March
In the Name of the Family is the highly-awaited sequel to Sarah Dunant's Blood &Beauty, the first in her series about the Borgias. I really enjoyed Blood & Beauty and can't wait to read more about Lucrezia, Cesare and Pope Alexander and their further intrigues. I think historical fiction readers will want to save a space on their bookshelves for sure. Random House.
The Impossible Fairy Tale, by Han Yujoo, is an intriguing short novel about two children- one blessed and one cursed- and what happens when one of them starts leaving notes in her classmates' notebooks. Graywolf.
The inimitable Camille Paglia is back on the scene with a new book of potentially incendiary essays, Free Women Free Men: Sex Gender Feminism. I've started paging through and let me tell you- it's hot. Pantheon.
Lola, by Melissa Scrivner Love is a book everyone is going to be talking about, a crime novel about gang violence and street life in L.A. starring a tough lady with secrets. Buckle up. Crown.
April
If you're a crime reader you're going to want to get ready for the next entry in Jassy Mackenzie's Jade de Jong series, Bad Seeds. And if you don't know this series, you're missing out- Mackenzie is an incredibly talented voice and her South African setting and gritty heroine bring the procedural to some great places. Recommended for Ian Rankin and Gene Kerrigan fans. Soho.Spoils, by Brian van Reet, is a war novel set in Iraq that already has bookstores and libraries buzzing.
Little, Brown.
The Revolution of the Moon, by Andrea Camilleri. This is going to be so fun. Mystery author
Camilleri changes tack and writes historical fiction about Eleanora di Mora, politician and powerful woman extraordinaire, whose rule in 1677 Sicily lasted a mere 27 days. Europa Editions.May
So many great books are coming in May!
The Queue, by Basma Abdel Aziz is set in an unnamed Middle Eastern country and is about a totalitarian state and what happens when a long line forms outside the Gate, through which all must have permission to pass. Melville House.Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, by Helena Kelly is a book-by-book
analysis of Jane Austen's social and political views. It's going to be a lot of fun and very popular among Austen fans. Knopf.
Salt Houses, by Hala Alyan is a hotly-anticipated release about a Palestinian family upended by the 1967 Six Day War. Early reviewers call it "dazzling." Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The End of Eddy, by Édouard Louis, is a French novel about boyhood and sexual awakening in a French factory town. People are comparing it to Karl Knausgaard and Marguerite Duras. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.June
In June, I'm really excited about The Essex Serpent, by Sarah Perry. It's set in England of the 1890s, where a sea serpent may be terrorizing a fictional town. It's been out for awhile in England and I think it will do really well when it comes out from Custom House.
Then there's The Windfall, by Diksha Basu, about the trials of being nouveau riche in modern day India. It looks like fun. Crown.July
I can't wait to read Andrew Sean Greer's Less, which I think will be the brainy beach book of 2017. It's about a man traveling the world to avoid his ex and finding himself and true love at the same time.At the same time new galleys are always coming in, and I'm sure I'll have more books for you to add to your own burgeoning TBR piles before long. I know mine never get any smaller!
