16 New Books for April

The author of How to Date Men When You Hate Men is back with a hilarious travelogue that captures the beauty of America’s national parks while also chronicling the humorous experiences and friends she encounters along the way. Roberson takes on America from inside a borrowed Prius; she ponders climate change, inequity, and traffic, and she mulls over an important question: Is hitting the road about enlightenment and finding a new version of yourself, or does it boil down to a superficial obsession with freedom? Harper Perennial, April 18

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From the originator of the botanical pressed cookie comes a book full of more ways to bring the garden into the kitchen. A Los Angeles–based chef and botanist, Stern uses blooms, herbs, vegetables, and natural plant dusts to create unique colors and flavors in her dishes. Here, she provides her own favorite recipes, as well as variations for individual preferences, while going one step further: Eat Your Flowers doubles as a botanical manual and provides foundational knowledge to add natural elements to any dish. William Morrow Cookbooks, April 25

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A single mother from the age of 25, Irma opened doors for the author, her son, that he didn’t come to appreciate until years later, after he’d become a father himself. Alta Journal contributing editor McDonell shares memories and stories from their lives together in this sweet recollection that pays homage to a strong and courageous woman. HarperCollins, April 11

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Talty traces the life story of Branch Davidian cult leader David Koresh from his miserable upbringing as Vernon Howell in Central Texas to his death in the fiery climax of the Waco siege in 1993. Using exclusive interviews with Koresh’s family and cult survivors, Talty explores the motivations for his subject’s deadly anti-government stance, an attitude that continues to linger in American society. Mariner Books, April 11

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Chung’s gorgeous memoir takes on one of the most unacceptable situations in this country: the lack of affordable healthcare. Compounding that, of course, is the extreme income and wealth inequality of this “first-world country.” In these pages, Chung writes deeply and honestly about the death of her father and the struggle of dealing with her mother’s cancer diagnosis as the COVID-19 pandemic begins. Ecco, April 4

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The Lost Wife is a classic western in which one American woman heads to the frontier in the aftermath of the gold rush and builds a new family and life. During the Sioux Uprising of 1862, matriarch Sarah Brinton finds herself torn between other white settlers and the Sioux women she has befriended. Facing ostracism and even abduction, Sarah must figure out how to protect her family while also following her morals. Knopf, April 4

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Ovid’s Metamorphoses takes on a new hue in Kennedy’s magical work. Drawing on ancient Rome, the details of his own life, and the epochs that divide them, Kennedy considers nature, the body, and other matters against the backdrop of modern-day San Francisco. City Lights, March 21

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At the center of Dederer’s book is the question many of us have been asking: Can you, ethically, love a work of art created by a monster? But Dederer is interested in more than that, asking whether, since so many great creators have been monsters, one needs to be monstrous to be great. The artists Dederer considers are all talented—as moviemakers, visual artists, and writers—but also nightmarish in their own right. Knopf, April 25

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In this book based on more than 70 years of data as well as interviews with employers, job seekers, and residents of marginalized neighborhoods, researchers Newman and Jacobs suggest that tight labor markets actually benefit the poor and help vitalize the economy, arguing for policy implementation that will prepare the United States for complex economic circumstances in the future. University of California Press, March 28

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Set in the 1930s and 1940s, Meissner’s novel is a heartwarming saga of found family amid tenuous circumstances. After spending decades working abroad, Helen Calvert returns to her family’s California vineyard, where she makes a brutal discovery: nine years earlier, the vinedresser’s daughter, Rosanne, was thrown out of her home because of an out-of-wedlock pregnancy. Determined to find the woman she befriended years ago, Helen works to reconnect with Rosanne, who is fighting her own battles to keep her small family together. Berkley Books, April 18

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During the Japanese American internment, Masumoto’s family was separated from a female relative with a mental disability, and after the war, they presumed she had died. Seventy years later, the author—her nephew—discovered she was alive, mere miles from the family’s farm. The startling news inspired this book, which finds Masumoto compelled to seek out his aunt and confront decades of family secrets. Red Hen Press, April 18

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Christie’s novel revolves around Scotsman Angus McDonald, who, upon arriving at Hudson’s Bay in 1883, goes to work for harsh British fur traders. He forges a relationship with a strong-willed Indigenous woman named Catherine Baptiste, and the two dream of raising a family together. After they move to Montana, however, their lives are interrupted by the ideals of manifest destiny as American settlers and Native people clash over their land. High Road Books, April 1

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Cypher’s debut novel spans continents and generations, as Betty Rummani, a young Palestinian American in the Pacific Northwest, must decide between following her lover to a new country and staying in the one that, despite generational exile, she has always called home. At the same time, she begins to explore her roots in Palestine and discovers that the matriarch of the family, her aunt—also queer—faced a similar choice and chose to hide instead. Ballantine Books, April 25

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Love—in all its tenderness and vulnerability—is the subject of this gorgeous work by award-winning poet Zapruder. As he elucidates the process of creating a poem, the author also examines the subject matter of his life as the father of a son with autism. Zapruder invites us to share in the experience of poetry as a life-giving art form in this genre-shifting work. Unnamed Press, April 4

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When marine biologist Bearzi was forced to leave the ocean at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, she turned to a marvel of nature a bit more quotidian: her backyard in urban Los Angeles. Writing in the contemplative voice of early lockdown, Bearzi observes resilience in birds, bugs, and plants and finds peace and purpose for herself. Heyday, April 18

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Actress Meribel Mills moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta to escape a dangerous stalker, so why do objects continue to go missing and her sheets still smell of an unfamiliar cologne? Jackson has written the hair-raising story of a mother at the end of her rope, a young daughter, and an unknown figure known as Marker Man. As things escalate and every man in Meribel’s life becomes a suspect, her past collides with her present and she is left to protect what she loves most. William Morrow, April 25

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