The 30 Must-Read Books of Winter 2023

In this first-ever authorized biography of Elizabeth Taylor, journalist and author Kate Andersen Brower ( First Women , The Residence ) tells the story of one of Hollywood's greatest stars through extensive interviews as well as previously unpublished letters, personal writing, and rare interview transcripts. From Taylor's earliest roles through her work as an international superstar and philanthropist, her story is told with style and great detail, making this a must read for new fans and longtime admirers alike.

Once, the members of the so-called Bloomsbury Group (like Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster) were the enfants terribles of the literary world, but that wouldn't last forever. After them came another group, made up of the likes of Stephen Tomlin and Julia Strachey, whose bold and subversive ideas and ways of living would upend not only the establishment but also the older Bloomsbury set, setting a new course for the creative world that still resonates nearly 100 years later. In this sharp, thoughtful look at the group, their work, and its impact, Nino Strachey shines a light on cultural masterminds whose lives and work would change the world forever.

Before he died in 2021, Stephen Sondheim sat for a series of interviews for a profile in The New Yorker . Then he walked away from the story. And then he changed his mind. In this collection of those interviews, D.T. Max shares an intimate look at the titan in his final years and discusses a wide range of subjects from the profound to the mundane that, when put together, paint a vivid picture and serve as a touching, thorough, and appropriately offbeat tribute to a man whose contributions to our culture are still impossible to comprehend.

Michael Cecchi-Azzolina has worked for decades as a maître d' at some of New York City's best loved and most exclusive restaurants, including The River Cafe, Raoul's, and Le Coucou. In this book, he pulls back the curtain on what really happens behind the scenes at high-end eateries—including memorable antics from volatile chefs and badly behaved patrons—and shows readers the funny, frantic side of hospitality that regular diners might never see.

This new novel from T&C contributor Mike Albo is about young love, time travel, and what it means to be truly devoted to someone else. Following two sets of teenagers—originally based in 1986 and 2044, but that gets complicated—Albo's charming, big-hearted story will appeal to fans of John Hughes and the Duffer Brothers equally, and makes the case that true love is, in fact, timeless.

Money, romance, and murder are always key ingredients for a delicious thriller. And in the latest from Flora Collins, they're used expertly. This novel follows Vera, whose social ambition and membership to an exclusive dating service, find her cavorting with an older and much richer man. But when her paramour and his (oops) wife turn up dead, Vera ends up at the center of a murder investigation and eventually something far more sinister. Collins's book is a skillful look at the high price of looking for love and the curse of getting exactly what it is we think we want.

When John Hendrickson wrote for The Atlantic about the experience Joe Biden, then a candidate for President, had with stuttering, his story went viral. Now, Hendrickson tackles the topic of stuttering—his own experiences, those of others, the thoughts of experts and charlatans alike—in this book about what it's like to live with a stutter, and how the world reacts.

Award-winning storyteller and podcaster Jay Shetty is set to deliver his second book 8 Rules of Love, and seeing as how his first landed in the number one slot on Amazon’s best seller list, we’re looking forward to this subsequent project. Shetty’s 8 Rules of Love combines ancient wisdom and modern science to offer tangible tools that will help you navigate relationships through every stage— and not just relationships with others, but also with ourselves and the world.

It’s customary to depend on a sanctuary when life gets overwhelming, and for Patrick Bringley, his personal oasis became the Metropolitan Museum of Art after learning that his brother had been diagnosed with fatal cancer. But Patrick did more than visit this art haven every once in a while— he quit his job at the New Yorker and decided to work as a full-time museum guard. In All The Beauty in the World , Patrick Bringley depicts the treasures of the Metropolitan Museum of Art through his own intimate and fascinating perspective.

Jen Beagin's novel is, in the simplest terms, about the transcriptionist for a sex therapist who falls for one of his clients after transcribing her sessions. Really, though, the funny, offbeat story (which is already in the works to become an HBO series) asks questions about telling the truth, falling in love, and who we really are when no one else is looking—or so we think.

In 1800s England, two men whose marriages aren't quite as traditional as they appear to be find themselves planning to publish a book taking a radical-for-the-time stance on same-sex relationships. But when public opinion becomes obviously swayed prior to the book's release, the question of whether they want their work out in the world becomes urgent. Tom Crewe's book is a beautiful, haunting portrait of love in a time that didn't understand it, and a reminder of how close we are to the past.

A sort of prequel to the author's legendary debut novel, Less Than Zero , The Shards follows a young man (named Bret Easton Ellis) through the smoggy world of early 1980s Los Angeles, where he attends private school, experiments with drugs and sex, and casually glides through life—until a string of murders gets too close for comfort. It's a thrilling page turner from Ellis , who revisits the world that made him a literary star with a stylish, scary new story that doesn't disappoint.

This three-volume collection captures in stunning pictures (all photographed by Sarah Moon) the history of the house of Dior. The first volume includes photos of 33 of Christian Dior's original designs, shot in 2021 at Paris's Fondation Le Corbusier. The second pays tribute to the subsequent artistic directors of the brand through Raf Simons. The final volume is an ode to current creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri.

This new novel from the author of The Great Believers follows a boarding school alum as she returns to her New England alma mater to teach a course and winds up opening old wounds—for herself as well as a number of figures from her past. When a decades-old murder, which has been mostly relegated to the dark world of internet sleuths, becomes a hot topic once again, everything Bodie Kane thinks she knows about the world she lives in and the memories she's made come into question—and the picturesque campus where she's living becomes perhaps the most dangerous place of all.

Grief is an inevitable part of life, and if there’s anyone who knows this firsthand, it's Bozoma Saint John. While in college, Bozoma’s boyfriend committed suicide. In her first moments of motherhood, Bozoma’s baby was born prematurely. And in the midst of a separation from her husband, Bozoma discovered that he had terminal cancer. Through unveiling her profound stories of love and loss, Bozoma encourages others to persevere through tumultuous times in the face of adversity.

Princess Margaret's close confidant, Anne Glenconner, is back with her second memoir. Glenconner was Margaret's lady-in-waiting for over three decades, and her first memoir, Lady in Waiting , was full of interesting revelations about the royal family. "While I was writing it, I realized I had led a very interesting life. The sort of life I led doesn't really exist anymore," she told Town & Country .

Read more here.

In 1921, composers Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake shook up New York City’s musical theater scene by producing the first all-Black musical on Broadway. The production, called Shuffle Along , brought vibrant jazz tunes to the Broadway stage and gave Black performers an opportunity to shine in the process. Peruse the pages of When Broadway Was Black to explore the history of Shuffle Along and the creators behind this iconic work of art.

DK Nnuro's newest book W hat Napoleon Could Not Do illustrates the story of two siblings, Jacob and Belinda Nti, all of whom share a common goal of moving from their hometown in Ghana to America. When Belinda realizes the American dream, or in her father’s words, achieves “what Napoleon couldn’t do,” Jacob grows bitter. Through their separate paths toward success, the siblings embark on journeys of promise and disappointment, each navigating in their own way.

Patricia Engel returns with 10 linked short stories, mainly centered on the experience of Colombians and Colombian Americans. In "Aida," 16-year-old Aida tries to understand the disappearance of her twin sister, Salma; in "Campoamor," a novelist in Havana juggles two girlfriends; in "The Book of Saints," a Colombian woman marries a New Yorker she meets online. Engel's in fine form in all the short stories, as she examines the intersections of class, immigration, and families.

Prince Harry's highly anticipated memoir, Spare , is finally hitting bookshelves in January. First announced in summer 2021, Harry said at the time, "I’m writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become. I’ve worn many hats over the years, both literally and figuratively, and my hope is that in telling my story—the highs and lows, the mistakes, the lessons learned—I can help show that no matter where we come from, we have more in common than we think."

Read more about the Duke of Sussex's memoir here.

"It's hard to say how I ended up in Zev Neman's dorm room the night before winter break..." our narrator, Isabel Rosen, begins My Last Innocent Year . Daisy Alpert Florin's debut novel is set during one young Jewish woman's senior year at a fictional New Hampshire college in 1998, as she grapples with the sexual politics of her campus, and embarks on a confusing affair with a married professor. Though it's set nearly 25 years ago, My Last Innocent Year is a deeply timely and relevant campus novel.

Deepti Kapoor's sprawling novel, Age of Vice, centers on the wealthy Wadia family. There's the playboy heir, Sunny; his servant, Ajay, who was born in poverty; and a journalist, Neda, who falls into Sunny's orbit. Kapoor takes the readers through each of their stories, and what results is a fast-paced, compelling novel that is part thriller, part family drama, and part look at modern Indian politics.

Historian Estelle Paranque looks at the relationship between Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici, two of the most powerful women in Renaissance Europe. She draws on their private letters to craft portraits of these famous women. As Paranque writes in the start of Blood, Fire & Gold , "They might have been rivals, but they were also united in their power, each admiring the force of the other. Both of them brave and intelligent women, they were unlike any other rulers of the age, and while this might divide them, it would also bring them closer together. But ultimately Elizabeth and Catherine would never let themselves forget that they were, first and foremost, each other's true rival." A must-read for history lovers.

Jessica George's Maame follows the story of Londoner Maddie, called "Maame" by her Ghanian family, as she cares for her father, who has advanced stage Parkinson’s. When her mother returns from Ghana, she tries to begin her life outside of the family home. Soon, however, tragedy strikes and Maddie loses her job at a publishing house. In this coming-of-age novel, Maddie navigates grief, familial duty, workplace racism, and being torn between two cultures. An unforgettable, funny debut.

It's September 1883 in the South Australian outback, and six-year-old Denny has gone missing in a dust storm. Over the next seven days, the community begins searching for Denny. Fiona McFarlane populates her story with a wide range of characters—from Denny's sisters and parents, to Aboriginal tracker Jimmy—and expertly captures the tensions in colonial Australia between the European and Indigenous populations.

Aretha, a successful Black woman who works as a corporate attorney, begins dating a coffee entrepreneur named Aaron. When she moves in with him and his roommates in Brooklyn, Aretha learns the household are survivalists, and constantly prepping for the end times. Per the publisher, Kashana Cauley's The Survivalists centers on questions such as "Does it make sense to climb the corporate ladder? What exactly are the politics of gun ownership? And in a world where it’s nearly impossible for young people to earn enough money to afford stable housing, what does it take in order to survive?"

Leigh Bardugo returns to the dark magic of Yale's secret societies in this sequel to the bestselling Ninth House . Protagonist Alex "Galaxy" Stern is set on breaking her mentor, Darlington, out of purgatory. The dark academia fantasy novel is rooted in the very real nature of wealth, power, and murder, and Hell Bent is just as twisty and good as Ninth House .

Prolific travel author Pico Iyer turns his attention to the question of paradise in his latest book, The Half Known Life . "I’d begun to wonder what kind of paradise can ever be found in a world of unceasing conflict—and whether the very search for it might not simply aggravate our differences," he writes. Iyer travels to Iran, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Israel, Tibet, and elsewhere to uncover what paradise looks like on earth.

This epic novel is set in 1851 in a remote village in the Arctic circle, where a Lutheran minister's daughter, Willa, falls for a native Sámi reindeer herder, Ivvar. It's a fascinating work of historical fiction, with romance at its heart, that dramatizes two real historical events: the growth of the teachings of minister Lars Levi Læstadius , and the Kautokeino Rebellion of 1852 . "The book starts with a repentance and ends with a rebellion," Pylväinen says of the story.

Cherie Dimaline's second novel, VenCo , is the story of a Métis millennial, Lucky, who lives with her grandmother, Stella. When she discovers a silver spoon in their walls, Lucky is soon tapped into a network of witches across America (VenCo being an anagram for coven). "This is a book about how we all have a wardrobe leading to Narnia — we just need to find it," Dimaline says . A fun, feminist, witchy read.