November 2026 releases include DeLillo's hockey memoir and new novels from Kennedy and Keane

Six new books arrive in bookstores across the country this month, featuring works from established literary figures and a long-lost comedy by a famous American novelist. The November slate includes a return from Northern Irish chef-turned-author Louise Kennedy, a new novel from American writer Mary Beth Keane, and a history of a toxic Amazonian substance by a university professor. The list also features a debut-adjacent novel from British writer Daisy Johnson, a dramatic account of life on a Bangladeshi river island, and the long-awaited republication of a memoir credited to a fictional hockey player.

Kennedy, who worked as a chef for nearly 30 years before publishing her debut novel Trespasses, released Stations in 2022. In a 2022 interview with All Things Considered, she described the shift to writing as strangely liberating. Her new book continues her focus on the aftermath of young love, this time examining the impact of family history rather than religious differences. Keane, whose 2019 novel Ask Again, Yes was compared to the work of Ann Patchett by Fresh Air critic Maureen Corrigan, publishes Whale Harbor. The novel follows an Irish father and his sons across years and continents.

History professor Matt O'Hara of the University of California, Santa Cruz, presents The Flying Death, a nonfiction account rooted in archival study. The book traces the history of curare, a poison known for its lethality in blowdarts, and its subsequent development as a medicine. The pursuit of the substance began in the 1930s and influenced pharmacology while affecting the Amazonian tribes who originally used it. Daisy Johnson, who became the youngest Booker Prize finalist at age 27 in 2018 with Everything Under, releases Long Wave. The novel maintains her signature style of spare prose and foreboding atmosphere, centering on women with complex family bonds.

Tahmima Anam's Uprising is set on a river island in Bangladesh where women are trapped in prostitution. The story is told largely through the perspective of their children, navigating a community affected by climate change and a cruel madam. The arrival of a new girl initiates a change in the community. The most unexpected release is Amazons, a memoir about the first woman to play in the National Hockey League. The book was originally published more than four decades ago under the pseudonym Cleo Birdwell. It was revealed in 2020 that the author was Don DeLillo, who has agreed to a reluctant republication earlier this year. His only preface is a business card bearing the statement: "I don't want to talk about it."

All six titles are available for purchase in November 2026.