As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, there’s nothing better than settling in with a story that warms, transports, or thrills you. From laugh-out-loud family dramas to sweeping intergenerational sagas and dazzling tales of time, memory, and ambition, these novels offer the perfect escape for cozy autumn afternoons.

5 Novels To Curl Up With This Fall

1. To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage

Spanning decades and continents, this sweeping novel follows a Cherokee woman whose fierce ambition to become an astronaut strains—and ultimately reshapes—the bonds between the four women who define her life.

2. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

Moving between a candlelit dinner in 2014 and a dystopian, waterlogged future, this literary detective story unravels the century-long mystery of a vanished poem and the loves, betrayals, and secrets it left behind.

3. Carousel Grift by David Lane Williams

A hilarious, big-hearted story of a Texas amusement-park owner battling her late father’s ghost, a televangelist daughter running scams, and the possibility of long-awaited love—all while discovering the magic of forgiveness and second chances.

4. The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso

A richly imaginative blend of history and speculative mystery, this novel traces two intertwined timelines as a girl trapped in a vast library of human memory and a young woman decades later fight to uncover the truth time was meant to erase.

5. Happiness & Love by Zoe Dubno

Set over one unforgettable—and excruciating—Manhattan dinner party, this razor-sharp debut skewers artistic pretension, self-delusion, and the hollow glitter of cultural elites with merciless precision.

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