If you live in a wintry wonderland like me, you’re probably getting tired of these teasingly warm days that seem to always be followed by another dump of snow. With this back-and-forth game, it feels like spring will never arrive. But it’s coming; I promise! Just today I noticed how the slippery sidewalks are starting to turn to slush, and the sun is still shining as I write this at 6:30pm. So, to keep you motivated until the warm weather finally does arrive (and stays), here is a list of 10 must-read spring releases to get excited for. This selection includes 10 new books that have either recently hit shelves or are expected later this spring. Ranging from light-hearted comedy to deeply moving drama, and from dystopian horror to historical fiction romance, these books all explore the unique and diverse experiences of women across time and place.
On the Come Up
by Angie Thomas
The YA author everyone is talking about, who brought us bestselling novel and feature film The Hate U Give, is back with a new book. And once again, it is a novel that any age group—whether you usually fit the YA readership or you’re a bit older, like me—will love. On the Come Up tells the story of 16-year-old Bri, an aspiring rapper. At home, she faces an empty fridge and eviction notices on the door, and at school, her grades are slipping quickly. The novel opens when she gets the call she has been waiting for: to participate in her first battle. This story is a testament to perseverance, explores the cost of speaking up as a young black girl, and ultimately, is a love letter to the art of hip hop.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
In Another Time
by Jillian Cantor
In the years leading up to WWII, a young couple in Germany falls in love. Max is a bookshop owner and Hanna is a budding concert violinist. But Hanna is Jewish and as the nation is transformed by the rise of Hitler’s regime, circumstances tear them apart. Told in alternating perspectives, the novel moves between prewar and postwar Europe, bringing readers through a beautiful tale of love, music, and survival.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
The Migration
by Helen Marshall
After Sophie’s little sister is diagnosed with a mysterious immune disorder travelling among the young, and her parents’ marriage collapses under the stress, their mother moves them from Toronto to Oxford, England. There, Sophie gets to know her aunt Irene, a professor who specializes in the Black Death, and becomes fascinated by studies of plague, disease, human mortality, and strength. This unique book is sure to be a page-turner and a thought provoker.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
Star-Crossed
by Minnie Darke
Calling all astrology devotees and skeptics. Or really, just anyone who is curious about why astrology is all the rage at the moment (has it ever gone out of style though?). This entertaining rom-com tells the story of Justine, a Sagittarius, skeptic, and magazine writer, and Nick, an Aquarius, a devoted believer, and an avid reader of the horoscopes published at the back of the magazine Justine writes for. Fun, light, and also clever, this book is the perfect spring-time pick-me-up. You’ll have to wait till May for this one, but I think it’ll be worth it.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
Patsy
by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Patsy leaves her ultra-religious mother, her young daughter, and her home behind when she immigrates to America from Jamaica. Her goal: to reunite with her dearest friend Cicely, who she harbours a secret love for. The novel also tells the parallel story of Tru, the daughter that Patsy left behind, back in Jamaica. It explores motherhood, sexuality, immigration, and identity.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
Daisy Jones & The Six
by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This book is so of-the-moment, it is everywhere. And the rights have already been claimed by Reese Witherspoon, who is transforming it into a TV series for Amazon. In a nutshell, it follows the rise of a ‘70s-era rock band, told through the style of an “as-told-to” rock autobiography of its beautiful lead singer, Daisy, as she navigates the world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
A Woman is No Man
by Etaf Rum
This moving intergenerational story charts the lives of three Palestinian women living in America: Isra, a young Palestinian woman, who marries a man named Adam and moves to Brooklyn in 1990; her new domineering mother-in-law Fareeda; and Isra’s eldest daughter Deya, who is raised by her grandmother after her parents are killed in a car crash. It is now 2008, Deya is 18 years old, and struggles between her grandmother’s wish (for her to get married) and her wish (to go to college).
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
Queenie
by Candice Carty-Williams
This debut novel tells the story of Queenie, a young woman straddling two worlds as a Jamaican-British woman living in London. Through flashbacks, we learn about her problematic relationship with her long-term white boyfriend. This brings us to where she is now: struggling to handle their breakup, and heading down a dangerous track of messy, unprotected hookups, all the while struggling with anxiety and mental health issues.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
I Owe You One
by Sophie Kinsella
If I’m being honest, I don’t think an author has ever made me laugh out loud as much as Sophie Kinsella has. The Shopaholicseries is a guilty pleasure I will admit to devouring. Confessions aside, Kinsella’s latest book brings readers a new delightfully quirky heroine: Fixie Farr, a woman who is always there to fix everyone else’s problems, always picking up her family’s slack, and doing favours for others. But one day, a handsome stranger decides to return one of her favours. When she decides—against her nature—to claim this IOU, this brings about a back-and-forth exchange, and over the course of the novel, she must learn to stand up for herself.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
Notes from a Black Woman’s Diary
by Kathleen Collins
Kathleen Collins, who wrote brilliant plays and film scripts depicting the lives of African American women in the 1980s, remained relatively unknown. After her abrupt death in 1988, her daughter began sifting through her unpublished work. In 2016, a collection of her short stories was published under the name of Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?, which posthumously launched her name into stardom, and now, Notes from a Black Woman’s Diaryfeatures a collection of short stories, screenplays and scripts, and her own personal reflections and diary entries exploring race, gender, marriage, and motherhood.
Buy it here: Amazon / Indigo
