Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out
Josh Noel
In 2011, Noel broke the story in the Tribune that Anheuser-Busch bought Goose Island. Now he’s back with a fascinating history of the brewery and the craft beer revolution it helped foment. June 1, Chicago Review Press
The Great Believers
Rebecca Makkai
In her powerful third novel, the Lake Bluff native and StoryStudio Chicago artistic director revisits Boystown during the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, when tens of thousands died while Reagan looked the other way. June 19, Viking
The Calculating Stars
Mary Robinette Kowal
The first novel in the Ukrainian Village resident’s new Lady Astronaut series imagines a very different space race, with women taking to the stars after a meteor destroys Washington, D.C., in 1952. July 3, Tor Books
If You Leave Me
Crystal Hana Kim
Inspired by her grandmother’s past, the Hyde Park resident’s debut novel is a beautiful love story revolving around families forced to flee their homes during the Korean War. August 7, William Morrow
Under a Dark Sky
Lori Rader-Day
One of Chicago’s most prolific mystery writers is back with yet another thriller, in which a widow investigating her husband’s death gets caught up in a bizarre murder plot at a private resort. August 7, William Morrow
Severance
Ling Ma
This quirky satire of office culture by a U. of C. lecturer imagines what would happen to a Chinese American workaholic if Manhattan were hit by a sudden apocalypse. August 14, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The Best of Royko
Mike Royko
When Rupert Murdoch bought the Sun-Times in 1983, Royko left for a new job across the street. This collection, edited by his son David, covers the legendary columnist’s lesser-known Tribune years. August 14, Agate Midway
Scarface and the Untouchable
Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz
We’ve all heard the story of Al Capone and Eliot Ness, but when you pair the writer of Road to Perdition with a Princeton historian, you get a gripping take on Chicago’s past that reads like a novel. August 14, William Morrow
Small Animals
Kim Brooks
The Edgewater resident’s new mix of memoir and reportage, arriving on the heels of a viral essay about being arrested for leaving her son in the car for five minutes, explores the escalating relationship between parenthood and fear in America. August 21, Flatiron Books
If They Come for Us
Fatimah Asghar
You might know Asghar as the writer and cocreator of Brown Girls, the Chicago-set web series that was nominated for an Emmy last year, but she’s also an accomplished poet, and her debut collection is a gorgeous, knife-sharp meditation on sex, race, and coming of age. August 7, One World