Emma’s Anticipated Treasures – April 2023

Welcome to my list of most anticipated April books. Once again it’s a huge and incredible list, with many I’ve been looking forward to for a while.

The Forgetting by Hannah Beckerman

Published: April 1st, 2023
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Thriller, Psychological Fiction, Literary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
From the bestselling author of If Only I Could Tell You comes the story of two women determined to uncover the truth. But how can you trust the present if you can’t remember the past?

“Left me gasping. Brilliant.” ―Alex Michaelides

“Resonates long after you turn the final page.” ―Rosamund Lupton

When Anna Bradshaw wakes up in a hospital bed in London, she remembers nothing, not even her loving husband, Stephen. The doctors say her amnesia is to be expected, but Anna feels cut adrift from her entire life.

In Bristol, Livvy Nicholson is newly married to Dominic and eager to get back to work after six months’ maternity leave. But when Dominic’s estranged mother appears, making a series of unnerving claims, Livvy is sucked into a version of herself she doesn’t recognise.

A hundred miles apart, both women feel trapped and disorientated, and their stories are about to collide. Can they uncover the secret that connects them and reconstruct their fractured lives?

Pre-order here*

The House of Whispers by Anna Mazzola

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Orion
Genre: Thriller, Suspense, Ghost Story, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Fiction, Supernatural Fiction, Paranormal Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Sometimes the secrets of the past are more dangerous than the present…

Rome, 1938.

As the world teeters on the brink of war, talented pianist Eva Valenti enters the house of widower Dante Cavallera to become his new wife.

On the outside, the forces of Fascism are accelerating, but in her new home, Eva fears that something else is at work, whispering in the walls and leaving mysterious marks on Dante’s young daughter.

Soon she starts to wonder whether the house itself is trying to give up the secrets of its mysterious past – secrets that Dante seems so determined to keep hidden.

However, Eva must also conceal the truth of her own identity, for if she is discovered, she will be in greater danger than she could ever have imagined…

Pre-order here*

The Red Bird Sings by Aoife Fitzpatrick

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Virago
Genre: Historical Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘Based on a real-life murder trial in 1897 Virginia, this dazzling debut arrives with a Southern Gothic slant and a feminist spirit’ Daily Mail

***A Most Anticipated Book for 2023 in the Daily Mail, Irish Times and Sunday Independent***

West Virginia, 1897. When young Zona Heaster Shue dies only a few months after her wedding, her mother Mary Jane becomes convinced that Zona was murdered – and by none other than her husband, Trout, the handsome blacksmith beloved in their small Southern town.

But when Trout is put on trial, no one believes he could have done it, apart from Mary Jane and Zona’s best friend Lucy, who was always suspicious of Trout. As the trial raises to fever pitch and the men of Greenbrier County stand aligned against them, Mary Jane and Lucy must decide whether to reveal Zona’s greatest secret in the service of justice. But it’s Zona herself, from beyond the grave, who still has one last revelation to make.

The Red Bird Sings is to be read with your heart in your mouth down your spine to the final, haunting page. It also explores important questions which we are still asking to this day. Who is listened to and who is ignored? Why are women so often not believed? And what does justice truly mean?

Pre-order here*

A Truth For A Truth by Carol Wyer (Kate Young 4)

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Amazon Publishing
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Police Procedural, Crime Series

SYNOPSIS:
DI Kate Young’s team is hunting for a killer. What they don’t know…is that the killer is her.

DI Kate Young has known for years that her boss, Superintendent John Dickson, is a violent and evil man. But when she finally confronts him and accidentally shoots and kills him, she’s forced to cover her tracks before anyone can pin his death on her. With revelations about his corruption soon to become public knowledge, Kate sets up a trail of evidence to make it seem that Dickson has conveniently vanished…

But Kate knows the corruption doesn’t end with Dickson. As she heads up the team investigating his supposed disappearance, she also pursues other loose ends. Stanka, the sex worker who supplied the evidence against Dickson, leads her to crucial information on another corrupt officer, DI Harriet Khatri, and her dubious involvement with sex traffickers.

As the noose starts to tighten on Kate, she finds herself targeted by traffickers, the bent cops on her force and even her own team of detectives. Can she stay one step ahead of them all and bring Harriet to justice? Can she trust anyone around her? And can she possibly get away with murder?

Pre-order here*

Her Sweet Revenge by Sarah Bonner

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
THE SENSATIONAL NEW THRILLER FROM SARAH BONNER – REVENGE IS BEST SERVED SWEET.

Secrets and lies ruin lives

Two women receive an anonymous note.
For one it’s a threat.
For the other it’s an invitation for revenge.

Helena is beautiful, successful, and living in married bliss in Exeter. But she’s hiding a secret that could tear her perfect life apart. When the notes begin to arrive, she realises someone else must know her secret. But what might her husband and his overbearing family do if they find out the truth?

Thea is reeling from her best friend Helena’s death. But when she starts digging into the circumstances, she receives a threatening note warning her to stop. She knows her friend’s death wasn’t an accident. This was murder. And she is determined to get revenge . . .

Pre-order here*

One For My Enemy by Olivie Blake

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Tor
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary Fantasy, Fantasy Romance

SYNOPSIS:
From Olivie Blake, the bestselling author of The Atlas Six, One For My Enemy is a captivating fantasy story of ambition, sacrifice and the enduring power of family legacies.

This hardback edition includes illustrated endpapers from artist Lasq.Draws plus brand-new interior illustrations from Little Chmura.

In New York City, two rival witch families fight for the upper hand.

The Antonova sisters are beautiful, cunning and ruthless, and their mother – known only as Baba Yaga – is the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants. Their adversaries, the influential Fedorov brothers, serve their crime boss father. Named Koschei the Deathless, his enterprise dominates the shadows of magical Manhattan.

For twelve years, the families have maintained a fraught stalemate. Then everything is thrown into disarray. Bad blood carries them to the brink of disaster, even as fate draws together a brother and sister from either side. Yet the siblings still struggle for power, and internal conflicts could destroy each family from within. That is, if the enmity between empires doesn’t destroy both sides first.

Pre-order here*

The Bequest by Joanna Margaret

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Head of Zeus
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Historical Mystery

SYNOPSIS:
A PhD student uncovers dark secrets in this ‘richly atmospheric and irresistibly readable’ (Joyce Carol Oates) Gothic mystery set in Scotland, Italy, and France. For fans of The Secret History.

Fleeing a disastrous affair with a colleague in Boston, Isabel Henley moves to Scotland to begin a PhD, only to learn upon arrival that her advisor has died mysteriously. Soon afterwards, Isabel is informed that another scholar is about to publish a book on her dissertation topic, leaving her disconcerted and in search of a new subject.

After such a rocky start to life overseas, Isabel needs a good friend, and finds one when she reconnects with Rose Brewster, a charismatic former classmate. But when Rose reveals she is in trouble, then goes missing, Isabel’s already unsteady life is sent into a tailspin. A suicide note surfaces, followed by a coded message: Rose is alive but captive, and unless Isabel can complete her friend’s research, both women will be killed.

Isabel follows Rose’s paper trail through Genoa, Florence and Paris. She uncovers family secrets, the legend of an enormous cursed emerald, and a chain of betrayal and treason lasting centuries. If she can put the pieces together in time, Isabel may solve a 400-year-old mystery… and save her life and her friend’s in the process.

Combining epistolary elements, Gothic suspense, and an atmospheric dark academia setting, The Bequest is a gripping literary thriller that will appeal to fans of Alex Michaelides and Donna Tartt.

Pre-order here*

Hazard Night by Laura Vaughan

Published: April 6th, 2023
Publisher: Corvus
Genre: Suspense, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
Cleeve is not for everyone…

When Eve’s husband is appointed housemaster at his old boarding school, Cleeve College, she gives up her life in London to join him. But the isolation and loss of autonomy threaten both her happiness and her marriage.

The arrival of Fen, an enigmatic artist and wife of the new Classics teacher, is a welcome distraction. Fen doesn’t play by the rules, and she and Eve enter into a game of escalating dares, disrupting the delicate balance of school life.

Then, the morning after Hazard Night, a tradition that allows the students to run wild and play pranks for one day, a body is found. Someone has been murdered. And it seems everyone has something to hide…

Pre-order here*

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

Published: April 11th, 2023
Publisher: Piatkus
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Humorous Fiction, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
A novel of terrible first impressions, hilarious second chances and the joy in finding the perfect match from ‘a true talent’ (EMILY HENRY).

Dr Briana Ortiz’s life is seriously flatlining. Her divorce is just about finalised, her brother’s running out of time to find a kidney donor, and that promotion she wants . . . ? Oh, that’s probably going to the new man-doctor who’s already registering eighty-friggin’-seven on Briana’s ‘pain in my ass’ scale.

But just when all systems are set to hate, Dr Jacob Maddox completely flips the game . . . by sending Briana a letter. It’s a really good letter. Like the kind that proves that Jacob isn’t actually Satan. Worse, he might be this fantastically funny and subversively likeable guy who’s terrible at first impressions. Because suddenly he and Bri are exchanging letters, sharing lunch dates in her ‘sob closet’ and discussing the merits of freakishly tiny horses.

When Jacob turns out to be the perfect donor for her brother, Bri starts to realise that this quietly sexy new doctor might just be her perfect match, too.

Pre-order here*

Atalanta by Jennifer Saint

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Wildfire
Genre: Historical Fiction, Greek Mythology, Fairy Tale, Literary Fiction, Psychological Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
The heroic story of the only female Argonaut, told by Jennifer Saint, the bestselling author of ELEKTRA (UK, Sunday Times, May 2022) and ARIADNE (UK, Sunday Times, April 2021).

When a daughter is born to the King of Arcadia, she brings only disappointment.

Left exposed on a mountainside, the defenceless infant Atalanta is left to the mercy of a passing mother bear and raised alongside the cubs under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis.

Swearing that she will prove her worth alongside the famed heroes of Greece, Atalanta leaves her forest to join Jason’s band of Argonauts. But can she carve out her own place in the legends in a world made for men?

Pre-order here*

No Season But The Summer by Matilda Leyser

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Scribe UK
Genre: Fairy Tale, Mythology, Greek Mythology

SYNOPSIS:
Spring and summer are my mother’s time, autumn and winter are my husband’s. What is left for me?

Persephone spends six months of the year under the ground with her husband, king of the dead, and six months on earth with her mother, goddess of the harvest. It has been this way for nine thousand years, since the deal was struck. But when she resurfaces this spring, something is different. Rains lash the land, crops grow out of season or not at all, there are people trying to build a road through the woods, and her mother does not seem able to stop them. The natural world is changing rapidly and even the gods have lost control.

While Demeter tries to regain her powers and fend off her daughter’s husband, who wants to drag his queen back underground for good, Persephone finally gets a taste of freedom, joining a group of protestors. Used to blinking up at the world from below, as she looks down on the earth for the very first time from the treetops with activist Snow, Persephone realises that there are choices she can make for herself. But what will these choices mean for her mother, her husband, and for the new shoots of life inside her?

No Season but the Summer takes a classic myth and turns it on its head, asking what will happen when our oldest stories fail us, when all the rules have changed. It is, above all, a book about choice.

Pre-order here*

Go As A River by Shelley Read

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Doubleday UK
Genre: Literary Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story

SYNOPSIS:
‘Shelley Read’s lyrical voice is a force of nature and when she lends it to a woman leading a hardscrabble life in rural Colorado, the result is tragic, uplifting and completely unforgettable’ BONNIE GARMUS, author of LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY‘
______________

On a cool autumn day in 1948, Victoria Nash delivers late-season peaches from her family’s farm set amid the wild beauty of Colorado. As she heads into her village, a dishevelled stranger stops to ask her the way. How she chooses to answer will unknowingly alter the course of both their young lives.

So begins the mesmerising story of split-second choices and courageous acts that propel Victoria away from the only home she has ever known and towards a reckoning with loss, hope and her own untapped strength.

Gathering all the pieces of her small and extraordinary existence, spinning through the eddies of desire, heartbreak and betrayal, she will arrive at a single rocky decision that will change her life for ever.

GO AS A RIVER is a heart-wrenching coming-of-age story and a drama of enthralling power. Combining unforgettable characters and a breathtaking natural setting, it is a sweeping story of survival and becoming, of the deepest mysteries of love, truth and fate.

Pre-order here*

In A Thousand Different Ways by Cecelia Ahern

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Genre: Literary Fiction, Coming-of-Age Story, Urban Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Finding your way is never a simple journey…

Alice sees the worst in people.

She also sees the best.
She sees a thousand different emotions and knows exactly what everyone around her is feeling.
Every. Single. Day.

But it’s the dark thoughts.
The sadness. The rage.
These are the things she can’t get out of her head. The things that overwhelm her.

Where will the journey to find herself begin?

Pre-order here*

Homecoming by Kate Morton

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Mantle
Genre: Historical Fiction, Saga

SYNOPSIS:
From the bestselling author of The Clockmaker’s Daughter, Kate Morton, comes a breathtaking mystery of love, lies and a cold case come back to life, told with her trademark intricacy and beauty.

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959.

At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek in the grounds of a grand and mysterious mansion, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and the small town of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia.

Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost twenty years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital.

At a loose end in Nora’s house, Jess does some digging into her past. In Nora’s bedroom, she discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime – a crime that has never been truly solved. And for a journalist without a story, a cold case might be the best distraction she can find . . .

An epic novel that spans generations, Homecoming asks what we would do for those we love, and how we protect the lies we tell. It explores the power of motherhood, the corrosive effects of tightly held secrets, and the healing nature of truth.

Pre-order here*

The Grief Nurse by Angie Soto

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Sandstone Press
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Dystopian Fiction, LGBT Literature

SYNOPSIS:
‘Unforgettable.’ HELEN MARSHALL

Imagine you could be rid of your sadness, your anxiety, your heartache, your fear.

Imagine you could take those feelings from others and turn them into something beautiful.

Lynx is a Grief Nurse. Kept by the Asters, a wealthy, influential family, to ensure they’re never troubled by negative emotions, she knows no other life.

When news arrives that the Asters’ eldest son is dead, Lynx does what she can to alleviate their Sorrow. As guests flock to the Asters’ private island for the wake, bringing their own secrets, lies and grief, tensions rise.

Then the bodies start to pile up.

With romance, intrigue and spectacular gothic world-building, this spellbinding debut novel is immersive and unforgettable.

‘Conceptually- explosive.’ C J COOKE

Pre-order here*

Oh Sister by Jodie Chapman

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Literary Fiction, Religious Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Three women. Three lives. One chance to find themselves…

JEN

My body is not my own. Others make life and death decisions on my behalf.

ISOBEL

My place is to be secondary to the man in my life.

ZELDA

If I break the rules I will be sorry.

But this is not a dystopia. This is not the future or the past or a fantasy. It is real and it is happening now. Can we break free?

Pre-order here*

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Hutchinson Heinman
Genre: Literary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Escape to glamorous Pineapple Street, New York, with 2023’s must-read and warmest debut about love, family, class and money, from exciting new literary voice Jenny Jackson

‘It’s the novel Jane Austen would have written . . . if Jane Austen lived in Brooklyn Heights in the 21st century‘ NEW YORK TIMES

‘A delicious new Gilded Age family drama . . . a guilty pleasure that also feels like a sociological text’ VOGUE


Old money. New family . . .

Pineapple Street in Brooklyn Heights is one of New York City’s most desirable residences, and home to the glamorous and well-connected Stockton family . . .

Darley, the eldest daughter, has never had to worry about money. She followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood – but ended up sacrificing more of herself than she ever intended.

Sasha is marrying into the wealthy Stockton family, who are worlds apart from her own. She feels like the outsider, trying to navigate their impenetrable traditions and please her new mother-in-law – plus her hesitancy to sign a pre-nup has everyone questioning her true intentions.

Georgiana, the youngest, is falling in love with someone she can’t (and really shouldn’t) have – and is forced to confront the kind of person she wants to be.

Witty, escapist and full of heart, with an unmissable cast of loveable – if flawed – characters, Pineapple Street is a beautifully observed novel about the complexities of family dynamics, the miles between the haves and the have-notes, and the all-consuming insanity of first love – while also asking the age-old question, can money really buy you happiness?

Pre-order here*

The Book Lovers Retreat by Heidi Swain

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance

SYNOPSIS:
The brilliantly escapist summer read from your favourite author.
One long summer. One perfect setting. Can fiction inspire real life…?
Sometimes a book grabs you by the heart and grows to mean everything to you. That’s what Hope Falls is to friends Emily, Rachel and Tori. So, when they get the chance to spend a whole summer at the cottage in Lakeside where the film adaptation was located, they know it is going to be the holiday of a lifetime.
Spending six weeks away will give them a chance to re-evaluate their life choices. For Emily to decide which way her career will go – the safe route, or the more risky creative option? And for Rachel to decide whether to move in with her partner Jeremy. Then Tori has to drop out at the last moment, and her space is offered to another Hope Falls afficionado, Alex. 
But when Alex turns out not to be who they expected, the holiday takes an unforeseen turn. And as the summer develops, so does their friendship. Could this be where they uncover their future selves, find love in all its forms and where their lives will change course forever…?

Pre-order here*

Love & Other Scams by PJ Ellis

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Harper North
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Humorous Fiction, Crime Fiction, Urban Fiction, LGBT Literarure, Holiday Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
There’s no thrill like breaking the rules…

‘MISCHIEVOUS, MAGNETIC AND HEAPS OF FUN’ EMMA GANNON

‘PJ ELLIS IS A GENIUS’ LUCY VINE

***

Cat has a dangerously dwindling bank balance. She also has:

· a month before her landlord kicks her out
· a surprise wedding invitation from rich mean girl, Louisa
· a secret talent for con artistry

A priceless jewel the size of a cocktail olive is glinting on Louisa’s finger.

And when Cat meets her ideal plus one, Jake – who’s gifted at hustling and posing as the perfect boyfriend – this wedding becomes a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. After all,

How hard can a diamond heist be?

Pre-order here*

Don’t Believe the Hype by Natalie Lewis

Published: April 13th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder
Genre: Humorous Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘An addictive, glorious romp . . . Don’t Believe the Hype feels like spending time with your funniest, most gossipy, best dressed friend’ Clare Pooley

The world of fashion is supposed to be glamorous . . . isn’t it?

Meet Frankie Marks: the world’s least likely fashion PR. She got the job by fluke, she doesn’t know the first thing about designers, she’s always hungry, and she struggles to think before she speaks. When Frankie crash-lands in the prestigious GGC agency, her friends and family can’t believe it – least of all her long-term (and long-suffering) boyfriend, James.

Frankie quickly realises she needs to use everything she’s got to survive life behind the scenes of this glamorous and chaotic industry – with its eccentric characters, towering expectations, and quite frankly ridiculous requests. But first, she needs to learn the difference between velour and velvet . . .

As the pressure builds and Frankie’s personal life begins to take the hit, she starts to wonder if she’ll ever manage to escape the strange world of fashion unscathed. And, for that matter, does she even want to?

Pre-order here*

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

Published: April 20th, 2023
Publisher: Viper
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Gothic Fiction, Horror Fiction, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
Writers are monsters. We eat everything we see…

In a windswept cottage overlooking the sea, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood companions and the shadowy figure of the Daggerman, who stalked the New England town where they spent their summers. Of a horror that has followed Wilder through the decades. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, The Sound and the Dagger.

This book will be Wilder’s revenge on Sky, who betrayed his trust and died without ever telling him why. But as he writes, Wilder begins to find notes written in Sky’s signature green ink, and events in his manuscript start to chime eerily with the present. Is Sky haunting him? And who is the dark-haired woman drowning in the cove, whom no one else can see?

No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder feels his grip on reality slipping. And he begins to fear that this will not only be his last book, but the last thing he ever does.

Discover the new dark thriller from the bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street

Pre-order here*

The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller

Published: April 20th, 2023
Publisher: Fig Tree Press
Genre: Psychological Fiction, Dystopian Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
From the Costa-Winning, Women’s Prize-shortlisted author of Unsettled Ground: a gripping, haunting novel about memory, love and survival, for readers of Never Let me Go and Leave the World Behind

Neffy is a young woman running away from grief and guilt, and the one big mistake that has derailed her career. When she answers the call to volunteer in a controlled vaccine trial, it offers her a way to pay off her many debts and, perhaps, to make up for the past.

But when the London streets below her window fall silent, and all external communications cease, only Neffy and four other volunteers remain in the unit. With food running out, and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets, Neffy has questions that no one can answer. Does safety lie inside or beyond the unit? And who, or what is out there?

While she weighs up her choices, she is introduced to a pioneering and controversial technology which allows her to revisit memories from her life before: a childhood divided between her enigmatic mother and her father in his small hotel in Greece. Intoxicated by the freedom of the past and the chance to reunite with those she loves, she increasingly turns away from her perilous present. But in this new world where survival rests on the bonds between strangers, is she jeopardising any chance of a future?

The Memory of Animals is a taut and emotionally charged novel about freedom and captivity, survival and sacrifice and whether you can save anyone before you save yourself.

Pre-order here*

The Sleep Watcher by Rowan Hisayo Buchanan

Published: April 20th, 2023
Publisher: Sceptre
Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘A bracing and compelling portrayal of adolescence and feeling uncanny at home. Rowan Hisayo Buchanan is one of the most distinctive and luminously original novelists of her generation’ Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti

‘Elegant, atmospheric, sharp-edged . . . The Sleep Watcher is a novel that obsessed me from the moment I opened the cover’ Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment

When she is sixteen, Kit suffers a summer of peculiar sleeplessness that isn’t quite what it seems. Her body lies in bed while she wanders through her family home, the streets of her run-down seaside town and into the houses of friends and strangers. Unseen and unheard, she witnesses her parents and their fracturing relationship. Her home thrums with quiet violence that she can no longer ignore. With this secret knowledge it becomes impossible not to react and a single choice soon changes everything.

Intimate, tense and exquisitely observed, The Sleep Watcher is a moving portrait of family, danger and guilt, captured through the strange summer heat of adolescence.

Pre-order here*

Prize Women by Caroline Lea

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Michael Joseph
Genre: Historical Mystery, Romance Novel, Domestic Fiction, Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
Based on the incredible true story of The Great Stork Derby, Prize Women sheds light on a scandalous moment in history as relevant now as it was a century ago.

‘Gorgeous. Prize Women took my breath away. I haven’t stopped thinking about it’ JENNIFER SAINT

‘Wonderfully evocative and intelligent. Sheds light on a scandalous moment in history I knew nothing about, told with great sensitivity and grace. I was entranced’ EMMA STONEX

___________

Toronto, 1926.

A childless millionaire leaves behind an astonishing will: the recipient of his fortune will be decided in a contest known as ‘The Great Stork Derby’. His money will go to the winner: the woman who bears the most children in the ten years after his death.

Lily di Marco is young, pregnant, and terrified of her husband. Fleeing to Toronto, she arrives on the doorstep of glamourous free spirit Mae Thebault. At a time when men hold all the power, Lily and Mae look out for each other, leaning on the other when life is overwhelming. But as their friendship grows, Lily wonders if there’s more to Mae – and her past – than she has been told.

And as the Great Depression bites, the Stork Derby contest – with its alluring prize – proves too good to ignore for Lily and Mae, each living hand to mouth. These best friends are now fierce rivals. But if only one woman can win, what will the contest cost the other?

Pre-order here*

Happy Place by Emily Henry

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Viking
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance

SYNOPSIS:
Two exes. One pact.
Could this holiday change everything?

Harriet and Wyn are the perfect couple – they go together like bread and butter, gin and tonic, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

Every year for the past decade, they have run away from their lives to drink far too much wine and soak up the sea air with their favourite people in the world.

Except this year, they are lying through their teeth. Harriet and Wyn broke up six months ago. And they still haven’t told anyone.

But this is the last time they’ll all be together here. The cottage is for sale, and since they can’t bear to break their best friends’ hearts, they’ll fake it for one more week.

But how can you pretend to be in love – and get away with it – in front of the people who know you best?

Brimming with characters you can’t help but fall for and off-the-charts chemistry, HAPPY PLACE is Emily Henry doing what she does best!

Pre-order here*

Death of a Bookseller by Alice Slater

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
A BOOKSHOP. A TRUE CRIME CASE. A DEADLY FRIENDSHIP.

THE UNMISSABLE DEBUT THRILLER.

Roach – bookseller, loner and true crime obsessive – is not interested in making friends. She has all the company she needs in her serial killer books, murder podcasts and her pet snail, Bleep.

That is, until Laura joins the bookshop.

Smelling of roses, with her cute literary tote bags and beautiful poetry, she’s everyone’s new favourite bookseller. But beneath the shiny veneer, Roach senses a darkness within Laura, the same darkness Roach possesses.

As Roach’s curiosity blooms into morbid obsession, it becomes clear that she is prepared to infiltrate Laura’s life at any cost.

Pre-order here*

The Maiden by Kate Foster

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Mantle
Genre: Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Domestic Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘A masterpiece. A thrilling historical murder tale but so much more. Vivid, evocative and full of humanity’ – Janice Hallett, bestselling author of The Appeal and The Twyford Code

Inspired by a real-life case and winner of the Bloody Scotland Pitch Perfect Award, Kate Foster’s The Maiden is a remarkable story with a feminist revisionist twist, giving a voice to women otherwise silenced by history.

“In the end, it did not matter what I said at my trial. No one believed me.”

Edinburgh, October 1679. Lady Christian is arrested and charged with the murder of her lover, James Forrester. News of her imprisonment and subsequent trial is splashed across the broadsides, with headlines that leave little room for doubt: Adulteress. Whore. Murderess.

Only a year before, Lady Christian was newly married, leading a life of privilege and respectability. So, what led her to risk everything for an affair? And does that make her guilty of murder? She wasn’t the only woman in Forrester’s life, and certainly not the only one who might have had cause to wish him dead . . .

‘Threat hangs over every page like the awaiting guillotine, but the women in this book gleam sharper. Witty, gritty and full of heart, their voices rise through the brutality and hardship of 17th century Edinburgh, battling to be heard’ – Cari Thomas, bestselling author of Threadneedle

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The Fall by Louise Jensen

Published: April 27th , 2023
Publisher: HQ
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller

SYNOPSIS:
She promised not to tell. They made sure she couldn’t…

At her surprise 40th birthday party, Kate Granger feels like the luckiest woman in the world but just hours later her fifteen-year-old daughter, Caily, is found unconscious underneath a bridge when she should have been at school.

Now, Caily lies comatose in her hospital bed, and the police don’t believe it was an accident. As the investigation progresses, it soon becomes clear that not everyone in the family was where they claimed to be at the time of her fall.

Caily should be safe in hospital but not everyone wants her to wake up. Someone is desperate to protect the truth and it isn’t just Caily’s life that is in danger.

Because some secrets are worth killing for…

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The Hike by Lucy Clarke

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Holiday Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
Discover your next escape – the gripping, twisty new thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of One of the Girls
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THE PERFECT DAY FOR A HIKE

Leaving behind their everyday lives, four friends hike out into the beautiful Norwegian wild – nothing between them and the mountain peak but forest, sea and sharp blue sky.

THE PERFECT PLACE TO DISAPPEAR

But there’s a darker side to the wilderness. A woman went missing here one year ago, scarring the mountain with suspicion and unanswered questions.

Now, the friends are hiking into the heart of the mystery. And waiting on the trail is someone who’d do anything to keep their secrets buried – and to stop the group walking away alive . . .

ESCAPE WITH LUCY CLARKE, THE QUEEN OF DESTINATION THRILLERS

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The Daughters of Madurai by Rajasree Variyar

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Orion
Genre: Historical Fiction, Litarary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
ONE OF COSMOPOLITAN’S BEST BOOK TO LOOK FORWARD TO IN 2023

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‘A girl is a burden. A girl is a curse.’

Madurai, 1992. A young mother in a poor family, Janani is told she is useless if she can’t produce a son – or worse, bears daughters they can’t afford. They let her keep her first baby girl but the rest are taken away as soon as they are born. The fate of her children has never been in her hands. But Janani can’t forget the daughters who weren’t allowed to live.

Sydney, 2019. Nila has a secret, one she’s been keeping from her parents for far too long. Before she can say anything, her grandfather in India falls ill and she agrees to join her parents on a trip to Madurai – the first in over ten years. Growing up in Australia, Nila knows very little about where she or her family came from, or who they left behind. What she’s about to learn will change her forever…

Perfect for fans of Christy Lefteri and Delia Owens, The Daughters of Madurai is a moving and powerful debut from an unforgettable new voice.

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Greek Lessons by Han Kang

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Hamish Hamilton
Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
A powerful novel of the saving grace of language and human connection, from the celebrated author of The Vegetarian

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it’s the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages.

Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish – the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to one another. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity – their voices intersecting with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to expression.

Greek Lessons is a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection, a novel to awaken the senses, vividly conjuring the essence of what it means to be alive.

Translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won.

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Preloved by Lauren Bravo

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Genre: Literary Fiction, Humorous Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘Lauren Bravo is one of my very favourite writers.’ Dolly Alderton
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Gwen is coasting through life. She’s in her mid-thirties, perpetually single, her friends are busy procreating in the countryside and conversations with her parents seem to revolve entirely around the council’s wheelie-bin timetable.
 
And she’s lonely. But then, isn’t everyone?
 
When she’s made redundant from a job she hardly cares about, she takes herself out for a fancy dinner. There she has the best sticky toffee pudding of her life and realises she has no one to tell. She vows to begin living her life fully, reconnect with her friends and family, and finally book that dentist’s appointment. 
 
Gwen decides to start where all things get a second chance: her local charity shop. There, with the help of the weird and wonderful people and donated items bursting with untold stories, Gwen will find a way to move forward with bravery, tenacity, and more regular dental care.
 
Dazzlingly witty, Preloved is a tale about friendship, loss and being true to yourself no matter the expectations. Lovingly celebrating the enduring power and joy of charity shops.

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Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Headline Review
Genre: Romance Novel, Domestic Fiction, Literary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
The life-affirming and unforgettable new novel from the author of Lost for Words

‘A delightful and original concept about how a second hand bookshop can heal a community’ Katie Fforde

Loveday Cardew’s beloved Lost for Words bookshop, along with the rest of York, has fallen quiet. At the very time when people most need books to widen their horizons, or escape from their fears, or enhance their lives, the doors are closed. Then the first letter comes.

Rosemary and George have been married for fifty years. Now their time is running out. They have decided to set out on their last journey together, without ever leaving the bench at the bottom of their garden in Whitby. All they need is someone who shares their love of books.

Suddenly it’s clear to Loveday that she and her team can do something useful in a crisis. They can recommend books to help with the situations their customers find themselves in: fear, boredom, loneliness, the desire for laughter and escape.

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Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance

SYNOPSIS:
Neither of them expected to fall in love. But sometimes life has other plans.

When Wren realises her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.

On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.

Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.

But Wren doesn’t know that Anders is harbouring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone.

Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?

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Hotel 21 by Senta Rich

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Genre: Humorous Fiction, Contemporary Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘I have a first-day rule. Any sign of trouble, even a whiff of a problem, and I walk.’

Noelle is an efficient and friendly hotel cleaner, a model employee. Or so she’d have you think. The trouble is that she can’t help taking little ‘souvenirs’ as she cleans. Nothing of value, just tokens of happy, normal lives: a lipstick, a hair clip, some tweezers. And by the time the guest has noticed, she’s long gone.

As she starts at her 21st hotel, she’s determined to beat her record of one month in a five star hotel before suspicion falls on her. But when she meets her new colleagues, her plans are complicated. These women aren’t just hands pushing carts down lonely hotel corridors: they are women with lives full of happiness and worry, pain and joy. The kind of lives Noelle has never known how to live. They make her wonder what it might be like to have real friends, people to stick around for.

Will the women at Hotel 21 give her the courage to claim the life she deserves, or will her old habits come back to haunt her?

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Night, Wherever We Go by Tracey Rose Peyton

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: The Borough Press
Genre: Historical Ficiton, Contemporary Horror, Biographical Fiction

SYNOPSIS:
‘A hugely impressive debut’ SARAH WATERS

‘Extraordinary… I’m not sure I’ve recovered from the experience of reading it, or ever will, or ever should’ ELIZABETH MCCRACKEN

An intimate look at the domestic lives of enslaved women, NIGHT WHEREVER WE GO is an evocative meditation on resistance and autonomy, on love and transcendence and the bonds of female friendship in the darkest of circumstances.

On a struggling Texas plantation, six enslaved women slip from their sleeping quarters and gather in the woods under the cover of night. The Lucys―as they call the plantation owners, after Lucifer himself―have decided to turn around the farm’s bleak financial prospects by making the women bear children. They have hired a “stockman” to impregnate them. But the women are determined to protect themselves.

Now, each of the six faces a choice. Nan, the doctoring woman, has brought a sack of cotton root clippings that can stave off children when chewed daily. If they all take part, the Lucys may give up and send the stockman away. But a pregnancy for any of them will only encourage the Lucys further. And should their plan be discovered, the consequences will be severe.

Visceral and illuminating, Night Wherever We Go marks the arrival of a bold, lyrical and powerful new voice in fiction.

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The Woman on the Bridge by Shiela O’Flannagan

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Headline
Genre: Historical Fiction, Travel Literature

SYNOPSIS:
A stunning historical novel from multi-million-copy bestselling author Sheila O’Flanagan

‘Winnie is a great character . . . she’s always real – she’s always human’ Roddy Doyle

‘Unputdownable, full of poignancy, warmth and real and relatable women’ Kate Thompson

Dublin. The 1920s. As war tears Ireland apart, two young people are caught up in events that will bring love, tragedy – and the hardest of choices.

In a country fighting for freedom, it’s hard to live a normal life. Winnie O’Leary supports the cause, but she doesn’t go looking for trouble. Then rebel Joseph Burke steps into her workplace. Winnie is furious with him about a broken window. She’s not interested in romance. But love comes when you least expect it.

Joseph’s family shelter fugitives and transport weapons. Joseph would never ask Winnie to join the fight; but his mother and sisters demand commitment. Will Winnie choose Joseph, and put her own loved ones in deadly danger? Or wait for a time of peace that may never come?

Ireland’s tumultuous independence struggle is the backdrop for an unforgettable story of courage and heartbreak, in which heroes are made of ordinary people. Inspired by the story of Sheila O’Flanagan’s grandmother, The Woman on the Bridge is the unmissable, compulsive new novel from a bestselling author.

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A Good Night To Kill (Pretty Boy 2) by Amen Alonge

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Quercus
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Crime Series

SYNOPSIS:
Born and raised in London, Pretty Boy has spent the last ten years in exile after being forced out of his hometown. He’s learned patience, and how to disappear. Now Pretty Boy is ready to get his revenge on those who need to pay for his lost years.

Meanwhile, back in the city, things have moved on. People still talk about Pretty Boy, of course. He’s a legend, more myth than man, and rumours run wild about his deadly legacy. But most think they’ve seen the last of him. He’s finished.

Someone who never gave up on Pretty Boy is Alan Pierce. The former policeman turned corrupt businessman has always lived by his own rules: stay focused, stay one step ahead of the enemy, stay alive. Alan and Pretty Boy have history – Pretty Boy owes him everything – so when Alan finds himself fighting a drug-fuelled war on all fronts, there’s only one man he wants to turn to. But where is Pretty Boy?

Sharp, fast-paced and gripping and with a cast of unforgettable characters, A Good Night to Kill is a heart-pounding tale of justice, loyalty, and of what happens when two men turn to face the fight they’ve been trying to outrun.

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Foxash by Kate Worsley

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Tinder Press
Genre: Literary Fiction, LGTBTQ+ Literature

SYNOPSIS:
‘A wonderfully atmospheric and deeply unsettling novel, full of images so vivid they seem to leap off the page. Worsley’s fiction is something to savour’ Sarah Waters

Worn out by poverty, Lettie Radley and her miner husband Tommy grasp at the offer of their very own smallholding – part of a Government scheme to put the unemployed back to work on the land. When she comes down to Essex to join him, it’s not Tommy who greets her, but their new neighbours. Overbearing and unkempt, Jean and Adam Dell are everything that the smart, spirited, aspirational Lettie can’t abide.

As Lettie settles in, she finds an unexpected joy in the rhythms of life on the smallholding. She’s hopeful that her past, and the terrible secret Tommy has come to Foxash to escape, are far behind them. But the Dells have their own secrets. And as the seasons change, and a man comes knocking at the gate, the scene is set for a terrible reckoning.

Combining a gothic sensibility with a visceral, unsettling sense of place, Foxash is a deeply original novel of quiet and powerful menace, of the real hardships of rural life, and the myths and folklore that seep into ordinary lives – with surprising consequences.

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Eighteen Seconds by Louise Beech

Published: April 27th, 2023
Publisher: Mardle Books
Genre: Memoir

SYNOPSIS:
My mother once said to me, ‘I wish you could feel the way I do for eighteen seconds. Just eighteen seconds, so you’d know how awful it is.’

I thought about it. Realised we could all learn from being in another person’s head for eighteen seconds. Eighteen seconds inside Grandma Roberts’ head as she sat alone with her evening cup of tea, us girls upstairs in bed. Eighteen seconds inside one-year-old Colin’s head when he woke up in a foster home without his family. Eighteen seconds inside the head of a girl waiting for her bedroom door to open.

Writer, Louise Beech, looks back on the events that led to the day her mother wrote down her last words, then jumped off the Humber Bridge. She missed witnessing the horror herself by minutes.

Louise recounts the pain and trauma of her childhood alongside her love for her siblings with a delicious dark humour and a profound voice of hope for the future.

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Are any of these on your wishilist? Which ones? Let me know in the comments

Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxx

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