If you’re like me, you love curling up with a good book in the fall.  The leaves are changing, the air is getting chilly, and there’s nothing better than getting lost in a great story.  So here are some of the best Fall 2022 literary fiction books.  Happy Reading!

The Book of Goose by Yiyun Li

A propulsive, gripping new novel about fate, art, exploitation, and intimacy by the award-winning author of Where Reasons End.

Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm by Laura Warrell

Passion and risk, fathers and daughters, wives and single women, jazz and soul: a provocative debut novel about the perennial temptations of dangerous love, told by the women who love Circus Palmer—trumpet player and old-school ladies’ man—as they ultimately discover the power of their own voices.

The Furrows by Namwali Serpell

How do you grieve an absence? A brilliantly inventive novel about loss and belonging, from the award-winning author of The Old Drift.

The Hero of This Book by Elizabeth McCracken

A taut, groundbreaking new novel from bestselling and award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken, about a writer’s relationship with her larger-than-life mother—and about the very nature of writing, memory, and art.  

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

From the number one bestselling author of Little Fires Everywhere, a deeply suspenseful and heartrending novel about the unbreakable love between a mother and child in a society consumed by fear

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

A transporting, irresistible debut novel that takes its heroine, Cristabel Seagrave, from the gargantuan cavity of a beached whale into undercover operations during World War II—a story of love, bravery, lost innocence, and self-transformation.

The Passenger by Cormac McCarthy

The best-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of The Road returns with the first of a two-volume masterpiece: The Passenger is the story of a salvage diver, haunted by loss, afraid of the watery deep, pursued for a conspiracy beyond his understanding, and longing for a death he cannot reconcile with God.

Now Is Not the Time to Panic by Kevin Wilson

From the New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here comes an exuberant, big-hearted novel about two teenaged misfits who spectacularly collide one fateful summer, and the art they make that changes their lives forever.

Flight by Lynn Steger Strong

The new novel from the critically acclaimed author of Want, told through the shifting voices of a family gathering for Christmas in upstate New York after the death of their beloved matriarch, at odds over the settling of her estate—a novel about art, grief, shame, ambition, joy, and the American safety net.

The Lemon by S. E. Boyd

Set in the intersecting worlds of fine dining, Hollywood, and the media, a darkly hilarious and ultimately affecting story about the underside of success and fame, and our ongoing complicity in devouring our cultural heroes.

Idol, Burning by Rin Usami, Translated by Asa Yoneda

The novel that lit the Japanese publishing world on fire: From a breathtaking up-and-coming writer, a twenty-first century Catcher in the Rye that brilliantly explores toxic fandom, social media, and alienated adolescence.

They’re Going to Love You by Meg Howrey

A magnetic tale of betrayal, art, and ambition, set in the world of professional ballet, New York City during the AIDS crisis, and present-day Los Angeles.

What do you think about the literary fiction books on this list?

Have you read any books from this list?  Are any of them on your TBR?  What fall 2022 literary fiction books would you add to this list?  Let’s talk about it in the comments.