Best Fiction of 2023

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

Yellowface
by R.F. Kuang

After the death of her literary rival in a freak accident, author June Hayward steals her just-finished masterpiece, sending it to her agent as her own work, but as emerging evidence threatens her success, she discovers how far she’ll go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

Happiness Falls
by Angie Kim

When Mia’s father doesn’t come home from a walk in the local nature reserve, she doesn’t think much of it. He must’ve turned off his phone. Or his battery died. Or he probably stopped for an errand–but doing what exactly? Soon more questions arise and it becomes clear to Mia and her family that he is missing. Or is he?

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray

The Bee Sting
by Paul Murray

The Barnes family is in trouble, with Dickie’s once-lucrative car business going under, but he’d rather build an apocalyptic-proof bunker than face the music. His wife Imelda is selling her jewelry on eBay and their teenaged daughter Cass seems determined to drink her way through her final exams. Plus, twelve-year-old PJ is planning to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong?

I am Homeless if this is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore

A teacher visiting his dying brother in the Bronx. A mysterious journal from the nineteenth century stolen from a boarding house. A therapy clown and an assassin, both presumed dead, but perhaps not dead at all…

The Fraud by Zadie Smith

The Fraud
by Zadie Smith

It is 1873 and Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeep –and cousin by marriage- of William Ainsworth. She has many interests, like literature, justice, abolition, and more. Meanwhile, Andrew Bogle, who grew up enslaved in Jamaica, finds himself in London as a star witness in a case of imposture. The Tichborne Trial captivates all of England, including Mrs. Touchet. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is- or is he a fraud?

The Guest by Emma Cline

The Guest
by Emma Cline

Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes of a rarified world that is, at first, closed to her. She is a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.