A new memoir from Lena Dunham, a dystopian novel that’s somewhere between Nara Smith and The Truman Show, and a whole heap of great Irish reads from Louise Nealon, Louise O’Neill, Lucy Caldwell and more — April is a very good month for fresh literary releases.
Everything that is Beautiful, by Louise Nealon
2 April, Manilla
Told through the perspectives of three very different women, Everything That Is Beautiful unfolds the story of one complicated family in startlingly honest prose. By turns funny and deeply moving, and with unmatched emotional intelligence, this is an unforgettable story of love and family, heartbreak and hope, and who we might become after we pick up the pieces.
Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke
7 April, 4th Estate
One of the most absorbing books I’ve read in a long time, Yesteryear stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page. The story revolves around an influencer—well, a tradwife—whose charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What Natalie’s followers don’t know won’t hurt them. Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children, they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn’t her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible. Word on the street is that this one’s already being adapted into a film starring Anne Hathaway… watch this space.
Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone?, by Louise O’Neill
9 April, Bantam
In 2002, twin sisters Madeline and Chelsea Stone were joint stars of the AtomicKids sitcom Double Trouble, but everyone knows it’s Maddie who shines most brightly, until Chelsea beats her sister out for the role of a lifetime and is catapulted into the spotlight. And just as Chelsea’s star reaches impossible new heights, Maddie disappears. Flash forward to 2025, when a storage locker is found containing heartbreaking truths about the year Maddie went missing. Chelsea feels a flicker of hope for the first time in twenty years. This is her chance to discover what really happened to her twin, but to follow the trail she’ll have to face the past and step back into the spotlight.
Caller Unknown, by Gillian McAllister
9 April, Michael Joseph
A road trip across America with her teenage daughter was meant to be much-needed bonding time for Simone before Lucy leaves home for university. But on the first night of their stay, in a cabin deep in the Texan desert, Simone wakes to find Lucy missing and a mobile phone in her place. The phone rings and the voice on the other end issues instructions: Don’t tell the police. Come to this location. Be prepared to do a deal… There is nothing Simone wouldn’t do to save her daughter. Hide the truth. Commit a terrible crime. Become a wanted woman. But this is no ordinary kidnap and ransom. Getting Lucy back is just the beginning.
Into the Wreck, by Susannah Dickey
9 April, Bloomsbury
How do you mourn someone you never really knew? Three siblings—Anna, Gemma and Matthew—will have to work that out quickly. Monday is the day of their gentle, but distant, father’s funeral, and for the first time in a long while they are under one roof with their mother, imperious Yvonne, awaiting the arrival of their aunt Amy, an award-winning poet. Yet, as the funeral looms, their everyday concerns refuse to diminish: will newly sex-obsessed Gemma work out what she wants from life, beyond her mother’s expectations? Can Anna maintain the fine balance between desire and nonchalance with the sort-of, not-quite-exclusive boyfriend, back in London? Will Amy’s past explode the relationships of the present? And, crucially, will Yvonne pull off her grand, post-funeral family dinner, the solution to what she fears may be an unsolvable problem?
Few and Far Between, by Jan Carson
9 April, Doubleday
It’s summer 2017 and the last few residents of the Lough Neagh Archipelago are facing imminent eviction. The flood planned to combat a devastating algae outbreak will submerge their homes, forcing them back to the Mainland for the first time in fifty years. Robert-John and Marion Connolly came to the islands as children in the 1970s, following their mercurial father, an anthropologist studying the unique society that had developed there. For many, the Neagh Archipelago represented a utopia, a chance to be free of the prejudices and history of Troubles era Northern Ireland. But perhaps this utopia wasn’t all that it seemed. Marion and Robert-John have grown accustomed to their haunted existence on the Ark, monitoring the mysterious Far Side, where ghostly figures linger and the land swallows secrets whole. How will they cope with a new life on the Mainland? Is it possible to leave the past behind? And will the Ark ever let them go…
A Plot to Die For, by Ardal O’Hanlon
14 April, Simon & Schuster
The first in a mystery series from the much-loved Irish actor, writer and comedian, A Plot to Die For opens as beloved celebrity gardener Finn O’Leary returns to his hometown of Abbeyford to care for his aging mother, when he is naturally roped into the Tidy Towns committee. For his best friend’s sister, Aoife, the Tidy Towns is a competition she’s determined to win. With everyone’s favourite gardener on board, she is sure that this year Abbeyford will take home the prize. But Finn’s only been back a week when an alto-baritone at his mother’s choir practice drops dead during a rendition of ‘What the World Needs Now’. With more at stake than just winning Tidy Towns, Finn soon finds himself trying to solve a murder – or two. For one of his many qualities is that people tend to confide in him… With his mother, her Nigerian carer and Aoife in tow, Finn sets out to discover just who has brought murder to Abbeyford.
Famesick, by Lena Dunham
14 April, HarperCollins
In Famesick, a frank, deeply personal reflection on illness, fame, sex, and everything in between, the mind behind the hit series Girls and Too Much, and the bestselling author of Not That Kind of Girl explores–among many other things–whether fulfilling her creative ambitions has been worth the pain it’s caused. This book is a story of learning to live with what we can’t change, the hard, ongoing work of turning regrets into wisdom that can carry us forward, and reconnecting to what and who we love. As she emerges from her twenties and into a world she no longer recognises, she has to rehash the codependent dynamics, romantic failures and misplaced instincts that got her there. She has to turn her life back into something she can bear to live with.
Everything I Wish I’d Known About Anxiety, by Caroline Foran
16 April, Gill Life
In her most practical and personal book yet, bestselling author Caroline Foran offers a clear, step-by-step roadmap for moving in the right direction through anxiety, without skipping the essential foundations that make recovery stick. Part prescriptive guide, part conversation with her past self, this book is designed for anyone struggling with anxiety and feeling worn out by taking the wrong turns. With warmth, wit and signature no-nonsense clarity, Caroline walks readers through ten powerful, constructive ‘stops’ on the road out of anxiety – from calming your nervous system, reframing your perception of anxiety and making necessary understanding your triggers to making lifestyle shifts and learning the long-haul tools that actually work. You won’t be told to ‘just breathe’. You won’t feel pressure to simply ‘think’ your way out of anxiety. You’ll also find stories, turning points and real talk from someone who’s been there, along with plenty of expert input. There are no quick fixes.
Among the Ruins, by Claire Coughlan
23 April, Simon & Schuster
Dublin, summer 1970. Nicoletta Sarto is juggling work as the women’s editor at the Irish Sentinel with twin baby girls at home. When she’s approached by a barrister, Louise Leonard, whose aunt has just died, she’s drawn into a story that could have dangerous consequences. Was Helen Leonard murdered, as her niece thinks? And who was the mysterious nurse who has now vanished, but to whom Helen left everything? As Nicoletta investigates, she has to fight not only her own family’s disapproval of her being a working mother, but also society’s. And as she slowly unpicks the mystery of Helen Leonard’s death, she’s unaware that danger lurks around every corner…
Devotions, by Lucy Caldwell
23 April, Faber
“There must be moments when we let go – let go of all that we do, all that we are.” From the acclaimed, prize-winning author of Multitudes, Intimacies and Openings comes eight vital stories of memory and connection. In her new collection, Lucy Caldwell explores yearning for distant pasts and unknown futures. A woman recalls the time her grandfather claimed to have met Jesus. A professional musician travels across the world and through her memories with a violin older than the USA. A young Belfast theatre troupe brings their experimental production of Hamlet to New York. Transporting and profound, these are stories of love, grief, and the ways that lives can be haunted.
Hungry: A biography of my body, by Katriona O’Sullivan
23 April, Hachette Books Ireland
A powerful new memoir from bestselling author Katriona O’Sullivan, Hungry has been described as a raw, courageous exploration of survival, identity and the lifelong search for self-acceptance. Katriona interrogates how trauma, class and gender shape the way women see themselves, and how society teaches them to measure their value. Told with stunning courage and vulnerability, Hungry is both a personal reckoning and a powerful reclaiming of body, voice and self. It is one woman’s story, and a rallying cry for every woman who has ever felt she had to shrink to survive.
Fruit Fly, by Josh Silver
23 April, Magpie
It’s been seven years since Mallory shot to fame as a literary sensation. But after years of struggling with writer’s block, she’s desperate to resurrect her career before it spirals into obscurity. She needs inspiration to strike – and fast. Enter Leo – a young struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for. Mallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. Authenticity sells, and there’s nothing more authentic than real life. She’s the perfect person to tell Leo’s story. Gay, sad, dark – just what the world needs right now. But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must decide: just how far will she go to pen the perfect story?
Rituals, by Danielle McLaughlin
23 April, The Stinging Fly
Joan, a public servant in her fifties, is in the habit of living alone. Or rather, she’s in the habit of living with the many rituals and routines—some ordinary, some less so—that allow her to navigate her days. It’s a system that works very well for Joan… until it doesn’t. An unexpected career break prompts her to take in a lodger, a young man studying English Literature at the university. Together they must learn to negotiate everything from a shared bathroom to the hazards of global warming. Set in Cork city, Rituals takes us inside an obsessive mind and invites us to reflect upon the power and beauty contained within our daily lives, but also the dark grip of compulsion. By turns tender, funny and poignant, it celebrates the bravery involved in opening our hearts to change and to chance.
Over The Water: Essays on Islands, by various contributors
April, Daunt Book Publishers
From the glimmering coast of Cornwall’s St Ives to the wild coast of Ireland to the warm water and glowing sun of Phuket, Over the Water will transport you to shores far and near. In these essays, thirteen writers capture the magic and mirage of islands. Octavia Bright remembers a formative trip to the fish-shaped island of Elba in Tuscany; Megan Nolan sees Manhattan anew after discovering the joys of wandering the city alone; Noreen Masud flies to Tasmania, hoping to catch sight of a duck-billed platypus, and K Patrick takes a two-hour ferry from the Isle of Skye to the Isle of Lewis.
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