11 of the Best Books Out in June

The bestselling author of Hamnet and The Marriage Portrait sets her sights on Ireland in the 1860s. In a country recently ravaged by famine and starvation, a man named Tomás and his son Liam are working on the Ordnance Survey, a project to map the whole of Ireland for the British Crown. Tomás is determined to make a map not only of his country but of The Great Hunger, so recently thrust upon them by the English. But when Tomás is sent off course in an upsetting encounter, it’s up to Liam, only ten, to try to finish his father’s work even as he struggles to understand what is happening around him. —Rachel Brittain

Fresh off his Pulitzer Prize win for Angel Down, Kraus is shaking things up again with this epic sci-fi novel! The mysterious crew aboard the sentient biomatter ship The Sickness travels to a plague-riddled planet to find out what is going on. But first, they’ll have to survive the journey and the scores that need settling among the crew. —Liberty Hardy

In 2023, Cinelle Barnes is writing a memoir about returning to the Philippines when she suffers a traumatic brain injury. Her memories became malleable, hard to pin down and recall. As she recovers, she works through her memories of her childhood in the Philippines to her present living in South Carolina with her husband and daughter. Barnes’s story is of resilience in the face of so much loss, but also one of new joy as she embraces all the gifts and support she is given during her recovery. —Kendra Winchester

C. L. Polk’s first full-length romantasy in several years, The Feywild Job, is technically Dungeons & Dragons IP, and according to some, it offers the same vibes as the most recent movie. We’ve got a grifter who has sworn a literal magical oath never to fall in love, and their ex-partner, with whom things ended pretty terribly. Both have been recruited onto a team to steal a gem, and everything just goes wrong from there. Or right, depending on how you look at it.  —Jessica Pryde

Kevin is a successful cartoonist in post-war America, but his confidence is shaken by the revelation that he might have unintentionally plagiarized his most famous character, Billy Bat. He travels to Japan to get to the bottom of things, only to realize that the mystery goes far deeper than he ever could have imagined. —Eileen Gonzalez

For fans of tense mysteries set in a small town in the ‘80s!

In the early ‘80s, after almost two years in prison for a crime they didn’t commit, James and Ella White return to their community in upstate New York. There is no happy welcome back. There is instead a secret being held, harassment, a murder, and a whole lot of tension. —Jamie Canaves

This is a gorgeous historical fantasy about Anne of Brittany in France. In order to keep from being the last duchess of Brittany, she schemes a secret marriage to France’s rival. To pull off this stunt, she plans a unicorn hunt in an enchanted location, the forest of Brocéliande, where unicorns were said to have once walked. And maybe they still do… —Liberty Hardy

Skyline Studio’s answer to Sydney Poitier’s success in 1950s Hollywood is a burgeoning young actor named Xavier C. Barlow whose star is steadily on the rise. He seems to have it all—fame, success, and all the charisma an audience or studio could ever ask for—but when he dies at the height of his career, Skyline’s backlot fixer knows the truth: the circumstances aren’t what they seem. He should know; he was the one responsible for making sure Xavier stayed deep in the closet. Now, he’s ready to expose the powerful forces behind Xavier’s untimely death. —Rachel Brittain

I went into this book cold when I saw it was a work of gothic horror by a Latine author. Should I have probably deduced from the title that it was going to involve a creepy ass doll? Pues si, But did I? Nope! Doll feelings aside, I’m glad I didn’t make the connection because I might have missed out. In late 1960s Oakland, Natalia is a queer, Latine, working-class witch who schemes her way into a position caring for Violeta Miramontes, a glamorous heiress to Spanish colonial wealth who’s been paralyzed by a mysterious illness. Natalia, whose mother once worked for the Miramontes, suspects Violeta’s condition is the work of malevolent witchcraft and vows to break the curse, a pursuit that will endanger not only her charge, but herself. Make sure to read the author’s note for this one, which provides some great context for the people and places that may (or may not) have inspired the story. —Vanessa Diaz

It’s 1994 in the tiny rural California town of La Sombra, and 17-year-old Cal isn’t having a great time. His dad walked out on his family after the tragic accident that scarred Cal’s face, his classmates have a lot to say about the scar and his beat-up ’68 Mustang, and his church-obsessed mom is under the spell of a crooked pastor. Things go from bad to peor when he finds the body of his class valedictorian and immediately becomes a suspect in her suspicious death. A way out of La Sombra presents itself when Cal least expects it, but the choice to take it or leave it leaves Cal torn between obligation and the life he dreams of leading. —Vanessa Diaz

In this cute, funny story, a grandma washes her futon and leaves it out to dry. But the futon is so clean and comfortable that a cat settles down for a nap, followed by more animals, a little boy, and Grandma herself. With beautiful illustrations and plenty of fun animals for young readers to count and identify, The Fluffy Futon is the perfect bedtime read for little ones. —Alice Nuttall