5 riveting books to take you through September

Fall is a busy season for publishing. A slew of books will be coming down the pipeline soon, right  in time for the beginning of pumpkin-spice season. Some of autumn's textual standouts include Sally Rooney's long-awaited fourth novel and another memoir from Mary L. Trump.

'Creation Lake' by Rachel Kushner (Sept. 3)

Longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize, Rachel Kushner's fourth novel "Creation Lake" is a highly anticipated spy thriller helmed by a less-than-reliable heroine. An American spy-for-hire, who goes by Sadie, infiltrates a commune of French environmentalists posing as a translator in Kushner's "philosophical rendition of the spy novel," said The New York Times. The story follows "Sadie" as she ingratiates herself with a group of "green" anarchists allegedly plotting an attack. Kushner has been mentioned among the best contemporary American writers. Her latest "bears all the hallmarks of her inquisitive mind and creative daring," said The Washington Post. "Bore through this noir posing and wry satire of radical politics, and you feel something vital and profound prowling around in the darkness beneath," said the Post. Pre-order here.

'We're Alone' by Edwidge Danticat (Sept. 3)

In acclaimed novelist Edwidge Danticat's upcoming essay collection, "the personal is the political," said Time magazine. Across the book's the eight essays, Danticat discusses her Haitian roots, the pandemic and "America's societal woes." She writes about xenophobia, Haiti's refugees and a mass shooting hoax at a Miami mall with "heart, humor and outrage." She also pays tribute to her favorite authors who "showed her that the best storytellers are also activists" and the storytelling traditions of her island homeland. Like the orators she looks up to, Danticat "cultivates a style that is diverting and digressive," said The Washington Post. "Her essays are not linear artifacts but webs that spin around ideas or turns of phrase." Pre-order here.

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'Who Could Ever Love You: A Family Memoir' by Mary L. Trump (Sept. 10)

Clinical psychologist and niece of the former president Mary Trump is back with another deep dive into her family history. Following her exposé of Donald Trump, she returns to tell the story of what it was like growing up in one of America's most infamous dynasties. A year after publishing 2020's "Too Much and Never Enough," Trump said she checked into treatment for "dissociation… and increasing social isolation." This led her to deeply reflect on her early years, "which were dominated by her grandfather, real estate developer Fred Trump," said Publisher's Weekly. The memoir's material can be "astonishingly bleak," but Trump's "clear and concise prose shines," and she has a "well-trained eye for the melancholy that runs through her family," the outlet said. "It's an astute and occasionally explosive plunge into an American dynasty's heart of darkness." Pre-order here.

'Entitlement' by Rumaan Alam (Sept. 17)

Rumaan Alam's 2020 dystopian novel "Leave the World Behind" was made into a film last year on Netflix starring Julia Roberts. Now he returns with a new book that "drops the sci-fi styling for another nervy social drama eyeing the complex contours of prejudice," said The Guardian. A Black Vassar graduate, growing bored of her job at a Bronx school, is hired by a white billionaire octogenarian philanthropist who embraces her as his protégé. When she gets a taste of the high life among his inner circle, she begins to feel entitled to the seat of privilege he sits on. "A slow-burn tale of connivance and deceit with a knockout ending," the outlet said. Pre-order here.

'Intermezzo' by Sally Rooney (Sept. 24)

The Irish literary sensation returns with her highly anticipated fourth novel this fall. Sally Rooney has developed a bit of a cult following since her 2017 debut "Conversations with Friends." Since then, she has become one of the most heralded authors of her generation, with three books and two television adaptations under her belt. Her latest book returns to Dublin, following two brothers navigating complicated relationships with women after their father dies. With a "Joycean tang to the prose," her upcoming novel "continues the deepening of her style since the crystalline insouciance" of her debut, said The Guardian. Pre-order here.