October is a month of big releases, and by this, we mean BIG releases. But just in case you don’t have time to read everything, here’s a guide to which epic novel you should pop on your TBR pile.

Read Imaginary Friend by Stephen Chbosky if…

…you’re a Stephen King fan!

Kate Reese is a single mother fleeing an abusive relationship by starting over in a new town, her young son Christopher in tow. But Mill Grove, Pennsylvania, is not the safe place they thought it would be… Our reviewer says: ‘I hadn’t had as much fun reading a horror novel since reading Stephen King as a teenager… [This is an] eerie and unsettling epic with imagery that will keep you up at night because it’s terrifying and totally engaging.’ Read the full review here.

Read The Secret Commonwealth by Philip Pullman if…

…you’ve read the other books in the series!

Set twenty years after La Belle Sauvage, and ten years after the indelible conclusion of His Dark Materials, The Secret Commonwealth whisks us back into a thrilling and dangerous world of enigmatic daemons, Oxford colleges and shadowy institutions, with a now adult Lyra a our guide. Our reviewer says: ‘What lies at the heart of this novel is the importance of imagination – its immense value and power.’ Read the full review here.

Read Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann if…

…you enjoy experimental fiction!

An Ohio mother bakes pies while the world bombards her with radioactivity and fake facts. She worries about her children, caramelisation, chickens, guns, tardigrades, medical bills, environmental disaster, mystifying confrontations at the supermarket, and the best time to plant nasturtiums. She regrets most of her past, a million tiny embarrassments, her poverty, the loss of her mother, and the genocide on which the United States was founded. Ducks, Newburyport is a revolution in the novel, and one of the six novels shortlisted for this year’s Booker Prize for Fiction.

Read The Eighth Life (For Brilka) by Nino Haratischvili if…

…you can’t resist a family saga!

Hooray! The English translation of Nino Haratischvili’s multi award-winning, bestselling German novel (from translators Ruth Martin and Charlotte Collins) has arrived! Opening with a dangerously delicious chocolate recipe, this is a sweeping family saga that spans six generations as their lives unfold in Georgia, Moscow, London and Berlin. Our reviewer says: “If you lean in, give yourself over to this family’s story, then you will be rewarded with a rich world, a cast of characters heartbreaking and captivating.” Read the full review here.

Read Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James if…

…you love to read literary prize winners!

Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a genre-redefining literary fantasy novel. Drawing from vivid African history and mythology, Booker Prize-winning author Marlon James weaves a saga of breathtaking adventure and intrigue as it follows Tracker, a skilled hunter on a mysterious search for a lost child. This novel is the first in the Dark Star Trilogy and while it was released earlier in the year, not in October, it was just longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction so we felt compelled to include anyway.