Workhorse by Caroline Palmer is a wickedly funny story of envy and ambition set in a fashion magazine ft. high society in New York City.

'Workhorse' by Caroline Palmer | October 2025 releases

'Workhorse' by Caroline Palmer

About: At the turn of the millennium, editorial assistant Clodagh “Clo” Harmon wants nothing more than to rise through the ranks at the world’s most prestigious fashion magazine. There’s just one problem: She doesn’t have the right pedigree. Instead, Clo is a “workhorse” surrounded by beautiful, wealthy, impossibly well-connected “show horses” who get ahead without effort, including her beguiling cubicle-mate, Davis Lawrence, the daughter of a beloved but fading Broadway actress. Harry Wood, Davis’s boarding school classmate and a reporter with visions of his own media empire, might be Clo’s ally in gaming the system—or he might be the only thing standing between Clo and her rightful place at the top.In a career punctuated by moments of high absurdity, sudden windfalls, and devastating reversals of fortune, Clo wades across boundaries, taking ever greater and more dangerous risks to become the important person she wants to be within the confines of a world where female ambition remains cloaked. But who really is Clo underneath all the borrowed designer clothes and studied manners—and who are we if we share her desires?Themes: Workplace drama, Ambition, New York high societyRelease date: October 14, 2025

Workhorse_by_Caroline_Palmer_1_824d27f7e2-rhrilsfrvjgnyst-16x9.jpg

Workhorse_by_Caroline_Palmer_1_824d27f7e2-rhrilsfrvjgnyst-1x1.jpg

Workhorse_by_Caroline_Palmer_1_824d27f7e2-rhrilsfrvjgnyst-3x2.jpg

Workhorse_by_Caroline_Palmer_1_824d27f7e2-rhrilsfrvjgnyst-3x4.jpg

Workhorse_by_Caroline_Palmer_1_824d27f7e2-rhrilsfrvjgnyst-4x3.jpg

medium_Workhorse by Caroline Palmer 1.jpg

small_Workhorse by Caroline Palmer 1.jpg

thumbnail_Workhorse by Caroline Palmer 1.jpg

Workhorse by Caroline Palmer 1.jpg

About: In this keenly awaited new collection, Zadie Smith brings her unique skills as an essayist to bear on a range of subjects which have captured her attention in recent years.She takes an exhilaratingly close look at artists Toyin Ojih Odutola, Kara Walker and Celia Paul. She invites us along to the movies, to see and to think about Tár, and to Glastonbury to witness the ascendance of Stormzy. She takes us on a walk down Kilburn High Road in her beloved North West London and invites us to mourn with her the passing of writers Joan Didion, Martin Amis, Hilary Mantel, Philip Roth and Toni Morrison. She considers changes of government on both sides of the Atlantic – and the meaning of ‘the commons’ in all our lives.Themes: Community, Humanity, Critical thinkingRelease date: October 30, 2025

Dead_and_Alive_by_Zadie_Smith_1f49a5c7dd-seswkhkpxwtsyzr-16x9.jpg

Dead_and_Alive_by_Zadie_Smith_1f49a5c7dd-seswkhkpxwtsyzr-1x1.jpg

Dead_and_Alive_by_Zadie_Smith_1f49a5c7dd-seswkhkpxwtsyzr-3x2.jpg

Dead_and_Alive_by_Zadie_Smith_1f49a5c7dd-seswkhkpxwtsyzr-3x4.jpg

Dead_and_Alive_by_Zadie_Smith_1f49a5c7dd-seswkhkpxwtsyzr-4x3.jpg

medium_Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith.jpg

small_Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith.jpg

thumbnail_Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith.jpg

Dead and Alive by Zadie Smith.jpg

'Dead and Alive' by Zadie Smith

Why ‘Help Wanted’ by Adelle Waldman is our October pick 

At a big-box store in a small town in upstate New York, the members of Team Movement clock in every morning at 3:55. Under the eye of a self-absorbed and barely competent boss, they empty the day’s truck of merchandise, stock the shelves, and scatter before customers arrive. When a golden opportunity for a promotion presents itself, the diverse members of Movement―among them a comedy-obsessed oddball who acts half his age, a young woman clinging to her “cool kid” status from high school, a college football hopeful trying to find a new path―band together and set a just-so-crazy-it-might-work plot into motion. A darkly comic workplace caper that explores the aches and uses of solidarity, Help Wanted is a deeply human portrait of people trying, against increasingly long odds, to make a living.&nbsp;

Help_Wanted_by_Adelle_Waldman_5291cdee39-xhutgrhceepvqdk-16x9.jpg

Help_Wanted_by_Adelle_Waldman_5291cdee39-xhutgrhceepvqdk-1x1.jpg

Help_Wanted_by_Adelle_Waldman_5291cdee39-xhutgrhceepvqdk-3x2.jpg

Help_Wanted_by_Adelle_Waldman_5291cdee39-xhutgrhceepvqdk-3x4.jpg

Help_Wanted_by_Adelle_Waldman_5291cdee39-xhutgrhceepvqdk-4x3.jpg

large_Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman.jpg

medium_Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman.jpg

small_Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman.jpg

thumbnail_Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman.jpg

Help Wanted by Adelle Waldman.jpg

'Help Wanted' by Adelle Waldman

About: Is it still WFH when you're now just binary code?Whilst working on a spreadsheet for a New York-based PR firm, Gerald has his consciousness uploaded into his company's Slack channel. He posts for help, but his colleagues assume it's an elaborate joke to exploit the new working-from-home policy, and now that Gerald's productivity is through the roof, his bosses are only too happy to let him work from . . . wherever he says he is.Faced with the looming abyss of a disembodied life online, Gerald enlists co-worker Pradeep to care for his body and Slackbot, the service's AI assistant, to help him navigate his new digital reality. But when Slackbot discovers a world (and an empty body) outside the app, will it hijack a ride into the 'real' world?Meanwhile, Gerald's co-workers are scrambling to stem a company PR catastrophe like no other, their CEO suspects someone is sabotaging his office furniture, and if Gerald gets to work from home all the time, why can't everyone?Themes: Workplace satire, Digital life, Office culture

Several_People_Are_Typing_by_Calvin_Kasulke_e21191a768-cicgryggzfwodka-16x9.jpg

Several_People_Are_Typing_by_Calvin_Kasulke_e21191a768-cicgryggzfwodka-1x1.jpg

Several_People_Are_Typing_by_Calvin_Kasulke_e21191a768-cicgryggzfwodka-3x2.jpg

Several_People_Are_Typing_by_Calvin_Kasulke_e21191a768-cicgryggzfwodka-3x4.jpg

Several_People_Are_Typing_by_Calvin_Kasulke_e21191a768-cicgryggzfwodka-4x3.jpg

large_Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke.jpg

medium_Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke.jpg

small_Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke.jpg

thumbnail_Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke.jpg

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke.jpg

'Several People Are Typing' by Calvin Kasulke

About: As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet's always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?Themes: Coming of age, Humour, Teenage motherhood

'Workhorse' by Caroline Palmer

More like this