The Best New Books Out in December, According to Indie Booksellers

This is the #1 Indie Next List Pick for December!

Potawatomi author Robin Wall Kimmerer made her name with Braiding Sweetgrass, the bestselling book full of stunning nature writing that ruminates on the wisdom human beings can learn from the natural world. Now, Kimmerer is back with The Serviceberry, a book that examines what the land gives to humankind and how we should be more than willing to give back in return. — Kendra Winchester

This apocalyptic literary horror novel is from the author of Our Wives Under the Sea. In a futuristic retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear, three sisters grapple with the mundane horrors of life during an apocalypse. Years of unending rain have reshaped the continents, toppled governments, and brought back a desperate kind of ancient religion. Sisters Agnes, Irene, and Isla have grown apart under the stress of the changing planet, but the death of their architect father forces them to reunite to sort through the famous glass house he built, full of secrets and memories they’d rather forget. Julia Armfield writes haunting queer characters with a creeping sense of dread that you feel in your bones. —Susie Dumond

A new Murakami is always going to make waves, and this is his first in six years. Fans of the author will find the Town here familiar. It’s where a Dream Reader reviews dreams and where shadows go on their own way. There’s love, noir, pop culture, jazz, libraries, and the intriguing otherworldliness that we’ve come to expect from Murakami. —Erica Ezeifedi

I loved this literary speculative story about two sisters who began their lives together as snakes in Tang Dynasty China. Now, they couldn’t be more different: Su is a conservative politician’s wife in Singapore while Emerald scrapes by as a queer sugar baby living in New York City with an artist friend. It’s a beautiful and bruising story about racism, assimilation, and the complexities of found family. —Danika Ellis