About Mrs. Benedict Arnold: A riveting reimagining of the young woman who almost ended the American Revolution. Out April 28th 2026.

Tatiana de Rosnay’s SARAH’S KEY takes the story of a ten year old French girl, and the American journalist excavating her case, to dramatize the unthinkably massive betrayal of 76000 Jewish men, women and children by French citizens and authorities in 1942.

With a plot like clockwork and clear, vivid prose, de Rosnay makes history indelible. Through spare details and deep feeling she conjures the bond between siblings, the casual cruelty of a concierge, and Parisians who profited from properties vacated by the round-up, and the Vichy-pleasing French police who exceeded even Nazi expectations. With a seamless dual timeline, the book’s momentum doesn’t let up.

Though de Rosnay’s focus is the cost of hate, more than its agents, she includes the chilling detail of Le Juif et La France, an anti-semitic propaganda exhibition in Paris staged in the run up to the round-up, and sends the reader to Chirac’s 1995 speech marking the anniversary of July 16 with its enjoinder to vigilance. Watch for cynical politics, the propagation of fear and exclusion, remember, horror is not impossible and refuse to be “passive onlookers, or accomplices, to the unacceptable”.

A novel that illuminates and disseminates history as well as fiction can.

Alison Weir’s INNOCENT TRAITOR contains a betrayal a page, culminating in the execution of Lady Jane Grey for treason. This was the first work of fiction from the popular historian, and her deep research is beautifully distilled through a fantastic constellation of characters. 

Weir leaves the gate and keeps the pace with such assurance, we are delighted by the storytelling even as we are outraged by accelerating events.  The poisoning of a King, switching of a body, heresies, rape, endless scheming and the unnecessary death of a sixteen year old girl at the will of her cousin.

I’ve heard fun snark about the Tudors and their dominance of the English heritage industry, but their dramatic stories first excited my interest in history, and definitely made me susceptible to heroines at the center of wildly consequential events getting to exercise some agency…

“Let us being with two girls at a dance” O’Farrell’s command is enthralling from the start. Maggie O’Farrell’s fourth novel, THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX is a masterpiece of gothic wrongdoing told in cool, elegant prose. The intimate, ruthless, unthinkably vast wrong done by a sister is set against the wider history of women betrayed by their parents – imprisoned in institutions for life for a moment of adolescent disobedience, sexual activity, or not fitting in.  

Though the novel is infested with betrayal, rape, hypocrisy, infidelity, theft, and terrible derelictions of trust, there are plenty of moments of wry comedy and no hint of over-kill. The novel’s ultimate betrayal, that perfectly patient revenge, is stunning.

A LIFE OF JESUS by Shusaku Endo was a revelation to me. The great Japanese novelist conjures the historical figure with a simplicity that feels preternaturally vivid. The story is rooted in a landscape described with incredible sensory immediacy – the desert, Judean villages, town of Nazareth, Galilea and Garden of Gethsemane are so real you’ll feel you’ve visited. 

Endo comments on his story in progress – without cost to suspense – with lightly worn scholarship and conversational analysis. He doesn’t shrink from miracles or contradictions – and riffs pleasantly, convincingly, on the resurrection itself.  

Endo makes the betrayal of Jesus, by his adversaries, the Sanhedrin, Pilate, soldiers, former supporters and the mob, unbearably affecting, along with the appalling fate of so many apostles. The extent of persecution is so clearly rendered it excites a child’s sense of outrage. Who on earth would have the nerve? 

After conjuring arguably the most famous betrayal ever, that of Judas, by Jesus, and its terrible consequence, Endo extends impressive narrative compassion. “What Jesus suffered today, was for Judas to suffer forever.” And yet, “by means of his death, Jesus poured out his love even on the man who betrayed him.”

Mark Twain considered JOAN OF ARC the best of all his books (as well as the one he liked the most) but that is not the consensus, and it’s not so known as the rest.   Twain spent twelve years preparing and two years writing the book, while “the others needed no preparation and got none”. His immersion in the archives and the time he spent researching in France, retrieving the young woman from the myth, and giving her voice and life, is rewarded all the way. 

The  ridiculous narrator gives a convincingly intimate picture of Joan and her phenomenal encounters and adventures, but Twain’s inimitable playfulness, the irony and absurdity, don’t make her betrayal by the King, Cauchon, all those ministers and religious figures, the same country she’d saved, less devastating.

Read it to think about true love of country; competing claims for loyalty; hypocrisy and heresy; the terrible penalty there once was for cross dressing – and to remember Joan is still the youngest person to lead an entire army of any sex. 

“She was the Genius of Patriotism,” Twain said. “And easily and by far and away the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced.”

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Hi, Tatiana! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?

Yes, hi, with pleasure ! I was born near Paris to a Franco-Russian dad from Mauritius and a British mum born in Rome.  I grew up in Boston, Paris and London. It’s true to say that because of my mixed heritage and the fact that different nationalities are the background to my family, this has given me an open-minded culture as well as being able to read and write in two languages from early on. I find family secrets to be inspiring. There is indeed a secret in every single one of my books. However despite the ongoing  secrets, I enjoy changing style and themes with each new novel. Each book is a  different challenge. Five of my books have been made into movies which is totally thrilling.

When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?

When I was nine or ten. I loved to read, I was a true bookworm (I still am!)  and I wanted to write the kind of books I enjoyed reading as a kid and I remember being terrified and electrified by Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” read to our class by a bold  teacher. As young girl, I read and reread Wilde, Zola, Maupassant, Anne Frank,  Baudelaire, Woolf. My teachers at school encouraged me and that helped me. I knew from early on I wanted to be a writer. My family also cheered me on. They were the first to read my work.

Quick lightning round! Tell us:

• The first book you ever remember reading: Sophie’s Misfortunes by Countess de Ségur
• The one that made you want to become an author: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• The one that you can’t stop thinking about: The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

Your latest novel, Blonde Dust, is out now! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?

Friendship, actress, Nevada, Mustangs, freedom.

What can readers expect?

I want to give my readers a good ride. Literally, as the novel involves  wild horses, the superb Mustangs from Nevada. This book takes place in Reno, and I want my readers to feel like they’re right there, with my heroine, Pauline. I want to surprise them and to move them, taking them back to the summer of 1960. I hope they’ll shed a tiny tear at the end.

Where did the inspiration for Blonde Dust come from?

For a long time now, I had been thinking about writing a book around Marilyn Monroe and her final movie, The Misfits. But there are so many publications about her.  I wanted  to write something  different. And that’s when I got the idea that the heroine of the book would not be Marilyn, but a young woman who happens to meet her, and how that meeting changes Pauline’s life. For me, what they share is not a friendship : that would be too easy and not credible. They share a form of sisterhood, a complicity. The woman in the limelight notices the girl in the shadows, and that kindness will give Pauline her wings. I chose Pauline’s  point of view because I wanted my reader to  be interested  in her, in her story, in her background. She is stuck in a humdrum life, but everything will soon change because she will learn to stand up for herself at last. I wanted the action to take place in the intimacy of the  Reno hotel suite where  Marilyn is staying and where Pauline works as a chambermaid, as well as the beautiful wild plains of Nevada.

Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?

I have to admit, I loved writing this book. I still miss it !It was so exciting imaging what the inside of the Mapes Hotel in Reno was like, fleshing out Pauline’s interactions with “Mrs. Miller” as well as her own personal life and story.  While I wrote this, I listened to the playlist which is at the end of the book.  It sure  got me into a sixties mood.

Did you face any challenges whilst writing? How did you overcome them?

I wanted to get the dates right concerning the filming of The Misfits. The problems on the set were well-known, I had to evoke them without my novel sounding like a bumbling documentary or  a biopic. It had to remain a  novel above all. Also, I wanted my readers to relate with Pauline and her struggle for freedom.  So I had to get her character just right… And because Mustangs are  such an important part of the story,  I had to get back on to  a horse, which  I hadn’t done since my teens ! 

What’s next for you?

I’m working on a theme that is totally new to me : love ! (What has NOT been said about love?) Up till now, I’ve written more about infidelity, splitting up, duplicity, than anything  positive about love. So this is quite a challenge…

Lastly, what books have you enjoyed reading this year? Are there any you’re looking forward to picking up?

I enjoyed Sarah McCoy’s upcoming book Whatever happened to Lori Lovely. As well as 33 Place Brugmann by Alice Austen, a haunting debut novel.

Will you be picking up Blonde Dust? Tell us in the comments below!

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I alas don’t own a cat, (my husband is more of a “dog person”), but I’m lucky to be blessed with two cats in the family. My son Louis is the proud master of Mistral, named after the unruly Provence wind, and my daughter Charlotte is besotted with Nikita, her adorable, turquoise-eyed pet. I spend quite a bit of time looking after both of these magnificent felines when my adult children travel, but I hadn’t quite anticipated just how much cats can help during lockdowns. And how precious they can be to writers.

I hadn’t planned to include a cat in my novel Flowers of Darkness, but as I plotted Clarissa’s arrival in the Parisian state-of-the-art residence she moves into after her marital breakup, it seemed logical for her to have one, offered by her daughter, so that things felt less lonely. (Clarissa also happens to be a Franco-British writer, but let me be clear, dear reader, Clarissa is not me!) This cat, named Chablis, after a delicious French wine, is the first to pick up on the strangeness of Clarissa’s new abode. Chablis is definitely not settling in and spends hours staring at the ceiling with the fur on his back bristling. Clarissa doesn’t know much about cats, and this behavior upsets her, because she can’t quite understand it. And yes, there is indeed something fishy going in the CASA Residence for artists. Chablis was right.

I wrote Flowers of Darkness in 2019, well before the pandemic, but when France endured its first lockdown in March 2020, I found it uncanny that several scenes I described in the book, specifically when Clarissa is shuttered up in her apartment overlooking a completely deserted city, precisely echoed what I was going through myself. Paris, for the past year, like many cities around the world, is now a ghost town. The six o’clock curfew which is still effective every evening as I write these words, casts an unprecedented shroud on the city of Light’s radiance. The empty Eiffel Tower, (which endures an unpleasant fate in my dystopia, please forgive me!) still lights up and shimmers upon the hour, but there are hardly any tourists to see her play the bejeweled seductress.

Lockdown is not unknown territory to us writers, as we are used to being bolted up in front of our computers for days on end. The difference is that we can no longer promote our books, all our tours have been cancelled, and the only way to get the word out about our work is to engage in online discussions and conferences, and resort to social media. And then, of course, a new lockdown also means writing the next book a trifle earlier than anticipated. Which is what I chose to do, like many writer friends.

Guest post continues after images…

During the second Parisian lockdown (which by the way, is interestingly called confinement in French) Mistral graced us with his presence for a couple of weeks. I had never lived with a cat before, so it was a whole new experience. What a silent yet comforting presence a cat is! While I worked at my desk, Mistral often jumped up to sit next to my computer, with a sphinx-like attitude which somehow inspired me as I wrote. Mistral is a large cat and has Maine Coon heritage and although he is very quiet, he does take up space. He is there. And he wants me to know it. I had to get used to him being right behind me, shadowing me. And at night, when I went to visit the bathroom, or get a glass of water in the kitchen, he trailed me happily, proffering companionship even in the wee hours. Yes, he was there, a comforting, warm ball of fur poised at the end of the bed. And of course, the purring. Cat owners know all about this, but those who discovered it, like me, rejoice in the incredibly comforting sound and sensation of a cat purring on your lap.

Like Clarissa, my heroine, I live on the top floor of my building, and have an admirable view overlooking Paris and its grey roofs. When Mistral arrived here for the first time, he immediately padded out to the balcony as soon as I opened the window, slid under the railing and made his nimble way along the gutters, to my dismay. He appeared to be enjoying the view as much as I did, gazing out to the Eiffel Tower and the sky, and had no vertigo whatsoever. I could hardy bear watching him but had to admire his surefootedness. When I mentioned this later to my son by FaceTime, Louis laughed, and said “Well, yes, Mom, that’s a cat for you!” Recently, I went to feed young Nikita while my daughter was out of town for a week. I had been warned by Charlotte that I would probably never lay eyes on her, as she is wary of strangers. But as this was the first time her pet was left alone for so long, Nikita greeted me with such effusion, I felt flattered. Then she happily curled up on my coat and refused to budge.

A cat appears to be the writer’s perfect companion. It doesn’t need to be taken out for walks, it manages pretty much by its own, and most times never answers when you call it. At times, you feel you are the one living in the cat’s house, instead of the other way round. And yes, a cat, with its hypnotizing beauty is a source of inspiration. I began to understand why some of my favourite French writers were inspired by cats and wrote about them so evocatively. Victor Hugo who revered Chanoine, a huge, fluffy creature treated like royalty in his Place des Vosges townhouse wrote: “God has made the cat to give man the pleasure of caressing the tiger.” Emile Zola bequeathed human names to his own cats, (Catherine, Françoise) and in his first novel “Thérèse Raquin”, a disquieting orange tabby cat dubbed François is the silent witness to adultery and murder. Baudelaire, who often evoked felines in his haunting poetry, worshipped his own animal, Tibère, to such an extent he used to stroke it feverishly while he wrote. And as for audacious Colette, the renowned cat lover, she composed an entire novel, La Chatte, around a love triangle involving a man, a woman …. and a cat!

The post Cats, Parisian Lockdown and Writers appeared first on The Nerd Daily.

Read on to discover our picks and tell us in the comments below which one you are most excited for!

The Witch of Willow Hall by Hester Fox
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New Oldbury, 1821 In the wake of a scandal, the Montrose family and their three daughters—Catherine, Lydia, and Emeline—flee Boston for their new country home, Willow Hall. The estate seems sleepy and idyllic. But a subtle menace creeps into the atmosphere, remnants of a dark history that call to Lydia, and to the youngest, Emeline. All three daughters will be irrevocably changed by what follows, but none more than Lydia, who must draw on a power she never knew she possessed if she wants to protect those she loves. For Willow Hall’s secrets will rise, in the end…

A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts by Therese Anne Fowler
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The riveting novel of iron-willed Alva Vanderbilt and her illustrious family in as they rule Gilded-Age New York, from the New York Times bestselling author of Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald.

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele
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After a whirlwind romance, a young woman returns to the opulent, secluded Long Island mansion of her new fiancé Max Winter—a wealthy politician and recent widower—and a life of luxury she’s never known. But all is not as it appears at the Asherley estate. The house is steeped in the memory of Max’s beautiful first wife Rebekah, who haunts the young woman’s imagination and feeds her uncertainties, while his very alive teenage daughter Dani makes her life a living hell.

Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
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The much-anticipated new novel from the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of 1Q84 and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Killing Commendatore is an epic tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art–as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby–and a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.

The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher
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A captivating novel following the exploits of Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy, the forgotten and rebellious daughter of one of America’s greatest political dynasties.

House of Gold by Natasha Solomons
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From the New York Times bestselling author of The House at Tyneford, an epic family saga about a headstrong Austrian heiress who will be forced to choose between the family she’s made and the family that made her at the outbreak of World War I.

The Reckoning by John Grisham
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Pete Banning was Clanton’s favourite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbour, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning in 1946. he rose early, drove into town, walked into the Church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn’t shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete’s only statement about it—to the sheriff, to his defense attorney, to the judge, to his family and friends, and to the people of Clanton—was “I have nothing to say.” And so the murder of the esteemed Reverend Bell became the most mysterious and unforgettable crime Ford County had ever known.

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
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In the stories of Adjei-Brenyah’s debut, an amusement park lets players enter augmented reality to hunt terrorists or shoot intruders played by minority actors, a school shooting results in both the victim and gunman stuck in a shared purgatory, and an author sells his soul to a many-tongued god.

You Were Always Mine by Nicole Baart
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A harrowing story of tenacious love and heartbreaking betrayal, You Were Always Mine is about the wars we wage to keep the ones we love close, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Jodi Picoult.

What Have You Done by Matthew Farrell
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When a mutilated body is found hanging in a seedy motel in Philadelphia, forensics specialist Liam Dwyer assumes the crime scene will be business as usual. Instead, the victim turns out to be a woman he’d had an affair with before breaking it off to save his marriage. But there’s a bigger problem: Liam has no memory of where he was or what he did on the night of the murder.

We Were Mothers by Katie Sise
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A scandalous revelation is about to devastate a picturesque town where the houses are immaculate and the neighborhoods are tightly knit. Devoted mother Cora O’Connell has found the journal of her friend Laurel’s daughter—a beautiful college student who lives next door—revealing an illicit encounter. Hours later, Laurel makes a shattering discovery of her own: her daughter has vanished without a trace. Over the course of one weekend, the crises of two close families are about to trigger a chain reaction that will expose a far more disturbing web of secrets. Now everything is at stake as they’re forced to confront the lies they have told in order to survive.

Winter In Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand
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Irene Steele’s idyllic life-house, husband, family is shattered when she is woken up by a late-night phone call. Her beloved husband has been found dead, but before Irene can process this tragic news, she must confront the perplexing details of her husband’s death. He was found on St. John island, a tropical paradise far removed from their suburban life. Leaving the cold winter behind, Irene flies down to the beautiful Caribbean beaches of St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband had a secret second family. As Irene investigates the mysterious circumstances of her husband’s death, she is plunged into a web of intrigue and deceit belied by the pristine white sand beaches of St. John’s.

A Cloud In The Shape of A Girl by Jean Thompson
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In A Cloud in the Shape of a Girl we see these women and their trials, small and large: social slights and heartbreaks; marital disappointments and infidelities; familial dysfunction; mortality. Spanning from World War II to the present, Thompson reveals a matrilineal love story that is so perfectly grounded in our time—a story of three women regressing, stalling, and yes, evolving, over decades. One of the burning questions she asks is: by serving her family, is a woman destined to repeat the mistakes of previous generations, or can she transcend the expectations of a place, and a time? Can she truly be free?

Little by Edward Carey
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The wry, macabre, unforgettable tale of an ambitious orphan in Revolutionary Paris, befriended by royalty and radicals, who transforms herself into the legendary Madame Tussaud.  In the tradition of Gregory Maguire’s Wicked and Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus, Edward Carey’s Little is a darkly endearing cavalcade of a novel–a story of art, class, determination, and how we hold on to what we love.

Alice Isn’t Dead by Joseph Fink
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From the New York Times bestselling co-author of It Devours! and Welcome to Night Vale comes a fast-paced thriller about a truck driver searching across America for the wife she had long assumed to be dead.

The Rain Watcher by Tatiana de Rosnay
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The Rain Watcher is a powerful family drama set in Paris as the Malegarde family gathers to celebrate the father’s 70th birthday. Their hidden fears and secrets are slowly unraveled as the City of Light undergoes a stunning natural disaster. Seen through the eyes of charismatic photographer Linden Malegarde, the youngest son, all members of the family will have to fight to keep their unity against tragic circumstances.

Check out what else is coming out this month on our Goodreads list!

What book are you most excited for? Tell us in the comments below!

The post October Book Releases: Fiction appeared first on The Nerd Daily.