Critics Agree: The best books of 2023

Holly, Let Us Descend, The Woman in Me, and much more [NEW RELEASES]( | [BESTSELLERS]( | [EBOOK DEALS]( | [COLLECTIONS]( [Simon & Schuster][Simon & Schuster]( [Browser]( [Best Books of the Year] [Best Books of the Year] FICTION [Holly]( [LEARN MORE]( [Holly]( By [Stephen King]( * A New York Times Notable Book Holly Gibney, one of Stephen King's most compelling and ingeniously resourceful characters, returns in this thrilling novel to solve the gruesome truth behind multiple disappearances in a midwestern town. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Let Us Descend]( [LEARN MORE]( [Let Us Descend]( By [Jesmyn Ward]( * Oprah's Book Club Pick and Instant New York Times Bestseller From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Murder Your Employer]( [LEARN MORE]( [Murder Your Employer]( By [Rupert Holmes]( * A New York Times Bestseller From Edgar Award–winning novelist, playwright, and story-songwriter Rupert Holmes comes a diabolical thriller with a killer concept: The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts, "a fantasy academy laid out like a combination of Hogwarts, Downton Abbey, and a White Lotus–style resort" (Los Angeles Times) dedicated to the art of murder where students study how best to "delete" their most deserving victim. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Temple Folk]( [LEARN MORE]( [Temple Folk]( By [Aaliyah Bilal]( * Finalist for the 2023 National Book Award for Fiction A groundbreaking debut collection portraying the lived experiences of Black Muslims grappling with faith, family, and freedom in America. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Wildfire]( [LEARN MORE]( [Wildfire]( By [Hannah Grace]( * Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller The latest in the TikTok sensation and deliciously "swoonworthy" (Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author) Maple Hills series follows two summer camp counselors who reconnect after a sizzling one-night stand. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Shark Heart]( [LEARN MORE]( [Shark Heart]( By [Emily Habeck]( * New York Times Editors' Choice USA TODAY Bestseller A "beautifully written" (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) debut novel of marriage, motherhood, metamorphosis, and letting go, this intergenerational love story begins with newlyweds Wren and her husband, Lewis—a man who, over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Bright Young Women]( [LEARN MORE]( [Bright Young Women]( By [Jessica Knoll]( * A New York Times Notable Book, Editors' Choice, and Instant Bestseller The ultimate gift for crime and suspense readers this holiday season! Don't miss this "breakneck thriller based on Ted Bundy's heinous crimes [following] two women with connections to the murders and their search for justice...a sharp examination of our culture's obsession with serial killers and true crime" (Harper's Bazaar, Best Books of 2023). [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [The Reformatory]( [LEARN MORE]( [The Reformatory]( By [Tananarive Due]( * A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he's sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [SEE ALL FICTION]( NONFICTION [The Woman in Me]( [LEARN MORE]( [The Woman in Me]( By [Britney Spears]( * The Woman in Me is a brave and astonishingly moving story about freedom, fame, motherhood, survival, faith, and hope. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [How to Say Babylon]( [LEARN MORE]( [How to Say Babylon]( By [Safiya Sinclair]( * A New York Times Notable Book A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick With echoes of Educated and Born a Crime, How to Say Babylon is the stunning story of the author's struggle to break free of her rigid Rastafarian upbringing, ruled by her father's strict patriarchal views and repressive control of her childhood, to find her own voice as a woman and poet. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Elon Musk]( [LEARN MORE]( [Elon Musk]( By [Walter Isaacson]( * #1 New York Times Bestseller From the author of Steve Jobs and other bestselling biographies, this is the astonishingly intimate story of the most fascinating and controversial innovator of our era—a rule-breaking visionary who helped to lead the world into the era of electric vehicles, private space exploration, and artificial intelligence. Oh, and took over Twitter. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Class]( [LEARN MORE]( [Class]( By [Stephanie Land]( * A Good Morning America Book Club Pick A New York Times Most Anticipated Book of Fall From the New York Times bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a struggling mother barely making ends meet as a housecleaner—a gripping memoir about college, motherhood, poverty, and life after Maid. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Making It So]( [LEARN MORE]( [Making It So]( By [Patrick Stewart]( * The New York Times and USA TODAY Bestseller The long-awaited memoir from iconic, beloved actor and living legend Sir Patrick Stewart! [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [The Book of Charlie]( [LEARN MORE]( [The Book of Charlie]( By [David Von Drehle]( * One of our nation's most prominent writers discovers the truth about how to live a long and happy life from the centenarian next door in this "original and highly readable account of a splendid American life" (The Wall Street Journal). [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [Master Slave Husband Wife]( [LEARN MORE]( [Master Slave Husband Wife]( By [Ilyon Woo]( * One of The New York Times's 10 Best Books of 2023 Named a best book of 2023 by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, and Oprah Daily The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as "his" slave. [LEARN MORE]( [Amazon]( [BN]( [BAM]( [Bookshop]( [iBooks]( [Google Play]( [Kobo]( [Audible]( [Audiobooks.com]( [SEE ALL NONFICTION]( AUDIOBOOKS [But First, God]( [The Levee]( [The Honeymoon Crashers]( [#CrimeTime]( [SEE ALL AUDIOBOOKS]( [See All: Best Books of 2023]( [See All: Best Books of 2023]( [You might like this]( [Powered by LiveIntent]( [Ad Choices]( Want more book recommendations? Visit our other sites: [Off the Shelf][Off the Shelf]( [Simon Teen]( [Tips on Life & Love][Tips on Life & Love]( [History in 5][History in 5]( This was sent to you because you registered to receive emails from Simon & Schuster. Visit the [Newsletters & Preferences Center]( to manage your account and email preferences. Not a subscriber? [Click here to sign up]( for Simon & Schuster emails. [New Releases]( | [Bestsellers]( [eBook Deals]( | [Collections]( [Facebook]( [X]( [Instagram]( [Pinterest]( [YouTube]( Simon & Schuster 1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020 © 2023 Simon & Schuster. 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