The Must-Read Books of 2026

Beautiful. Beloved. Hunted. The extraordinary life and death of Diana, as told by her brother, Charles. In Swan Song, Charles Spencer provides the most intimate, loving, and honest portrait yet of his sister.

#1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham delivers a gripping, suspenseful page-turner about a Paris honeymoon gone horribly wrong — and the nightmare that follows. Propulsive and surprising, The French Illusion is an unmistakable Grisham thrill ride — impossible to put down.

A magnificent new novel from the bestselling, award-winning author of An American Marriage, Tayari Jones has written an unforgettable story that sparkles with wit, intelligence, and deep feeling about two lifelong friends whose worlds converge after many years apart in the face of a devastating tragedy.

#1 bestselling author John Green makes his much-anticipated return to fiction with a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story about finding someone to trust in an untrustworthy world. Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it. Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and the audacity to pursue the kind of love we all deserve.

A traditional American woman, a “tradwife” influencer, suddenly awakens in the brutal reality of 1855 — where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner — of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed … A gorgeous deluxe edition of the iconic #1 New York Times bestselling dark fantasy, dividing the novel into three hardcover volumes in a stunning boxed set.

A gripping novel about two trailblazing women on opposite sides of the law — a prosecutor and a madam — who team up to bring down notorious Mob boss Lucky Luciano in 1930s New York, from the New York Times bestselling authors of The Personal Librarian.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and two-time Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead, an exuberantly entertaining novel that brings to life 1980s New York in the magnificent final volume of his Harlem Trilogy.

From the Nobel Prize-winning author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, a magnificent novel about the wondrous, mysterious nature of the human heart. A thrilling feat of world-building and a novel of exquisite tenderness and impeccable restraint, Klara and the Sun is a magnificent achievement, one that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator to explore the fundamental question: What does it mean to love? Soon to be a major motion picture directed by Taika Waititi and starring Jenna Ortega!

Two women. One dead husband. And only one alibi … “Elston expertly unravels a web of secrets and lies. You won’t be able to put this excellent thriller down until the final shocking page” (Megan Miranda).

From Marlon James, author of the Booker Prize-winning A Brief History of Seven Killings: The electrifying story of the murder of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its far-reaching consequences. In this spellbinding novel, Marlon James has written a propulsive crime story that is also a deeply human account of connection and acceptance. Full of fascinating characters, biting humor, and unapologetic sex, The Disappearers is both a thrilling page-turner and a finely etched portrait of queer life.

At sunrise, high in the Italian hills, a body is found on the steps of a beautiful private villa. On the body is a threatening note, signed by a mystery man. Can the team catch an elusive killer who knows EXACTLY where to hide? #1 New York Times bestselling author Richard Osman’s globe-trotting series We Solve Murders returns with a thrilling new mystery!

New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood’s intoxicating paranormal romance novella duology. Read the captivating dark academia romance in Bound, where a reluctant con artist and a professor with too many secrets are bound by an arcane text — in more ways than one. Then flip your book over to unleash the dangers of forbidden love in Unbound, which follows a 5,000-year-old woman who has outlived empires and a doctor who has spent his life fighting death, whose fates collide in a blood game of vengeance.

Leonard Summers — not his real name — is on the run. A former high-ranking Russian intelligence officer who defected to the U.S. has just made a deal with the U.S. Marshals Service’s Witness Protection Program (WPP). Leonard is met at his destination by Lucas Davenport and fellow marshal Shelly White. Unbeknownst to them, a Russian hit team has been tracking the WPP group. As shots ring out and enemies are dodged, Lucas must act quickly to uncover the source of the leak before the hit team strikes again …

A glittering, gothic page-turner about power, control, and the price women pay to be seen, rich with Gatsby vibes and twisty family drama, from the beloved author of Salt to the Sea.

A woman’s desperate flight from an Apache raid unfolds into a sweeping tale of the Mexico–U.S. border wars. Part epic, part alt-Western, Now I Surrender is Álvaro Enrigue’s most expansive and impassioned novel yet. It weaves past and present, myth and history into a searing elegy for a way of life of true liberty — and an homage to the spark in us that still thrills to its memory.

When darkness means certain death and survival depends on reaching the dawn, the woman whose magic broke the world will carve another path: Defy the dusk. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom comes the first book in a gritty post-apocalyptic fantasy duology.

A woman buried. A woman broken. A woman crashed. A woman burned. And the man who knew them all … A man with a deadly past marries into the perfect, most respectable family in this riveting thriller from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.

On a cold night in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a girl goes missing. Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she’s dead in the river … From the iconic crime writer who “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker) and has been called “incandescent” by Stephen King, comes the third and final book in the million-copy-bestselling Cal Hooper trilogy.

A prescient new thriller in the #1 New York Times bestselling Avery Keene series, by nationally renowned author and leader Stacey Abrams, Coded Justice follows Avery down a dark rabbit hole into the breathtaking — and dangerously evolving — world of AI in the medical industry.

A glorious chronicle of a life like none other — enlightening, entertaining, surprising, empowering — and a testament to the world-changing power of Black motherhood. Matriarch is one brilliant woman’s intimate, revealing story and a multigenerational family saga that carries the story of America — and the wisdom women pass on to each other, mothers to daughters, across generations.

The award-winning, bestselling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait returns with a soaring historical novel set in Ireland in the years before and after the Great Hunger.

When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to relive the moments that meant the most. To see what kind of person you really were … A magical, time-traveling love story from the world of The Midnight Library.

Natalie has solely wanted one thing: a kind man and a chance to create the happy family she never had. There’s just one problem — her boyfriends keep turning up dead. Enter James. Handsome, wonderful, perfect James. Natalie is convinced her luck has finally turned. He’s everything she’s ever wanted. More importantly, he’s still breathing. To save her marriage — and James’s life — Natalie must uncover the terrifying truth behind her dead exes. But in a game of toxic love and fatal secrets, does anyone really deserve to survive? For fans of explosive suspense, The Exes is a razor-sharp, twisty debut thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

A young woman must shake off a family curse and the widely held belief that she is the reincarnation of her dead cousin in this wickedly funny, brilliantly perceptive novel about love, female rivalry, and superstition from the author of the smash hit My Sister, the Serial Killer.

The award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility returns with a breathtaking novel of doubles, shadow worlds, and fractured timelines as a man disappears from a glittering Los Angeles party, and a woman — a gunrunner, an art collector, an operative of the State — searches for answers.

Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less, showcases his wit, sophistication, and deep knowledge of focaccia in this tale of a young man who takes an unspecified job with a charismatic elderly Baronessa at her crumbling villa in the Tuscan hills.

Best friends have one week in paradise to fix their friendship or fall apart in this heart-stopping, utterly romantic new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and One Golden Summer.

What happens when one knock at your door sends your entire world into chaos? When a stranger becomes a lifeline? When the reality you’ve meticulously curated is a mirage? Mara Brock Akil, the award-winning creator of Girlfriends, Being Mary Jane, Love Is, and Forever, pens an emotionally enthralling debut novel about enduring love, world-shattering secrets, and self-awakening.

In this “stunning” (People), “riveting” (Entertainment Weekly) historical novel, a young writer journeys to South America to uncover the truth about her father — and herself. A riveting tale of self-discovery and love from one of the most masterful storytellers of our time, My Name Is Emilia del Valle introduces a character who will never let go of your heart.

A “spectacular” (Los Angeles Times) novel from the Booker Prize–winning author of Lincoln in the Bardo, set at the bedside of an oil company CEO in the twilight hours of his life as he journeys from this world into the next.

Three women in three different eras encounter danger and witchcraft in this eerie multigenerational horror saga from the New York Times bestselling author of Mexican Gothic.

In this haunting debut novel, a private tragedy thrusts one family into the court of public opinion as the media — and their own community — dissect every aspect of their lives. Like a literary game of ping-pong, Good People compels readers to reconsider what might have happened even on the previous page. It’s a riveting, provocative story of family — sisters, brothers, mothers, fathers, and the communities that claim us as family in difficult times.

In this rowdy, frank reflection on illness, fame, sex, and everything in between, the remarkable mind behind the hit series Girls and the bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl asks whether fulfilling her creative ambitions has been worth the pain.

The acclaimed author of How to Be an Antiracist and the National Book Award winner Stamped from the Beginning charts how “great replacement theory” has become a dominant political idea of our time and ushered in an antidemocratic age — and how we can free ourselves from it.

A brilliant, sweeping tour de force moving between the U.S. and modern India, following the illicit liaisons, real estate dramas, political ambitions, and mortal betrayals of one prominent Delhi family — from the author of the National Book Award finalist The Association of Small Bombs.

She knows what her happily ever after looks like. And it’s not him … “A wildly good time … a swoony, funny, romantic novel” (Rebecca Serle, New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years) about a woman thrown a curveball by fate and the family secret that makes her question everything.

A sweeping novel about a correspondent trapped behind enemy lines during the Korean War and the women who help her find her way home, from the national bestselling author of Daughters of Shandong. Moving and triumphant, The Young Will Remember sheds light on a “Forgotten War,” the resilience of love within our darkest histories, and the indefatigable determination of mothers to protect their children.

From Mieko Kawakami, award-winning author of Breasts and Eggs, comes a bold novel of sacrifice and the tumultuous bonds of sisterhood, set in 1990s Tokyo. A story of enduring friendship and deep betrayal, Sisters in Yellow is a masterpiece of teenage dreams and adult cruelties that confirms Mieko Kawakami as one of the great writers of her generation.

It was a great love story, one for the ages. The speed of our beginning and the speed of our ending felt like matching bookends. They both came out of nowhere. He wanted it, he wanted me. And then he didn’t. With unflinching honesty and profound grace, Burden charts a path through heartbreak to show the power of a woman who refuses to give up on love. Strangers is a stunning, deeply moving, compulsively readable memoir heralding the arrival of a thrilling new literary talent.

From the bestselling, prize-winning author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain, a spellbinding account of a family devastated by the sudden death of their 19-year-old son, only to discover that he had created a secret life which drew him into the dangerous criminal underworld that lies beneath London’s glittering surface.

An illuminating, electrifying exploration of the work of Toni Morrison by an award-winning novelist and Harvard professor — “a revelatory encounter with the Nobel laureate’s oeuvre” (The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice). At once accessible and uncompromisingly rigorous, On Morrison is a primer not only on how to read one of the most significant American authors of all time but also on how to read great works of literature in general.

A woman who runs a cat rescue in 1920s Montréal turns to a grouchy yet charming magician to save her shelter in this heartwarming, cozy fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.