It’s the final Tuesday of April, a month characterized by chaos and Eliotesque cruelties alike, but there is more brightness in the (literal) skies, if nothing else, and to accompany this much-needed sun in a time of strangedark, I come bearing tidings of new books to read. Below, you’ll find twenty-four new offerings in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, with a bevy of beloved names and promising debuts alike.
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I hope you’ll find companionship, comfort, and curiosity in these as we enter a new month in a year that has felt remarkably slow and hectic all at once. Read on, especially if you feel the urge to doomscroll again. Doomscrolling, like all things, can have its place in the murk of life. But there are often better things to do for our own wellbeing, and I can’t recommend the delightful offerings below in place of that more strongly.
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A.E. Osworth, Awakened
(Grand Central Publishing)
“This bold, explosive novel is unapologetically and vividly queer, showing the romantic, sexual, and inner and outer lives of trans people, all while painting an intriguing and suspenseful world that brings together sf and fantasy. Fans of Juno Dawson will enjoy this rich story about finding yourself and about what’s truly the divide between real and artificial.”
–Booklist
Annie Hartnett, The Road to Tender Hearts
(Ballantine Books)
“A long-suffering family finds joy. A clairvoyant cat has premonitions of death and other supernatural talents. Vultures are hoping two orphaned children will stay alive. A dead daughter’s hat talks to her father. A miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”
–John Irving
Guadalupe Nettel, The Accidentals: Stories
(Bloomsbury)
“Things are never what they seem in Guadalupe Nettel’s excitingly unsettling new collection. Written in spare, understated prose (Rosalind Harvey’s translation is excellent), each haunting story in The Accidentals opens into something immense and Nettel’s ability to convey both situational and existential dread is breathtaking. Like the colossal monkey puzzle tree that stands near its center, The Accidentals is strange, beautiful and terrifying all at once.”
–Laird Hunt
Sophie Gilbert, Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Girls Against Themselves
(Penguin Press)
“Reading Girl on Girl feels like revisiting your memories with your brilliant protective older sister making sense of them for you. Her cultural criticism is as coolly sophisticated as it is deeply personal, making you feel like she’s reading your mind. It’s alarming to see so clearly how cruel the aughts were to young women. But the great payoff is, finally, self-awareness.”
–Hanna Rosin
Craig Thompson, Ginseng Roots: A Memoir
(Pantheon)
“Craig Thompson’s sometimes aching reflection on his roots in the soil and culture of rural Wisconsin is also a tender love letter to ginseng and to the diverse, compelling, and often quirky people who struggle to make it grow. A sweeping story, gorgeously drawn and beautifully told—this is Craig Thompson’s masterpiece.”
–Joe Sacco
Courtney Gustafson, Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats
(Crown)
“[P]oignant, beautifully written…will change the way readers think about feline and human nature alike….What makes Poets Square stand out among other animal welfare stories is Gustafson’s insistence that the suffering of domestic animals often mirrors the suffering of the people who care for them….A necessary read for those who work and volunteer in animal welfare…[and] a loving tribute to the way animals can provide ‘bright thriving spots of hope in the world.”
–BookPage
Cathy Linh Che, Becoming Ghost: Poems
(Washington Square Press)
“Cathy Linh Che’s Becoming Ghost is a new masterpiece of American love lyric, in the vein of Rita Dove’s timeless Thomas and Beulah or Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic….Che is a mighty poet, nimble across a variety of forms and voices, with a dazzling instinct for how one image, line, photograph, might illuminate the next. Becoming Ghost is an indelible reminder of all the people, known and unknown, who loved us enough to survive.”
–Kaveh Akbar
Jzl Jmz, Local Woman
(Nightboat Books)
“In a world ravaged by a hostile political landscape and the relentless drones of white supremacy, Local Woman vigilantly pushes back against the idea that hardening one’s self is our only path of resistance. Here, Jmz’s poems assert power by donning the silken garments of vulnerability—prayers eager to confess the human desire to be held, needed and believed. Local Woman is an elegant throne where a knife sleeps beneath its velvet exterior. What a blessing.”
–Rachel McKibbens
Alina Stefanescu, My Heresies: Poems
(Sarabande Books)
“The lyrical sweep and abandon of these poems is stunning. The tonal variation here, too, is so special. This is a poet who can be direct, metaphysical, compelling, humorous, intimate, playful—the list goes on. Truly, here is enough fire in these pages for seven poets. What a spellbinding book.”
–Ilya Kaminsky
Milo Todd, The Lilac People
(Counterpoint)
“This beautifully wrought historical novel about a trans man’s resilient survival through the promising Weimar Republic to Nazi Germany to the still-oppressive Allied occupation is a poignant reminder that history may not repeat itself, but it surely rhymes….Milo Todd paints a rich portrait of this often-overlooked period of queer history with protagonists who might be fictional, but represent the tenacity and hope of queer individuals past and present.”
–Katherine Ouellette
Liann Zhang, Julie Chan Is Dead
(Atria Books)
“As mesmerizing as it is grotesque, Julie Chan is Dead exposes the rotten insides of the influencer industry with sharp insight and dark humor. It perfectly captures the absurdity of our permanently online modern age.”
–Sophie Wan
Hon Lai Chu, Mending Bodies (trans. Jacqueline Leung)
(Two Lines Press)
“An unsettling fable about an extreme form of cohabitation….Hon’s turns of phrase are consistently arresting (‘The self proliferates as incessantly as mold’). This intelligent speculative work is eerily transfixing.”
–Publishers Weekly
Anthony Passeron, Sleeping Children (trans. Frank Wynne)
(FSG)
“In brief chapters and straightforward prose, Passeron patiently unfolds the harrowing family drama and medical mystery. It’s a searing testament to how the dead live on in their loved ones’ memory.”
–Publishers Weekly
Sarah Manguso, Questions Without Answers (illustrated by Liana Finck)
(Hogarth)
“Sweet, smart, and shockingly insightful, this collection of questions asked by kids will leave you smiling and stumped. It reminds you of what it’s like to be curious about everything, and it shows, conclusively, that kids are first-rate philosophers who can reshape the way we see the world.”
–Scott Hershovitz
Murray Kempton, Andrew Holter (editor), Darryl Pinckney (foreword), Going Around: Selected Journalism
(Seven Stories Press)
“When and if the dust finally settles on the American Century, Murray Kempton will prove to have been one of its greatest writers: almost miraculously immersed in every region, profession, political movement, and social class, he leaves behind a body of work whose range (seven decades!) and moral ambition seem nothing short of majestic. This new anthology rescues him from a pile of clippings and lets his voice ring out even more clearly than it did during his life.”
–Benjamin Moser
Michael Luo, Strangers in the Land: Exclusion, Belonging, and the Epic Story of the Chinese in America
(Doubleday)
“This book is an astonishing feat of urgent history. Michael Luo has unearthed a buried chapter of America’s rise, in which Chinese immigrants fought their way through violence and scapegoating to build the nation’s future….Strangers in the Land reimagines how the idea of Asia reverberates in American culture today, pulled between belonging, rejection, success, and suspicion. A powerful new entry in the canon on American identity.”
–Evan Osnos
Lauren Haddad, Fireweed
(Astra House)
“Haddad dissects the missing girl trope and opens it wide open. Her taut writing and pace magnificently gives readers a claustrophobic experience that is rarely felt on the page.”
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Nana Malone, Gold Coast Dilemma
(Gallery Books)
“I couldn’t put Gold Coast Dilemma down—it’s Crazy Rich Asians meets Ghanaian high society, packed with breathtaking traditions, scandalous secrets and unapologetic opulence. Nana Malone has been a favorite of mine for years, and this new book weaves a story so vivid and glamorous, it feels like you’re right there in the heart of it all!”
–Kennedy Ryan
Amy S. Kaufman, The Traitor of Sherwood Forest
(Penguin Books)
“Peasant girl Jane Crowe enters the dappled glades of Sherwood Forest seeking safety and freedom. Instead she stumbles upon a darkly woven web of danger, deceit, and violence with none other than Robin Hood at its center. Kaufman paints fresh shadows upon an ancient tale, entwining new characters with old history for a satisfying and compelling read.”
–Liz Michalski
Suzanne Cope, Women of War: The Italian Assassins, Spies, and Couriers Who Fought the Nazis
(Dutton)
“Suzanne Cope has uncovered the gripping accounts of brave female partisans whose efforts in Italy during the Second World War made a crucial difference between victory and defeat. Whether hiding bombs beneath dresses, dodging bullets while swimming among the waves, or falling in love and forming friendships, these women’s stories are a much needed addition to the war narrative, and through her dogged research, Suzanne has brought them vividly to life.”
–Julie Satow
Charlotte Beradt, The Third Reich of Dreams: The Nightmares of a Nation (trans. Damion Searls)
(Princeton University Press)
“Haunting….An astonishing historical analysis, The Third Reich of Dreams speaks to the dreams of those who lived under Hitler to capture the twisted realities of Nazi rule..”
–Foreword Reviews
Artem Chapeye, Ordinary People Don’t Carry Machine Guns: Thoughts on War (trans. Zenia Tompkins)
(Seven Stories Press)
“A leftist urban professional and theoretical pacifist, [Chapeye] had planned to run and hide from war when it came, but he realized he would be unable to respect himself unless he joined the fight for his country. Chapeye’s musings on life as an enlistee after the Russian invasion reveal his philosopher’s heart as he poses questions without answers and examines his own biases against those who chose not to enlist.”
–The Washington Post
Thomas Levenson, So Very Small: How Humans Discovered the Microcosmos, Defeated Germs—and May Still Lose the War Against Infectious Disease
(Random House)
“So Very Small is the wonderfully intimate and intertwined story of how humans discovered microbes and learned to tame them. Levenson is a master storyteller, and his latest book reads like an epic novel, spanning centuries, continents, and microbial calamities. It offers a compelling story of how microbes have influenced society, seamlessly intertwined with fascinating historical events, while vividly bringing the characters and scientific discoveries to life.”
–Alanna Collen
Rick Atkinson, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780
(Crown)
“From chaotic bloodshed emerges a coherent struggle for freedom in this sweeping second volume of Pulitzer winner Atkinson’s Revolution Trilogy (after The British Are Coming)….Epic in scale but rich in detail, this captures the drama and world-historical significance of the revolution.”
–Publishers Weekly