Time - USA (2021-03-15)

110 TIME March 15/March 22, 2021

T

HE BEST NEW BOOKS ARRIVING THIS MONTH ARE

written by authors both established and emerging.
March brings with it much- anticipated new fi ction
from Viet Thanh Nguyen and Kazuo Ishiguro, as
well as buzzy debuts from Alexandra Andrews and Gabriela
Garcia. Many of these books push us to consider the places
we frequent and how they’ve shaped who we are, from Jas-
mine Mans’ new poetry collection centered on the meaning
of home to W. Ralph Eubanks’ tribute to Mississippi and its
outsize role in the American literary landscape. These, plus
refl ections on history, performance, gender and more, are the
best books to read in March.

TimeOff Books

The must-read

books of March

By Annabel Gutterman

WHO IS

MAUD DIXON?

ALEXANDRA

ANDREWS

MARCH 2

Entry-level
publishing
employee
Florence Darrow is
desperate to be a
successful writer,
like best-selling
Maud Dixon, whose
debut captured the
world’s attention
even as her true
identity remained
a secret known
to very few. The
stars align in the
strangest ways
for Florence when
she somehow
becomes the
personal assistant
to the author,
leading them on
a research trip to
Marrakesh, where
things go haywire.
It’s there that this
publishing satire
transforms into
a lively suspense
novel as Florence
is forced to reckon
with the person
she’s become in
her quest for fame.

WHAT’S MINE

AND YOURS

NAIMA COSTER

MARCH 2

A debate over

school integration

divides a

community in

North Carolina

and forever alters

the lives of two

families. At the

center of the story

are students Gee

and Noelle, whose

worlds collide

at their newly

integrated school.

The convergence of

their paths sets off

a series of events

that Naima Coster

traces through the

following 20 years

in her piercing

examination of

race, identity

and generational

trauma.

INFINITE COUNTRY

PATRICIA ENGEL

MARCH 2

Talia is a teenager

serving time at a

correctional facility

in Colombia. She’s

desperate to fl ee

observant AF

named Klara,

who studies the

behavior of the

customers who

come to the store

where she’s

patiently waiting

to be bought.

What ensues is a

quietly devastating

narrative about

the intersection

of humanity,

technology

and love.

THE COMMITTED

VIET THANH

NGUYEN

MARCH 2

In 2015, Viet

Thanh Nguyen

published his

debut novel, The

Sympathizer, to

critical acclaim.

The sweeping tale

about the Vietnam

War went on to win

the 2016 Pulitzer

Prize in fi ction

and sold over

1 million copies

globally. Now

Nguyen revisits

the saga of his

unnamed narrator

through a sequel,

which follows the

protagonist, a

South Vietnamese

army veteran, as

he attempts to live

as a refugee in

1980s France.

THE CODE

BREAKER

WALTER

ISAACSON

MARCH 9

In his biography

of Nobel Prize–

winning chemist

Jennifer Doudna,

former TIME

editor-in-chief

Walter Isaacson

explores the story

behind CRISPR,

the technology

that can edit DNA

and is showing

promise as a way

to both test for the

COVID-19 virus

and potentially

even protect

human cells from

infection. Isaacson

chronicles the

integral role

Doudna played in

the development

of CRISPR and

outlines the impact

the technology

will have on

generations

to come.

BLACK GIRL,

CALL HOME

JASMINE MANS

MARCH 9

In her new

collection, spoken-

word poet Jasmine

Mans examines

her relationship

to home and her

journey navigating

life in America

as a queer Black

woman. The pieces

vary in form and

subject, tackling

everything from

race to feminism

to belonging.

Together, they

showcase Mans’

power as a poet

who can relay her

experiences in

lyrical, vivid terms.

HOW BEAUTIFUL

WE WERE

IMBOLO MBUE

MARCH 9

The second novel

from the author

of Behold the

Dreamers details

and return home

to her father in

Bogotá, where a

plane ticket to the

U.S. is waiting for

her. It’s there that

Talia’s mother

and siblings are

living. Patricia

Engel follows

Talia’s journey to

reunite with her

family, illuminating

the struggles

of the fractured

unit. The result is

a heartbreaking

portrait of a

family dealing

with the realities

of migration and

separation.

KLARA AND

THE SUN

KAZUO ISHIGURO

MARCH 2

In his fi rst novel

since winning the

Nobel Prize in

Literature, Kazuo

Ishiguro brings

readers to a

strange world fi lled

with humanlike

robots called

Artifi cial Friends

(AFs). His narrator

is a particularly

the plight of a

fi ctional African

village as it faces

extreme environ-

mental degradation

at the hands of

an American oil

company. The

consequences

are severe and

long-lasting—toxic

water is killing

children; pipeline

spills are destroy-

ing farmlands. In

surveying the dam-

age over several