Fairy princesses, familial bonds, and touching memoirs are ready to hit your bookshelf next month. Gods, fairy princesses and familial bonds populate the landscape of March’s new books, while politically-charged topics like immigration, trans activism, and women’s healthcare comprise some of the month’s must-reads. Here, 18 books to help you spring into the new season.
CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE BY TOMI ADEYEMI
Zélie was born with latent magical ability in a country where the king has all but eradicated it. Now she, her brother Tzain, and Princess Amari must restore magic to their people before the princess’s brother can finish what their father started, and wipe all magic – and its users – from the kingdom for good. Thrilling and deftly written, Tomi Adeyemi’s bold YA debut will have fans waiting with bated breath for the next installment.
AWAYLAND BY RAMONA AUSUBEL
Ramona Ausubel’s preoccupation with myths and magical realism takes center stage in this collection of funny, endearing short stories. From a cyclops filling out an online dating profile to a small-town mayor proclaiming a sex day to encourage procreation ando a terminally-ill couple finding a surgical method to literally be together forever, each tale looks to the future in its own particular, touching way.
CENSUS BY JESSE BALL
A dying man and his disabled son travel as census takers in Jesse Ball’s thoughtful, dystopian-influenced novel. Written in part as an ode to the author’s late brother, the book explores the human experience for both caretakers and the people who crave care, as the duo traverses the country tabulating and tattooing citizens for a mysterious government agency.
WHISKEY & RIBBONS BY LEESA CROSS-SMITH
Short story writer Leesa Cross-Smith’s debut novel showcases her penchant for interwoven perspectives through the story of spectral Eamon, his widow Evangeline and his best friend Dalton, as the latter two find themselves snowed in while caring for Evangeline and Eamon’s baby boy six month’s after Eamon’s death. The heart of the story lies in the way the trio relate to one another – in Eamon’s case, even beyond the grave – through friendship, love and the complicated maybe-romance burgeoning between Evangeline and Dalton.
DOING HARM BY MAYA DUSENBERY
From shrugging off the side effects of hormonal birth control to popularizing the male-specific symptoms of heart problems, the medical establishment has a poor history of taking women’s health issues seriously – a history that Feministing editor Dusenbery takes on with full force in her new book. Filled with sharp analysis of the current state of women’s medicine, historical context for women’s healthcare and healthcare activism, and moving stories from patients who have been subject to the kind of harm these gender biases can cause, Dusenbery presents a well-balanced, thoughtful and impassioned argument for change in healthcare for American women.
HAPPINESS BY AMINATTA FORNA
Behavior, both human and animal, is central to Aminatta Forna’s latest novel, which follows wildlife biologist Jean and psychiatrist Attila as their paths intertwine after a chance meeting in London. As Jean becomes involved in a controversy over the city culling wild foxes and Attila attempts to help an old lover track down a missing boy, their own stories unfold through an elegant, sometimes unsettling meditation on war, cruelty and fear – in nature and of man’s own making.
SPEAK NO EVIL BY UZODINMA IWEALA
The Beasts of No Nation author incisively analyzes white heterosexual privilege and the immigrant experience with this story of Nibu, a young Nigerian-American man whose parents find gay dating apps – playfully installed by his white, straight friend Meredith – on his phone. The discovery and fallout from the apps has a profound effect on both Nibu and Meredith’s lives, as the novel explores the abuse, denial and guilt that follows them through the subsequent years.
TOMORROW WILL BE DIFFERENT BY SARAH MCBRIDE
Sarah McBride has already made a name for herself and inspired millions as the White House’s first transgender intern, press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign, and a spokesperson for LGBTQ legislation – and this memoir ensures she will inspire countless more. Detailing her public coming out, her family’s struggle to accept her identity, her well-publicized advocacy for trans rights, and her romance with a fellow activist who tragically passed away from cancer not long after their marriage, McBride’s story is touching, thought-provoking, at times tear-jerking, and absolutely worth the read for all who care about equality.
GIRLS BURN BRIGHTER BY SHOBHA RAO
In her debut novel, Rao follows the story of Poornima and Savitha, whose equally poor marriage prospects lead them to form a lasting bond. Torn away from one another and swimming upstream against misogyny, poverty, and abuse, the two grow up on parallel tracks, yet fate, it seems, is determined to bring them back together in this nuanced, sometimes brutal book.
THE HOUSE OF BROKEN ANGELS BY LUIS ALBERTO URREA
Unfailingly personal and deeply poignant, former Pulitzer Prize finalist Luis Alberto Urrea returns with this deft celebration of the Mexican-American family. And there is plenty of family to deal – Big Angel finds his house flooded with relations when his 100-year-old mother’s death and his own 70th (and by his own reckoning, last) birthday fall during the same week, bringing with it memories, squabbles and the “mess” that comes from a close and caring family.
EVERYONE KNOWS YOU GO HOME BY NATALIA SYLVESTER
In her latest novel, Chasing the Sun author Natalia Sylvester follows the travails of the Bravo family through two generations as they deal with the precarious realities of citizenship and immigration, legal and otherwise. As patriarch Omar seeks redemption in his family’s eyes from beyond the grave, his son Martin’s life becomes complicated by a cousin who shows up on his doorstep after crossing the border illegally – a journey that parallels Omar’s own treacherous journey to the U.S, with his wife Eda decades before. Full of grayscale moralities, the family’s tale is one of difficult choices and the consequences that follow.
THE RED WORD BY SARAH HENSTRA
Timely and incisive, young adult author Sarah Henstra makes her adult fiction debut with this tale of collegiate politics and campus rape. Infused with Homerian weight, the novel is appropriately Greek-focused, centering on a controversy between bad boy fraternity house Gamma Beta Chi, the radical feminists of Raghurst, and a young woman caught between the two when a set-up to call out the fraternity’s rape culture leads to unintended tragedy.
THE MERRY SPINSTER BY MALLORY ORTBERG
Those who followed The Toast co-founder Mallory Ortberg’s series of Children’s Stories Made Horrific on the now-defunct feminist site will be delighted to see the Slate “Dear Prudence” writer return to the medium with this collection of reworked classics, folk stories and fairytales. With an eye toward both satire and horror, Ortberg’s twisted variations on The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Velveteen Rabbit and even King Lear will charm and disturb in equal measure – just as good fairytales should.
THE PARKING LOT ATTENDANT BY NAFKOTE TAMIRAT
Ecstatic teenage devotion lies at the heart of Nafkote Tamirat’s debut novel. Enthralled with charming, older ne’er-do-well Ayale, the young, unnamed narrator of this tale finds herself progressively wrapped up in Ayale’s suspect business dealings, leading to more trouble than the intelligent young woman could ever have bargained for. Tamirat’s knack for the adolescent voice shines here, making the narrator’s decisions feel honest and real even as readers bite their nails in fear for her choices.
BURY WHAT WE CANNOT TAKE BY KIRSTIN CHEN
Chen’s historical novel takes on life in mid-century Maoist China, where patriarch Ah Zhai has made a difficult decision in order to secure his family’s escape to Hong Kong. But when his devotedly Maoist pre-teen son draws unwanted scrutiny on the family, they’re forced to leave their younger daughter behind. Complex and rich, Chen’s story serves as a fascinating window into a unique period of history and the plight of one displaced family.
STRAY CITY BY CHELSEY JOHNSON
In late-’90s Portland, lesbian Andrea finds herself in trouble when what was meant to be a one-night stand with a man leaves her pregnant. Both an ode to and critique of the modern American family, Johnson’s latest novel splits its time between the ’90s and the late aughts, as Andrea, now settled with a longtime girlfriend, must face her daughter’s questions about her father.
THE GUNNERS BY REBECCA KAUFFMAN
Friendship seems poised to become this year’s big trend in fiction. In Kauffman’s vivid, layered new novel, five former friends reunite for the first time since high school to mourn the death of a sixth friend who committed suicide. This gathering brings to light their own issues, as they contend with the mystery of why their friend abandoned them years before, the things that once brought them together, and the things that have kept them apart for so long. Endearing and intimate, Kauffman steers clear of veering into cliché, reviving a well-worn premise into something exciting and new.
TANGERINE BY CHRISTINE MANGAN
Fans of The Talented Mr. Ripley will find much to love in this sultry thriller. After Alice is dragged to Tangier by her inattentive husband, her anxious, house-bound days are disrupted when Lucy, her college roommate with a questionable past, turns up unannounced and seems to start subtly assuming Alice’s identity. With the film rights already optioned by George Clooney’s production company, this release is a perfect opportunity to get ahead of the book club curve.
