What Will You Read This May 2026?

By Rachel Tran | February 24 2026 | Staff Picks

Request eGalleys of some of our favorite May titles, and if you love the books, please consider nominating them for LibraryReads! Remember, voting for the May list ends on 4/1.

View our featured picks below, or browse extended collections in fiction here and nonfiction here.

Browse a Spanish language collection of May titles here.

A Perfect Hand

A Novel

Ayelet Waldman

A richly drawn, captivating, and endlessly amusing novel of love and subterfuge between a lady’s maid and her clandestine lover, set in the country estates of nineteenth-century England. "Ayelet Waldman’s clever, fast-paced historical romp turned out to be not only great fun but also surprisingly stirring. This book is a pleasure." —Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of The Female Persuasion

May 19, 2026

Hardcover

Knopf

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A Fortune of Sand

A Novel

Ruta Sepetys

The daughter of an automotive magnate escapes to an artistic retreat that holds more secrets—and more intrigue—than she could have ever imagined, in this Prohibition-era novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Salt to the Sea.

May 26, 2026

Hardcover

Ballantine Books

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Five

A Novel

Ilona Bannister

Five lives. Five stories. Five minutes until the London-bound train pulls into the station—and one of them dies. Who would you choose? Welcome to Five.

May 05, 2026

Hardcover

Crown

Fiction > Mystery & Thriller > Suspense & Thriller

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Canon

A Novel

Paige Lewis

“Lewis blew me away with their debut novel . . . an absolute hoot.”—The New York Times Book Review“A scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic.” —John Green, #1 globally bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God’s favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!

May 19, 2026

Hardcover

Viking

Fiction > Literary Fiction

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A Zoom with a View

A Mystery

Jess Cannon

A cozy murder mystery filled with hometown drama, social media influencers, an over-the-top mother, and two very attractive local men, A Zoom with a View will make you want to move to Blue Oak—if only the Fourth of July festivities didn’t end with a dead body.

May 05, 2026

Hardcover

Dutton