A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
Although I haven’t read any of Tahereh Mafi’s books (yet…), I feel like I’ve been hearing about this one for at least a year. The story takes place in 2002, a year after the events of 9/11, and follows Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who is experiencing prejudice and hatred.
Cry Wilderness by Frank Capra
Frank Capra is known for being a film director, but this novel, written in 1966 and never published, is finally being released. The story is set in one of Capra’s favorite locations – Silver Lake in the Sierra Nevadas. A scandal finds the fictional Frank Capra, along with a cop named Lefty, living in the wilderness completely off the grid.
I am Behind You by John Ajvide Lindqvist
You’ve probably heard of Lindqvist’s other novel, Let the Right One In. In his latest book, four families are suddenly and mysteriously transported from campsites to an endless expanse of grass. Each person transported has secrets that they are forced to confront. This book sounds very interesting, and I can’t wait to read it.
In the House in the Dark by Laird Hunt
This is a horror story set in colonial New England. A Puritan woman goes missing: “On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along.” That definitely sounds like something I want to read! I also really adore the cover.
In Your Hands by Ines Pedrosa
I always enjoy books told from multiple perspectives, so I’m looking forward to reading this story that is told from the perspectives of three women in one family, starting in Portugal in 1935 and ending with her granddaughter. Throughout the novel, they all fight against oppression and for a place in their world.
Melmoth by Sarah Perry
Melmoth is the follow-up to Perry’s The Essex Serpent. Helen Franklin is taking refuge in Prague, working as a translator. One day, her friend Karel finds a mysterious letter about Melmoth the Witness, “a dark legend found in obscure fairy tales and antique village lore.” I really enjoy books based in mythology, folklore, and legends, so I have a strong feeling I’ll love this novel.
Riddance: Or: The Sybil Joines Vocational School for Ghost Speakers & Hearing-Mouth Children by Shelley Jackson
I’m going to be reviewing this book relatively soon since the publisher was kind enough to send me an ebook edition of the ARC of this book. It’s about a school for children seeking to cure their speech impediments. The Headmistress of the school, however, harnesses the “gift” of her students to communicate with the dead. Although I do not have a stutter, I do have a speech impediment (a lisp and rhotacism), and I’ve never read a book with a character who has a speech impediment (except for a few where it’s treated as a joke). I’m really excited to get into this book.
The Black Khan: Book Two of the Khorasan Archives by Ausma Zehanat Khan
This is a sequel to Khan’s The Bloodprint, which I had never heard of until researching books being released this week. The series sounds wonderful though. Saladin Ahmed (whose comic books I love reading) has described it as “somewhere between N.K. Jemisin and George R.R. Martin.” The Talisman, a dark power or movement that suppresses knowledge and subjugates women is growing in the world. The Companions of Hira is a group of women who fight back against the patriarchy. Definitely something worth checking out.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
Something I’ve mentioned several times on this website is that I like books about books and reading, and this is another of those. It focuses on a library fire and examines our relationships to libraries, their importance, and more.
Trinity by Louisa Hall
This is a novel about J. Robert Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the atomic bomb. I can’t say it any better than the book description, so here it is: “Through narratives that cross time and space, a set of characters bears witness to the life of Oppenheimer, from a secret service agent who tailed him in San Francisco, to the young lover of a colleague in Los Alamos, to a woman fleeing McCarthyism who knew him on St. John. As these men and women fall into the orbit of a brilliant but mercurial mind at work, all consider his complicated legacy while also uncovering deep and often unsettling truths about their own lives.”
Unsheltered by Barbara Kingsolver
For many people, Barbara Kingsolver is a household name. I’m almost embarrassed to say that I’ve only read one of her many books, that one being Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, which is a non-fiction book about living off-the-grid. This is her latest novel, and I’ve already heard amazing things about it. The story follows Willa Knox as she investigates the history of her home.
Wind Rider by P.C. Cast
This is the third in the Tales of a New World series. “Mari, Nik, and their newly formed Pack are being hunted. Thaddeus and the God of Death will stop at nothing until they are obliterated from the earth. But Mari and Nik have one goal: to reach the plains of the Wind Riders….. But will the mysterious Wind Riders accept the Pack?”
What new releases are you most excited about?
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Read Yourself Happy 