NEWSWEEK.COM 41
THE MAURITANIAN
“It’s about a dark moment in our history as a country .” » P.48the end of winter and the beginning of spring
is a fickle time, weather-wise. You might see snow,rain or sun on any given day. But whether you’re curling
up in front of a cozy fire or catching some rare rays of
sunshine on a park bench, you can depend on good books
to keep you company. Looking for a small-town feel-good
love story, a hair-raising thriller about the subject of a
true-crime podcast, inside looks at two famous first ladies,
the history of how a famous publishing house got started
in the shadow of the Nazis—or more? Newsweek has cho-
sen some of the best new fiction and nonfiction available
this spring for your reading pleasure. —Juliana Pignataro
FICTION
The Sweet Taste
of Muscadines
By Pamela Terry | March
$2 ʖ BALLANTINE BOOKS
Lila Bruce Breedlover
returns to her small
hometown in Georgia,
a place she left in a
hurry after high school,
following her motherŠs
sudden death in the
grape arbor behind
their home. Lila and her
two siblings begin to
uncover the truths of
their familyŠs history in
this gracefully plotted,
sweet Southern story.
The Dictionary
of Lost Words
By Pip Williams | April
$28 ʖ BALLANTINE BOOKS
What if the women
involved in the making
of the Oxford English
Dictionary got the
credit they deserve"
Williams turns history
as we know it on its
head in this delightful
debut, spotlighting
those women and their
contributions, using the
awe-inspiring power
of words themselves
to illuminate them.Early Morning Riser
By Katherine Heiny | April
$2. ʖ KNOPF
Jane arrives in Boyne City,
Michigan, population
,000, and quickly falls
in love with a local wood-
worker. Only it turns out
that dating Duncan means
getting involved with more
than a few exes, neighbors
and townspeople. HeinyŠs
novel is the perfect pick-
me-up, ɿlled to the brim
with lovable eccentrics
and delightful oddballs, all
of who seem to be moon-
lighting as something else.Good Company
By Cynthia D’Aprix
Sweeney | April
2 . ʖ ECCO
SweeneyŠs highly
anticipated, poignant
second novel introduces
us to Flora and Julian
Mancini, a married
couple whose 20-year
relationship is called
into question when
Flora stumbles upon
an envelope containing
her husbandŠs wedding
ring, one he said he
lost years before.Project Hail Mary
By Andy Weir | May
$28. ʖ BALLANTINE
BOOKS
From the author of The
Martian and Artemis
comes another interstellar
story, in which the sole
survivor of a mission
has the weight of the
world on his shoulders.
Weir spins a space yarn
in a way only he can.
Fans of his earlier works
wonŠt be disappointed.