We Are the Light by Matthew Quick
Quick’s latest covers timely topics and themes, including grief, loss, therapy, and depression, set during the aftermath of a mass shooting. Told in letters to his former Jungian analyst, Karl, high school counsellor Lucas pleads for him to write back. He is suffering through the loss of his wife after the shooting at the Majestic Theatre, and the people of the Majestic community are attempting to heal. Lucas also sees his wife in the form of an angel, who visits him at night, and has explained that he’s to be there for Eli, an ostracized teen who finds an unlikely companionship with Lucas.
Someday, Maybe by Onyi Nwabineli
Someday, Maybe follows Eve, a young Nigerian woman, who discovered her husband Quentin’s body on New Year’s after his death by suicide, as she tries to put the pieces back together in a way she never expected. With his death taking her completely by surprise, she not only has to work through her own feelings of loss and guilt and frustration, but also reckon with a mother-in-law who blames her, and her friends and family who can’t completely understand what she’s going through. As Eve begins to climb out of the hole she’s been stuck in, with grief as an emerging companion, she must reckon with a new vision of a future without Quentin by her side.
Fatty Fatty Boom Boom by Rabia Chaudry
Rabia Chaudry opens her deeply truthful memoir by focusing on her mother’s life, and then linearly divulges into her own life. As a baby, Chaudry’s mother and father immigrated from Pakistan to the United States where she writes about the indulgence and abundance of American foods that contributed to her diet growing up. Chaudry writes authentically, reflecting on her relationship with food, fatness, and diet culture, while also exploring her passion for cooking and her feelings surrounding comments on her body. She includes a recipe section at the end, which many might want after reading her sensational descriptions of Pakistani food.
Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen
Set in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, the year is 1994 and Maeve wants two important things: her exam results, and to move to London. She takes a job at a factory with two of her friends for the summer to make extra income for her move, and to also move our of her parents’ house. Fans of Derry Girls will enjoy the snarky, smart-mouthed Maeve, as well as her friends Caroline and Aoife, as they wittily navigate the working world and life complications that come with entering adulthood.
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Known for his role as Chandler Bing on Friends, Matthew Perry gives a behind-the-scenes look at the hit sitcom. Yet, while his career was hitting a high, Perry struggled through some of his darkest days. In this candid memoir, Perry discusses his lifelong battle with addiction and the persistence, hope, and friends who helped him along the way.
The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle
Alex’s unexpected rise as a social media influencer would never have been possible without the help of her personal assistant AC. Just as a controversial post she swear she didn’t write turns her audience against her, Alex’s assistant disappears. As things keep getting worse for Alex’s family, she digs into the identity of the woman who knew everything about her life. But when a woman is found murdered, Alex and her husband find themselves the prime suspects.
Godmersham Park: A Novel of the Austen Family by Gill Hornby
Miss Austen author Gill Hornby brings Jane Austen’s dear friend, Anne Sharp, to life in this new novel. Anne’s mother has just died, leaving the penniless 31-year-old with no choice but to start a new career as governess to Jane’s niece, Fanny Austen-Knight. The placement is a financial and social boon that will result in a lifelong friendship between Jane and Anne, but at first, the new governess’ position in the Austen-Knights’ home is tenuous at best.
The Age of Goodbyes by Zi Shu Li, YZ Chin (Translator)
Li Zi Shu’s debut novel, The Age of Goodbyes, is finally available to read in English this month. Here, Li weaves together three stories set in contemporary Malaysia: one involving a woman entering a marriage of convenience, another that centres on a writer who shares her name, and a third in which “you” read a novel called The Age of Goodbyes.
Better than Fiction by Alexa Martin
Drew never had an interest in reading, but books become her life after she inherits her late grandmother’s small business, The Book Nook. The shop comes with an established book club made up of seven meddling grannies called the Dirty Birds, who are looking forward to a pre-planned signing with bestselling author Jasper. Sparks fly when the Dirty Birds set Drew and Jasper up on a date, but can a book-hater ever fall in love with a romance novelist?
Belittled Women by Amanda Sellet
Amanda Sellet draws on Louisa May Alcott’s classic coming-of-age novel in this new YA rom-com. The novel follows Jo, whose mother has devoted her life to the Little Women author, even going so far as to name her daughters Jo, Meg, and Bethamy and to have them call her Marmee. Jo is far less fond of Alcott — not least because her mom’s recently taken things up a notch, turning their home into a tourist attraction and making Jo act in Little Women Live! A visit from a photojournalist might be the most embarrassing thing Jo can think of, but at least it gives her a look at the world outside her little family. And it doesn’t hurt that the photographer has a teenage son who seems to be interested in Jo.
The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks
Mariah Fredericks’s The Lindbergh Nanny is a powerful, propulsive novel about America’s most notorious kidnapping through the eyes of the woman who found herself at the heart of this deadly crime.
The Prisoner by B.A. Paris
Amelie has built a life for herself after losing her parents as a child. Now, she is married to a billionaire named Ned Hawthorne. Soon after, she wakes up in a pitch-black room where she has been taken captive and she does not know who is holding her prisoner. The worst part? She feels safer here than she did with her husband.
Egypt’s Golden Couple: When Akhenaten and Nefertiti Were Gods on Earth by Colleen and John Darnell
The authors combine years of research with wonderful writing to tell the story of Akhenaten and Nefertiti, rulers more than three thousand years ago. These revolutionary rulers transformed the world we live in by combining religion and politics in one.
