8 New & Notable Books Coming in September 2026

John and Helen Koh were living a comfortable middle-class life in Korea when John’s oldest friend betrayed them in the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Desperate to find stability, the family leaves for Sydney before finally ending up in Southern California. 

While there’s endless opportunity for both the couple and their children, their past education and work experience don’t mean much in America. 

As they push to always do whatever it takes for their children, they cling to the belief that education is the only thing that matters. But whether that’s the truth is sometimes a matter of perspective.

In 1988, in Kingston, Jamaica, eight men start rehearsing a play. They don’t know each other, but they share two truths. The first is that they’re gay. The second is that the world refuses to accept them. 

One night, they’re attacked, leaving one of them dead and the rest severely beaten. Some of them disappear in the aftermath. Others focus on revenge. And some try to ignore what happened and go on living their lives. 

But no matter how they deal with that night, the one irrevocable truth is that they’re all changed forever.

Former nun Graziella spends her days running her parish’s food kitchen. She believes it’s her duty to keep everyone in her working-class New York neighborhood fed. 

When her daughter Grace, a psychology professor, and her granddaughter Ella, a young woman tired of defending her beliefs around being vegan and anti-capitalist, come to live with her, the three women are forced to face the decisions and events that have shaped. 

But more importantly, the women are given the opportunity to finally understand what it means to be understood by another.

Natalie knows that there is no such thing as a good job. So when she stumbles on a flier advertising a new in-house surrogacy program that she’s a perfect fit for, Natalie signs up. It helps that The Company pitched it as helping women access greater gender equality. 

And that she’s going to be very generously compensated. For years, Natalie enjoys a refrigerator full of healthy meals, twenty-four-hour healthcare, fitness coaches, and nutritionists, not to mention a beautiful condo. It’s the first time she’s felt good at her job, like her life means something. 

But when she’s about to fulfill the terms of her contract, she’s pulled into another experiment. One that leaves her questioning everything about her life, choices, freedom, and future.

It wasn’t easy marrying a megachurch pastor. For one, he was fifteen years older than Scharisse Freeman. His congregation wanted nothing to do with her, and neither did her estranged best friend. 

Despite all that, Shar managed to build a business empire that lets her live comfortably alongside her husband’s power. When she turns 40, she’s finally given the opportunity to enter the First Lady USA pageant and join the ranks of other high-profile First Lady pastors’ wives. 

But when a scandal erupts with Shar at the center, her carefully curated life explodes. As she faces the childhood secrets she’s worked so hard to keep buried, she learns another bitter lesson. In the eyes of the church, nothing matters as much as optics. Not even the truth.

In 2031, America is fighting its second Civil War, but finally there is hope. The Republic of California declares itself into existence, lifts the curfew in Los Angeles, and gives everyone a reason to celebrate. It’s a new era. 

Ari, newly released from prison, is ready for a fresh start. But when she arrives at the party, something goes wrong. Years later, Ari is living a different life in Paris, desperate to forget that night. 

Whatever happened fractured her psyche. The only problem is, whatever it was might hold the key to an entirely different world than the one she’s living in.

Nicole can’t help but feel like her older sister Cassie is hiding something. First, she overheard a heated conversation between Cassie and her husband. Then there’s how Nicole’s husband is acting distant toward Cassie. 

But the holidays aren’t the time to start trouble, especially when the family already has plenty of that. Their mother’s dementia is getting worse, and their father is struggling to hope. But as tension runs high and the family Christmas unfolds, secrets come to light that will change how Nicole sees her sister. 

By the time the holidays are over and the truth is fully out, the family will never be the same again.

In college, Patti and David made a pact. Years later, an Elvis impersonator in Las Vegas sealed it legally. They’ve lived in platonic marital bliss ever since. Except maybe not so much. David has never stopped dating women, and Patti would rather make breakfast for David’s conquests than come out to her family or risk falling in love. 

When David convinces Patti to sign up for a dating app, her life is turned upside down with flirting, miscommunication, and the ups and downs of romance. But has she spent too much time wrapped in safety to truly find happiness? And is it ever too late for a second chance?