Today in Bookish and Literary History, January 7

 1907 The Truth by Clyde Fitch - US

2016 History of Violence by Édouard Louis - FR

History of Violence is international bestselling French author Edouard Louis’s autobiographical novel about surviving a shocking sexual assault and coping with the post-traumatic stress disorder of its aftermath.

2020 Long Bright River by Liz Moore - US 🎬

Alternating its present-day mystery with the story of the sisters' childhood and adolescence, Long Bright River is at once heart-pounding and heart-wrenching: a gripping suspense novel that is also a moving story of sisters, addiction, and the formidable ties that persist between place, family, and fate.

2020 Wilmington's Lie by David Zucchino - US

From Pulitzer Prize-winner David Zucchino comes a searing account of the Wilmington riot and coup of 1898, an extraordinary event unknown to most Americans.

• Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

2020 Summer Snow: New Poems by Robert Hass - US

A major collection of entirely new poems from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author of Time and Materials and The Apple Trees at Olema.

2020 Why We Can't Sleep by Ada Calhoun - US

A generation-defining exploration of the new midlife crisis facing Gen X women and the unique circumstances that have brought them to this point, Why We Can’t Sleep is a lively successor to Passages by Gail Sheehy and The Defining Decade by Meg Jay.

2021 Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters - US

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

• PEN/Hemingway Award Winner
• Finalist for the Lambda Literary Award
• Finalist for the the National Book Critics Circle Award
• Finalist for the Gotham Book Prize
• Longlisted for The Women’s Prize
• Longlisted for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club Pick

2021 A River Called Time by Courttia Newland - UK

A monumental speculative fiction story of love, loyalty, politics, and conscience, set in parallel Londons.

2021 The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter - UK

A bold and brilliant short work by the author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers and Lanny.

2022 The Details by Ia Genberg - Sweden

The Details is a novel built around four portraits; the small details that, pieced together, comprise a life. Can a loved one really disappear? Who is the real subject of the portrait, the person being painted or the one holding the brush? Do we fully become ourselves through our connections to others? This exhilarating, provocative tale raises profound questions about the nature of relationships, and how we tell our stories. The result is an intimate and illuminating study of what it means to be human.

• Shortlisted for the International Booker Prize

2025 The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight - CAN

As Pen experiences the sharp shock of adulthood, she comes to rely on herself for the first time in her life. A rich and rewarding novel of campus life, of sexual awakening, and ultimately, of the many ways women can become mothers in this world, The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus asks to what extent we need to look back in order to move forward.

2025 Playworld by Adam Ross - US

Less a bildungsroman than a story of miseducation, Playworld is a novel of epic proportions, bursting with laughter and heartache. Adam Ross immerses us in the life of Griffin and his loving (yet disintegrating) family while seeming to evoke the entirety of Manhattan and the ethos of an era—with Jimmy Carter on his way out and a B-list celebrity named Ronald Reagan on his way in. Surrounded by adults who embody the age’s excesses—and who seem to care little about what their children are up to—Griffin is left to himself to find the line between youth and maturity, dependence and love, acting and truly grappling with life.

2025 The Life of Herod the Great by Zora Neale Hurston - US

A never before published novel from beloved author Zora Neale Hurston, revealing the historical Herod the Great—not the villain the Bible makes him out to be but a religious and philosophical man who lived a life of valor and vision.

2025 Homeseeking by Karissa Chen - Taiwan/US

At once epic and intimate, Homeseeking is a story of family, sacrifice, and loyalty, and of the power of love to endure beyond distance, beyond time.

2025 Darkmotherland by Samrat Upadhyay - Nepal/US

An epic tale of love and political violence set in earthquake-ravaged Darkmotherland, a dystopian reimagining of Nepal, from the Whiting Award–winning author of Arresting God in Kathmandu.

2025 The Unbecoming of Margaret Wolf by Isa Arsén - US

Two Shakespearean actors in an unconventional marriage get caught up in a renowned director’s scheme that will bring them closer than ever or rip them apart for good.

2025 I'll Come to You by Rebecca Kauffman - US

Sweeping yet compact, I'll Come to You investigates themes of intimacy, memory, loss, grief, and reconciliation, and the wonder, terror, frustration, fear, and magic of brushing up against the unknowable--both around us and within us.

2025 All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall - US

Inspired by the stories of the curators in Iraq and Leningrad who worked to protect their collections from war, All the Water in the World is both a meditation on what we save from collapse and an adventure story―with danger, storms, and a fight for survival. In the spirit of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and Parable of the Sower, this wild journey offers the hope that what matters most – love and work, community and knowledge – will survive.

2025 Another Man in the Street by Caryl Phillips - UK

Both epic in its sweep and devastatingly intimate in its portrayal of damaged lives caught between two worlds, Caryl Phillips’s Another Man in the Street lays bare the traumas that often overtake personal relationships in the wake of societal transformation, and the high price of attempting to reinvent oneself.