7 of the Best New Book Releases Out October 13, 2026

I had the good fortune of reading an advanced copy of this new release, and while it was a treat to get to read it early, it also meant I had to spend months absolutely dying to talk about it with someone who had read it too. Now it’s here, and let me tell you, it’s phenomenal. Becky Chambers brilliantly uses a distant planet inhospitable to human life as a setting to explore the gifts Earth has given us and all we stand to lose if we don’t protect it. Full of dazzlingly complex characters and other-worldly encounters, it’s a mind-blowing book that left me dying for the sequel. I was late to the Becky Chambers bandwagon, but now I’ll be riding that wagon for life. —Susie Dumond

And she returned with a gothic novel, just when we needed her most. If you are unfamiliar with Kostova’s work, her 2005 tome, The Historian, has more than 280k ratings on Goodreads. Mystery Play’s subject matter is similar: a relic is found with connections to Dracula. This time, it’s a medieval book that was left to Jay’s secretive mother, and he only finds it because she passed away suddenly. As he sets out to chase down the clues he finds through the artifacts, he finds out just how dangerous the book is. —Erica Ezeifedi

Garmus’ Lessons in Chemistry really had a moment, and I suspect Peck & Peck will too. The lasest by the bestselling author takes place in 1982 in New York City. Batter Gray has chosen, against the wishes of his parents, to work in the poetry field. Luckily, he gets a job right out of college at Peck & Peck, a celebrated literary journal. It’s there that he slogs it as the lowest person in the company, and tries to ascend ranks, even after the editor-in-chief shows a dislike for him. This is essentially Lessons in 1980s Poetry. —Erica Ezeifedi

The award-winning Li’s latest is historical fiction that sweeps across late 18th-century Dublin, England, Russia, and India as it explores the story of the talented pianist Adelaide Percheron and her future husband, John Field (who invented the term “nocturne”), and their lives as ambitious artists. —Erica Ezeifedi

In the era of influencers and day-in-the-life creators, Once in a Timeline will capture your heart with its easy-to-love plot and memorable characters.

Laia Grace is an up-and-coming New York lifestyle influencer. She crafts her days to perfectly fit the aesthetic she wants and films them for people to see. But one day, something glitches, and Laia realizes that she’s inside her latest “day in the life” video, in an infinite loop. With the help of a brooding man who is also trapped inside, they try to figure out how to exit this endless cycle. —Silvana Reyes Lopez

Five years after the massacres in The Only Good Indians, one of the survivors of the revenge murders, Nathan Yellow Tail, is in the hospital. He’s survived an accident that should’ve killed him and his pal Sebby, who is also in the hospital, having barely survived.

Nate realizes he can turn his life around. He’s got a camper van and three older Blackfeet. They’re going to find the bones of the only Blackfeet boy who died at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School. Once they do that, they’ll repatriate the boy home.

Too bad that the bones have allowed something else to escape in the process.

Readers looking for Indigenous horror already know and love Stephen Graham Jones, and this next entry in his catalog of moving and terrifying reads promises to deliver. —Kelly Jensen

The pitch for this one is Hamlet with a sapphic twist.

Odette and her best friend, Cecilia, grew up between two grand homes, allowed to roam wherever and however they wished. This was despite Odette’s mother, Lydia, being needy. Very, very needy.

But when Lydia dies, everything changes. Odette’s father withdraws; Odette disappears into herself, leaving Cecilia alone; and Odette’s cruel aunt, Claudine, begins to take charge of the household.

When Claudine then becomes Odette’s stepmother, Odette and Cecilia feel betrayed–and so does the spirit that awakens. It’s the spirit of Lydia, who is out for revenge. —Kelly Jensen