Birnam Wood," by Eleanor Catton. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, March 7) A guerrilla gardening group and a billionaire have their eyes on the same plot of land. By the author of the Booker Prize-winning "The Luminaries."
"Old Babes in the Wood: Stories," by Margaret Atwood. (Doubleday, March 7) Atwood's first collection of stories since 2014.
"Künstlers in Paradise," by Cathleen Schine. (Henry Holt, March 14) When COVID-19 hits, a 20-something man moves in with his grandmother, who fled the Nazis and has been living in California ever since.
"Indiana, Indiana," by Laird Hunt. (Coffee House, March 21) A reissue of Hunt's mesmerizing 2003 novel about a Midwestern man and his tragically unstable wife.
"Romantic Comedy," by Curtis Sittenfeld. (Random House, April 4) A comedy writer pokes endless fun at the way dorky men always win beautiful women but the reverse is never true — until maybe it is?
"The Trackers," by Charles Frazier. (Ecco, April 11) A Depression-era artist who heads west on a WPA assignment finds himself trying to track down a woman who stole a valuable piece of art.
"The Covenant of Water," by Abraham Verghese. (Grove, May 2) In this saga of an Indian family, one person of each generation is doomed to die by water.
"Shy," by Max Porter. (Graywolf Press, May 2) Taking place over one night, this is the story of a boy trying to escape the home for troubled boys where he lives.
"The Lost Journals of Sacajewea," by Debra Magpie Earling. (Milkweed Editions, May 23) A new version of the story of Sacajewea, centered on herself, her obstacles, her courage and her life.
"Good Night, Irene," by Luis Alberto Urrea. (Little, Brown, May 30) Inspired by his own mother's work in the Red Cross, Urrea tells the story of Irene and Dorothy, two friends who serve with the Red Cross in Europe during World War II.
Next week: nonfiction to watch for.
