Put These New Novels By BIPOC Authors On Top Of Your TBR Pile

An epic, swirling family drama that centers on the lives of three Muslim-Indian women living in Obama-era America, this emotional debut novel is living up to the buzz surrounding it and is repeatedly called a page-turner that readers can’t put down. And if that doesn’t excite you, what if we told you it was told from the sort of omnipresent perspective of a baby, at the moment of its birth?  This one is supposed to have an ending that blows your mind—and we just can’t pass that up.

This LBGTQ story collection centers on the lives of Cambodian-Americans in California—the children of Khmer Rouge genocide refugees, who are trying to find themselves and their place in the world. Darly funny, passionate, gritty, and heartfelt, these stories are made even more poignant knowing that author Anthony Veasna So died in an accident at the age of 28, not long before his debut book was published. Published August 4

A debut novel by author YZ Chin, Edge Case follows the story of New Yorker and Malaysian immigrant Edwina, who finds herself leading a pretty normal life working at a tech company until the day she comes home to discover that her husband Marlin is simply gone. As she searches for her husband, and for the reasons that he’s gone, the book delves into questions of identity, home, and marriage.  Published August 10

This dazzling and colorful coming-of-age novel takes place in 1970s Bombay, where Vidya is navigating her complex world as well as she can. When she discovers kathak, a form of dance, her world opens up, and when she falls in love with her best friend, it evolves. This rich, consuming story is a perfect fall read that will transport you.  Publishes September 7

Colson Whitehead has won basically every literary award that there is, plus some other ones—and he’s also won our book nerd hearts with his past novels, including The Underground Railroad, Nickel Boys, and Zone One. Now he’s back with a new novel, and this one is half a crime/caper book and half a family drama. And we are completely here for it. Harlem Shuffle centers on Ray, a furniture salesman who is trying to find balance and get ahead while feeling torn between being a furniture-selling family man and a criminal who cheats to support his two kids.  Publishes September 10

Heavy hitter Louise Erdrich is back with a new novel after winning both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in recent years. In this timely and original story, an indie bookstore owner is tasked with finding out why the ghost of a dead customer is haunting the building—as the world rages around them during 2019 and 2020 in Minneapolis. It’s worth noting that Erdrich herself owns a bookstore in Minneapolis, making the book personal and profound.