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NEW LOOKModern Library’s edition of THE LIGHT YEARS, the first novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s beloved Cazalet Chronicl...
09/03/2026

NEW LOOK

Modern Library’s edition of THE LIGHT YEARS, the first novel in Elizabeth Jane Howard’s beloved Cazalet Chronicles series, has a new jacket! 

Originally published in 1990, THE LIGHT YEARS enters on brothers Hugh, Edward and Rupert Cazalet, who return to their estate in the English countryside. Accompanied by their wives and children, they join their parents and u***d sister Rachel for a promising summer—though each family member is facing their own private battles.Hugh, a veteran of the Great War, is fearful of future violence in Europe, while Edward is hiding his infidelity from his wife, Villy. Rupert, meanwhile, is struggling to remain true to his wife, Zoe, and his artistic passions, while Rachel is navigating her own romantic secrets. 

As they gather for the summer of 1937 at their country manor house, their meeting sets in motion events that will reverberate through generations.For fans of immersive, character-driven historical fiction, particularly those centered on women navigating war, class, and family loyalty. 

Think Downtown Abbey, Brideshead Revisited, and generation-spanning epics like Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan Quartet and Pachinko. Modern Library’s edition of THE LIGHT YEARS features a new foreword by the brilliant Jia Tolentino (Jia Tolentino)

On sale 12.1.26. Available now for early readers on NetGalley.

Happy publication day to Modern Library’s edition of NARRATIVE OF SOJOURNER TRUTH—featuring a new introduction by Jenn M...
08/25/2026

Happy publication day to Modern Library’s edition of NARRATIVE OF SOJOURNER TRUTH—featuring a new introduction by Jenn M. Jackson, PhD., author of BLACK WOMEN TAUGHT US.

Sojourner Truth was an incredible, remarkable, epoch-defying woman who escaped from slavery and successfully sued for her son’s freedom, in addition to her career as a wildly successful orator and activist—a woman alive to the hypocrisies of her age, and unafraid to talk about them.

Her autobiography, which she dictated, is an outstanding historical document. Truth’s tale sheds a light on realities of slavery that are still rarely discussed: that she was a slave in upstate New York, not on a Southern plantation; that Dutch was her first language; that the circumstances of her slavery isolated her from a broader Black community; that her experience of religion was a racially integrated one, and became the means of her independence. 

Ultimately, The NARRATIVE OF SOJOURNER TRUTH is the story of a great American that reveals aspects of slavery and free Black life that are too often overlooked. 

The Modern Library Torchbearer series celebrates women who wrote on their own terms, with boldness, creativity, and a spirit of resistance.

Montserrat Roig’s GOODBYE RAMONA is available now—a rediscovered classic translated by Megan Berkobian and María Cristin...
08/25/2026

Montserrat Roig’s GOODBYE RAMONA is available now—a rediscovered classic translated by Megan Berkobian and María Cristina Hall with a new introduction by Catherine Lacey.

GOODBYE RAMONA is a vivid, enchanting novel, spanning over sixty years, chronicling the lives, loves, and secrets of three generations of women in 20th-century Barcelona—from “the shining light of Catalan literature” (Colm Tóibín).

Three women from the same family—grandmother, mother, and daughter, all named Ramona. The eldest Ramona lives quietly with her well-meaning husband, but longs for the romance and adventure of her favorite nineteenth-century novels.

Her daughter, Ramona Ventura, finds herself constantly enduring her husband’s mood swings and aggressive outbursts. 

The youngest Ramona falls for a university student whose progressive ideals are undercut by his condescending treatment of her. Each woman, in her own time and in her own way, lives her life in silence: their true feelings about the men in their lives, the violence of Franco’s dictatorship, and their dreams and aspirations, all go unspoken.

Happy publication day to HIROSHIMA, 8:15 by Kiyoshi Tanimoto—a newly discovered firsthand account of the Hiroshima bombi...
08/04/2026

Happy publication day to HIROSHIMA, 8:15 by Kiyoshi Tanimoto—a newly discovered firsthand account of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath from one of the survivors. Featuring a foreword by the author’s daughter, Koko Tanimoto Kondo, and a an introduction by David Corn.

“A stunning historical discovery and a heartrending testimony.” —Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of AMERICAN PROMETHEUS

At approximately 8:15 on the morning of August 6, 1945, Kiyoshi Tanimoto was on the outskirts of Hiroshima when a flash in the sky signaled the birth of a horrifying new world. In an instant, tens of thousands of Hiroshima residents had been vaporized or crushed to death.

HIROSHIMA, 8:15 is Tanimoto’s never-before-published firsthand account of the bombing of Hiroshima, written in the immediate aftermath, in his own words. This singular memoir is both an invaluable addition to the historical record and an urgent eyewitness testimony of one of the most calamitous events to befall humanity. 

Available now at the link in our bio.

GIVEAWAYAs we approach the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, we’re reflecting on the historical impact of the day...
07/15/2026

GIVEAWAY

As we approach the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, we’re reflecting on the historical impact of the day and invite you to learn more. We are giving away two unforgettable books that explore the event and the lasting legacy of one of history’s most pivotal days. 

HIROSHIMA, 8:15 is a newly discovered firsthand account of the Hiroshima bombing and its aftermath from one of the survivors—bringing unprecedented immediacy to our understanding of this world-changing event.

“A stunning historical discovery and a heartrending testimony.” —Kai Bird, Pulitzer Prize–winning coauthor of American Prometheus

HIROSHIMA is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author John Hersey’s seminal work of narrative nonfiction which has defined the way we think about nuclear warfare. “One of the great classics of the war” (The New Republic) that tells what happened in Hiroshima during World War II through the memories of the survivors of the first atomic bomb ever dropped on a city.

“The perspective [Hiroshima] offers from the bomb’s actual victims is the mandatory counterpart to any Oppenheimer viewing.” —GQ Magazine
To enter for a chance to win:

1) Like this post
2) Make sure you’re following Vintage Books and Modern Library
3) Tag a history-reading friend in the comments

[NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to U.S. residents 18+. 1 winner will be selected at random and contacted via DM by Modern Library. Void where prohibited. Ends 11:59 PM ET July 22, 2026.]

Seichō Matsumoto’s A QUIET PLACE is on sale today, featuring a new introduction from Pico Iyer!The latest of Modern Libr...
07/14/2026

Seichō Matsumoto’s A QUIET PLACE is on sale today, featuring a new introduction from Pico Iyer!

The latest of Modern Library’s first U.S. editions of Seichō Matsumoto’s novels, A QUIET PLACE explores the corrosive power of jealousy, guilt, and doubt.

While on an important business trip, Tsuneo Asai receives word that his wife, Eiko, has died suddenly of a heart attack. Shaken but restrained, Asai throws himself into his work as a government official. Their marriage, after all, had never been especially passionate.

Yet something about the circumstances of Eiko’s death begins to trouble him. She collapsed while walking alone on a quiet residential street in Tokyo—a place where she seemed to have no reason to be. A visit to the small shop where she died raises further questions, especially when Asai notices a hotel perched at the top of the hill, unmistakably designed as a discreet rendezvous for lovers. He begins to wonder whether his gentle, haiku-loving wife may have been leading a secret life.

As Asai’s suspicions deepen, his mental state begins to unravel, and the boundaries of normalcy slip away. 

In the process, Matsumoto lays bare the fraught tensions between ambition, domestic life, and emotional repression in postwar Japan—crafting a haunting portrait of a man undone by what he cannot know.

Pick up your copy of the book at the link in our bio!

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