This is the kind of big novel that makes you laugh and cry and leaves you thinking about it for days after you've finished. Set in 1980s Chicago and modern Paris, the novel follows Yale Tishman, a gallery director, as many of his friends lose their lives to the early stages of the AIDS epidemic; then, switching to the present day, we see how the virus shaped the life course of a family member who succumbed to it. The Great Believers presents a deeply personal view of an epidemic that shaped a generation, and the book is already drawing comparisons to Hanya Yanagihara’s immensely popular A Little Life (although, we promise, it's far more upbeat!). The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (June 19)