Fiction To Watch For In 2018

As good as this year was for fiction (and I said the same in 2016, which just means that books and breakthrough writers are by no means diminished by the surge of technology, as was once predicted) 2018 is already gearing up to be a pretty damn fantastic year as well. So, in particular order, here ten noteworthy books to watch for in the new year.

Self Portrait With Boy by Rachel Lyon (Scribner): A young artist photographs a boy falling to his death completely by accident, an event that could make her career but at the same time ruin a deep and possibly intimate friendship. Pub. Date: Feb. 6, 2018.

Say My Name by Allegra Huston (Harlequin): Battling the staleness of her life and her marriage, Eve Armanton feels that both the discovery of an antique violin and Micajah Burnett, the son of an old friend, is her only opportunity to step forward into a new life. Pub. Date: Jan. 9, 2018.

Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao (Flatiron Books): Set in both India and the United States, Girls Burn Brighter is the story of two friends torn apart by distance and terrible circumstances. One of them will leave her home and risk everything to find her friend again. Pub. Date: March 6, 2018.

The Long Deception by Mary McCluskey (Little A): The sudden and unexpected death of a childhood friend, forces Alison Eastlake to rethink her own choices and make new decisions about her life that may bring terrible consequences. Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2018.

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones (Algonquin Books): Young newlyweds Celestial and Roy have their lives and hopes for a bright beginning ripped apart when Roy is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Celestial is then left alone, with only Roy’s friend Andre to confide in, bringing them dangerously closer together and pulling Celestial and Roy inevitably apart. Pub. Date: Feb. 6, 2018.

Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro (Grove Atlantic): A devoted wife and mother’s life is sent spiraling into the depths of obsession and lust when a platonic relationship with a poet results into an erotic and carnal bond, pulling her away from the loyalty she feels for her family and towards the unknown grips of sexual desire.  Pub. Date: Jan.9, 2018.

The Flight Attendant by Chris Bohjalian (Doubleday): A flight attendant’s life changes in an instant when she wakes up in a hotel room lying next to a dead man…with no clue about how she got there or what happened the night before. Pub. Date: March 13, 2018.


Phone by Will Self (Grove Atlantic): Two very different men, a psychiatrist and MI6 agent, become interconnected by love, Alzheimer’s and the persisting ringing of a telephone. Pub. Date: Jan. 19, 2018.

The Adulterants by Joe Dunthorne (Tin House Books): A tech journalist in his thirties struggles with reclaiming his life’s purpose, while battling with his own harsh mental notes about others and a constant indifference to everything around him, including his own marriage. Pub. Date: March 6, 2018.

Feast Days by Ian MacKenzie (Little, Brown and Co.): A young wife relocates to São Paulo with her financier husband. There, she will find not only social injustice, street protests and crime but also the thunderous crash that exists between art and money. All the while, she must face the mounting crisis within her own marriage. Pub. Date: March 13, 2018.