Fiction A to Z - April 2025
Recent Releases
Dream Count
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This long-awaited latest by the author of Americanah centers on four African women in America. Nigerian travel writer Chiamaka isolates alone in the Maryland suburbs during COVID, pondering her exes. Meanwhile her Washington, D.C. lawyer best friend longs for marriage, her practical cousin starts an MBA program, and her beloved housekeeper is sexually assaulted by a powerful man. Read-alikes: Nikki May's This Motherless Land; Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi's Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions.
The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris
by Evie Woods

For Edie Lane, a recipe for disaster doesn’t require that many ingredients. Take an unhealthy amount of wishful thinking and a sprinkle of desperation and that’s how Edie left everything behind in Ireland for her dream job at a bakery in Paris. Except the bakery isn’t in Paris - and neither is Edie. This might not be where Edie intended to be but she soon realizes it's exactly where she needs to be.
 
Life Hacks for a Little Alien
by Alice Franklin

An undiagnosed neurodivergent girl grows up in southeast England feeling like a misfit. At 12, she learns of the Voynich manuscript, which at least one scholar suggests was made by aliens. Obsessed, she and her only friend sneak off to London to view it, worrying her already mentally fragile mom. Told in second person, this witty, moving debut is for fans of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Ruth Ozeki's The Book of Form and Emptiness.
The Dream Hotel : A novel
by Laila Lalami

After a dream-analysis algorithm predicts that she will harm her husband, Sara is detained in a facility with similarly accused women, where she navigates shifting rules until a new arrival leads her to confront the forces controlling her fate.
Theft
by Abdulrazak Gurnah

This acclaimed latest from 2021 Nobel Prize winner Abdulrazak Gurnah follows three interlinked young people navigating uncertain futures in Tanzania: Karim, whose mother left his abusive father when he was three; beautiful Fauzia, who'd been sick as a child; and Badar, who was sent to work as a servant boy in his uncle's household. "Gurnah is at the top of his game," raves Publishers Weekly.
Twist
by Colum McCann

In 2019, off the west coast of Africa, Irish writer Anthony Fennell plans a longform article about the people who mend underwater fiber optic cables to keep the internet going. But there's danger ahead for Fennell, his fellow Irishman captain, and the captain's Black actor girlfriend, who's in England for a job. This lyrical latest by Colum McCann is "another astounding novel from a fiction master" (Kirkus Reviews).
Flesh : A novel
by David Szalay

When some lowly jobs take István from Hungary to London, a chance encounter changes his life as he suddenly finds himself among the super-rich. But just as he is feeling comfortable in this new environment, the precarious edifice starts crumbling beneath him, until finally it comes crashing down.

David Szalay was born in Montreal, QC.
Wild Dark Shore
by Charlotte McConaghy

On a remote island between Australia and Antarctica, widowed dad Dominic and his three kids live in an old lighthouse and try to keep a United Nations seed vault safe. During a powerful storm caused by climate change, a mysterious woman washes ashore, changing all of their lives in this suspenseful tale. Read-alikes: Jessie Greengrass' The High House; Eiren Caffall's All the Water in the World.
Wicked: The graphic novel. Part I
by Scott Hampton

"Like Dorothy when she crash-landed all those years ago, prepare to be swept into a new and colorful world in this first-ever graphic novel adaptation of Wicked. While the long-running Broadway musical and major motion picture take inspiration from this iconic novel, this is Oz as Gregory Maguire wrote it--a fantastical story with dark edges that explores morality and ambition, love and friendship, and discovering one's inner power. Elphaba was born with emerald-green skin--no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz's most promising young citizens. But Elphaba's Oz is no utopia. The Wizard's secret police are everywhere. Animals--those creatures with voices, souls, and minds--are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals--even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas"
The Strange Case of Jane O.
by Karen Thompson Walker

Presented as a doctor's case study notes and as letters written by the subject to her young son, this thought-provoking, slow-burn novel focuses on single Brooklyn mom Jane, who'd previously had a strong memory but now suffers from amnesia and hallucinations. Her psychiatrist, who has his own troubles, looks for answers in this "haunting and sublime" (Booklist) tale.
Counting Backwards
by Binnie Kirshenbaum

Leo, a research scientist, is diagnosed with early onset dementia, shattering his life's plans and dreams, leaving his wife to navigate a heartbreaking journey through grief, isolation and watching his life diminish amidst fleeting moments of beauty.
Beartooth
by Callan Wink

In Montana's rugged Beartooth mountains, two brothers, 27-year-old Thad and 26-year-old Hazen, try to survive while burdened by their dead father's medical bills and a falling-apart off-the-grid house. Luckily, they know how to hunt and deal with the elements. Not so luckily, their long-gone mom reappears and a local man tempts Hazen into illegally gathering elk horns. Fans of Peter Heller's books, the 2016 film Hell or High Water, or TV's Yellowstone will want to try this gritty, evocative novel.
Tilt : A novel
by Emma Pattee

Nine months pregnant and stranded in a chaotic, earthquake-ravaged Portland, Annie journeys home on foot, navigating human desperation and kindness while reflecting on her struggling marriage, stalled career and hopes for a fresh start with her baby.
Jane and Dan at the end of the world
by Colleen Oakley

While celebrating their anniversary at La Fin du Monde, unhappy couple Jane and Dan find themselves taken hostage by bumbling climate activists whose actions are eerily similar to those in Jane's failed novel, so only they know what will happen and how to stop it.
Stag dance : A novel & stories
by Torrey Peters

This collection of one novel and three novellas explores community, desire and the complexities of gender through stories of lumberjacks navigating identity in Stag Dance, a gender apocalypse in Infect Your Friends and Loved Ones, boarding school intrigue in The Chaser and dark choices on the Vegas strip in The Masker.
Red Dog Farm : A novel
by Nathaniel Ian Miller

After a semester at university in Reykjavik, Orri returns to help his father Pabbi run the family's cattle farm, but when Orri meets part-time student Mihan online and their connection deepens, he must decide if he wants to — or should — return to university and a possible future with Mihan.
The Persians : A novel
by Sanam Mahloudji

The Valiat family, splintered by revolution and scattered between Iran and America, navigates clashing identities, generational tensions and cultural dislocation, as a chaotic Aspen vacation sparks a reckoning with their fractured past.
Animal instinct : A novel
by Amy Shearn

In spring 2020, newly divorced Brooklynite Rachel Bloomstein navigates online dating, flirtations, casual romance and even programs an AI chatbot to meet her emotional needs, only to discover that real life may offer more than her fantasies ever could.
Kate & Frida : A novel of friendship, food, and books
by Kim Fay

In 1991 in Paris, twentysomething Frida Rodriguez begins a long-distance friendship with Seattle bookseller Kate Fair, and through the tumultuous years of their lives, they sustain and nourish each other, learning how to embrace joy even in their darkest hours.
I Leave It Up To You : A novel
by Jinwoo Chong

Jack Jr. awakens from a coma to an unfamiliar world, so he returns to Korean American enclave Fort Lee, New Jersey, to work at his parents' restaurant Ioja, spar with alcoholic brother James, connect with the male nurse who cared for him, and become underqualified sage to his teenage nephew.
Stone Angels : A novel
by Helena Rho

Angelina Lee, grieving her mother's suicide, travels to Seoul to uncover a buried family secret involving a lost aunt from World War II, confronting her heritage, past relationships and personal identity while piecing together the hidden truths that shaped her family's history.
Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert : A novel
by Bob the Drag Queen

In an age where the greatest heroes from history have magically returned to help save the world, Harriet Tubman returns to create a hip-hop album with a fallen producer, forging powerful music that inspires a divided nation.
The Unwanted : A novel
by Boris Fishman

Forced to flee their war-torn country, Susanna, George and their daughter Dina embark on a perilous journey through refugee camps and treacherous seas, grappling with sacrifice, betrayal and the desperate fight for survival and dignity.
Luminous : A novel
by Silvia Park

In a near-future reunified Korea, a junkyard scavenger's discovery of a lifelike robot boy intertwines with the lives of estranged siblings haunted by their brother's disappearance, revealing complex truths about family and artificial intelligence.
Early thirties : a novel
by Josh Duboff

As Victor and Zoey navigate career ambitions, relationships, and the challenges of growing older, their decade-long friendship is tested by shifting dynamics and unexpected tragedy, forcing them to confront what truly matters in their lives.
Contact your librarian for more great books!