Spring is here, and with it comes a wave of new releases that have the literary world buzzing. Whether you're a fan of sweeping literary fiction, propulsive thrillers, or intimate memoirs, this season's lineup has something worth clearing your schedule for. Here are the books topping our 2026 TBR list.
Wildwood: A Novel by Ashley Woo
A pregnant and unemployed Elinor inherits Wildwood, her family’s estate, and convinces her husband to move there. Upon living on the estate, she becomes fascinated with a mural in the master bedroom she calls “the Forest of the Dead.” As isolation sets in, her unease begins to grow. Dreams that seem like memories and visions of the past haunt her as she becomes obsessed with unearthing her family’s buried secrets. Soon the mural starts calling to her, and Elinor knows she must answer.
The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman: A Novel by Deesha Philyaw
First Lady Scharisse Freeman, the wife of a popular megachurch pastor, has secrets from the past. Considered too worldly by her husband’s congregation she has built a branded empire that, along with her husband’s power, has created an enviable life. Scharisse is finally invited to participate in the First Lady USA pageant and begins to become a part of the group of pastor’s wives when scandal around her childhood secrets break out crumbling her carefully constructed life.
Trad Wife: A Novel by Sarah Langan
Journalist Jenny Kaplan is determined to expose the carefully curated life of Mia Wright, a popular influencer and “trad wife” queen who promotes her perfect family and idyllic farm life lived on Black Swan Farm. As Jenny uncovers Mia’s dark secrets she descends into an unknown horror. Something is very wrong with Black Swan Farm.
Partita: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
Livia Cable was once Livia Bohusz, a young aspiring pianist who was certain about her passion for music and her promise as a musician. At present, she has settled into an acceptance of her life as a married woman living in the same small farm community in which she grew up. Her world is shaken to the core by a call from an old lover who requests to see her again.
The Occidental Book of the Dead: A Novel by T. Geronimo Johnson
George Washing Johnson is a black police officer who up grew up in one of the poorest housing projects in Atlanta. His partner, a shady cop who describes himself as a “redneck” takes George under his wing. Over the years George builds a life for himself in an affluent suburb with his white wife and stepson while still patrolling his old neighborhood. One night while on duty, an altercation with a white teenager erupts in violence. A chain of lies forces George to confront his history and the concessions required of him to be a good man.
Life Out of Order by Audrey Niffenegger
The long-awaited follow up to The Time Traveler’s Wife follows Alba DeTamble, the daughter of Henry DeTamble, who also has the same rare Chrono-Displacement Disorder which causes involuntary time travel. Alba moves in and out of time, haunted by secrets she must keep from her loved ones. In her time travels, she comes to the “Yellow House” where she meets a handsome fellow time traveler with whom she continually crosses paths. She also encounters her stepsister, Isadora, who is the curator for the Museum of Lost Souls and who becomes an increasingly disturbing presence in her life. Along the way Alba will have to come to terms with her choices, the people she loves, and face the question of can she every really be part of the present.
The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford: A Novel by Nafissa Thompson Spires
From the author of “Heads of the Colored People” comes the story of Richard Milford, an infamous moonshiner and womanizer. The Milford’s have lived well at the expense of the townspeople of Newville, Oklahoma. At the height of prohibition, it appears Richard has finally crossed the wrong person. Richard is dead, but who killed him? His four “wives”; Lally, Sophronia, Georgette, and Vivianne, are the prime suspects.
Alan Opts Out by Courtney Maum
Alan Anderson has mastered getting people to buy things they do not need. As a successful ad executive, he is making the biggest pitch of his career to US Dairy, promoting cow’s milk over the likes of oat milk, when he is sabotaged by an anarchist farmer. As a result, Alan makes some life-changing decisions; he will no longer be a servant of capitalism. Alan opts out of his executive life deciding instead to moves into his backyard playhouse to live off the land. Meanwhile his ambitious wife, Vivian, continues her social climb in their Greenwich, Connecticut community. Alan’s less-is-more lifestyle begins to impact the community but not in the way you might think. A laugh-out-loud read on ambition, consumerism, and privilege.
Rasputin Swims the Potomac by Ben Fountain
A searing, satire of American politics that captures the zeitgeist. Clarence Thomas Jr., a reporter, is looking for a story, Faith Spack, a country teen star, has turned her fame into a White House job, and America’s incumbent president, who has already served two terms, seeks a third term despite constitutional limitations. Following a campaign rally, a new pandemic called the “weeps”, which causes people to break into tears, affects the country, threatening the president and his ambitions. Out of desperation to maintain his position, the president enlists the help of Rasputin, a mystical, world champion, pro wrestler whose popularity will help ensure his re-election and keep the president’s reality show, The Real West Wing, running on television. However, Rasputin has plans of his own and his appeal begins to exceed that of the president’s as his mystical superpowers start to seem real. Clarence and Faith find themselves playing larger roles than either anticipated in the battle between the president and Rasputin.
Etna: A Novel by Paul Yoon
Etna, a retired military dog, has survived years of devastating war. One night he decides to the leave the man he has fought beside for years and return to the place from which he was taken when he was young, his home. The journey toward home is seen through the eyes of Etna as tries to survive his encounters people and other animals all of which are looking to start over. For Etna, is there a home to go back to and if not, what is a life without a home?
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
Natalie Heller Mills is a privileged, modern day social media influencer and trad wife who has created what appears to be the perfect homesteading life on her family farm called Yesteryear. Her followers are unaware of all the things Natalie hides to make her life appear to be something it is not. One day Natalie wakes up on her farm in 1855. Nothing is as it seems. Her husband is her husband, but not her husband. Her children are her children, but not her children. The farm is Yesteryear farm, but not Yesteryear farm.
Three Hit Men and a Baby by Rob Hart
The author of Assassins Anonymous brings this group of killers back for more. A group of former assassins meet each week at Assassins Anonymous, a twelve-step program that supports them in their efforts not to kill again and in which, they form a strange sort of family. Valencia, one of the assassins, must leave her baby in the care of her fellow assassins Mark, Astrid, and Booker to search for her brother who has gone missing. What could possibly go wrong with leaving a baby in the care of three highly skilled killers?
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Belle Burden had what appeared to be the perfect privileged life and marriage with her husband James and their three children. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic James, in the wake of an extramarital affair, without warning, and without an apology, walks out on his wife and his children, wanting nothing more to do with the idyllic life they had created. In seeking a divorce, he becomes a person Belle no longer recognizes. In her writing she examines womanhood and the behaviors expected of women who have faced the ultimate betrayal. She shares her transformation from an introverted, compliant spouse to a woman with a voice.
Arsenio: A Memoir by Arsenio Hall
The Arsenio Hall show captured cultural lightning in a bottle, and Hall’s memoir recounts how it all happened as well as telling the comedian’s life story. His memories of growing up in Cleveland, honing his comedic craft, acting, and the trials of launching and staying on top of a groundbreaking late night television show will have you laughing and saying “Hmmm!” The Arsenio Hall Show gave a home to diverse cultures with an emphasis on black culture in America, a segment of the population who, at that time, was rarely given a voice in late night (or daytime) television despite all the significant artistic and cultural contributions made to society. He also explains why, at the height of the show's fame, he walked away from it all. Hall gives an honest and sincere account of his experience in the entertainment industry and in true Arsenio style he is not afraid to “go there.”
Which of these is making it onto your TBR list? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook — and keep an eye on Reader & Page for reviews, books conversations, and more bookish goodness all season long.