Top new literary-fiction books out this week: 14 Apr - 20 Apr 2024
Last updated:
April 20, 2024
This week featuring new releases by Sunjeev Sahota, Lisa Grunwald, Esther Hatch, Victor Lodato, Judith Keim, Daryl Banner, Sara Koffi, Nicolette Polek, Oisín McKenna, Elwin Cotman and many more.
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The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota
A brilliant and riveting story of ambition, love, family secrets, and the devastating cascade a small, unthinking act can unleash, from “bold storyteller” (The New Yorker) and two-time Booker Prize nominee Sunjeev SahotaNayan Olak is mounting a run for general secretary of the union that has become the center of his life since losing his family in a tragic accident twenty years earlier, when he...europe · scandinavia · fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · audiobook · racism · medieval · drama · politics -
![The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald]()
The Evolution of Annabel Craig by Lisa Grunwald
A young Southern woman sets out on a journey of self-discovery as the infamous 1925 Scopes Trial tests her faith and her marriage in this moving novel from the author of Time After Time and The Irresistible Henry House.“Lisa Grunwald is a national treasure. . . . An essential American story from a master craftsman... -
![There Goes the Groom by Esther Hatch]()
There Goes the Groom by Esther Hatch
Catching a husband has never been so complicated.Matthew Harrison has only one task in life: to marry money. After failing miserably in London, his family takes matters into their own hands by arranging his marriage to the wealthy Lucy Bateman. But when he meets Lucy for the first time, his resolve to save his family from ruin crumbles...romance · historical-fiction · industrial-era · regency · victorian · historical · fiction · humor · literary-fiction · satire -
![Honey by Victor Lodato]()
Honey by Victor Lodato
Meet a woman as tenacious as Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge and as irresistible as Andrew Sean Greer’s Arthur Less: Honey Fasinga, the glamorous daughter of a notorious New Jersey mobster, is returning home at last, ready to reckon with her violent past...fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · audiobook · mystery · historical-fiction · trans-mc · romance · family · lgbtq -
![High Tea at The Beach House Hotel by Judith Keim]()
High Tea at The Beach House Hotel by Judith Keim
Guests can be surprising…Ann and Rhonda continue their work at The Beach House Hotel, always striving to make their upscale property the best on the Gulf Coast of Florida. As they’ve learned, not all guests are easy...womens-fiction · psychological · cozy · fiction · female-mc · romance · humor · contemporary · breakup · domestic-drama -
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![Mr. Picture Perfect by Daryl Banner]()
Mr. Picture Perfect by Daryl Banner
"I'm no Mr. Perfect... but for Noah, I want to be."It was just supposed to be a normal day at the Spruce crafts festival.Instead, I accidentally save the life of my childhood crush Noah Reed.And he has no idea how I feel at all.He is adorable, tragically introverted, and frustratingly clueless about emotion...angst · lgbtq · small-town · contemporary · mlm · fiction · literary-fiction · romance · humor · book -
![While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi]()
While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi
Parasite meets Such a Fun Age in a scorching debut that is as heartbreaking as it is thrilling, examining the intersection of race, class, and female friendship, and the devastating consequences of everyday actions...fiction · suspense · contemporary · audiobook · thriller · season-spring · psychological · literary-fiction · female-mc · black-mc -
![Bitter Water Opera by Nicolette Polek]()
Bitter Water Opera by Nicolette Polek
An electrifying debut novel about art, solitude, family, and faith in a world without itIn 1967, the dancer Marta Becket and her husband were traveling through Death Valley Junction when they came across an abandoned theater. Marta decided it was hers. She painted her ideal audience on its walls and danced her own dances until her death five decades later... -
![Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna]()
Evenings and Weekends by Oisín McKenna
For fans of Sally Rooney and Torrey Peters, a taut and profoundly moving debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters during a heatwave in London as simmering tensions and secrets come to a head over one life-changing weekend.London, 2019. It’s the hottest June on record, and a whale is stuck in the Thames River...fiction · lgbtq · contemporary · literary-fiction · season-summer · romantic-love · urban · friendship · psychological · book -
![Weird Black Girls: Stories by Elwin Cotman]()
Weird Black Girls: Stories by Elwin Cotman
From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black—a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.A rural town finds itself under the authoritarian sway of a tree that punishes children. A pair of old friends navigate their fraught history as strange happenings escalate in a Mexican restaurant...fiction · horror · magical-realism · literary-fiction · poc-mc · audiobook · poc-author · sci-fi · black-mc · humor -
![A Kind of Madness by Uché Okonkwo]()
A Kind of Madness by Uché Okonkwo
“Steady-handed and gut-punching. I’m in awe.”—NoViolet BulawayoAn Oprah Daily Most Anticipated Book of 2024A searing, unflinching collection of stories set in Nigeria that explores themes of community expectations, familial strife, and the struggle for survival... -
![Henry Henry by Allen Bratton]()
Henry Henry by Allen Bratton
Henry Henry is a queer reimagining of Shakespeare's Henriad, transposing the legend of Henry V's wayward youth into 21st-century Britain in the years leading up to the Brexit referendum...romance · lgbtq · fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · retellings · audiobook · mlm · child-abuse · psychological -
![Negative Space by Gillian Linden]()
Negative Space by Gillian Linden
A gem of a debut novel about a young mother navigating the instabilities of teaching, parenting, and marriage in the wake of the pandemic. With deadpan humor and a keen eye for the strangeness of our days, Negative Space follows a week in the life of a part-time high school English teacher...fiction · literary-fiction · contemporary · epidemy · realistic · female-author · female-mc · family · book · adult -
![Thorn Tree: A Novel by Max Ludington]()
Thorn Tree: A Novel by Max Ludington
Terrifically vivid...Remarkable." --The New York Times Book Review: A beautifully wrought novel on the aftershocks of the heady but dangerous late 1960s and the relationship between trauma and the creative impulse.Now in his late-sixties, Daniel lives in quiet anonymity in a converted guest cottage in the Hollywood Hills...north-america · usa · california · urban · fiction · historical-fiction · historical · dark · drama · suspense -
![The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes]()
The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes
“A tale about sisterhood, a novel of ideas, a chronicle of our collective follies, a requiem for our agonizing species, The Alternatives unfolds in a prose full of gorgeous surprises and glows with intelligence, compassion, and beauty... -
![Sleepaway: A Novel by Kevin Prufer]()
Sleepaway: A Novel by Kevin Prufer
It’s 1984, and the invisible mists are falling, mists that cause people to slip into dreamless slumber—sleeps from which most, but not all, awaken. Those who do wake live in fear of the next mist, and the next, each a little longer and more dangerous than the last... -
![The Band by Christine Ma-Kellams]()
The Band by Christine Ma-Kellams
Perfect for fans of Mouth to Mouth and Black Buck , this whip-smart, darkly funny, and biting debut follows a psychologist with a savior complex who offers shelter to a recently cancelled K-pop idol on the run.Sang Duri is the eldest member and “visual” of a Korean boy band at the apex of global superstardom... -
![The Lesson by Belle A. DeCosta]()
The Lesson by Belle A. DeCosta
1800 Tanna, a slave on a Jamaican sugarcane plantation, is forced to suffer years of brutality at the hands of a sadistic plantation owner to ensure the safety of her beloved son... -
![On the Tobacco Coast: A Novel by Christopher Tilghman]()
On the Tobacco Coast: A Novel by Christopher Tilghman
The culmination of Christopher Tilghman's great Chesapeake saga, a story spanning four centuries of an American family.It is the Fourth of July 2019, and the Mason family is gathering for its annual celebration at the family’s historic Chesapeake farm, Mason’s Retreat... -
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![Ordinary Bear by C.B. Bernard]()
Ordinary Bear by C.B. Bernard
Dark and humorous, literary but with the heart of a detective novel, Ordinary Bear weighs the burden of grief while exploring our boundless capacity for humanity, kindness, and hope.Farley stands out among his Iñupiat neighbors in the Alaska village he calls home, both white and enormous, like the hungry polar bears that wander its streets...mystery · fiction · suspense · kidnapping · friendship · literary-fiction · crime · urban · book · adult -
![Source of a River by Gary Morse]()
Source of a River by Gary Morse
Source of a River is an epic, moving tale of grit and love, of weathering the storms of trauma and loss while searching for that special connection that makes us feel truly alive.A pensive eight-year-old boy is caught between parents grieving in different ways: His fearful mother is overprotective, his father recklessly seeking adventure... -
![Looking Back on Tomorrow by Mitch Engel]()
Looking Back on Tomorrow by Mitch Engel
In the months leading up to World War I, a young Austrian officer from an aristocratic family, falls deeply in love with a beautiful young woman from Serbia. It is a match fraught with political peril due to mounting hostilities between the two countries... -
![Road to Eden by Tim Twombly]()
Road to Eden by Tim Twombly
Mild mannered Dewey “Doc” Ruggles needs to step it up. He and his wife Margaret Ann aren’t just drifting apart; they’re being pried apart by her Life Coach, a scurrilous, self-serving, arrogant blowhard. A real sleaze.Overwhelmed and exhausted, Doc looks to the stars for answers. A mysterious young nun appears... -
![Familiarity Breeds Content: New and Selected Essays by Joseph Epstein]()
Familiarity Breeds Content: New and Selected Essays by Joseph Epstein
A collection of personal essays from America’s most revered essay writer, Joseph Epstein.America’s greatest living essayist writes about life and aging and being all too nicely out of it. In these personal pieces, he takes on topics as varied as grieving for a dead son, learning Latin late in life, and the pleasures of living with cats...
