New month, new books! Book Light is our Dandelion Chandelier curated list of the most-anticipated new book releases every month, and next up is February 2020. The perfect February read captures the high emotion and passions of the month. So what are the best new books to read coming in February 2020? Our intrepid team has been exploring and here’s what we found.
what are the most-anticipated new book releases for February 2020?
Wondering what to read in February 2020? We’ve surveyed the landscape, and rounded up a list of the best new books coming this February.
The most-anticipated new books coming in February 2020.
What are the common themes in the crop of most-anticipated new book releases this month? Well, first, of course, it’s the month of Valentine’s Day. And there are poetry collections and novels about love lost and found.
There are also interesting works of non-fiction about love, but not necessarily for another human. We’re talking book love, falcon love, and love of country. For example, February is the month of President’s Day, and there are a surprising number of new takes on George Washington.
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Several beloved authors are back with new works, including Jenny Offil, Colum McCann, Gish Jen, Aravind Adiga, Hannah Rothschild and Graham Moore. And there are also numerous buzzed-about debuts, many of them from women writers.
What to read in February 2020? The hardest part is deciding where to start.
What are the most-anticipated new book releases scheduled for February 2020?
the best new books coming in February 2020
Here’s our pick of the top new books – novels, essay collections, and non-fiction – that we cannot wait to read. You can pre-order them now if you like (and if you do, full disclosure, we may earn a small commission on the sale).
new books coming in the week of February 4, 2020
1.
The Lost Book of Adana Moreau by Michael Zapata. In 1929 in New Orleans, a Dominican immigrant named Adana Moreau writes a science fiction novel entitled Lost City. Just before she dies, Moreau and her son destroy the only remaining copy of the manuscript. Decades later in Chicago, while cleaning out his dead grandfather’s home, a man discovers a mysterious package containing a manuscript written by none other than Adana Moreau. In a journey that wends its way through post-Katrina New Orleans, this debut novel is a meditation on displacement and exile in America – Publication date: February 4, 2020
2.
The Resisters by Gish Jen. In a not-so-distant future, “AutoAmerica” is half-submerged. And society is divided into the “Netted,” who have jobs and occupy dry land. And the “Surplus,” who live on swampland (if they’re lucky). But when an extraordinarily gifted Surplus daughter is needed for a national win in the upcoming Olympic Games, everything about how society is governed is called into question – Publication date: February 4, 2020
3.
The Regrets by Amy Bonnaffons. This charming debut novel is about a love affair between the living and the dead. A young man and woman meet cute in Brooklyn. Unfortunately, it turns out that the man is in an afterlife limbo, unable to “cross over” until he completes a 90-day stint on earth. During which time he’s forbidden to interact with the living. What’s a girl to do? – Publication date: February 4, 2020
The best new books coming in February 2020.
4.
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. In this debut novel, a young Nigerian woman trapped in a life of servitude is determined to get an education. Her mother has told her it’s the only way to get a “louding voice”— the ability to speak for herself and shape her own future. Facing adversity at every turn, ultimately she finds the resolve to speak —”in a whisper, in song, in broken English — until she is heard” – Publication date: February 4, 2020
5.
Black Sunday by Tola Rotimi Abraham. In this debut novel set in Lagos in 1996, middle-class twin sisters are separated from each other and the rest of their family due to political strife and bad decisions on the part of their parents. Over the course of twenty years, the two must make their ways in the world. Eventually they find differing paths to independence – Publication date: February 4, 2020
6.
Minor Dramas & Other Catastrophes by Kathleen West is a debut novel about life inside the privileged bubble of Liston Heights High. We see the micro-managing parents, the overworked teachers, and the students caught in the middle. And we also see the fallout for them when the bubble bursts – Publication date: February 4, 2020
The best new books coming in February 2020.
7.
Everywhere You Don’t Belong by Gabriel Bump. In this debut novel, we meet and come to love Claude McKay Love. As a young black man born on the South Side of Chicago, he is raised by his civil rights–era grandmother, who tries to shape him into a principled actor for change. But he’s reluctant to let race define his life. He departs his hometown for a faraway college – but outrunning the role of race in America turns out to be impossible – Publication date: February 4, 2020
8.
The Cactus League by Emily Nemens. The editor of The Paris Review writes about one of her great passions in this novel: baseball. A star outfielder, the team’s coaches and fans seem to inhabit the same space as criminals in the off-kilter world of spring training in the punishingly hot Arizona desert – Publication date: February 4, 2020
9.
Verge: Short Stories by by Lidia Yuknavitch. Children harvest organs, janitors build magical worlds, and mourning lovers drive to destinations unknown in this searing, precise collection of short stories – Publication date: February 4, 2020
What to read in February 2020.
10.
Unfinished Business: Notes of a Chronic Re-reader by Vivian Gornick is a celebration of passionate reading. Of returning again and again to the books that have shaped us at crucial points in our lives. In nine essays the author extols the importance of reading―and re-reading―as life progresses – Publication date: February 4, 2020
11.
Brother & Sister by Diane Keaton. Film star Keaton shares the story of her brother, Randy, in this intimate and candid memoir. In it, she narrates their inseparability when they were young. And then goes on to tell of her brother’s troubled adult life, which was riven by alcoholism and other personal struggles – Publication date: February 4, 2020
12.
You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington by Alexis Coe. Just in time for President’s Day comes a fresh perspective on the traditional (reverential) biographies of the nation’s first elected leader. We learn about the women in Washington’s life – his hardworking single mother, and the wife who whipped him into shape. And we wrestle with the father of liberty’s decisions about owning slaves. And about what would become of them upon his death – Publication date: February 4, 2020
What to read in February 2020.
new books coming in the week of February 11, 2020
13.
Weather by Jenny Offill. In the second novel from the bestselling author of Dept. of Speculation, Lizzie Benson moonlights as a fake shrink outside of her day job as a librarian. When she’s hired by a famous podcaster to read and answer listener mail, Lizzie will have to confront everything she doesn’t (and hasn’t wanted to) know – Publication date: February 11, 2020
14.
House of Trelawney by Hannah Rothschild. From the author of The Improbability of Love comes a new novel about an eccentric, dysfunctional family of English aristocrats and their crumbling stately home. For more than seven hundred years, Trelawney Castle has been the family seat. Now in 2008 the house has begun to resemble its owners: out-of-date. In Rothschild’s capable hands, the novel becomes a timely meditation “on how we are connected, what we owe to one another, and how to carry on existing in a world which has outgrown us” – Publication date: February 11, 2020
15.
Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. A young boy grows up under the care of his not-always-attentive mother in this novel set against the backdrop of heroin addiction in 1980’s Glasgow – Publication date: February 11, 2020
What to read in February 2020.
16.
Something that May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel Mallory Ortberg. The writer of Slate’s “Dear Prudence” column has written a collection of essays and cultural observations spanning pop culture—from the popular to the obscure. – Publication date: February 11, 2020
17.
If Men, Then by Eliza Griswold. This second poetry collection from Griswold contains beautiful works that are both au courant and yet somehow timeless – Publication date: February 11, 2020
18.
In the Land of Men: A Memoir by Adrienne Miller. The first female literary editor of Esquire magazine, appointed at age twenty-five, shares her experiences as a cultural gatekeeper in a male-dominated world – Publication date: February 11, 2020
What to read in February 2020.
19.
American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI by Kate Winkler Dawson. Edward Oscar Heinrich was one of America’s greatest–and first–forensic scientists, with an uncanny knack for finding clues, establishing evidence, and deducing answers with a skill that seemed almost supernatural. One of the nation’s first expert witnesses, his work changed the course of American criminal investigation. And not always for the better – Publication date: February 11, 2020
20.
Franklin & Washington: The Founding Partnership by Edward J. Larson. This is the history of a decades-long relationship between two vastly different men. Benjamin Franklin was an abolitionist freethinker from the urban north. George Washington was a slave-holding general from the agrarian south. This is a striking and detailed examination of their alliance, their compromises, and their lasting impact on America – Publication date: February 11, 2020
21.
The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer. In the spirit of Susan Orlean’s The Orchid Thief, this is the true story of a rogue who trades in rare birds and their eggs—and the wildlife detective determined to stop him. From the volcanoes of Patagonia to Zimbabwe’s Matobo National Park, and from the tundra near the Arctic Circle to aviaries in the deserts of Dubai, we follow a smuggler’s trail and root for the beautiful creatures he tries to make his own – Publication date: February 11, 2020
The most-anticipated new books and book releases in February 2020.
new books coming in the week of February 18, 2020
22.
The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes follows the real-life Samuel Pozzi, a society doctor in Belle Époque Paris. Friends with Oscar Wilde, Henry James, Marcel Proust and other literary notables, he navigates a city of glamour. But also of destruction, nativism and violence – Publication date: February 18, 2020
23.
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin. In this debut novel, Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Years later, Claire is living and working in New York City when a brief but fateful encounter brings her together with one of the men originally suspected of murdering her sister. She’s hoping to gain his trust and waiting for the slip that will reveal the truth. Instead, she forms an unlikely attachment – Publication date: February 18, 2020
24.
Amnesty by Aravind Adiga. In this new novel from the Man Booker Prize winner, an illegal immigrant in Sydney has been denied refugee status after fleeing Sri Lanka. During his work as a cleaner, he finds evidence that might bring a murderer to justice. And is confronted with a choice: Come forward with his knowledge about the crime and risk being deported? Or say nothing, and let justice go undone? – Publication date: February 18, 2020
The most-anticipated new books and book releases in February 2020.
25.
Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies: And Other Rituals to Fix Your Life, from Someone Who’s Been There by Tara Schuster. By the time she was in her late twenties, Tara Schuster was a rising TV executive at Comedy Central. But beneath the veneer of success, she suffered from depression, anxiety, and a sense of shame. Here, she shares her journey to becoming a “ninja of self-love” and a fully-functioning adult through simple daily rituals – Publication date: February 18, 2020
26.
The Holdout by Graham Moore. The author of the novel The Last Days of Night returns with a new courtroom thriller. In ” the most sensational case of the decade,” a young woman juror persuades her peers to return a not-guilty verdict. Ten years later, a true-crime film crew reassembles the jury, with particular focus on the “holdout,” who is now a defense attorney herself. When one of the jurors is subsequently found dead, it’s clear that there was more to the original case than the public knows – Publication date: February 18, 2020
27.
Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America by R. Eric Thomas. The creator of Elle Magazine’s “Eric Reads the News” feature shares the story of his life in a series of essays. He writes about struggling to reconcile his Christian identity with his sexuality. The exhaustion of “code-switching” in college. Accidentally getting famous on the internet (for the wrong reason). And the surreal experience of covering the 2016 Presidential election – Publication date: February 18, 2020
The most-anticipated new books and book releases in February 2020.
new books coming in the week of February 25, 2020
28.
Apeirogon by Colum McCann. The author of Let the Great World Spin returns with a new novel. Named for a shape with a countably infinite number of sides, this is a story of friendship, love, loss, and belonging. Bassam Aramin is Palestinian. Rami Elhanan is Israeli. Their young daughters, Abir and Smadar, attend the same school. When both girls are lost to violence, the two fathers come to recognize the pain that connects them. And then they attempt to use their grief as a facilitator of peace – Publication date: February 25, 2020
29.
Apartment by Teddy Wayne. Sharing space can be a tricky proposition for any two people, especially in crowded New York; this novel delves into the experience of two male writers cohabiting in the same apartment and uneasily learning to navigate life with each other – Publication date: February 25, 2020
30.
Minor Feelings by Cathy Park Hong. This essay collection tackles the complex question of what it means to be Asian American in a dominant culture that so frequently erases that, and many other, identities – Publication date: February 25, 2020
The most-anticipated new books and book releases in February 2020.
31.
Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman’s Search for Justice in Indian Country by Sierra Crane Murdoch. This is the true story of a murder on an Indian reservation, and the unforgettable Arikara woman, Lissa Yellow Bird, who becomes obsessed with solving it. Her pursuit of answers is also a quest for redemption, as she atones for her own crimes and reckons with generations of trauma among her people – Publication date: February 25, 2020
32.
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz by Erik Larson. The first 12 months of Winston Churchill’s service as Prime Minister were more daunting that perhaps the first year of any modern politician’s life. The Blitz has London under near nightly attack, and before its over, 45,000 Britons will have died. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports, the author provides fascinating new insights on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family. It’s the story of how Churchill and his associates taught the British people “the art of being fearless” – Publication date: February 25, 2020
33.
Go to Sleep (I Miss You): Cartoons From the Fog of New Parenthood by Lucy Knisley. Following the completion of her pregnancy memoir Kid Gloves (and the birth of her baby), the author and graphic artist embarked on a new project: documenting new motherhood in short, spontaneous little cartoons. The best of them are collected in this adorable book – Publication date: February 25, 2020
The best new books and book releases coming in February 2020.
best new book releases in February 2020
Those are our picks for the best and most-anticipated books coming – and an overview of options for what to read in February 2020. What’s at the top of your list?
join our community
For access to insider ideas and information on the world of luxury, sign up for our Dandelion Chandelier newsletter, here. And see luxury in a new light.
Join our community
For access to insider ideas and information on the world of luxury, sign up for our Dandelion Chandelier newsletter. And see luxury in a new light.