20 New Novels for Spring

Libertie by Kaitlyn Greenidge

This is a moving book by Kaitlyn Greenidge, a 2017 Whiting Award winner (for We Love You, Charlie Freeman). Greenidge bases her sophomore novel on the real-life story of Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the first Black female doctor in New York state, whose light skin opened opportunities. While Steward yearns for her daughter Libertie to don a stethoscope, too, Libertie's darker complexion makes her less accepted in society. Seeking a better future in Haiti, Libertie instead comes up against more discrimination from the men in charge, and must forge her own way to independence. (March 30)

Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia

A wonderful debut novel from Garcia — whose parents came to the U.S. from Cuba and Mexico — this story sweeps from 19th-century Cuba's cigar factories to modern-day Miami, tracking five generations of women. Carmen is a Cuban immigrant in Miami who struggles with her adult daughter, Jeanette, never revealing much about her own childhood and why she's estranged from her mother in Cuba. Jeanette decides to see her grandmother in Cuba, where she begins to learn about the family's painful past. Their story intersects with that of another mother and daughter who've attempted to migrate to the U.S. from Mexico, with harsh consequences. (March 30)

The Night Always Comes by Willy Vlautin

This is a fast and worthy read that you may end up devouring in a few sittings — it's that propulsive. Set mostly during two days and nights in Portland, Oregon, it's about a young woman emotionally and financially stretched to the brink. Lynette's living in a rental with her despondent mother and developmentally disabled brother, and desperate for the money to buy a home for the family. When she loses her mom's support for her homeownership dream, her frustration and despair set her off on a dangerous, lawless quest that grows wilder by the hour. You can't help but ache for Lynette, seemingly on a treadmill to nowhere. This is the sixth novel from Vlautin, who — fun fact — is also an accomplished musician (he was in the rock/alt-country band Richmond Fontaine). (April 6)

When a Stranger Comes to Town by the Mystery Writers of America

It's said that all great stories are either about a person going on a journey or a stranger coming to town. Hence the title of the Mystery Writers of America's new collection of 19 stories by the crème de la crème of mystery writers, including heavyweight scribes like Michael Connelly, Dean Koontz and Joe Hill. Edited by Michael Koryta (the best-selling author of 14 suspense novels), this anthology features enigmatic tales about, for instance, a newcomer in conflict with a busybody and a nurse coming to New York City to help COVID-19 patients and encountering a rape victim — with unexpected results — and is packed with enough secrets, sinister plots and mystery to entice any lover of the genre. (April 20)

Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead

This is a sweeping epic with brilliantly drawn characters by Shipstead — author of 2014's Astonish Me. The heroine, Marian Graves, is just a baby when she nearly drowns at sea with her twin brother, Jaimie, and her life is no less eventful while growing up as an aspiring pilot in Prohibition-era Montana, working as a bootlegger to squirrel money away for flying lessons. As an adult, she's a fiercely independent and eventually legendary pilot whose story is in the process of being captured on film in modern-day Los Angeles; the book jumps forward to the filming and the young actress who's playing her role. Don't miss this one. (May 4)

Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian

The best-selling Bohjalian has been translated into 35 languages, and three of his 21 books are now movies (including his recent twisty thriller The Flight Attendant, now on HBO Max). His latest book is about Mary Deerfield, a young Puritan woman in 1662 Boston who fights terrible marital abuse as her husband's second wife. She risks her very life in filing for divorce — a protest against domestic violence unheard of in 17th-century America. But Mary's brave choice has a price tag: Charged as a witch, she must now face trial. It's a probing page-turner about society's scapegoats and how elusive justice can be. (May 4)

Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin

The View cohost, an Emmy award-winning journalist, has written her first novel about a dramatic, romantic season on Martha's Vineyard. It's an entertaining beach read set in Oak Bluffs, a real-life affluent black beach community on Martha's Vineyard (where Barack and Michelle vacation) during one life-altering summer. Afro-Latina lawyer Perry Soto is at her godmother Ama's beloved home for a relaxing, sunny break. When Ama announces she's giving up the house to go live with her lover in France, Perry and fellow godchildren Olivia and Billie realize how much this vacation home means to them, but each has secrets they don't want Ama to know (turns out she has her own secrets, too). (May 4)

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Weir, the author of The Martian (made into the 2015 film starring Matt Damon), is back with an out-of-this-world tale melding fascinating science facts onto mind-bending fiction that — no surprise — is already being turned into a film (Ryan Gosling will star). The future is here, our Earth and our humanity are both at stake, and there is only one man who can save them: astronaut Ryland Grace. Unfortunately, he's alone on a tiny spaceship, with the rest of the crew dead, and no memory of who he is or what his mission was. Could an unexpected ally — who just might be an alien — help save our world from extinction and help Ryland remember? (May 4)

The Secrets of Happiness by Joan Silber

The latest from Silber, a National Book Award winner for her 2017 novel Improvement, features six interlocking narrators from Greenwich Village to Bangkok, as they struggle to find the answer to a central question: What do we need to be happy? They include gay New York attorney Ethan, who discovers that his father has kept a secret second family with a Thai wife, a revelation with far-reaching repercussions. As Ethan connects to his two half brothers, he ends up in a complicated love triangle, while his American mother has to reckon with compromises from her past. Slowly and carefully, this disparate group of characters manages to connect, and each comes closer to understanding what some of those secrets to happiness might be. (May 4)

Legacy by Nora Roberts

The blockbuster author offers a new standalone novel featuring her signature stellar mix of romance and suspense, with a strong female heroine and a mystery guaranteed to keep you guessing. It doesn't go well when Adrian meets her dad for the first time at age 7; he tries to kill her, but she's saved by her mother, Lina. Years later, the adult Adrian thinks she's put the past behind her, ambitiously expanding her successful yoga business and becoming increasingly high-profile, while Lina has become a multimillionaire with her own fitness brand. But when Adrian starts getting creepy, rhyming death threats — dismissed by her mother — both her new relationship with an old flame and her burgeoning empire get dangerously derailed. Can she find the killer before it's too late? (May 25)

Caroline Leavitt is the author of 12 novels, most recently 2020's With or Without You. She's also cofounder of the book-lovers’ website A Mighty Blaze and writes a regular column, “Runs in the Family,” for Psychology Today.