Here’s a look at some of the most exciting books being published by first-time authors in April.
“The Witchfinder’s Sister” by Beth Underdown
50 years before the Salem Witch Trials, there was “Witchfinder General” Matthew Hopkins, responsible for the deaths of over 300 women who were hanged as witches. This is his sister’s story.
1645: when Alice Hopkins returns to the small town of Essex, England where she grew up, she discovers a town cowering in fear. Her brother, Matthew Hopkins, has made it his mission to hunt down and hang suspected witches. Horrified by the man her beloved brother has become, Alice digs deep into the dark secrets of her family’s past, searching for answers and a way to prevent her brother from killing more innocent women.
“Miss You” by Kate Eberlen
On separate vacations in Florence, Italy in 1997, Tess and Gus cross paths while waiting for the results of their college entrance exams, though they never actually meet. Gus is dealing with the guilt and grief of his older brother’s death in a fatal accident, while Tess copes with the progression of her mother’s cancer.
Over the next 16 years, Gus and Tess continue their parallel lives — through various troubles in their love lives, family lives, and careers — and they almost meet several more times. And then one day their lives finally converge. Are they meant to be together, or will this be just one more missed chance?
“American War” by Omar El Akkad
In 2074, the Second American Civil War breaks out in the United States of America as the South once again attempts to secede from the Union. And this time the war will last for the next 20 years.
Sarat Chesnut is only a child of six when the war begins, and when her father dies, she and her family are sent to Camp Patience where she grows up surrounded by people displaced during the war. Older now, Sarat finds herself recruited and molded into a radical instrument of war for the South. But as her missions become increasingly more dangerous, Sarat will face capture and torture in a country torn apart by racial violence, terrorism, plague and environmental disasters.
Other debut author titles for April:
- “No One Is Coming to Save Us” by Stephanie Powell Watts
- “Marlena” by Julie Buntin
- “My Cat Yugoslavia” by Pajtim Statovci
And ones you may have missed in March:
- “Wages of Sin” by Kaite Welsh
- “Eggshells” by Caitriona Lally
- “Spaceman of Bohemia” by Jaroslav Kalfar
- “Rabbit Cake” by Annie Hartnett
