By Washington Post Book Critic Ron Charles
As autumn blows in, here are four fascinating new books — including one work of history that’s wilder than fiction.
Caroline Lea’s *Love, Sex, and Frankenstein* is a gripping reimagining of how young Mary Shelley created her classic novel. Lea brings to life that dark summer on Lake Geneva with Lord Byron and her lover, Percy Shelley in 1816. It’s a feverish mix of jealousy, genius, and gothic electricity. Timed perfectly with Guillermo del Toro’s new film about *Frankenstein*, Lea’s novel captures the thunder and thrill of a young woman awakening to her own awesome power.
Learn more at [carolineleawriter.com](https://carolineleawriter.com).
With his new novel, *The Wayfinder*, Pulitzer Prize-winner Adam Johnson delivers an epic set almost a thousand years ago in Polynesia. The story follows a bold young woman and two sons of a king through storms, myths, and an empire on the brink of chaos. Layered with legend and political intrigue, Johnson’s dazzling adventure feels both ancient and modern — a meditation on storytelling, survival, and the fragile state of the natural world.
*A Guardian and a Thief*, by Megha Majumdar, takes place in India, in a climate-ravaged city of the near future. One morning, a mother preparing to move her family to America awakens to discover that a starving young man has stolen all their passports — plunging her into seven days of desperation and moral reckoning. A finalist for a National Book Award, this taut, breathless novel offers a searing story about scarcity, privilege, and the costs of hope.
Find out more at [meghamajumdar.com](https://meghamajumdar.com).
Andrew Ross Sorkin’s new book, *1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History and How It Shattered a Nation*, looks back almost a century to the nation’s most infamous market collapse. Through the lives of financiers and speculators, Sorkin recreates the panic and the mania that swept across Wall Street. It’s a gripping, cinematic account of greed and illusion, and a timely reminder of how quickly exuberance can turn to catastrophe.
*1929* is available now from Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Produced by Robin Sanders and Cameron Jimenez. Editor: Chad Cardin.
For more reading recommendations, check out our [library of previous Book Report features from Ron Charles].
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-book-report-ron-charles-latest-picks-nov-2-2025/