September's books tell of friendship in middle age, teachers versus fascists, and Covid psychosis

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September brings the start of school, the threat of holidays and (hopefully!) cooler weather. It also means new books. This month's releases include the sequel to a weird dark academia satire, a non-fiction account of the battle between public education and fascism, and the latest from beloved novelist Ian McEwan.

'The Wilderness' by Angela Flournoy

"The Wilderness," the second novel from Angela Flournoy following her National Book Award finalist "The Turner House," is about five 20-something Black women reckoning with the evolution of their friendships over the course of two decades. Set in New York and Los Angeles during the 2000s, the novel follows Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique and Nakia through "careers, marriages, big-city lives and motherhood, all in the midst of political, economic, environmental and overall American turmoil," said People. "I wrote 'The Wilderness' because I had not read a book that looked at how deep friendships become essential to navigating the period of life between your 20s and your 40s — the decades when we truly come into adulthood," Flournoy told the outlet. (Sept. 16, $24, Amazon; Mariner Books)

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'Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy' by Randi Weingarten

Throughout history, fascist dictators rising to power have followed a game plan that includes banning books and controlling classroom curricula. "Fascists fear teachers because teachers foster an educated and empowered population that can see past propaganda and scare tactics," said Penguin's official description for "'Why Fascists Fear Teachers." Author Randi Weingarten, the head of one of the largest teachers' unions in the U.S., has long believed that attacks on public education undermine democracy itself. With the Trump administration's recent dismantling of the Department of Education, the topic is more relevant than ever. (Sept. 16, $30, Amazon; Penguin)

'We Love You, Bunny' by Mona Awad

This is the follow-up to Mona Awad's 2019 cult classic "Bunny," which "functions perfectly as both a dark academic satire and a creepy horror novel," said Michael Schaub at the Los Angeles Times. That book followed writing student Samantha Heather Mackey as she was inducted into the Smut Salon, an elite writing group within her MFA program, and ultimately emerged as a "satire of the preciousness and navel-gazing that sometimes accompany discourse about creative writing."

The sequel picks up with Sam "now a published author on tour for her first novel," said People, but "when she stops in New England, she's greeted by her former frenemies," who tell "their side of the story, from how they first formed the Smut Salon to the secrets of how The Bunnies truly gained their creative powers." (Sept. 23, $27, Amazon; S&S / Marysue Rucci Books)

'Will There Ever Be Another You' by Patricia Lockwood

Poet and novelist Lockwood has followed her Booker Prize finalist and critically acclaimed "No One Is Talking About This" with a sophomore fiction effort. "Will There Ever Be Another You" is a fictionalized account of Lockwood's real-life experience with contracting Covid in March 2020 and losing control of both her mind and her body. "In books about illness, there's this desire for people to believe you, so you use clinical language," Lockwood told The New Yorker. "You talk about the research or the history of this particular illness. I wasn't going to do any of that, because it didn't matter if you believed me. I was just going to put you inside the cyclone." (Sept. 23, $26, Amazon; Riverhead)

'What We Can Know' by Ian McEwan

Booker Prize-winning and bestselling author Ian McEwan ("Atonement") is nothing if not prolific. His 18th novel is a literary detective story set nearly a century in the future. In 2119, England is mostly buried by rising tides, and an academic named Tom Metcalfe desperately searches through university archives for a lost poem from 2014 that may hold clues about the "possibilities of human life at its zenith," said the book's official description. "What We Can Know" is "science fiction without the science," said McEwan to The Guardian. "My ambition in this novel was to let the past, present and future address each other across the barriers of time." (Sept. 23, $27, Amazon; Jonathan Cape)