Cover Here are the best new books to read this month (Art: Chesca Gamboa/Tatler Hong Kong)

From science fiction books to coming-of-age stories and gripping mystery novels, here are the best new books you should read this month

November has plenty to offer us when it comes to books, whether it’s science fiction set in the desert, historical fiction set in 1930s Los Angeles, coming-of-age stories or exciting edge-of-your-seat mysteries. The debut novels from Freya Marske and Kyle Lucia Wu are poised to wow us this month while the ambitious novel, The Perishing is also expected to be a hit.

Award-winning authors such as Louise Erdrich and Hervé Le Tellier are also releasing works this month and fan favourite Hiromi Kawakami is also releasing a new heartwarming novel.

Read on to find out what books you shouldn’t miss out on this November. If you missed it, you can still read our September and October picks.

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1. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske

Freya Marske’s debut novel, A Marvellous Light is a mix of Edwardian England and magic. The novel follows Robin Blyth who has been named as the civil service liaison after an administrative mistake.

His life turns a turn as he now has to uncover the beauty and danger of magic including a deadly curse and the foreboding visions that come with it.

Release: November 2

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2. Win Me Something by Kyle Lucia Wu

Kyle Lucia Wu also makes her debut as an author with the coming-of-age book, Win Me Something. The story centres around Willa Chen, who has never quite fit in as a biracial Chinese American girl in New Jersey—she’s too Asian in her mostly white school but too white to be friends with the very few Asian kids around.

When she starts working as a nanny for a wealthy white family, Willa starts to see all the things she never had and questions who she is and the childhood she had.

Release: November 2

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3. The Perishing by Natashia Deón

Natashia Deón’s ambitious novel, The Perishing is set in 1930s Los Angeles and follows Lou, a Black woman who has to recover the memory of her past in order to change the world. After mysteriously waking up in an alley, she was eventually taken in by a foster family and went on to become a successful journalist.

But everything comes crashing down when she meets a firefighter who she has no memory of but has been drawing since she was in foster care.

Release: November 9

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4. All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Hermann

Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman join forces for this fantasy novel, All of Us Villains. It tells the story of a tournament that happens during each coming of the Blood Moon where seven families from a remote city must each name a champion to fight to the death. The prize is to gain exclusive control of the most powerful resource in the world—one filled with magic.

The tournament this year is different in that the champions are able to gain more information and new means to win but are also given a choice to accept their fate or challenge tradition.

Release: November 9

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5. Noor by Nnedi Okorafor

Nigerian American author, Nendi Okorafor known for her African-based science fiction and fantasy novels returns with a new book, Noor. The Africanfuturist master delivers the same intense action she’s loved for, this time in near-future Nigeria. Meet Anwuli Okwudili—or as she prefers, AO—a moniker for herself as an Artificial Organism.

While shopping in a market, she was caught in a run-in that turns her into a target. Fearing for her safety, she escapes to the desert and begins a new journey. But will she survive?

Release: November 9

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6. The Sentence by Louise Erdrich

The Sentence is the latest work from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author, Louise Edrich. It aims to ask: what do we owe to the living, the dead, the reader and to the book? The new work is set inside a haunted bookstore frequented by Flora, who died on All Soul’s Day.

New employee, Tookie—who landed the job at the bookstore after years behind bars—is now tasked with solving the mystery of why Flora can’t stop haunting the store.

Release: November 9

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7. The Anomaly by Hervé Le Tellier

Award-winning novel, The Anomaly is finally getting its English translation this month. Now an international phenomenon, this mystery thriller book blends crimes with fantasy and sci-fi set during a flight from Paris to New York.

This ambitious book by Le Tellier follows Air France Flight 006, which enters a storm and mysteriously duplicates everything—now, every passenger now has a double. The only thing that’s different is one of the planes safely lands while the other doesn’t, until June.

Release: November 23

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8. People from My Neighbourhood by Hiromi Kawakami

From the author of the international bestseller, Strange Weather in Tokyo comes a new book filled with stories that merge the mundane and the mythical. People from My Neighbourhood revolves around several people from the neighbourhood—a bossy child, a schoolgirl, an old man, a diplomat and so on.

We also follow the details in the neighbourhood whether it’s the lunch menu at the drinking place or the shape of the roof of the tax office.

Release: November 30

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