Every two weeks we send our newsletter subscribers a stack of books that earned their spot, and this is the full list from our latest issue. Doors that open into other worlds, houses that remember, islands that forget, and one unflinching look at what motherhood actually asks of a body. Wherever your reading mood is this week, something here will meet you there.
The book links below go through Bookshop.org. Phictly earns a small commission on purchases, and every order supports independent bookstores.
Staff Picks
The three books we can’t stop talking about right now.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January
Alix E. Harrow · Fantasy, Historical
In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. Then she finds a book that hints at doors hidden in the seams of the world, and at a life far stranger than the one she was handed. Lush, bookish, and made for anyone who ever wished a story could be a way out.
A woman escapes a cult while pregnant, confronting body horror and government conspiracy in the woods. It’s gothic, furious, and tender all at once, and it lingers long after the last page. Not a gentle read, but an unforgettable one.
Casey Keen examines the physical and psychological aftermath of pregnancy, labor, and delivery, tracing how birth trauma, postpartum depression, and postpartum anxiety are routinely minimized, misdiagnosed, or ignored altogether. Clear-eyed, compassionate, and overdue.
Speculative fiction that builds a world and asks what it costs to live in it.
Blackfish City
Sam J. Miller · Science Fiction, Literary Fiction
A floating Arctic city faces upheaval when a mysterious woman arrives with a polar bear and an orca. Climate fiction with a beating heart and a genuinely original setting.
On an island where memories disappear, a novelist hides an editor who still remembers everything. Quiet, eerie, and devastating in the way only Ogawa can manage.
Emily St. John Mandel · Science Fiction, Literary Fiction
Time travel connects a plague, a moon colony, and a detective across centuries in haunting ways. If you loved Station Eleven, this one closes the loop beautifully.
Fiction that stays with you: love, memory, and the weight of the lives we build.
Load Bearing: A Novel
Jane Hartsock · Literary, Psychological Fiction
A young mother restoring a crumbling Indianapolis mansion becomes obsessed with its long-dead architect – as the house comes back to life, her marriage starts to fall apart. Atmospheric and unsettling in the best way.
A woman time-travels to pay for her lover’s cure, arriving to find him lost in an altered future. A love story about the distance between who we were and who we become.
Vicky Oliver · Literary Fiction, Romance · Upcoming release
A high-stakes story from the world of early 20th-century activism, blending political intrigue, social justice, and the courage of women who risked everything to demand change. This one isn’t out yet, but preorders are open now, and preordering is one of the best ways to support an author before launch.
The Phictly Global Digital Book Festival is July 25, all day, right inside the Phictly app. Panels, live readings, and 1-on-1 video calls with authors. General admission is free in the app, and VIP tickets include a video call with an author, signed bookplates from each author offering them, and a digital swag bag.
We’re also running giveaways with our sponsor Libro.fm: three promo codes, each good for 3 free audiobooks, open to new and current Libro.fm listeners. Browse Author Boost during the festival to enter – winners are chosen at random from attendees during the event. No purchase necessary.
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