What are the Best New Books Coming in January 2019?

New month, new books! Book Light is our Dandelion Chandelier curated list of the titles we’re most excited about that are being published in the coming month. Our intrepid team has been exploring the most-anticipated new books scheduled to be released in January 2019 and here’s what we found.

a wintry mood among the best new books coming in january 2019

There must be something about January that causes writers and readers to stretch for the far reaches. Last year, there were lots of new books in January about the after-life. The books coming in January 2019 are equally filled with unusual points of view and probing, urgent inquiries into identity: who we really are, and who we hope to be.

There are novels and memoirs of recovery from violent attack, of hard choices, and of the difficulty of forgiveness. There are several dystopian tales of how women are, have been, and are likely to be treated.

Dear reader, it’s a fairly dark, cold world in the realm of letters this month.

And yet, despite the fact that the January new release list resembles a tapestry woven from the threads of memories of the brutal distant past and fears of an equally dark future, it’s not all gloomy. Throughout it runs a bright ribbon of optimism, reminding us that there’s purpose and grace in living as well as we can in the here and now.

Here’s our pick of the top new book releases in January 2019 – novels, essay collections, and non-fiction – that we cannot wait to read. You can pre-order them now if you like.

the best new books coming in january 2019

tuesday, january 8

one

The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch tells the true story of a previously little-known chapter in American history. In the months leading up to the Revolutionary War, a group traitorous soldiers assigned to be General George Washington’s bodyguards instead launched a deadly plot against him. This is the story of the secret plot and how it was revealed. Along the way, it becomes clear how close America was to losing the Revolutionary War. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

two

The Last Whalers: Three Years in the Far Pacific with a Courageous Tribe and a Vanishing Way of Life by Doug Bock Clark. On a volcanic island in the Savu Sea so remote that other Indonesians call it “The Land Left Behind” live the Lamalerans. They’re a tribe of 1,500 hunter-gatherers who are the world’s last subsistence whalers. They’ve survived for half a millennium by hunting whales with bamboo harpoons in handmade wooden boats. But now, under assault from the forces of the modern era, their way of life teeters on the brink of collapse. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

three

The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris. The senator from California – and likely Presidential candidate – shares the story of her upbringing and career. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

four

An Orchestra of Minorities by Chigozie Obioma. In this contemporary twist on Homer’s Odyssey by Man Booker Finalist and author of The Fishermen, a Nigerian poultry farmer sacrifices everything to win the woman he loves. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

five

The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh. Long-listed for the Booker Prize, and endorsed by Margaret Atwood, critics describe this novel as “The Handmaid’s Tale meets The Virgin Suicides.” It’s a dystopic feminist revenge fantasy about three sisters on an isolated island, raised to fear men. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

six

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss. In this novel set in the north of England, a young girl and her family are living as if they are ancient Britons. They must survive by the tools and knowledge of the Iron Age. Why? They’ve joined an anthropology course set to reenact life in simpler times. The students are fulfilling their coursework; the girl’s father is fulfilling his lifelong obsession. The ancient Britons built ghost walls to ward off enemy invaders. When the group builds one of their own, they develop a spiritual connection to the past. But does a human sacrifice come next? – Publication date: January 8, 2019

seven

Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. by Lili Anolik. Los Angeles in the 1960’s and 70’s was the pop culture capital of the world—a movie factory, a music factory, a dream factory. Eve Babitz was the ultimate factory girl, a pure product of LA. The goddaughter of Igor Stravinsky, Babitz posed at age twenty playing chess with the French artist Marcel Duchamp. She was naked; he was not. At nearly thirty, her It girl days numbered, Babitz was discovered—as a writer—by Joan Didion. This is a true page-turner about an icon of the LA art scene. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

eight

How to Date Men When You Hate Men by Blythe Roberson is a comedy philosophy book aimed at interrogating what it means to date men within the trappings of modern society. With sections like Real Interviews with Men about Whether or Not It Was a Date; Good Flirts That Work; Bad Flirts That Do Not Work; and Definitive Proof That Tom Hanks Is the Villain of You’ve Got Mail, this is a one-stop shop for dating advice when you love men but don’t like them. – Publication date: January 8, 2019

nine

The Clean Plate: Eat, Reset, Heal by Gwenyth Paltrow. In this collection of 100-plus recipes and customizable meal plans, Paltrow offers recipes, meal plans, detoxes, and cleanses to address the reader’s specific needs and desired results.– Publication date: January 8, 2019

tuesday, january 15

ten

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro. In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her father was not her biological father.  What follows is a book about secrets –and the story of a woman’s urgent quest to unlock the truth of her own identity. – Publication date: January 15, 2019

eleven

To Keep the Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari is a novel about a large family’s time in their lush gated home as the Iranian Revolution brews in the background. Political unrest infiltrates their pastoral life, and the community around them. – Publication date: January 15, 2019

twelve

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay. This new novel follows a complicated flaneuse across the Indian subcontinent. In the wake of her mother’s death, a privileged and restless young woman from Bangalore sets out for a remote Himalayan village in Kashmir. She’s seeking to understand her mother’s past. But upon arrival, she’s confronted with Kashmir’s politics, as well as the tangled history of the local family that takes her in. – Publication date: January 15, 2019

thirteen

The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker. In this new novel from the bestselling author of The Age of Miracles, an ordinary town is transformed by a mysterious illness that triggers perpetual sleep. In an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep—and doesn’t wake up. Panic takes hold, and the once-quiet streets descend into chaos. Those affected by the illness, doctors discover, are dreaming heightened dreams—but of what? – Publication date: January 15, 2019

fourteen

You Know You Want This by Kristen Roupenian is a collection of short stories that explore the complex—and often darkly funny—connections between gender, sex, and power across genres. It “brilliantly explores the ways in which women are horrifying as much as it captures the horrors that are done to them.” Spanning a range of genres and topics—from the mundane to the murderous and supernatural—“these stories fascinate and repel, revolt and arouse, scare and delight in equal measure.” – Publication date: January 15, 2019

fifteen

Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley. A new novel from one of our favorite authors – yes! Two couples have been friends since they first met in their twenties. Thirty years later, one spouse dies unexpectedly. In the wake of this loss, the remaining three friends find themselves unmoored. Instead of loss bringing them closer, the friends find that it warps their relationships, as love and sorrow give way to anger and bitterness. – Publication date: January 15, 2019

sixteen

Hark by Sam Lipsyte. In an America convulsed by political upheaval, cultural discord, environmental collapse, and spiritual confusion, many are searching for peace, salvation, and focus. Enter Hark Morner, an unwitting guru whose technique of “Mental Archery”—a combination of mindfulness, mythology, fake history, yoga, and archery—is the perfect vehicle to captivate the masses. This comic novel is billed as “a smart, incisive look at men, women, and children seeking meaning and dignity in a chaotic, ridiculous, and often dangerous world.”   – Publication date: January 15, 2019

tuesday, january 22

seventeen

Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land. This debut memoir chronicles the three years the author spent cleaning houses to support herself and daughter. – Publication date: January 22, 2019

eighteen

Talent by Juliet Lapidos. In this debut novel – a modern twist on the Parable of the Talents – Anna Brisker is a graduate student who can’t seem to finish her dissertation about the history of inspiration. Then she learns that a famous author who died after a long bout of writer’s block had been working on something new in his last days. The tale becomes a many-layered labyrinth of possible truths that reveal the danger of interpreting another person’s intentions. – Publication date: January 22, 2019

nineteen

Bookends: Collected Intros and Outros by Michael Chabon is a compilation of pieces that present a unique look into the author’s literary origins and influences. Chabon asks why anyone would write an introduction or an afterword – or for that matter, why anyone would read one. Ultimately, this is a series of love letters and thank-you notes, unified by the simple theme of the shared pleasure of discovery  – Publication date: January 22, 2019

tuesday, january 29

twenty

Golden Child by Claire Adam. This debut is a Sophie’s Choice-style novel set in Trinidad. What would you do if you had to choose between saving your perfect son or the one who’s more problematic? – Publication date: January 29, 2019

twenty-one

The Falconer by Dana Czapnik is the story of a girl basketball player in her senior year of high school New York City. – Publication date: January 29, 2019

twenty-two

Black Is the Body by Emily Bernard.  Conceived while the author was hospitalized after being stabbed by a white man, these 13 formidable, destined-to-be-studied essays are a searing assessment of race in America.  – Publication date: January 29, 2019

twenty-three

We Cast a Shadow by Maurice Carlos Ruffin. This new novel tells the story of a futuristic southern town where violent racism still persists in America. In this place, medical procedures can reduce the “ethnic” looks of the black residents. In fact, a complete “de-melanization” will liberate them from the confines of being born in a black body. A father’s obsessive quest to protect his son—even if it means turning him white—is the fuel for this narrative fire. – Publication date: January 29, 2019

That’s it – our picks for the best new books coming in January 2019. Whatever you decide to dive into this month, we hope it’s a great read.

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