Now that summer has officially ended, ushering in cooler days and longer nights, it’s time to pack away those sand-encrusted beach reads and dive into crisp, juicy fall books. There’s a veritable cornucopia of Chicago-related releases to choose from, including new spins on long-popular books, inventive approaches to time-honored genres, and a clutch of non-fiction that consider some of the people and places central to this city.
For some guidance on where to start, here are 10 suggestions, some courtesy of Chicago booksellers, librarians and other literary stalwarts.
K. Ancrum: Adam, Mine
The prolific Chicago writer K. Ancrum brings fresh perspective to the well-worn if still compelling story of Frankenstein in her sixth novel “Adam, Mine” (Sept. 8, Harper Collins). Hailed as a “queer romantic horror thriller,” Ancrum’s YA adventure brings us a young Victor Frankenstein who once again sets out on a well-intentioned if ultimately devastating course of experimentation. Particularly affected is teenager Elias Hilfiker, who, at the hands of Frankenstein, undergoes a radical physical transformation, leaving him abandoned, friendless and mute. Bound together through a mix of complex emotions, the two boys attempt to find their way toward revenge, redemption, or a bit of both.
Pope Leo XIV and Robert F. Prevost: Freedom Under Grace: Reflections on the Spiritual Tradition that Formed Me
Since being named Pope Leo XIV, the former Robert Francis Prevost, born in Chicago and raised in Chicago’s south suburbs, has become something of a cultural touchstone locally: Some in the city watch him as closely as any seasoned Vatican observer, less for his papal pronouncements than for his pop culture preferences, whether in baseball (the White Sox) or pizza (allegedly thin crust). In “Freedom Under Grace: Reflections on the Spiritual Tradition that Formed Me” (Sept. 15, Penguin Random House), a collection of early addresses, homilies and personal writings previously published in Italian, Pope Leo, the first American-born Pope, digs into a deeper layer of his life, reflecting on how his spiritual journey has evolved under the influence of St. Augustine.
Abby Geni: Children of the Wolf
Abby Geni explores the stubborn persistence of violence across generations and settings in “Children of the Wolf” (Sept. 15, Penguin Random House). Geni’s fifth novel centers on thirty-something Liv, raised and home schooled in the Viking ways by her father, a direct descendant of Erik the Red, as she explores why men in her small Michigan town are disappearing. Jamie Thomas, who directs operations at Women and Children First bookstore, describes the novel as “hauntingly atmospheric and creepy, laden with spellbinding Nordic folklore and an ending that I was genuinely not expecting.”
John Green: Hollywood, Ending
After a successful string of YA novels, including “The Fault in Our Stars,” John Green enters the realm of adult fiction with “Hollywood, Ending” (Sept. 22, Dutton Books), in which two twenty-somethings trying to keep it together – and maybe get together – while navigating their rising fame and the making of a new film. Nahin Cano, deputy director and head buyer at Seminary Coop Bookstore, says it is full stop, all caps “INCREDIBLE…heartbreaking and beautiful and a wonderful examination of what it feels like to experience your life changing in the blink of an eye.” Cano is not alone, Green fans have already sold out his Oct. 4th event at the Chicago Humanities Festival, but you can still join the waitlist.
Cynthia Pelayo: Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror
Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown and team are anticipating “Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror” (Sept. 29, Atria/Primero Sueno Press), an anthology edited by Bram Stoker award winner and Chicago-based writer Cynthia Pelayo. Sixteen contributors spin haunting stories of migration and border crossings in which “blood, devotion and memory combine as the past presses back with teeth,” a set of camp fire tales suitable for our current moment. On Oct. 1st, Exile in Guyville bookstore will host Pelayo and two Chicago contributors, poet and writer Ananda Lima (“Mother/land”) and Northwestern University professor and writer Juan Martinez (“Extended Stay”) for a reading and conversation.
Audrey Niffenegger: Life Out of Order
Audrey Niffenegger has spent the last dozen years penning “Life Out of Order” (Oct. 6, Harper Collins), a follow-up to her groundbreaking debut, “The Time Traveler’s Wife.” Alba DeTamble is the only child of Clair and Henry, the time-torn couple in the first novel and has the same ability as her father to move around in time. For her second go round, Niffenegger has dialed back the science and proliferated the interpersonal ties to explore the complexity of social scenarios, from climate change to creeping fascism, that threaten to upend the nature of time for everyone.
Veronica Roth: The Sixth Faction
In “The Sixth Faction” (Oct. 6, Harper Collins), Chicago writer Veronica Roth returns to and reimagines her wildly popular Divergent series, offering an alternate universe scenario for her 16-year-old protagonist, Beatrice “Tris” Prior. Many of the original scenarios of Roth’s young adult trilogy remain, including its setting in a post-apocalyptic Chicago rigidly organized into five “factions” reflecting test-determined dominant traits, from selflessness to bravery. With Beatrice rethinking her original choice and the potentially unruly nature of a multiverse narrative, Roth, who is known for her plot twists, promises a “different arch” for The Sixth Faction (her title provides another hint), one she will continue in a second book already slated to come out in February 2027. Readers, start your engines!
Joy Harjo: Cloud Runner: Poems
In “Cloud Runner: Poems” (Oct. 13, WW Norton), Joy Harjo creates a moving reflection on the death of her daughter that is equally a meditation on how grief connects us all, offering a potential space of communion around public devastations. A member of the Mvskoke Nation based in Oklahoma, the former U.S. Poet Laureate might also be considered for honorary citizenship in Chicago: In addition to her regular appearances here and collaborations with local writers, the city has found its way into some of her poems, among them “Everybody Has a Heartache: A Blues” and “The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window.”
David A. Ansell, MD: Crossing the Gap: Healing Epidemics and Inequalities in a Divided City
Physician David A. Ansell,who brought the history of Chicago’s Cook County Hospital to gripping life in his memoir “County,” continues his exploration of racial and economic inequity in our public health care system with “Crossing the Gap: Healing Epidemics and Inequalities in a Divided City” (Nov. 2026, University of Chicago Press). Ansell is both a practitioner within and an observer of communities on Chicago’s West Side who, seeking to end the life expectancy gap disproportionately affecting their neighbors, are working to build healthier communities. Ansell’s collaborators, from pastors to youth organizers, have a gift for grounding statistic driven debates in fully human experiences.
Gabriel Bump: Don’t Stop Snowing
Allison Sansone and Carey Cranston of the American Writers Museum are eagerly awaiting “Don’t Stop Snowing” (Nov. 10, Hachette), the third novel from Gabriel Bump. The scenario involves a delayed coming of age as David, his newly minted graduate degree in hand, seeks new direction for his aimless life by shuffling off to Buffalo, where the snow is thick and his young cousin Flip is also weighed down by despair. Bump, who came of age on Chicago’s South Side, is lauded for the way he uses bright bursts of humor to leaven his emotionally intense narratives, as in his acclaimed debut “Everywhere You Don’t Belong.” On Oct. 13, Bump will be honored with the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation.