Non-Fiction November 2025
Every November we take a breath, set down our fiction, and spend a month with the world as it actually is — which is, if we're honest, often stranger and more compelling than anything we could invent. Here is our 2025 Non-Fiction November list.
From the Hidden Shelf Catalog
- Heidelberg of the Norfolk 17 — A story of injustice and extraordinary courage drawn from a chapter of American history that deserves to be known. Start here if you haven't read it yet.
- Send Judah First — Deeply researched and compellingly told. This work of historical non-fiction has the rhythm of a novel and the weight of hard-won truth.
- The Warden's Son — A memoir about fathers and sons, about growing up inside an institution, and about the complicated love that endures despite everything.
Non-Fiction We Love Beyond Our Catalog
- Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe — Still one of the most gripping works of narrative non-fiction published in years. If you haven't read it, November is the time.
- The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk — A landmark work on trauma, memory, and healing. Dense with insight and deeply compassionate.
- Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe — The definitive account of the Sackler family and the opioid crisis. Stunning reporting and essential American history.
- Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer — A botanist's meditation on plants, Indigenous wisdom, and what it means to live in reciprocity with the natural world. Luminous and essential.
We believe non-fiction is not a lesser category — it is where the world comes to explain itself to us, if we are willing to listen. We hope this list helps you listen well this November. Browse the Hidden Shelf catalog for more titles across history, memoir, and beyond.
This is part of our Non-Fiction November series. See all editions →