Lepore: We the people
The US Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world – and one of the most difficult to amend. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been proposed since 1789, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. Tellingly, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without amendment, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential power. Leading Harvard historian Jill Lepore captures the stories of generations of ordinary people who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend their nation. Recounting the history of America through centuries of efforts to realize the promise of the Constitution, we witness how nearly all those bids have failed.
Cline: Switzy
David, a retired executive, sits back in his leather seat, playing solitaire on his phone. Click. Click. Drag. Click. In his pocket is a notebook filled with urgent reminders – but he can no longer read his own handwriting. He’s travelling with his assistant. There will be a stopover in London, dinner with his adult daughter, a meeting in France with an old friend. His final destination: a clinic in Zurich. As David glides through hotel rooms, airports and foreign cities, his grasp on the present slips away and the past rushes in. With David’s arrival in Zurich looming, an exquisitely rendered portrait of an unravelling mind emerges.
Stuart: John of John
The stunning new novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author. »John of John« is the heartbreaking story of a young man’s return home and how the bonds of family life are torn by the weight of expectation. It confirms Douglas Stuart as one of the great British writers at work today.
King: Heart the Lover
Our narrator understands good love stories – their secrets, their highs and free falls. But her greatest love story, the one she lived, never followed the rules. She was in her senior year of college when star students Sam and Yash swept her into an intoxicating world of academic fervour, rapid-fire banter and raucous card games. Their lives became quickly intertwined – with friendship but also with unpredictable passions and the intimations of first love. Decades later, she is a successful writer, living a comfortable life with her husband and children, when a surprise visit brings the past crashing into the present, forcing her to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth.
Knapp: The Names
It is 1987, and in the wake of a great storm, Cora sets out with her young daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband expects her to follow tradition and call the baby after him – but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? Her choice will shape the course of their lives. Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, hoping he will grow up to be brave and big-hearted. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, keen for him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image – but is there still a chance to break the mould?
Perry: May we feed the king
Longlisted for the Booker Prize 20026 & Winner of the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 2026. She is a curator, who spends her time dressing the rooms of historic buildings to bring them to life. But in the lush private quarters of a medieval palace, she finds herself so transfixed by the reign of an almost-forgotten King that the edges of her life begin to blur …
Brown: Upward Bound
A vibrant, profoundly moving novel about the interlocking lives at an adult daycare centre in southern California.
Strout: The things we never say
Artie Dam is living a double life. He spends his days teaching history to eleventh graders, expanding their young minds, correcting their casual cruelties, and lending a kind word to those who need it most. He goes to holiday parties with his wife of three decades, makes small talk with neighbors, and, on weekends, takes his sailboat out on the beautiful Massachusetts Bay. He is, by all appearances, present and alive. But inside, Artie is plagued by feelings of isolation. He looks out at a world gone mad—at himself and the people around him—and turns a question over and over in his mind: How is it that we know so little about one another, even those closest to us? And then, one day …
Cartarescu: Du trägst meine Samstage, ich deinen Oktober
Melancholische, freche und ironische Liebesgedichte finden sich hier, Stadtbilder, Erinnerungen an die Kindheit im realsozialistisch-proletarischen Milieu und die Faszination für die weltumspannend-rebellische Jugendkultur. Dazu Sonette, Psalmen und Georgica – sarkastische Bilder vom kulturfernen Leben in der Natur. Das längere Gedicht ‚Der Westen‘, ein großer Gesang der Ernüchterung, beschließt diesen Band.
Wagner: Steine & Erden
Aus dem lehmigsten, kalkigsten Boden der Tatsachen fördert Jan Wagners Blick das Erstaunliche zutage und verwandelt es in Gedichte, deren Leichtigkeit und Klangmagie immer wieder verblüffend sind. Alles lebt und erzählt Geschichten in diesem neuen, beeindruckenden lyrischen Kosmos. Jetzt als Taschenbuch.
Showgi: Die nähere Umgebung
Farhad Showghi: »Das Wort kann sich nach Belieben vom Ding entfernen. Ja, es soll sich ruhig entfernen. Muss nicht immer Sprache können. Es wird dem Ding wieder irgendwann näherkommen, ja, vielleicht sogar überraschen. Können Dinge mehrere Identitäten haben und lose miteinander verbunden sein und sich verflüchtigen, während der Einfluss der Erinnerungen an sie ständig schwankt? Das schreibende Ich, das sich von mir entfernt, wird endlich Dinge sagen können, die mir fremd sind …«
Paris: Nachwasser
Was ein Gedicht sein kann? Alles. Frieda Paris‘ Debüt „Nachwasser“ ist durchlässig, tiefschichtig, auffächernd. Hier schreibt eine Frau, die den Einflüsterungen ihrer Wortmütter ebenso lauscht wie denen eines Vogels, der auf ihrer Schreibschulter ein Nest gebaut hat. Der Text lässt an der Entstehung eines langen Gedichts teilhaben, nimmt mit an den Schneidetisch, wo alles zusammenfindet: gestrandetes Poesiegut, Tränensalz, Wörter der Kindheit – und Zettelrückseiten aus dem Nachlass der großen Wortmutter Friederike Mayröcker.