What We Are Reading in September

Every year, a hand-selected group of young women debuts into high society at La Danse des Débutantes, the most exclusive debutante ball in the world. Being wealthy, royal, or famous gets you in, but only La Danse decides who is truly worthy of attending.

Chapin Buckingham, the daughter of two Hollywood legends, is one of the lucky few. Her chances seem good until a fellow debutante creates a PR nightmare. Enter Piper Woo Collins, the perfect person who could restore La Danse’s reputation, but she isn’t interested in becoming a debutante, until they offer her a college scholarship — if she wins Debutante of the Year. In competition for the crown, Piper and Chapin have every reason to clash. But they might just need each other to go from pawns in a game to ruling the board. 

In ancient Chang’An, Han Yu sells steamed buns in a bustling market full of whispers about his ability to summon tigers. In New York’s Depression-era Chinatown, Luli gazes out from the roof of her parents’ restaurant, dreaming of dim sum and Chinese art. Familiar rhythms rule the lives of Han Yu and Luli. When plague strikes Chang’An, and a financial crisis threatens Luli’s family, Han Yu and Luli must each venture out into the larger world and into danger-filled adventure to save what they love most. 

Filled with wondrous caves and conniving thieves, desert storms and magical lakes, this novel by the author of the Vanderbeerkers series is a testament to the bravery required to face the unknown and the power of art to connect us through the ages.  

The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for them.

At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.

Nestled at the bottom of a five-story apartment block in the community of Advance Hill is the children’s playground in Hinode Park. To the side of the playground is a hippo, whose quiet power has sustained the hearts of one community. According to urban legend, if you touch the exact part of the hippo where you have an ailment or wound, you will see swift signs of recovery.

A quietly powerful story of hope, friendship, and connection, the book introduces an eclectic group of apartment residents who find healing in their lives — though they may not always find it in the ways they expect.

When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated, yet also embarrassed that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that drove them apart.

Sonia is an aspiring novelist who has returned to her family in India after studying in Vermont. She fears that she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist she once was close to. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring clan. Together, they navigate the many forces that shape their lives: country, class, race, history, and the complicated bonds that link one generation to the next. 

It’s been a year since his best friend, Sam, died. Even though Oliver knows he won’t get a response, he can’t stop texting Sam’s number, especially as the anniversary of his death approaches. Then one day he accidentally hits the call button, and someone picks up.

The voice on the other end isn’t Sam. The number was reassigned and a stranger has been receiving Oliver’s private and vulnerable messages for months. But Ben, a college student in Seattle, won’t remain a stranger for long. When they finally meet in person, their spark is undeniable. Everything seems perfect until Oliver discovers something strange that might be keeping them apart.

Lola Treasure Gold is broke, unemployed, and back in her childhood home. Worse — unspeakably worse — one of her closest friends has just died. In a surprising turn, Lola stars in a viral video, opening a surprising path for her to become a self-help guru. She embraces the public interest in her perceived message, but is she a scammer or a sage? Just as Lola is telling others to be their own guiding lights, she can’t seem to find hers. She’s grieving, and she’s accused of using the notoriety of her friend’s death to fuel her rise. Plus, she has questions about her mother, who came to America pregnant, got deported when Lola was 8, and now has disappeared. 

Through an examination of the ways we commodify belief, the power and precarity of fame, and the delicious terror of being truly seen, the novel asks if we can look honestly at the world and still love it; the answer is a brilliant, resounding yes. 

One year ago, Stella Chen’s brother passed away, his absence now destroying the connective tissue in her family. During Stella’s senior year, her family moves from rural Illinois to San Diego, leaving her alone and adrift in her family’s suffocating silence and the void of unanswered questions her brother left behind.

When Stella’s parents force her to join her estranged childhood friend Alan Zhao for a college tour all over California, Stella dreads it. Alan is a reminder of everything Stella wishes she could be — popular, gregarious, unburdened — and a reminder of how lost she is. As the road trip takes them down beautiful coastlines and through fraught family dynamics, Stella feels a spark that reminds her why she and Alan were once so close. Before long, they find themselves pulled into each other’s orbits, forcing unspoken feelings and long-hidden truths into the light.

This novel-in-ghost-stories, set in a mysterious research facility that houses cursed objects, follows a night shift employee who soon discovers why some employees don’t last very long there. Behind every numbered door lies a story — each more unsettling than the last. A handkerchief in Room 302 that once belonged to the late mother of two sons is imbued with power and unravels the lives of those who seek to possess it. Meanwhile, a livestreaming, ghost-chasing employee steals a cursed sneaker down the hall, but later finds he can’t escape its tread. The cat in Room 206 begins to reveal the crimes of its former family, wanting to understand its own path to the institute’s dimly lit halls. Throughout the book, violent allegories excavate the horrors of animal cosmetic testing, conversion therapy, domestic abuse, and late-stage capitalism. 

When North Korean spymaster Doha Kim is mysteriously killed in Oxford, his protégé, Yohan Kim, chases the only breadcrumb given to him in Doha’s last breath: “Soju Club, Dr. Ryu.” Meanwhile, a Korean American CIA agent, Yunah Choi, races to salvage her investigation of the North Korean spy cell after the assassination. At the center of it all is the Soju Club, the only Korean restaurant in Oxford, owned by an immigrant from Seoul in search of a new life after suffering a tragedy. As different factions move in with their own agendas, their fates become entangled, resulting in a bitter struggle that will determine whose truth will triumph.