Notable October Book Releases, BIPOC Edition

This National Book Award long-listed book is set in a near-future dystopian Kolkata, India, where food is scarce and climate change has wreaked havoc. Ma is this close to escaping the constant floods and lack of food by taking her aging father and her two-year-old daughter with her to become reunited with her husband in the United States. But then her painstakingly attained immigration documents are stolen, and her family’s future suddenly doesn’t feel so secure. Over a week, she sets out to find the thief and recover her things—but we find out the thief is Boomba, who is desperate to save his family, too. His crimes have been escalating, all in the name of love and survival. Both families want to survive in a world they didn’t create, that doesn’t seem to have enough for them.

Booker Prize finalist Taylor’s latest follows a Black artist from the South who is struggling a bit to find his place in the Manhattan art scene. Wyeth is navigating bad art shows, pretension, and even backstabbing as he tries to settle into a new art ecosystem. Then he meets Keating, who left the priesthood, and he begins to question the way Blackness fits into white art spaces…or rather, how it doesn’t.

Here’s a new sapphic fantasy from the award-winning author of the Burning Kingdoms series! A witch and a knight fated to fall in love and be torn apart over and over must find a way to halt the cycle of their story. Meanwhile, a mysterious assassin is on the prowl, looking to permanently destroy anyone with a story like theirs. — Liberty Hardy

From the award-winning author who gave us Ordinary Girls comes a barrio-set story replete with generational grief, local Robin Hoods, and even a murder investigation. Rey el Cantante is the aforementioned local Robin Hood, who is beloved in his community. He meets Maricarmen, who starts to dream of a life outside of waitressing, cleaning houses, and the realities of living in a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Puerto Rico. But all that’s easier said than done, and she eventually finds herself bogged down with trying to ensure Rey, his brother, and their daughter Nena survive. Then one day, everything changes.

Fast forward 15 years, and Maricarmen and Nena are in the middle of a murder investigation, and their community has turned against them. Nena, a teen still figuring out her sexuality, must navigate this unforgiving world, along with the loss and betrayal she’s experienced.