“What are the best Fiction books released in 2019?” We looked at 436 of the top Fiction books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!

The top 40 books, all appearing on 4 or more “Best Fiction” book lists, are ranked below by how many times they appear. The remaining 375+ titles, as well as the sources we used, are in alphabetical order on the bottom of the page.

Our other Best Of 2019 Articles:

• The Best Young Adult Books
• The Best Science Fiction And Fantasy Books
• The Best Science And Nature Books
• The Best Mystery, Horror, and Thriller Books
• The Best Nonfiction Books
• The Best History Books
• The Best Fiction Books
• The Best Cookbooks
• The Best Graphic Novels And Comics
• The Best Biography And Memoir Books
• The Best Art And Photography Books
• The Best Kids, Children, and Youth Books
• The Best Poetry Books

Our Other Years: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015

All books appearing on 2 or more lists have also been added to a Bookshop list as well.

Happy Scrolling!

Top 40 Best Fiction Books From 2019

40 .) A Woman is No Man written by Etaf Rum

Lists It Appears On:

• Debutiful
• Goodreads
• Goodreads 2
• Amazon

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK A GOODREADS CHOICE AWARDS FINALIST FOR BEST FICTION AND BEST DEBUT • BOOKBROWE’S BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • A Washington Post 10 Books to Read

39 .) All This Could Be Yours written by Jami Attenberg

Lists It Appears On:

• Amazon
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal 2
• Vogue

“From New York Times best-selling author Jami Attenberg comes a sharp, funny, and emotionally powerful novel about a family reuniting at the deathbed of its patriarch. In reckoning with his secret past, can they rebuild and begin anew?”–

38 .) Bunny written by Mona Awad

Lists It Appears On:

• Vogue
• Largehearted Boy
• Entropy
• CBC

The Vegetarian meets Heathers in this darkly funny, seductively strange novel from the acclaimed author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl “We were just these innocent girls in the night trying to make something beautiful. We nearly died. We very nearly d

37 .) Celestial Bodies written by Jokha Alharthi

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Five Books 2
• Guardian
• Kirkus Reviews

Celestial Bodies is set in the village of al-Awafi in Oman, where we encounter three sisters: Mayya, who marries Abdallah after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries from a sense of duty; and Khawla, who rejects all offers while waiting for her beloved, who has

36 .) Daisy Jones & the Six : a novel written by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Lists It Appears On:

• King County Library System
• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• Amazon

A gripping novel about the whirlwind rise of a world-famous 1970s rock group and their beautiful lead singer–and the secret reasons behind their dramatic break up. Daisy Jones is a beautiful, broken girl growing up in L.A. with rich parents who barely kno

35 .) Disappearing Earth written by Julia Phillips

Lists It Appears On:

• Debutiful
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• City of Asylum Bookstore

A stunning debut from an acclaimed travel writer, Disappearing Earth is about two sisters who go missing on the remote volcanic peninsula of Kamchatka. Clues to the crime lie in the lives – and stories of violence and loss – of twelve women in the girls’ r

34 .) Miracle Creek written by Angie Kim

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Goodreads
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal 2

A thrilling debut novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Celeste Ng about how far we’ll go to protect our families—and our deepest secrets My husband asked me to lie. Not a big lie. He probably didn’t even consider it a lie, and neither did I, at first . . .

33 .) Mrs. Everything : a novel written by Jennifer Weiner

Lists It Appears On:

• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• Amazon
• NPR

From Jennifer Weiner, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Who Do You Love and In Her Shoes comes a smart, thoughtful, and timely exploration of two sisters’ lives from the 1950s to the present as they struggle to find their places—and be true to th

32 .) Queenie written by Candice Carty-Williams

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Goodreads 2
• Guardian
• NPR

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY WOMAN’S DAY, NEWSDAY, PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, BUSTLE, AND BOOK RIOT! “[B]rilliant, timely, funny, heartbreaking.” —Jojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You Bridget Jones’s Diary meets A

31 .) The gifted school : a novel written by Bruce W. Holsinger

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads 2
• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• NPR

“Like Big Little Lies with standardized testing, this addictive novel digs hard into the culture of striving parents and anxious children, exploring privilege, competition and the elusiveness of happiness. A deeply pleasurable read.” – Meg Wolitzer Smart a

30 .) The Most Fun We Ever Had written by Claire Lombardo

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Goodreads 2
• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library

At a family wedding, the four Sorenson sisters polka-dot the green lawn in their summer pastels, with varying shades of hair and varying degrees of unease. Their long-infatuated parents watch on with a combination of love and concern. Sixteen years later,

29 .) The Need written by Helen Phillips

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Publishers Weekly
• TIME
• Powell’s

Molly is exhausted, anxious, losing her grip on reality. Her husband is away and she is running between her children and her job, where things are unravelling. She’s a paleobotanist, working at a fossil quarry, and has recently unearthed artefacts that def

28 .) The Shadow King written by Maaza Mengiste

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Library Journal
• Powell’s

‘DEVASTATING’ Marlon James, ‘A MODERN CLASSIC’ Andrew Sean Greer, ‘INCREDIBLE’ Lemn Sissay, ‘BRILLIANT’ Salman Rushdie, ‘MAGNIFICIENT’ Aminatta Forna, ‘EPIC’ Mary Morris, ‘WONDERFUL’ Laila Lalami, ‘POWERFUL’ Cosmopolitan, ‘REMARKABLE’ New York Times ETHIOP

27 .) The Unpassing written by Chia-Chia Lin

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist
• Debutiful
• San Diego Entertainer
• Entropy

A searing debut novel that explores community, identity and the myth of the American dream through an immigrant family in Alaska In Chia-Chia Lin’s debut novel, The Unpassing, we meet a Taiwanese immigrant family of six struggling to make ends meet on the

26 .) Things you save in a fire written by Katherine Center

Lists It Appears On:

• Iowa City Public Library
• King County Library System
• SheReads
• Iowa City Public Library

From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about courage, hope, and learning to love against all odds. Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, sh

25 .) Trust Exercise written by Susan Choi

Lists It Appears On:

• Kirkus Reviews
• Publishers Weekly
• TIME
• NPR

WINNER OF THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION “Electrifying” (People) • “Masterly” (The Guardian) • “Dramatic and memorable” (The New Yorker) • “Magic” (TIME) • “Ingenious” (The Financial Times) • “A gonzo literary performance” (Entertainment Weekly)

24 .) Where Reasons End written by Yiyun Li

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• TIME
• Entropy
• NPR

‘Profoundly moving. An astonishing book, a true work of art’ Max Porter, author of Grief is the Thing with Feathers ‘Heart-wrenching, fearless, and unlike anything you’ve ever read’ Esquire ‘I sit here shaken and, I think, changed by this work’ Katherine B

23 .) Ask Again, Yes: A Novel written by Mary Beth Keane

Lists It Appears On:

• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• Goodreads 2
• Amazon
• NPR

“A beautiful novel, bursting at the seams with empathy.” —Elle A profoundly moving novel about two neighboring families in a suburban town, the friendship between their children, a tragedy that reverberates over four decades, the daily intimacies of marria

22 .) Ducks, Newburyport written by Lucy Ellmann

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Five Books
• Guardian
• Publishers Weekly
• Entropy

An utterly original novel, longlisted for the 2019 Booker Prize in which one woman navigates, through compelling inner monologue, the tension and disquiet of contemporary America.

21 .) Evvie Drake Starts Over written by Linda Holmes

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• King County Library System
• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• NPR

You don’t always get to start your life over. Sometimes, life starts itself over for you. ‘Charming, hopeful, and gently romantic . . . Evvie Drake is great company.’ Rainbow Rowell One morning, Eveleth ‘Evvie’ Drake got up, packed her suitcase, and got re

20 .) Girl, Woman, Other written by Bernadine Evaristo

Lists It Appears On:

• Five Books
• Goodreads 2
• Kirkus Reviews
• Powell’s
• City of Asylum Bookstore

***WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019*** SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER This is Britain as you’ve never seen it. This is Britain as it has never been told. From Newcastle to Cornwall, from the birth of the twentieth century to the teens of the twenty-first, Girl Wom

19 .) Inland written by Téa Obreht

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Guardian
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• San Diego Entertainer

The New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Wife returns with “a bracingly epic and imaginatively mythic journey across the American West” (Entertainment Weekly). In the lawless, drought-ridden lands of the Arizona Territory in 1893, two extraordi

18 .) Lanny written by Max Porter

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads 2
• Guardian
• Readings 2
• Powell’s
• Largehearted Boy

Not far from London, there is a village. This village belongs to the people who live in it and to those who lived in it hundreds of years ago. It belongs to England’s mysterious past and its confounding present. It belongs to Mad Pete, the grizzled artist.

17 .) The Memory Police written by Yoko Ogawa

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal 3
• San Diego Entertainer
• Entropy

“A deft and dark Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, things are disappearing. First, animals and flowers. Then objects–ribbons,

16 .) The Other Americans written by Laila Lalami

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Entropy
• City of Asylum Bookstore

From the Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of The Moor’s Account, here is a timely and powerful novel about the suspicious death of a Moroccan immigrant—at once a family saga, a murder mystery, and a love story, informed by the treacherous fault lines of

15 .) The Secrets We Kept written by Lara Prescott

Lists It Appears On:

• Debutiful
• Goodreads
• Iowa City Public Library
• Library Journal 2
• Iowa City Public Library

14 .) Women Talking written by Miriam Toews

Lists It Appears On:

• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal 2
• Publishers Weekly
• Entropy

NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED BOOKS OF 2019 BY ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY * VULTURE * BUZZFEED * BOSTON GLOBE * AV CLUB’s * NYLON * MEDIUM * THE MILLIONS * HUFFINGTON POST * THE RUMPUS * LIT HUB * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY * THE WEEK * AM New York “This amazing, sad

13 .) Normal People written by Sally Rooney

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Goodreads 2
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• San Diego Entertainer
• NPR

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE • “A stunning novel about the transformative power of relationships” (People) from Sally Rooney, the author of Conversations with Friends and “a master of the literary page-turner” (J. Courtne

12 .) Olive, Again written by Elizabeth Strout

Lists It Appears On:

• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Goodreads 2
• Guardian
• Kirkus Reviews
• Publishers Weekly
• NPR

And now Olive has indeed returned, as indomitable as ever, navigating her next decade and the changes — sometimes welcome, sometimes not — in her own life. Here is Olive, strangely confident in her second marriage, in an evolving relationship with her so

11 .) The Topeka School written by Ben Lerner

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• Kirkus Reviews
• Readings 2
• TIME
• Powell’s
• NPR

‘To the extent that we can speak of a future at present, I think the future of the novel is here’ Sally Rooney ‘An education in the sympathetic imagination, a deep and bracing intellectual challenge, a powerful political statement. . . This is a novel to c

10 .) Black Leopard, Red Wolf written by Marlon James

Lists It Appears On:

• San Diego Entertainer
• TIME
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Vogue
• Entropy

FINALIST FOR THE 2019 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD The New York Times Bestseller “A fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made.” –Neil Gaiman “Gripping, action-packed….The literary equivalent of a Marvel Comics universe.” –Michiko Kakutani, The New

9.) Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead written by Olga Tokarczuk

Lists It Appears On:

• Five Books 2
• Kirkus Reviews
• Publishers Weekly
• TIME
• Powell’s
• Amazon
• NPR

Finalist for the 2019 Man Booker International Prize. A deeply satisfying thriller cum fairy tale, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead is a provocative exploration of the murky borderland between sanity and madness, justice and tradition, and autono

8.) Lost Children Archive written by Valeria Luiselli

Lists It Appears On:

• Guardian
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• TIME
• Entropy
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• NPR

7.) Fleishman Is in Trouble written by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist
• Goodreads
• Goodreads 2
• Guardian
• Kirkus Reviews
• Readings 2
• Vogue
• NPR

“Dr. Toby Fleishman wakes up each morning surrounded by women. Women who are self-actualized and independent and know what they want–and, against all odds, what they want is Toby. Who knew what kind of life awaited him once he finally extracted himself fr

6.) Red at the bone written by Jacqueline Woodson

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads 2
• Iowa City Public Library
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• USA Today
• Entropy
• Iowa City Public Library
• Amazon

An extraordinary new novel about the influence of history on a contemporary African-American family, from the New York Times-bestselling and National Book Award-winning author of Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl Dreaming. Two families from different social

5.) The Dutch House written by Ann Patchett

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Guardian
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• USA Today
• Vogue
• Amazon
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• NPR

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! From the New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth and State of Wonder, comes Ann Patchett’s most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the

4.) The Testaments written by Margaret Atwood

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Iowa City Public Library
• King County Library System
• San Diego Entertainer
• Amazon
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Booklist
• Debutiful
• Guardian
• Library Journal
• Readings 2
• TIME

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE Margaret Atwood’s dystopian masterpiece, The Handmaid’s Tale, has become a modern classic—and now she brings the iconic story to a dramatic conclusion in this riveting sequel. More than fifteen years after the events of The

3.) The Water Dancer written by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Goodreads
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• San Diego Entertainer
• USA Today
• Christian Science Monitor
• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• Amazon

OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK • From the National Book Award–winning author of Between the World and Me, a boldly conjured debut novel about a magical gift, a devastating loss, and an underground war for freedom. “This potent book about America’s most disgraceful

2.) The Nickel Boys written by Colson Whitehead

Lists It Appears On:

• Booklist 3
• Guardian
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Library Journal
• Publishers Weekly
• Readings 2
• TIME
• USA Today
• Christian Science Monitor
• Iowa City Public Library
• Public Library
• Amazon
• City of Asylum Bookstore

In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish re

1.) On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous written by Ocean Vuong

Lists It Appears On:

• Goodreads
• Goodreads 2
• King County Library System
• Kirkus Reviews
• Powell’s
• Largehearted Boy
• Amazon
• City of Asylum Bookstore
• Booklist
• Booklist 3
• Debutiful
• Guardian
• Library Journal
• Readings 2
• TIME
• Entropy
• NPR

Longlisted for the 2019 National Book Award for Fiction! An instant New York Times Bestseller! Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal! Named one of the most anticipated books of 2019 by Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, O

The 375+ Additional Best Fiction Books Released In 2019

38 Best Fiction Book Sources/Lists