2026 Fall Preview: Fiction

Over the course of three instalments, Q&Q presents the titles we’re most excited about this fall. This week’s instalment features fiction. Nonfiction will be featured next week. Short fiction, graphic novels, and poetry were featured on July 22.

Q&Q’s fall preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2026. All information (titles, publication dates) was supplied by publishers.

Can’t-miss novels out this fall include new works from bestselling authors Emily St. John Mandel and Eden Robinson, and award winners Michelle Good and Patrick deWitt.

Eliza Sunshine
Michelle Good
Random House Canada, Aug.

Asha in Her Garden
Anita Rau Badami
Knopf Canada/Penguin Random House Canada, Aug.

Lords of Serendipity
Randy Boyagoda
Harper Perennial/HarperCollins Canada, Sept.

The Little Way
Carol Bruneau
Vagrant Press/Nimbus Publishing, Sept.

Dodge City
Patrick deWitt
House of Anansi Press, Sept.

Exit Party
Emily St. John Mandel
HarperAvenue/HarperCollins Canada, Sept.

The Sorceress of Sky Serpents
Eden Robinson
Random House Canada, Sept.

The Hystericals
Vivek Shraya
McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House Canada, Sept.

The Apparition
M.G. Vassanji
Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House Canada, Sept.

Solace in Winter
Mary Lawson
Knopf Canada/PRHC, Nov.

The new season brings first novels from new writers as well as short-story masters Mark Anthony Jarman and Norma Dunning, sophomore fiction from Téa Mutonji, Nicholas Herring, Amanda Peters, and Michelle Porter, and intriguing works from independent presses.

Leila and Khaled
Nyla Matuk
House of Anansi Press, Aug.

My Person
Téa Mutonji
Random House Canada, Aug.

At the Freak Show
Candas Jane Dorsey
University of Calgary Press, Sept.

Naoyak
Norma Dunning
Douglas & McIntyre, Sept.

The Range Rules
Darren Greer
Cormorant Books, Sept.

Your Breath in Charcoal
Nicholas Herring
Goose Lane Editions, Sept.

The Birthing Tree
Amanda Peters
Harper Perennial/HarperCollins Canada, Sept.

A Glacier’s Guide to Dying
Michelle Porter
Viking/Penguin Random House Canada, Sept.

Dog Days of Planet Earth
Theresa Shea
ECW Press, Sept.

The Living Realm
Jordan Tannahill
HarperCollins Publishers, Sept.

Islanders
Adrick Brock
Nightwood Editions, Oct.

Middlemen
Maria Cichosz
Now or Never Publishing, Oct.

Wild West
Mark Anthony Jarman
Flying Books, Oct.

Slodethland 66
Jean Marc Ah-Sen and André Babyn
Enfield & Wizenty/Great Plains Publications, Nov.

IN TRANSLATION

This season brings a hearty crop of literary titles from Quebec writers in translation for English readers, including new work from award-winning authors Catherine Leroux, Michel Jean, and Éric Dupont.

The Colour of Time, or the Incredible Story of Mary Gallagher
Éric Dupont and Peter McCambridge, trans.
Esplanade Books/Véhicule Press, Sept.

Ninan: Tiohtiá:ke, Montreal
Michel Jean and Susan Ouriou, trans.
Arachnide Editions/House of Anansi Press, Sept.

Republic of Glass
Catherine Leroux and Katia Grubisic, trans.
Scribner Canada/Simon & Schuster, Sept.

Asbestos
Sébastien Dulude and Pablo Strauss, trans.
Coach House Books, Oct.

Fragile Like a Bomb
Catherine Fred Lavarenne and Nathalia Hero, trans.
QC Fiction/Baraka Books, Oct.

REIMAGINED CLASSICS

Three new titles explore classic tales from new perspectives, including Dominique Fortier’s look at the creation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick and Élyssa Marcoux-Bissoondath’s story of a modern-day Dido.

One Part Ocean
Dominique Fortier and Rhonda Mullins, trans.
Coach House Books, Oct.

Daphnis and Chloe
Colin McAdam
Biblioasis, Sept.

A Hungry Fire
Élyssa Marcoux-Bissoondath
Cormorant Books, Aug.

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT

Crime, mystery, horror, and dark fantasy novels out this fall include new books from Drew Hayden Taylor, Dan Aykroyd, and a posthumous Flavia de Luce mystery from Alan Bradley.

The Woods
Jessica Hamilton
Simon & Schuster, Aug.

One Soft Infested Summer
Matthew Heiti
Latitude 46, Sept.

Queen Mab
Emily McBride
Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan Publishers, Aug.

Heatstroke
Meredyth Cole
Doubleday Canada/Penguin Random House Canada, Sept.

Lower City
Alex Spring
Random House Canada, Sept.

Soulhider
Dan Aykroyd
Harper/HarperCollins Canada, Oct.

Grotesque
Elliott Dunstan
Poplar Press/Wolsak & Wynn, Oct.

Sucker Falls
Drew Hayden Taylor
McClelland & Stewart/PRHC, Oct.

A New Kind of Clean
Iain Reid and Ellie Foumbi
Scribner Canada/Simon & Schuster Canada, Oct.

Numb Were the Beadsman’s Fingers: A Flavia de Luce Mystery
Alan Bradley
Doubleday Canada/PRHC, Nov.

HOW SWEET IT IS

Sexy, funny, and romantic books out this season include sophomore novels from Leacock Medal winner Natalie Sue, poet Nancy Jo Cullen, and bestselling author Joss Richard.

The Atlas Keeper
Gail Anderson-Dargatz
HarperAvenue/HarperCollins Canada, Aug.

Let’s Kiss and Tell
Joss Richard
Viking/PRHC, Aug.

You’ll Love It Here
Natalie Sue
HarperCollins Canada, Aug.

Dish
Nancy Jo Cullen
Buckrider Books/Wolsak & Wynn, Oct.

Dina Gets Lucky
Uzma Jalaluddin
Lake Union Publishing/Amazon Publishing, Oct.

MOMENT IN TIME

These new titles look back at life in late 19th-century Saskatchewan, 17th-century Newfoundland, and Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood after the First World War and a generation later.

Mad Hell-Rush of Days
Natalie Appleton
NeWest Press, Sept.