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- THE BEAUTY OF
YOUR FACE
(April 7, Norton)
In Sahar Mustafah’s stunning
novel, high school principal Afaf
Rahman revisits the grief she
experienced as a teenager
when she comes face-to-face
with a school shooter. It’s
a timely family saga with faith
and forgiveness at its core.
- KEPT ANIMALS
(April 21, Scribner)
In this scorching novel set on a
ranch in California’s Topanga
Canyon, a tragedy binds three
teenage girls together during
the summer of 1993. Flashing
between the past and present,
Kate Milliken’s narrative burns
slowly, building to a wildfire.
- HOW MUCH
OF THESE
HILLS IS GOLD
(April 7, Riverhead)
Following their father’s death,
two sisters set out to forge
their futures in the wake of the
gold rush. Through lyrical
prose, C. Pam Zhang explores
the siblings’ quest to find a
home in a society that
refuses to embrace them.
- AFTERLIFE
(April 7, Algonquin)
Everything changes for
Antonia Vega, a retired English
professor, when her sister
suddenly goes missing and a
pregnant, undocumented
teenager arrives on her door-
step. With her first adult novel in
15 years, one of today’s
most important Latina writers,
Julia Alvarez, makes her
triumphant return. —Kate Dwyer
The top titles on
the MC bookshelf
this month
What We’re
Reading
Gabourey Sidibe isn’t afraid of being afraid: The actress, 36,
will appear alongside Janelle Monáe in Antebellum (April 24,
Lionsgate), a political-horror movie that finds Monáe’s character
trapped in the pre–Civil War South. Here, Sidibe talks flipping
the script on horror films and what’s keeping her up at night.MARIE CLAIRE: Socially charged horror movies like
Get Out, Us, and now Antebellum are on the rise. Why does
horror work as a parable of social and racial experiences?
GABOUREY SIDIBE: The people who are now making horror
films were watching horror films when they were young. Then,
it was Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. No one’s afraid
of monsters anymore; we’re afraid of who the next president will
be. The political climate of the country scares me. Interactions
with people who don’t believe that I deserve human rights—
that’s more terrifying than any vampire or werewolf.MC: How has the role of black women in horror films changed?
GS: I remember growing up and seeing horror films, and
black people were the first to be killed. We seem to be making
it to the end a lot more! What’s important is that we’re not
just making it to the end of the film; we’re writing our own
stories, telling them, and acting them out. It’s really beautiful—
not just as a black person, but especially as a black woman.MC: What do you hope viewers come away with?
GS: What I took away was this idea that if we don’t pay atten-
tion to history, we can’t predict what the future will be. The
future is a lot closer than we think, and so is the past. Time
doesn’t mean anything unless you’re willing to change things.MC: Besides our political climate, what keeps you up at night?
GS: I recently had dinner with my cousin, who reminded me
of a terrible ex-boyfriend. I went to sleep that night and I was
trapped right back in that relationship. Huge jerk! But you
know what, mistakes were made. I was in my early twenties.
You don’t know anything in your early twenties. Or late
twenties. I won’t know anything until I’m 45. —Megan DiTrolioRead the full interview at marieclaire.com/antebellum-movie.
HORROR REDUX
FILM
Gabourey
Sidibe faces
her fears in
this month’s
Antebellum.22 MARIECLAIRE.COM April 2020
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SIDIBE:^ ERICOGDEN/TRUNK;BOOKS:^ COURTESYOF^THE^PUBLISHERS^