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The Lost Girl of Craven County, Emily Matchar (Putnam)
Release date: April 14
New Bern, North Carolina, has had a small Jewish community for centuries; I appreciate learning about lesser-known Jewish history via fiction. Set during the Depression, Matchar’s second novel (after In the Shadow of the Greenbrier) is a historical mystery about a young woman from New Bern’s Little Jerusalem and a shocking discovery she makes.
Margery & Me, Maryka Biaggio (Regal House)
Release date: April 21
Biaggio writes historical novels based on real people (see her earlier guest posts on this site: The Risks of Writing about Real Historical Figures and Fidelity to the Truth in Biographical Fiction). Her latest should interest anyone fascinated by the spiritualist movement in 1920s America, as it looks closely at psychic medium Margery Crandon, a woman previously unfamiliar to me, and Harry Houdini’s determination to debunk her.
The House of Boleyn, Tracy Borman (Hodder & Stoughton/Atlantic Monthly)
Release date: April 23 (UK); August 4 (US)
Have you been noticing a mini-Tudor renaissance in fiction? In a decades-spanning generational saga, historian Borman zooms in on Anne Boleyn’s family story, starting when her determined father arrives at Henry VIII’s court in 1509.
Edmonia, Brianne Baker (Dafina/Kensington)
Release date: April 28
Baker’s debut is biographical fiction about Black-Ojibwe sculptor Edmonia Lewis, a woman whose artistic accomplishments and eventful life and travels deserve greater attention. In mid-February, Lewis was the subject of an article in the New York Times written as a lead-up to a new museum exhibition about her work.
Mrs. Benedict Arnold, Emma Parry (Zando)
Release date: April 28
Literary agent Parry investigates the inner life and motives of Peggy Shippen of Philadelphia, aka Mrs. Benedict Arnold, in a novel that asks how large a role she played in her husband’s treason. Having read and enjoyed Allison Pataki’s The Traitor’s Wife, I look forward to this new retelling.
A Founding Mother, Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie (William Morrow)
Release date: May 5
A timely publication for the semiquincentennial (a word you’ll be seeing frequently this year) of America’s founding, Dray and Kamoie’s latest collaborative biographical novel focuses on Abigail Adams: wife and mother of presidents and a smart political voice in her own right.
Daughters of the Tide, Arianne James (HQ/HarperCollins Australia)
Release date: May 26
A gothic family mystery (and a debut) set in 1920s Tasmania, featuring a seaside mansion and eerie dreams of seals and selkies. It won’t be spring in Australia when it’s released, but it’s expected out in a few months wherever you’re located.
A Fortune of Sand, Ruta Sepetys (Ballantine)
Release date: May 26
The adult debut from an author celebrated for her YA historicals. During Prohibition, Marjorie Lennox, youngest daughter in an eccentric, wealthy family from the Detroit suburbs, stumbles into odd mysteries when she accepts an artistic residency. I’ve just finished this; all I’ll say for now is that I’m glad to have read it early, without having seen any spoilery reviews online.
Land, Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf/Tinder Press)
Release date: June 2
O’Farrell may be best known for Hamnet these days, but Land – her most ambitious novel – is different in scope and more personal. It covers, primarily, the decades after Ireland’s Great Hunger and centers on the uncanny aftermath of a quiet man’s mapmaking trip to western Ireland.
Children of the Wild, Kevin Powers (Harper)
Release date: June 9
WWII novels proliferate; there are noticeably fewer WWI novels. This work of literary fiction tells the story of three young people from the mountains of rural Virginia whose lives, overseas and at home, are altered with the world at war.
Daughters of the Sun and Moon, Lisa See (Scribner)
Release date: June 9
See writes gorgeous novels about women in Chinese and Chinese American history. Her new novel opens in Los Angeles in 1870, when anti-Chinese prejudice was pervasive, and follows three different women beginning new lives there.
Mrs. Dickens, Emily Howes (Phoenix/W&N UK)
Release date: June 11
Posterity hasn’t always been kind to Charles Dickens’ wife, Catherine (Kate), whom—after a loving start to their marriage and many children—he left for another woman and tried to have committed. Howes’ (The Painter’s Daughters) second novel illuminates Kate’s viewpoint as a wronged woman and cookbook author. Per the author’s website, recipes are included. No US edition that I could locate, though I’m happy to be corrected.
Consider the Ravens, Cressida Downing (No Exit Press)
Release date: July 16
This first in a new series set on Holy Island – Lindisfarne, off England’s northeast coast – in the late 15th century features a female scribe, her secret past, a monastery, and murder. Lindisfarne is a beautiful, memorable place that I’m eager to revisit via fiction.
The Story Keeper, Kelly Rimmer (MIRA)
Release date: July 21
Rimmer’s dual-period Australian gothic centers on a crumbling mansion called Wurimbirra, the modern art restorer who purchases her childhood home, a long-lost manuscript, and the family secrets it dredges up. Its title is The Midnight Estate in Australia and the UK.
Runner, Ashton Lattimore (Ballantine)
Release date: July 28
Lattimore’s debut novel, All We Were Promised, was a fast-moving tale of Black women’s friendship in 1830s Philadelphia. In Runner, set during Prohibition, a young Black woman turns rumrunner along the northeastern seaboard, taking her father’s place after his suspicious death.
The Ladies Hall, Vanessa Miller (Thomas Nelson)
Release date: August 11
The origin story of three future civil rights leaders—Black women of different backgrounds who became classmates and friends while attending Oberlin College in the 1880s. Based on a true story. After reading the author’s previous novel The Filling Station, about two sisters in the aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre, this one is on my list.
Edmonia, Brianne Baker (Dafina/Kensington)
Release date: April 28
Baker’s debut is biographical fiction about Black-Ojibwe sculptor Edmonia Lewis, a woman whose artistic accomplishments and eventful life and travels deserve greater attention. In mid-February, Lewis was the subject of an article in the New York Times written as a lead-up to a new museum exhibition about her work.
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Mrs. Benedict Arnold, Emma Parry (Zando)
Release date: April 28
Literary agent Parry investigates the inner life and motives of Peggy Shippen of Philadelphia, aka Mrs. Benedict Arnold, in a novel that asks how large a role she played in her husband’s treason. Having read and enjoyed Allison Pataki’s The Traitor’s Wife, I look forward to this new retelling.
A Founding Mother, Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie (William Morrow)
Release date: May 5
A timely publication for the semiquincentennial (a word you’ll be seeing frequently this year) of America’s founding, Dray and Kamoie’s latest collaborative biographical novel focuses on Abigail Adams: wife and mother of presidents and a smart political voice in her own right.
Daughters of the Tide, Arianne James (HQ/HarperCollins Australia)
Release date: May 26
A gothic family mystery (and a debut) set in 1920s Tasmania, featuring a seaside mansion and eerie dreams of seals and selkies. It won’t be spring in Australia when it’s released, but it’s expected out in a few months wherever you’re located.
A Fortune of Sand, Ruta Sepetys (Ballantine)
Release date: May 26
The adult debut from an author celebrated for her YA historicals. During Prohibition, Marjorie Lennox, youngest daughter in an eccentric, wealthy family from the Detroit suburbs, stumbles into odd mysteries when she accepts an artistic residency. I’ve just finished this; all I’ll say for now is that I’m glad to have read it early, without having seen any spoilery reviews online.
 |
Land, Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf/Tinder Press)
Release date: June 2
O’Farrell may be best known for Hamnet these days, but Land – her most ambitious novel – is different in scope and more personal. It covers, primarily, the decades after Ireland’s Great Hunger and centers on the uncanny aftermath of a quiet man’s mapmaking trip to western Ireland.
Children of the Wild, Kevin Powers (Harper)
Release date: June 9
WWII novels proliferate; there are noticeably fewer WWI novels. This work of literary fiction tells the story of three young people from the mountains of rural Virginia whose lives, overseas and at home, are altered with the world at war.
Daughters of the Sun and Moon, Lisa See (Scribner)
Release date: June 9
See writes gorgeous novels about women in Chinese and Chinese American history. Her new novel opens in Los Angeles in 1870, when anti-Chinese prejudice was pervasive, and follows three different women beginning new lives there.
Mrs. Dickens, Emily Howes (Phoenix/W&N UK)
Release date: June 11
Posterity hasn’t always been kind to Charles Dickens’ wife, Catherine (Kate), whom—after a loving start to their marriage and many children—he left for another woman and tried to have committed. Howes’ (The Painter’s Daughters) second novel illuminates Kate’s viewpoint as a wronged woman and cookbook author. Per the author’s website, recipes are included. No US edition that I could locate, though I’m happy to be corrected.
 |
Consider the Ravens, Cressida Downing (No Exit Press)
Release date: July 16
This first in a new series set on Holy Island – Lindisfarne, off England’s northeast coast – in the late 15th century features a female scribe, her secret past, a monastery, and murder. Lindisfarne is a beautiful, memorable place that I’m eager to revisit via fiction.
The Story Keeper, Kelly Rimmer (MIRA)
Release date: July 21
Rimmer’s dual-period Australian gothic centers on a crumbling mansion called Wurimbirra, the modern art restorer who purchases her childhood home, a long-lost manuscript, and the family secrets it dredges up. Its title is The Midnight Estate in Australia and the UK.
Runner, Ashton Lattimore (Ballantine)
Release date: July 28
Lattimore’s debut novel, All We Were Promised, was a fast-moving tale of Black women’s friendship in 1830s Philadelphia. In Runner, set during Prohibition, a young Black woman turns rumrunner along the northeastern seaboard, taking her father’s place after his suspicious death.
The Ladies Hall, Vanessa Miller (Thomas Nelson)
Release date: August 11
The origin story of three future civil rights leaders—Black women of different backgrounds who became classmates and friends while attending Oberlin College in the 1880s. Based on a true story. After reading the author’s previous novel The Filling Station, about two sisters in the aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre, this one is on my list.
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