Top new literary-fiction books out today: 20 Jan 2026
Last updated:
20 Jan 2026
Today featuring new releases by Jennette McCurdy, Sophie Hannah, Melissa Faliveno, Larissa Pham, Karen Winn, Nina McConigley, Ryan Collett, Malcolm Kempt, Ellie Levenson and many more.
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Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of I’m Glad My Mom Died comes a sad, funny, thrilling novel about sex, consumerism, class, desire, loneliness, the internet, rage, intimacy, power, and the (oftentimes misguided) lengths we’ll go to in order to get what we want. Waldo is ravenous. Horny. Blunt. Naive. Wise. Impulsive. Lonely. Angry. Forceful. Hurting. Perceptive...romance · fiction · contemporary · literary-fiction · drama · age-gap · realistic · coming-of-age · female-mc · book -
![No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah]()
No One Would Do What the Lamberts Have Done by Sophie Hannah
'The twist is perfection...fiction · family · psychological · cozy · thriller · slow-burn · suspense · ghosts · animals · literary-fiction -
![Hemlock by Melissa Faliveno]()
Hemlock by Melissa Faliveno
A woman haunted by a dark inheritance returns to the woods where her mother vanished, in this queer Gothic novel—a butch Black Swan. Sam, finally sober and stable with a cat and a long-term boyfriend in Brooklyn, returns alone to Hemlock, her family’s deteriorating cabin deep in the Wisconsin Northwoods, where her mother disappeared years before and never returned...horror · gothic · lgbtq · fiction · spooky · southern-gothic · thriller · mystery · psychological · literary-fiction -
![Discipline by Larissa Pham]()
Discipline by Larissa Pham
A taut, electrifying debut about a woman forced to confront unsettling truths about herself, her past, and the life she rebuilt following a ruinous affair with her former mentor, from a “lit world phenom” (Harper’s Bazaar).I have the sense that something is being drawn between us. Not drawn as in line but as in arrow pulled back...north-america · usa · maine · fiction · contemporary · literary-fiction · audiobook · coming-of-age · book · adult -
![The Society by Karen Winn]()
The Society by Karen Winn
Rumors about the Knox and its influence have swirled through Boston for centuries. While some believe the secret society is merely an elite social club, others are convinced it hides something more sinister...Vivian Lawrence was born into old-money Boston, but when her family fortune vanishes, so does her carefully curated life...fiction · suspense · psychological · thriller · female-mc · literary-fiction · contemporary · book · adult -
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![How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley]()
How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley
A bold, inventive, and fiercely original debut novel that begins with an uncle dead and his tween niece’s private confession to the reader—she and her sister killed him, and they blame the British.Summer, 1986. The Creel sisters, Georgie Ayyar and Agatha Krishna, welcome their aunt, uncle and young cousin—newly arrived from India—into their house in rural Wyoming where they’ll all live together...mystery · fiction · family · poc-author · humor · crime · poc-mc · historical · coming-of-age · literary-fiction -
![George Falls Through Time by Ryan Collett]()
George Falls Through Time by Ryan Collett
Less meets the year 1300 in this exhilarating and thoughtfully genre-defying literary novel about a man transported through time in a moment of extreme stress, whose modern anxieties are replaced by medieval brutalities.Newly laid off George’s internet bill is in his ex-boyfriend’s name. He’s got a spider-infested apartment, and two of the six dogs he’s walking in London have just escaped...romance · fantasy · historical-fiction · fiction · time-travel · lgbtq · sci-fi · historical · mlm · magical-realism -
![A Gift Before Dying by Malcolm Kempt]()
A Gift Before Dying by Malcolm Kempt
In a hauntingly atmospheric novel set against the unforgiving landscape of the Arctic Circle, a disgraced police investigator discovers that his path to redemption is paved with ice—and blood...fiction · thriller · literary-fiction · crime · law-enforcement · police-procedural · ghosts · supernatural · book · adult -
![Room 706: A Novel by Ellie Levenson]()
Room 706: A Novel by Ellie Levenson
Trapped in a London hotel room with her lover, a woman must contend with her life and her marriage in this exhilarating debut.“Room 706 is as tender as it is surprising, a gripping interrogation of womanhood—before and after marriage and children change our identities. I’m sure I won’t be the only one nodding my head throughout. I adored this brilliant novel...
