# The Mancunion's most anticipated books of 2019 - Source: The Mancunion (https://staging.mancunion.com/books/the-mancunions-most-anticipated-books-of-2019) - By: Gurnaik Johal - Published: 2019-01-24T16:10:48.000Z - Section: Books - Topics: books, New Releases, 2019, New Fiction, New Poetry **The Mancunion previews 2019's most exciting literary releases** **January** ![Image result for an orchestra of minorities uk cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51BoceO5vML._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) ***An Orchestra of Minorities*****, Chigozie Obioma (Little, Brown)** A contemporary retelling of The Odyssey set in Umuahia, Nigeria. ***Thick and Other Essays*****, Tressie McMillan Cottom (New Press)** A wide-ranging essay collection from a writer praised by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Roxane Gay, and compared to bell hooks and Rebecca Solnit. ***Adèle*****, Leila Slimani (Faber)** An erotic exploration of addiction and sexuality from the bestselling author of *Lullaby*. ***Kingdomland,*** **Rachael Allen (Faber)** A debut poetry collection that makes the everyday surreal, the familiar strange. **February** ![Image result for mouthful of birds samanta schweblin](https://oneworld-publications.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/650x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/9/7/9781786074560_4.jpg) ***The Spirit of Science Fiction,*** **Roberto Bolaño, tr. Natasha Wimmer (Penguin)** Another posthumous novel from the author of *The Savage Detectives* and *2666*, about two poets in Mexico City. ***You Know You Want This,*** **Kristen Roupenian (Jonathan Cape)** This debut collection from the author of the viral short story, *Cat Person,* is full of timely horror stories. ***Mouthful of Birds,*** **Samanta Schweblin, tr. Megan McDowell (Oneworld)** A dark and eery collection of stories from one of Argentina’s most exciting Spanish language authors. ***Where Reasons End,*** **Yiyun Li (Hamish Hamilton)** An imagined conversation between a mother and her dead teenage son, as she tries to deal with the grief of his suicide. ***The Plotters*****, Un-su Kim, tr. Sora Kim Russell (4th Estate)** A thrilling crime novel set in an alternate Seoul, full of violence and lyricism. ***Late in the Day*****, Tessa Hadley (Jonathan Cape)** The death of an old friend drives three friends apart. ***A Mouth Full of Blood*****, Toni Morrison (Chatto & Windus)** Four decades worth of essays, speeches and meditations spanning issues of race, gender and globalisation, American history, and current politics, from one of our greatest living writers. ***Who Killed My Father*****, Édouard Louis, tr. Lorin Stein (Harvill Secker)** An unflinching portrait of a father, addressing issues around homophobia, masculinity and class. ***Bangkok Wakes To Rain*****, Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Sceptre)** A multi-generational novel that stretches into the past and reaches into the future. ***Black Leopard, Red Wolf*****, Marlon James (Hamish Hamilton)** The first book in James’ much anticipated *Dark Star Trilogy*, a fantasy series drawing on Ancient African mythology and history. **March** ![Image result for cover spring ali smith](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51w02nirQZL._SX309_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) ***Lanny*****, Max Porter (Faber)** Porter follows up the hugely successful *Grief Is A Thing With Feathers* with this tale of the English countryside. ***Hark*****, Sam Lipsyte (Granta)** An absurd social satire following a lifestyle guru who becomes a modern-day messiah. ***Berg*****, Ann Quin (And Other Stories)** Quin's postwar avant-garde masterpiece comes to a new audience. ***Memories of the Future*****, Siri Hustvedt (Sceptre)** A writer finds a draft for a novel she wrote in her twenties and relives her youth. ***The White Card*****, Claudia Rankine (Macmillan)** A one act play that interrogates the invisibility of whiteness and sets about understanding race divisions. ***Sing To It*****, Amy Hempel (Scribner)** The first new collection from legendary short story writer Amy Hempel in over a decade. ***Spring*****, Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)** The next book in Smith's *Seasonal Quartet*, ranging from Beethoven to Brexit. **April** ![Image result for The Tradition, Jericho Brown](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81m2-TPh2BL.jpg) ***The Tradition*****, Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)** Brown invents a new poetic form, the Duplex — part sonnet, part ghazal, part blues — in which he explores fatherhood, queerness, blackness, and legacy. ***Soft Science*****, Franny Choi (Alice James)** These poems, inspired by the Turing test, explore queer Asian-American femininity in a world of automation and technology. ***Queenie*****, Candice Carty-Williams (Trapeze)** The story of a 25-year-old Jamaican British journalist as she makes one questionable decision after another, looking for love. ***Tokyo Ueno Station*****, Yu Miri, tr. Morgan Giles (Tilted Axis)** Writing about Japan's most vulnerable people, Miri creates a powerful rebuke against the imperialist system in a narrative that starts in 1933, but is as timely as ever. ***Black, Listed*****, Jeffrey Boakye (Dialogue)** Boakye writes about words used to describe black men and women, and in doing so explores “world history, race theory, and popular culture." ***Autumn Light*****, Pico Iyer (Knopf)** A meditative piece of memoir that reflects on loss, Japan, and Autumn. **May** ![Image result for Manchester Happened, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi](https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/bj/9781786075895.jpg) ***The Polyglot Lovers*****, Lina Wolff, tr. Saskia Vogel (And Other Stories)** With wit and precision, Wolff creates characters looking for love across Europe. ***Girl, Woman, Other,*** **Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton)** A polyphonic portrait of twelve different characters, exploring modern black womanhood. ***Underland*****, Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton)** The famous nature writer goes underground in his latest book, from Greenland’s Glaciers to Bronze-age burial chambers. ***Thirteen Months of Sunrise*****, Rania Mamoun, tr. Lissie Jaquette (Comma Press)** A debut short story collection that paints a portrait of modern-day Sudan, brought to English-reading audiences by Manchester’s *Comma Press.* ***Orange World*****, Karen Russell (Knopf)** Surreal short stories about transformation from one of America’s best writers. ***Manchester Happened*****, Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Oneworld)** Short stories set in Manchester and Kampala detailing the experience of immigration, from the winner of the 2014 Commonwealth Short Story Prize. **June** ![Image result for uk cover On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong](https://www.penguin.co.uk/content/dam/prh/books/111/1117053/9781473564473.jpg.transform/PRHDesktopWide_small/image.jpg) ***Deaf Republic*****, Ilya Kaminsky (Faber)** This long-awaited poetry collection follows the story of a country whose inhabitants all suddenly lose their hearing. ***My Seditious Heart*****, Arundhati Roy (Hamish Hamilton)** Twenty years worth of essays from one of India’s most acclaimed writers. ***This Brutal House*****, Niven Govinden (Dialogue)** A queer protest novel set in New York’s drag ball community. ***On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous*****, Ocean Vuong (Jonathan Cape)** A letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. This debut novel from the award-winning poet explores Vietnamese family histories and trauma. ***Plastic Emotions*****, Shiromi Pinto (Influx Press)** Set in London, Chandigarh, Colombo, Paris and Kandy, this novel charts the true story of feminist icon Minnette de Silva, the first female Sri Lankan architect. ***The Girl at the Door,*** **Veronica Raimo, tr. Stash Luczkiw (4th Estate)** This Italian novel is a tense, timely piece about a rape accusation in an idyllic commune. **July** ![Image result for If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi, Neel Patel](https://images-eu.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41TibcunNeL.jpg) ***Ducks, Newburyport*****, Lucy Ellman (Galley Beggar Press)** The inner thoughts of a housewife from Ohio are laid out in this 750 page novel told in one sentence. It is an exploration of domestic life in Trump-era America. ***Beowulf: A New Translation,*** **Maria Dahvana Headley (MCD X FSG)** A feminist translation of Beowulf that brings out parts of the poem that previous translators have ignored. ***If You See Me, Don’t Say Hi*****, Neel Patel (Flatiron)** A collection of short stories that tackles stereotypes of Indian Americans with a host of empathetic characters. **August** ![Image result for Everything Inside, Edwidge Danticat](https://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780525521273) ***The Nickel Boys,*** **Colson Whitehead (Fleet)** Following up the Pulitzer prize winning *The Underground Railroad*, this novel follows two boys in a reform school in Jim Crow era Florida. ***Trick Mirror,*** **Jia Tolentino (Random House)** A debut essay collection from a writer I’d happily call a voice for our generation. ***Everything Inside,*** **Edwidge Danticat (Knopf)** A new collection from a consistently masterful short story writer set in Miami, Port-au-Prince, and an unnamed country in the Caribbean. **September** ![Image result for Coventry, Rachel Cusk](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41jrCqMH8NL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg) ***Frolic and Detour,*** **Paul Muldoon (Faber)** A new collection from one of Ireland’s most respected poets. ***Coventry*****, Rachel Cusk (Faber)** A wide-ranging collection of essays from the acclaimed author of *The Outline Trilogy*. **Rusty Brown, Chris Ware (Jonathan Cape)** Twenty years in the making, *Rusty Brown* is the latest from the genius graphic novelist. ***The Testaments*****, Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus)** The long awaited sequel to Atwood's *The Handmaid's Tale* looks set to be a hit, with Atwood setting the novel 15 years after the ending of the first book. **October** ![Image result for Grand Union, Zadie Smith](https://www.thebookseller.com/sites/default/files/DuxhZqNWoAAizAm.jpg-large.jpeg) ***Grand Union*****, Zadie Smith (Hamish Hamilton)** 10 brand new stories alongside 10 previously published ones in Smith’s first collection. ***Nudibranch*****, Irenosen Okojie (Dialogue)** Okojie’s second collection of stories shows memorable characters in unusual situations. ***The Topeka School*****, Ben Lerner (Granta)** Lerner turns his autofiction style to high school, writing about an aspiring poet navigating a culture of toxic masculinity. ***In The Dream House*****, Carmen Maria Machado (Serpent's Tail)** This memoir from the author of *Her Body and Other Parties*, details queer domestic violence in what looks to be a reinvention of the memoir form.