We recommend: The best new book releases
The best of new fiction
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio: This is game designer Holly Gramazio’s debut novel. The 31-year-old protagonist Lauren is a single lady living in South London. She comes home one night from the bachelorette party of her best friend and finds herself in a peculiar situation—she has a husband!? Not only that, when this husband disappears into a corner a new one emerges! While she and her apartment stay the same, her house decor and photos on the walls keep changing. And so the novel becomes a light critique on monogamy and matrimony. The Guardian reviews that the novel is “a multiverse romcom, neatly flipping the script on the quest to find The One.” Washington Post says “the simple, dizzying premise” is elevated by Holly Gramazio’s background which gives it “more depth and nuance than one might expect from its whimsical log line.” (April 2)
One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole. This riveting thriller follows a caretaker of an estate who is trapped on the island with a murderer. What makes this story even more complex is that Kenetria Nash has a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder which derailed her preservationist career. Her team and her trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers—including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect. This horror-suspense-thriller has the protagonists in a race against time, the law and even ghosts of their past. (April 16)
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke: In 1885, Aubry Tourvel, a nine-year old girl comes across a toy that she later takes home. A few days later, she contracts a mysterious disease. She starts having seizures one day, and on her way to the doctor her health improves. But, once she reaches home she starts bleeding again. Soon, Aubry realises that the only way to survive is to keep travelling. She can’t be in one place for longer than a few days, and can’t return to a place that she’s already visited. She needs to always be on the go. This fictional story is a travelogue and reads like a memoir of Aubry Tourvel as she experiences life through a series of travels. Kirkus Reviews notes that this is book has “insightful prose” that make “every page worth savouring” (April 2)
The Four by Ellie Keel: This one is for the fans of dark academia—think boarding schools, secret societies and politics! The book follows a group of four scholarship students who get accepted into their dream school. But to achieve the highest honour among the elites, they each have to risk spilling secrets which test their loyalty. Is the honour worth the risk of friendship? (April 11)
This month’s poetry pick
A Fate Worse Than Death by Nisha Patel. This heartbreaking and moving poetry collection explores themes of disability, based on the author’s evaluation of her own medical records. Treatment-resistant diabetes, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and complex chronic pain—the poet reveals how her multiple disabilities intersect with many aspects of her life and how poetry provides her a way to resist the sway of medical hegemony. The poems are written in a slightly different form—for example, Patel uses clinical texts in visual poems. (April 2)
The best of new non-fiction
The Book-Makers: A History of the Book in 18 Remarkable Lives by Adam Smyth. This is a book for the book lovers about the people who make books. Smyth explores the lives of 18 individuals from our history who have contributed to the development of the book as a physical form, and something all of us can enjoy. These include stories of folks who set up small presses and big manufacturing machines to help print books; the people who made different fonts and created the italic typeface for the first time; the story behind magazines as a form of print and how have things changed in the 21st century. This is a love letter to the world of books. (April 2)
Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne. In popular culture, we associate sociopaths with people who are cold, emotionless and ruthless. In this book, Patric Gagne who is a sociopath, writes about her life navigating this condition and her experience of being a therapist who treats and researches sociopaths. She addresses the misconceptions of sociopaths prevalent in society and vividly articulates her own experiences of living with this condition. New York Times wasn’t too impressed with the book, suggesting that this important a topic needed a “peer review, not book review”. Telegraph UK highly recommends the book, calls it “remarkable and scandalously entertaining memoir”.(April 4)
Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder by Salman Rushdie. Two years ago, Samlan Rushdie was viciously attacked at a public event. He was stabbed and left blind in his right eye. Fortunately, Rushdie managed to survive, and his response to this act violence was to write a novel. This book is a memoir about this event and Rushdie tries to make sense of the persistent threats of violence against him. It is an endearing and heartbreaking piece of writing about the world we live in today. (April 16)
The Foresighted Ambedkar: Ideas That Shaped Indian Constitutional Discourse by Anurag Bhaskar. While we often know of Dr BR Ambedkar as the father of the Indian Constitution, it is hard to grasp at what were the exact influences, factors and concerns that played through Ambedkar’s mind while overseeing the drafting of the constitution. This book by legal scholar Anurag Bhaskar looks at four decades of Ambedkar’s life and looks at the many turning points in his life which influenced his values and thinking of the constitution. Bhaskar also tests the ideas of Ambedkar in modern day India and argues that many of them still hold relevance today. (April 2)
Bhang Journeys : Stories, Histories, Trips and Travels by Akshaya Bahibala. This book is both a warning—and a celebration—of the common plant-based substance. The writer spent the better part of a decade under the influence of the indigenous bhang and the rolled-and-smoked marijuana. His account of these years is filled with many holes—some which he recollects and shares—and others he tries to piece together as a journal. Bahibala’s debut book in English then chronicles drug-tangled real-life stories of people across Odisha. Statistics, reports and recipes feature alongside storytelling in Bahibala’s fact-based compilation—making it a work of intrigue and colour. (April 5)
