8 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in April

Ruth Reichl is the former restaurant critic for The New York Times, a six-time James Beard Award winner and a bestselling author. Her latest novel centers on Stella, whose estranged mother has died and left her an unusual inheritance: a one-way plane ticket and a note reading, “Go to Paris.” Stella is wary of adventure, but when her boss encourages her to take time off, she decides to honor her mother’s wishes. She’s timid at first, until stumbling into a vintage store and trying on a Dior dress the shopkeeper insists was made for her. For the first time in her life, Stella does something impulsive: She buys the dress, and decides to embark on an adventure through 1980s Paris. As she explores the city’s culinary and creative delights, she discovers a passion for food that may be connected to her past, all while learning to live deliciously, take chances and find her true home.

Love the cult-favorite mockumentary Best in Show? Read this. While watching a dog show on TV, reporter Tommy Tomlinson, whose work has appeared in Esquire, Sports Illustrated, Forbes and more, wondered: Are those dogs happy? Are pet dogs happy? His questions led him to explore the dog-show world, in order to better understand the relationship between dogs and humans. He spent three years on the road, going behind the scenes at more than 100 competitions across the country while following one champion show dog—a Samoyed named Striker—along with his handler and entourage of breeders and owners, as he competes in the 2022 Westminster Dog Show. His charming account also includes interviews with experts on how dogs and humans formed their bond—and how that bond has changed over the centuries.

Abbi Waxman (The Bookish Life of Nina Hill) has a knack for writing awkward yet lovable protagonists. Her latest is Christa, who has hidden away, figuratively and literally, after a tumultuous childhood. She’s happy studying sea snails in the middle of the Indian Ocean when her once-famous father, whom everyone thought was dead, turns out to be alive…and ready to make amends. Simultaneously, her reunion with an old childhood friend reveals an intense attraction neither was expecting. When her father’s story starts to develop cracks, Christa fears she’ll lose herself and her potentially promising relationship.

Writer and therapist Patric Gagne realized she was different at a young age. She had a hard time connecting with other kids, and struggled to feel emotions like fear, guilt and empathy. In college, she confirmed what she had suspected for a while: She was a sociopath. Her fascinating memoir traces her life’s experiences, from unconventional tactics for coping with violent urges and repeated attempts to seek help, and even her discovery of unexpected love. This first person account of an under-studied condition is about coming to terms with mental illness and building a full life nonetheless.

In 1940s Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Gertie and Sisi become fast friends as kids—despite being on opposite ends of the social and economic ladder—until a deathbed revelation tears them apart. As the years pass, Sisi moves to Paris, while Gertie marries into a wealthy Dominican family. Over decades and continents, they’re separated and reunited, learning the truth of their relationship. Finally, six decades later, with both women in the United States, a sudden phone call brings them back together once more to reckon with and―perhaps―forgive the past.

Billed as Parasite meets Such a Fun Age, this highly anticipated debut novel examines the intersection of race, class and female friendship. After her best friend's mysterious death, Elizabeth’s picture-perfect life is spiraling out of control, to the point where she decides to hire a personal assistant, Brianna. Soon enough, the two begin working together to uncover the truth behind Elizabeth’s friend’s death…because Brianna has questions too. She wants to know why the police killed her young Black son after someone in Elizabeth’s neighborhood called the cops on him. As the two women try to uncover the truth, it becomes clear that neither is what they first appear.

Thriller incoming. First-generation Vietnamese American artist Annie grew up poor, but seems to have it all now: a dream career, a stunning home and a devoted husband and daughter. But when Annie’s mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie’s carefully curated life begins to unravel. Things spiral further when a prominent art patron disappears, and the investigation zeroes in on Annie. She doesn’t have answers, but she’ll do anything to protect her own daughter. You Know What You Did explores the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children and the bonds between mothers and daughters.

Vega Gopalan is still reeling from the death of her sister years earlier when she leaves South India to attend graduate school at Columbia. In New York, she navigates a first love, a green card marriage, single motherhood and more, straddling different worlds while circling the question: What does it mean to make a home? This debut novel by an English and creative writing professor at the University of Mississippi is a warm and funny meditation on identity, immigration and love lost and found.