4 Books to Read | This Fall

Maybe it’s just us, but there’s something heartbreaking about finishing a particularly good book. Sure, you barely took a breath racing toward the conclusion—but as soon you get there, you begin to miss the world you spent so much time inhabiting. It’s not unlike waking up from a good dream or returning from a relaxing vacation. If you’ve been there, we feel your pain. And more importantly, we’re here to help. Ahead are five of our top new book recommendations, all selected with some of our favorite books of yesteryear in mind. Here’s hoping you find your next great escape among them.

If You Loved: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Read: Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott

Gillian Flynn and Megan Abbot share a common talent for delving into the rich, complicated (and in the case of their heroines, often dark and twisted) interior lives of women. Give Me Your Hand tells the story of Kit and Diane, two former childhood friends whose relationship is revived when one receives the promotion the other is expecting. What erupts at this all-too-common intersection of friendship and competition will keep you turning the page long after you should have turned off the light.

If You Loved: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Read: If You Leave Me by Crystal Hana Kim

Set in 1950s Korea, If You Leave Me tells the story of a family forced to flee their village after the communist-backed army from the north invades. As rich in both love and loss as Kristin Hannah’s World War II epic, this novel sets a star-crossed romance against the backdrop of civil war—a combination that proves absolutely riveting.

If You Loved: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Read: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Soon to become a movie starring the inimitable Kerry Washington, this addictive novel follows an interconnected group of women after one of their babies goes missing. A thriller that gives equal weight to the complexities of marriage, female friendship and motherhood, this book’s themes will feel familiar to anyone who found themselves captivated by Liane Moriarty’s best seller (or the HBO series it inspired).

If You Loved: Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

Read: Social Creature by Tara Isabella Burton

Anyone who’s ever fallen victim to the Instagram comparison game (or even compulsive scrolling) might find something of themselves in the heroine of Burton’s novel. This fast-paced thriller is constructed around much of the same subject matter that drives Luckiest Girl Alive, including the sometimes performative nature of life in the modern era, what it means to be (or be among) the young and wealthy of New York City, and the obsessive desire to belong—no matter what the cost.