“Embracing winter is about embracing our life: all of it, the dark parts and the light. Our winter story is, in part, our life story.” —From How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark or Difficult Days by Kari Leibowitz

Many notable actresses—including Naomi Watts (The A-list)—have riffed on growing older. Now comes Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old: Thoughts on Aging as a Woman (January 14). At 59, Shields is embracing what she has gained through the years (confidence, for one) and dispelling myths about older women.

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney Author Grady Green’s journalist wife mysteriously disappears. A year later, unable to write, he heads to a remote Scottish island for inspiration, but strange happenings make his stay far from idyllic. (January 14)

Babylonia by Costanza Casati From the author of 2023’s Clytemnestra, this historical fantasy is based on the myth of the Assyrian orphan-turned-queen Semiramis. With treachery, power plays and a love triangle, it’s a true escape. (January 14)

The Big Empty by Robert Crais Crais’entertaining new thriller again features detective Elvis Cole and partner Joe Pike. While investigating a murder, the two are targeted by criminals in a case that grows ever more twisted. (January 14)

Zora Neale Hurston, the Harlem Renaissance author, left behind an unfinished novel that nearly burned in a fire. A salvaged version, The Life of Herod the Great, comes out January 7.

Join Jodi Picoult, who will talk to The Girlfriend Book Club about her novel By Any Other Name, on December 17 at 7:30 p.m. ET (and streaming thereafter) at thegirlfriend.com/bookclub.