“American Wife: A Novel,” by Curtis Sittenfeld (RH, Sept.). A sweet, bookish girl grows up to become a librarian — and the first lady of the United States.
“Anathem,” by Neal Stephenson (Morrow, Sept.). The author of “Cryptonomicon” returns with a story about a medieval monk battling a looming catastrophe.
“And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks,” by Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs (Grove, Nov.). An autobiographical, posthumous work by two writers whose pal committed murder.
“Conspirata: A Novel,” by Robert Harris (S&S, Nov.). By the author of “Imperium,” a novel of Cicero and Rome.
“Crossroads,” by Belva Plain (Delacorte, Nov.). In an insular New England town, two married couples learn that there is a domino effect to betrayal.
“Deaf Sentence: A Novel,” by David Lodge (Viking, Sept.). The professor couldn’t quite hear what she said, but suddenly he’s involved with a surprisingly frisky young woman.
“Death with Interruptions,” by Jose Saramago (Harcourt, Oct.). Mankind achieves eternal life … and learns just how complicated that can be.
“The Elegance of the Hedgehog,” by Muriel Barbery (Europa, Sept.). The all-too-human tenants of a Paris apartment building, as seen through the eyes of the concierge.
“The Eleventh Man,” by Ivan Doig (Harcourt, Oct.). By the author of “The Whistling Season,” the story of 10 football teammates thrust into the battlefields of World War II.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” by Stieg Larsson (Knopf, Sept.). A punky goth girl from one of Sweden’s wealthiest families goes missing, and Uncle Henrik wants to know why.
“The Given Day: A Novel,” by Dennis Lehane (Morrow, Sept.). The author of “Mystic River” turns his skills to a historical novel about an American family caught in the closing calamities of World War I.
“Goldengrove: A Novel,” by Francine Prose (Harper, Sept.). One transformational summer in the life of a grieving 13-year-old girl.
“The Ghost in Love: A Novel,” by Jonathan Carroll (FSG, Oct.). Ben Gould falls, hits his head on the pavement and should die, but his body lives on — to hilarious consequences.
“Guernica: A Novel,” by Dave Boling (Bloomsbury, Sept.). A story of love and family unfolds in Basque country, until the Luftwaffe wreaks death and destruction.
“Home: A Novel,” by Marilynne Robinson (FSG, Sept.). By the author of “Gilead,” a novel that takes place in the house of Rev. Robert Boughton, the best friend of “Gilead”’s hero.
“I See You Everywhere,” by Julia Glass (Pantheon, Oct.). A portrait of two very different but very close sisters, by the author of “Three Junes.”
“Indignation,” by Philip Roth (Houghton, Sept.). As the Korean War flares up, the fragility of life becomes all too clear to a draft-age young man and his terrified father.
“Liberty: A Lake Wobegon Novel,” by Garrison Keillor (Viking, Sept.). A Lake Wobegon resident with a few skeletons in his closet suddenly decides to run for Congress.
“Lulu in Marrakech,” by Diane Johnson (Dutton, Oct.). He thinks she’s there to rekindle their old affair, but she’s really on a CIA assignment.
“A Mercy,” by Toni Morrison (Knopf, Nov.). In the 1680s a young slave girl enters an Anglo-Dutch adventurer’s household as payment for a bad debt.
“Midnight: A Gangster Love Story,” by Sister Souljah (Atria, Nov.). The scion of wealthy African Muslim family makes a new life on the streets of Brooklyn.
“Ms. Hempel Chronicles,” by Sarah Shun-lien Bynum (Harcourt, Sept.). Eight interconnected stories about a novice seventh grade teacher.
“One Fifth Avenue,” by Candace Bushnell (Voice, Sept.). More thrills and trials of urban love from the author of “Sex and the City.”
“The School on Heart’s Content Road,” by Carolyn Chute (Grove, Nov.). The author of “The Beans of Egypt, Maine” offers a novel about a disaffected boy and his life on the American fringe.
“Sea of Poppies: A Novel,” by Amitav Ghosh (FSG, Oct.). In the early 19th century, a mighty ship called the Ibis makes its way across the Indian ocean to fight in China’s Opium Wars.
“The Sealed Letter,” by Emma Donoghue (Harcourt, Sept.) Based on a real divorce case, this novel by the author of “Slammerkin” involves a married woman, a scandalous affair and a trial that rocked Victorian England.
“Songs for the Missing: A Novel,” by Stewart O’Nan (Viking, Nov.). When a popular high-school student in a quiet Midwestern town disappears, the community is changed forever.
“Testimony: A Novel,” by Anita Shreve (LB, Oct.). Sex, lies and videotapes in a tony New England boarding school.
“To Siberia: A Novel,” by Per Petterson (Graywolf, Oct.). The Norwegian author of “Out Stealing Horses” gives us a novel about two siblings in wartime brought closer by a family suicide.
“The Toss of a Lemon,” by Padma Viswanathan (Harcourt, Sept.). A bride at 10, a widow at 18, our Brahmin heroine moves back to her dead husband’s village to raise her two children alone.
“2666: A Novel,” by Roberto Bolano (FSG, Nov.). The great Chilean author’s last novel is set on the U.S.-Mexico border, where a series of mysterious murders has taken place.
“The Widows of Eastwick,” by John Updike (Knopf, Oct.). The witches of Eastwick — widows now — revisit their wicked deeds in a small Rhode Island town.


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