November Books: Six New Titles Span Memoir, Fiction, and History

Six new books are scheduled for release in November, ranging from literary fiction to a reissued memoir by a famous novelist.

The lineup includes a return from Northern Irish author Louise Kennedy, whose second novel, Stations, explores the consequences of a past romance. Kennedy previously described the transition from her career as a chef to writing as a "strangely liberating" experience in a 2022 interview with All Things Considered. The new book focuses on young love hindered by family histories rather than religious differences.

Mary Beth Keane, an American writer, is publishing Whale Harbor, a novel that follows an Irish father and his sons. Fresh Air book critic Maureen Corrigan previously compared Keane to Ann Patchett, noting that both authors transform domestic tales into universal stories. The new work spans years, seas, and continents in its narrative arc.

History professor Matt O'Hara of the University of California, Santa Cruz, is releasing The Flying Death: Poison, Plunder, and the Quest for a Miracle Medicine in the Amazon. The book details the history of curare, a poison known as "flying death" used in blowdarts. O'Hara traces the medicinal pursuit of this herbal mixture from the 1930s, a quest that impacted pharmacology and the indigenous tribes involved.

British author Daisy Johnson is publishing Long Wave, which follows her debut novel Everything Under. Johnson earned the status of the youngest Booker Prize finalist at age 27 when her first book was shortlisted in 2018. The new novel continues her style of sparse prose and foreboding atmosphere, focusing on women with complex family bonds.

Tahmima Anam’s Uprising is set on a river island in Bangladesh where women are trapped in a life of prostitution. The story is told largely through the perspective of the children of these women. The setting is threatened by rising waters due to climate change, and the arrival of a new girl begins to shift the status quo on the island.

Cleo Birdwell’s Amazons: An Intimate Memoir by the First Woman Ever to Play in the National Hockey League is being reissued after more than four decades. The book is actually a comedy written by American novelist Don DeLillo under a pseudonym. DeLillo publicly acknowledged authorship in 2020 and approved the republication earlier this year, though his only preface is a business card stating, "I don't want to talk about it."