Today in Bookish and Literary History, September 16

1896 Stephen Crane is threatened with arrest after intervening when a woman he was interviewing, Dora Clark, is arrested on suspicion of prostitution

2021 The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (UK)

Elizabeth has received a letter from an old colleague, a man with whom she has a long history. He's made a big mistake, and he needs her help. His story involves stolen diamonds, a violent mobster, and a very real threat to his life.

2023 Soft Inheritance by Fawn Parker

Fawn Parker meditates on grief, illness, and the open-handed relationship between material objects and memory.

2025 A Particularly Nasty Case by Adam Kay (UK)

A chaotic young doctor might be the only person who can catch a killer in this "hilarious, macabre, and heartrending" (Lucy Foley) debut mystery from Adam Kay, former doctor and BAFTA-winning author of This is Going to Hurt.

2025 Boy from the North Country by Sam Sussman

A son returns home to his dying mother to discover the astonishing truth of his origins and the secrets of a woman whose life and wisdom he is only beginning to understand

2025 Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey

From the Academy Award–winning actor and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Greenlights comes an inspiring, faith-filled, and often hilarious collection of personal poetry and prayers about navigating the rodeo of life and chasing down the original dream, belief.

2025 The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell

Two feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era in this delightfully clever and riotously funny debut

2025 The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli by Karina Yan Glaser

Breathtaking suspense, unforgettable characters, and a pinch of magic combine in the dual stories of two young people—one in 731 China, and one in 1931 Chinatown—on perilous journeys to save their families. An instant classic from the beloved and bestselling author of the Vanderbeekers series.

2025 Uncertain Sons and Other Stories by Thomas Ha

It is a startling and masterful collection exploring familial love and trauma; societal and technological anxieties; identity and class; and alternate near-future irrealities. Sharp, incisive, imaginative, and visionary, Thomas Ha's debut heralds the arrival of a vital new voice.

2025 The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy

An era-defining novel about five Black women over the course of their twenty-year friendship, as they move through the dizzying and sometimes precarious period between young adulthood and midlife—in the much-anticipated second book from National Book Award finalist Angela Flournoy.

• FINALIST FOR THE 2025 KIRKUS PRIZE FOR FICTION

2025 One Boat by Jonathan Buckley (UK)

On losing her father, Teresa returns to a small town on the Greek coast – the same place she visited when grieving her mother nine years ago. She immerses herself again in the life of the town, observing the inhabitants going about their business, a quiet backdrop for her reckoning with herself. An episode from her first visit resurfaces vividly – her encounter with John, a man struggling to come to terms with the violent death of his nephew. Soon Teresa encounters some of the people she met last time around: Petros, an eccentric mechanic, whose life story may or may not be part of John's; the beautiful Niko, a diving instructor; and Xanthe, a waitress in one of the cafés on the leafy town square. They talk about their longings, regrets, the passing of time, their sense of who they are. Artfully constructed, absorbing and insightful, One Boat is a brilliant novel grappling with questions of identity, free will, guilt and responsibility.

• Longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025