20 great new books to read in April

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April Jewels

Scribner; Catapult; Nan A. Talese; Little, Brown and Company; Graywolf Press

No joke: These 20 books are all worth your time. Highlights include a potentially groundbreaking book on therapy, the latest in a smash YA series, and two of the biggest literary events of the year so far. (We'll let you guess which ones.)

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The Affairs of the Falcóns, by Melissa Rivero

Ecco

Born in Lima and working off her experiences living in the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant, Rivero depicts a Peruvian family struggling to make it in New York, and how its matriarch, Ana, fights to keep them afloat. (April 2)

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Defy Me, by Tahereh Mafi

HarperCollins

The fifth book in Mafi's best-selling Shatter Me series, set in a dystopian land and following a headstrong teen with a lethal touch, sets the stage for an epic conclusion. (April 2)

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The Editor, by Steven Rowley

G.P. Putnam's Sons

Greg Berlanti is already slated to direct this delightful slice of historical fiction, which depicts a sensitive and shrewd Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (who was, in fact, a book editor) as she works on a struggling gay author's manuscript about his relationship with his mother. (April 2)

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The Gulf, by Belle Boggs

Graywolf Press

The for-profit education system gets the scathing send-up it deserves in Boggs' novel, about a starved-for-cash poet who takes a job teaching writers at a grungy Florida motel. (April 2)

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The Light Years, by Chris Rush

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Rush situates his coming of age in the optimistic ’60s — ignoring college, joining the counterculture — against a turbulent era in American history. (April 2)

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Lost and Wanted, by Nell Freudenberger

Knopf

This brainy novel centering on MIT physicist Helen takes a turn for the otherworldly when she grapples with the aftermath of her college best friend Charlie's death. (April 2)

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Atlantic's "Dear Therapist" columnist offers a startlingly revealing tour of the therapist's life, examining her relationships with her patients, her own therapist, and various figures in her personal life. (April 2)

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Stay Up With Hugo Best, by Erin Somers

Scribner

Somers' wry debut centers on June, a young writers' assistant spending Memorial Day weekend at the estate of her boss, beleaguered veteran late-night host Hugo Best. The novel follows two lost but clever souls desperate for connection. (April 2)

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There's a Word for That, by Sloane Tanen

Little, Brown and Company

A hilariously awful family converges for a reunion at an absurdly expensive Malibu rehab center, where patriarch Marty is recovering after his pill-popping got out of hand. (April 2)

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Women Talking, by Miriam Toews

Bloomsbury Publishing

Toews (Irma Voth) gives voice to eight women as they contemplate how to respond to the mass violence enacted on them by men in their town. Margaret Atwood says its events "could be right out of The Handmaid's Tale." (April 2)

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All That You Leave Behind, by Erin Lee Carr

Penguin Random House

The acclaimed documentary filmmaker and daughter of the late, great New York Times journalist David Carr reviewed their lifetime of correspondence, in which they shared nearly 2,000 items of communication in total. In her book, Erin unpacks their mutual addictions and challenges with sobriety, and the powerful sense of work and family that comes to define them. (April 9)

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Optic Nerve, by Maria Gainza

Catapult

Gainza's long-awaited English-language debut is a provocative novel that investigates the power, value, and emotional significance that art carries, from the perspective of one deeply curious Argentinian woman. (April 9)

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Trust Exercise, by Susan Choi

Henry Holt and Co.

The Pulitzer Prize finalist (American Woman) immerses readers in an ’80s performing-arts high school, introducing an intriguing love story before shifting to something much darker — and more shocking. (April 9)

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The Better Sister, by Alafair Burke

Harper

Over the past few years, Burke has emerged as one of our favorite psychological thriller writers, especially after last year's brilliantly timely The Wife. We expect her follow-up, which traces the uneasy relationship between two sisters and how it relates to a grisly murder, to keep fans satisfied. (April 16)

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Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim

Sarah Crichton Books

An experimental medical device explodes and kills two people. But rather than spin a typical whodunit, Kim uses the courtroom-drama format for a rigorous character study, touching on themes of immigration and motherhood as secrets boil to the surface. (April 16)

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Normal People, by Sally Rooney

Hogarth

Coming off her lauded debut, Conversations With Friends, Rooney has written a sweeping romance for her second literary act. It’s already an award-winning hit in her native U.K. (April 16)

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Southern Lady Code, by Helen Ellis

Doubleday

We'll let the official synopsis for Ellis' witty tome do the convincing just this once: "a fiercely funny collection of essays on marriage and manners, thank-you notes and three-ways, ghosts, gunshots, gynecology, and the Calgon-scented, onion-dipped, monogrammed art of living as a Southern Lady." (April 16)

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Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan

Nan A. Talese

The master of historical fiction (Atonement) imagines an alternative 1980s London, with two lovers tested in the grim shadow of a lost war. (April 23)

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The Mother-in-Law, by Sally Hepworth

St. Martin's Press

At last, sticky in-law tension gets the chilly thriller treatment. In Hepworth's anticipated new page-turner, one woman's complex relationship with her mother-in-law ends in death. (April 23)

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What My Mother and I Don't Talk About, by Michele Filgate (ed)

Simon + Schuster

Filgate compiles a unique set of autobiographical essays, some funny and some heartbreaking, which explore the distance between mothers and children and what's left unsaid. Contributors include Leslie Jamison (The Recovering), André Aciman (Call Me by Your Name), and Alexander Chee (How to Write an Autobiographical Novel). (April 30)

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20 new books to read in April

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April Jewels

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The Affairs of the Falcóns, by Melissa Rivero

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Defy Me, by Tahereh Mafi

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The Editor, by Steven Rowley

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The Gulf, by Belle Boggs

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The Light Years, by Chris Rush

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Lost and Wanted, by Nell Freudenberger

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Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Lori Gottlieb

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Stay Up With Hugo Best, by Erin Somers

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There's a Word for That, by Sloane Tanen

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Women Talking, by Miriam Toews

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All That You Leave Behind, by Erin Lee Carr

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Optic Nerve, by Maria Gainza

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Trust Exercise, by Susan Choi

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The Better Sister, by Alafair Burke

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Miracle Creek, by Angie Kim

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Normal People, by Sally Rooney

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Southern Lady Code, by Helen Ellis

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Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan

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The Mother-in-Law, by Sally Hepworth

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What My Mother and I Don't Talk About, by Michele Filgate (ed)

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