7 New & Notable Books Coming in May 2026

The last place John-Calum “Cal” Macleod wants to go is back to the island of Harris, where he grew up on his father’s sheep farm. But when he runs out of money and can’t make a living with his art school degree, he has little choice. 

There, he struggles with his Presbyterian father, who wants to save his son’s soul. Not that Cal needs saving. He’s gay, not evil. At least he has his foul-mouthed grandmother. 

As Cal searches for any single men on the barren island, the tenuous threads holding their small community are pulled into complicated knots that threaten to change everything.

As Prohibition wanes and the Great Depression sets in on Oxford, Mississippi, several women form an unlikely sisterhood. 

Eleven-year-old Meg struggles to keep her head high despite being labeled an unadoptable “big girl.” Birdie has to find a way to get her social-climbing sister to help her family. And Charlie is running from her past. 

Individually, they might not have a prayer of success. But together, they just might have a chance. The only question is, will their audacious plan work? Or will the price they’re forced to pay simply be too high?

Ten years ago, Lily, Ana, and Margot wouldn’t have dreamed that being assigned roommates would lead to a lifelong friendship. And life has been good for all of them. 

Lily is planning her wedding, Ana is a teacher at a prestigious academy, and Margot is on the brink of a life-changing promotion. But when they gather for the wedding, the truth about their lives begins to surface. 

For their friendship to survive and their lives to move forward, they have to stop trying to protect everyone, including themselves, from the truth.

Seventy-seven-year-old Pepper Mills has just settled into a life she didn’t want. Her children chose the retirement home she lives in, but she has found new friends and even fallen in love. 

When she starts experiencing confusion, vomiting, and exhaustion, everyone worries it’s cancer. But a multitude of tests later are even more startling. She’s pregnant. As news of her pregnancy spreads, paparazzi, activists, and medical researchers all want a piece of her. 

Pepper has to make some decisions fast. The only problem is that some she’s actually not allowed to make, throwing into question bodily autonomy, morality, and even her own mortality.

Years ago, Isa fled her home and never looked back. Not until her brother shows up on her doorstep when the man who raised them is terminally ill. Back in the California desert, she’s forced to confront everything she ran away from. 

But when Dane dies and leaves her a letter, she has to use the premonitions and instincts she’s always had to follow a trail that just might bring the shattered remains of her family back together.

On the outside, Artie Dam has a full life. He teaches history to eleventh graders, goes sailing on the weekends, and has been married for thirty years. 

But on the inside, he’s plagued with feelings of loneliness and isolation. Despite being surrounded by people, he wonders how everyone can know so little about each other. 

When he learns a secret that’s been kept from him, his entire world threatens to implode. Moving forward, he has to reevaluate his life and all his relationships to make peace.

Ekwe grew up haunted. By drought, by owls, by myths. Mostly, he was haunted by the boundaries his restless spirit fought against. When he touches a forbidden leaf, he is transported through astral planes, carrying him across Nigeria. 

He’s taken in by a cowherd, where he experiences tribal wars and insurgents firsthand as he flees back to his own village. There, he becomes obsessed with his sister's marriage to a wealthy suitor. 

Caught between worlds as tension between herders and farmers threatens to escalate, Ekwe must finally face the truth of who he is and where he truly belongs.