Categories: ArtsThe Reader

5 Fiction Titles to Watch for in April

It’s time for our monthly post of new fiction to keep your eyes peeled for. Whether from new or established authors each of these April released titles has something to get you excited about.


We’ll start with two books which seem poised to become big hits.

House of Velvet and Glass (M)
by Katherine Howe (April 10th)
 With this month’s centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, it’s not surprising to find that authors weaving the epic disaster into their stories. In a post last month, Rosemary highlighted a few books already in print, here’s another to consider. From the publisher: “an entrancing historical novel set in Boston in 1915, where a young woman stands on the cusp of a new century, torn between loss and love, driven to seek answers in the depths of a crystal ball. Still reeling from the deaths of her mother and sister on the Titanic, Sibyl Allston is living a life of quiet desperation with her taciturn father and scandal-plagued brother in an elegant town house in Boston’s Back Bay. Trapped in a world over which she has no control, Sibyl flees for solace to the parlor of a table-turning medium.”


Headmaster’s Wager (M)
by Vincent Lam (April 24th)

In the category of needs no introduction, CanLit aficionados will want to take note of this release from the Giller Prize winning author of Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures.

I love investigating new authors, and the rest of the novels in this month’s post are all debuts that deserve a second look.

Daughters Who Walk This Path (M)
by Yejide Kilanko (April 1st)
 Start the month with a griping coming-of-age story by a first novelist from Ontario. From the publisher: “Daughters Who Walk This Path depicts the dramatic coming of age of Morayo, a spirited and intelligent girl growing up in 1980s Ibadan who is thrust into a web of oppressive silence woven by the adults around her. It’s a legacy of silence many women in Morayo’s family share. Only Aunty Morenike—once protected by her own mother—provides Morayo with a safe home, and a sense of female community which sustains Morayo as she grows into a young woman in bustling, politically charged, often violent Nigeria.”
Care of Wooden Floors (M)
by Will Wiles (April 3rd)
 Released earlier this year to receptive reviews in the UK, it’s the story of a musician who leaves his London flat under the care of a friend while he’s in the US dealing with his divorce. From the UK publisher: “Care of Wooden Floors is about how a tiny oversight can trip off a disastrous and farcical (fatal, even) chain of consequences. It’s about a friendship between two men who don’t know each other very well. It’s about alienation and being alone in a foreign city. It’s about the quest for perfection and the struggle against entropy. And it is, a little, about how to take care of wooden floors.”
Dating: a novel (M)
by Dave Williamson (April 15th)
 Winnipeg based comic writer Williamson’s first novel is sure to strike a chord with many older adults. Dating is a story of finding love again late in life and promises laughs along with awkward social situations. From the publisher, “Jenkins never dreamed he’d live long enough to be dating again. Old folks acting like teenagers was unheard of in his parents’ generation. Less than two years after his beloved wife’s death, Jenkins finds himself sheepishly slinking past her portrait to take another woman out to the movies. With good (and sometimes not-so-good) memories of his youth, Jenkins recalls his dating experiences through the decades — and finds that he is still no wiser than a schoolboy.”

Source: http://www.thereader.ca/2012/04/5-fiction-titles-to-watch-for-in-april.html

Halifax Libraries

Welcome to The Reader, a blog from the Readers' Services staff at Halifax Public Libraries. Our goal is to create a forum for book news and related discussion among leisure readers. A place for Halifax leisure readers to interact with their library and the larger community of leisure readers.

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