Rooney’s latest novel is about grown brothers, a successful barrister and a competitive chess player, who are mourning the death of their father and navigating the lingering bitterness between them. But its primary subject, as in all of Rooney’s work, is love in its various permutations, the minutiae of falling in and out of it.

A wedding brings out the best and worst in people. Tensions run high, as do the comedic and dramatic possibilities during a wedding taking place in the shattered world of the 2008 Great Recession. The Pulitzer and National Book Award winning author Louise Erdrich captures it all in The Mighty Red,

October has arrived, bringing with it a fresh wave of literary gems from Black authors that are sure to captivate readers.