Best new books: autumn 2019 reads
From Margaret Atwood to Philip Pullman, the best new books books autumn 2019 has to offer
Agent Running in the Field by John le Carré
Nobody writes a spy thriller quite like John le Carré. Modern classics including The Night Manager and The Little Drummer Girl showcase his skill for suspense and stylish plot twists.
Le Carré’s 25th novel promises to delve into 'the division and rage at the heart of our modern world'. Agent Running in the Field explores one man's attempts to resist political turblence, and all the risks and dangers he faces in doing so.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Whether a hostage situation in Bel Canto or a family saga in Commonwealth, Ann Patchett writes with a painter's eye for detail and poet's flair for imagery. Her eighth novel The Dutch House is just as richly absorbing as you'd expect from the Orange Prize and PEN/Faulkner award-winning writer.
It explores a fractured family that is bound together by a magnificent mansion. Danny and Maeve grew up in the ornately-decorated Dutch House. It's the house their mother abandons. It's the house their step-mother kicks them out of. Though exiled and rootless, Danny and Maeve are still compelled by the house, returning regularly to gaze through the windows. As they grow up the house continues to hold the secrets to their lonely, confusing childhood. Patchett writes with warmth, but slips in devastating details like a rug pulled out from underfoot.
The Starless Sea by Erica Morgenstern
Seven years after The Night Circus has us all entranced, Erica Morgenstern has conjured a new fantasy world. The Starless Sea is magical story about the magic of stories. It follows graduate student Zachary Ezra Rawlins on a heady treasure hunt. After finding his own life story within the pages of a strange book and following a series of clues, Zachary discovers a secret subterranean library with an astonishing archive.
As fans of The Night Circus will know, Morgenstern writes with a fantastical realism, making ethereal spaces feel as absolute and fully-formed as the world around you.
The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman
A whole generation rooted for plucky young Lyra and her deamon Pantalaimon in Philip Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy. Then we encountered her as a baby in the first part of Pullman's feverishly-anticipated Book of Dust series.
The second instalment, The Secret Commonwealth, introduces us to Lyra the undergraduate. It has been 20 years since she was rescued by a young boy in a boat, and seven years since she said goodbye to Will forever. But the quest to understand the elusive power of 'dust' continues, taking Lyra in search of a haunted desert city, and threatening her bond with the one presence that's remained constant.
The Confession by Jessie Burton
Secrets and self-discovery play out over two generations, in the new book by Jessie Burton. The Miniaturist author channels her talent for complex characters and absorbing mysteries into a new story about the connection between three women.
The Confession spans frosty Hampstead Heath to gilded Hollywood parties. In 1980 London Elise is quickly captivated by bright young writer Connie. But when she follows her new friend to LA, Elise finds herself overwhelmed by the City of Dreams. Then, an overheard conversation at a party prompts Elise to make a spontaneous decision that changes her life indelibly.
Thirty years later, Rose Simmons is searching for the truth about her long lost mother. The only person with answers is Constance Holden, a reclusive writer who withdrew from public life at the height of her fame.
Nothing Ventured by Jeffrey Archer
William Warwick is about to become a household name. The fledgling detective is hero of a new literary saga from master story-teller and perennial best-seller Jeffrey Archer.
Nothing Ventured follows the ambitious young William as family pressure to train as a barrister and instead joins the Metropolitan Police Force. From the early days out on the beat to the case that cinches his push to be made detective, solving crimes defines William's life.
The theft of a priceless artwork is catalyst for romance and deception - and the beginning of an epic new series.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
‘Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in,' Margaret Atwood promised readers when she announced a sequel to The Handmaid's Tale.The Testaments takes us back to the dystopian world of the the best-selling 1985 novel. It is narrated by three women and set 15 years after Offred’s enigmatic escape in the back of a van.
Atwood created Gilead by combining real life abuses of women through history into a chilling alternate reality, and contemporary politics offer much fuel for the fictional fascist regime.
The Testaments is the joint winner of the 2019 Man Booker Prize (along with Bernardine Evaristo's Girl, Woman, Other)
Quichotte by Salman Rushdie
Drawing on Don Quixote, Quichotte follows a travelling salesman across the USA, in a rousing tour of contemporary politics and prejudice. Much like Salman Rushie's Booker-winning masterpiece Midnight's Children, this new book returns to his distinctively frenetic meta-textual story-telling.
It follows mediocre writer Sam DuChamp who creates a character in homages to Cervantes's classic. As this courtly character goes gallivanting around the country on a quest of bravery and romance, his creator remains mired in a mid-life crisis.
Rushie spins this this vibrant, playful and often absurd pastiche with a keen sense of contemporary zeitgeist.