Much-anticipated, curious, or simply thrilling, here are some new and notable books.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (McClelland & Stewart) – Hailed as a promising young writer after her award-winning first novel, Eleanor Catton won the Man Booker Prize for this 800-page historical saga. Attracted to Hokitika by the West Coast Gold Rush, Walter Moody finds himself drawn (along with a diverse cast of characters) into an intricate web of unsolved crimes, astrology, gold and opium addiction. Release date: September 3, 2013.

Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother by Priscila Uppal (Thomas Allen Publishers) – Not long after her father was rendered quadriplegic when Priscila Uppal was a child, her mother abandoned her family and fled back to Brazil with no further contact. This raw yet sophisticated memoir chronicles Uppal’s trip to Brazil to confront her mother—now a movie reviewer of dubious taste—as an adult. Release date: September 16, 2013.

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (Scribner) – In this sequel to King’s acclaimed horror novel The Shining, a grown-up hospice worker Danny finds himself called to the aid of another child who “shines.” Abra is being pursued by a shady collective known as the True Knot, which is encamped on the site of the erstwhile Overlook Hotel. King fans hoping for a deliciously chilling read will not be disappointed. Release date: September 24, 2013.

The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan by Graeme Smith (Knopf) – Canadian journalist Graeme Smith offers a gripping account of his years in Afghanistan in the late 2000s, at the height of Canada’s involvement in Kandahar. His deeply personal reflections on Canada’s role in the war, and on his own misplaced hopes that Western intervention would bring stability to the region, make this a compelling, often heartbreaking, and necessary read for Canadians. Release date: September 24, 2013.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking Adult) – From the author of Eat, Pray, Love comes a portrait of an intellectually ambitious 19th-century woman botanist, born around the same time as the word “scientist.” Fascinated by mosses that conquer millimetres over decades, Alma Whittaker has her historical analogue in Darwin, and her hunger for explanations sees her through a romance gone sour and a sojourn on the shores of Tahiti as she carves out her place among the learned men of her era. Release date: October 1, 2013.