New sci-fi by Emily St. Jon Mandel, stunning poetry by Ocean Vuong, and more great books coming this April

Plus: Love story Young Mungo, Dolen Perkins-Valdez’s Take My Hand, and The Odyssey (no, not that one)

By Alison Foreman, Gabrielle Sanchez | March 25, 2022 | 7:05pm

Books News Mandel

New sci-fi by Emily St. Jon Mandel, stunning poetry by Ocean Vuong, and more great books coming this April

Sea Of Tranquility (Knopf), Time Is A Mother (Penguin Press), The Odyssey (Hamish Hamilton), Young Mungo (Grove Press), Take My Hand (Berkley) Graphic: Rebecca Fassola

Every month, a deluge of new books comes flooding out from big publishers, indie houses, and self-publishing platforms. So every month, The A.V. Club narrows down the endless options to five of the books we’re most excited about.

Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St. Jon Mandel

Sea Of Tranquility by Emily St. Jon Mandel (April 5, Knopf)Right off the cusp of series adaptation, Emily St. Jon Mandel is back with another science fiction tale of “art, love, time, and plague.” Sea Of Tranquility spans five hundred years, beginning with a young man in 1912, who finds himself traveling across the Pacific after facing exile. Two-hundred years later, we meet a woman who lives on a beautiful moon colony, but travels the Earth in search of inspiration for her novels. Lastly, Mandel introduces us to Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective who’s tasked with investigating a potentially timeline shattering anomaly. St. Jon Mandel always seeks to find humanity in the struggle, and Sea Of Tranquility feels no different. The novel seeks to show us how we’re all connected, and how histories build upon themselves. [Gabrielle Sanchez]

Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong

Time Is A Mother by Ocean Vuong (April 5, Penguin Press)Whether you know Ocean Vuong from his debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous or are just picking up his work for the first time, this new collection of intimate poetry presents an extraordinary opportunity to get to know the Vietnamese writer’s fearless-yet-forthcoming voice better than ever. Written in the wake of Vuong’s late mother’s passing, Time Is A Mother explores themes of grief and survival, but also American identity and the changing nature of family. Vuong’s profoundly felt verses ponder the never-ending depths of grief–but then refuse to succumb to that sadness. Like a one-two punch, Vuong aimlessly asks how one can carry on when everything has been lost and then bravely carries on without that answer. [Alison Foreman]

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Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart (April 5, Grove Press)Douglas Stuart dazzled 2020 readers with his debut novel Shuggie Bain, chronicling coming of age through the eyes of a young boy in ’80s Glasgow. Now, the Scottish-American author returns with Young Mungo–the stunning love story of two Glasgow teenagers battling not only the pains of first-love, but also the terrors of homophobia, the pressures of toxic masculinity, and the complexities Catholic-Protestant politics in the ’90s. As with Shuggie Bain, here Stuart combines extraordinary compassion for his characters with an unrelenting knack for creating fraught worlds to exquisite effect. The result is one of those extraordinary push and pull reads you feel smack-dab in the middle of your chest—heartbreaking yet hopeful. [Alison Foreman]

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez (April 12, Berkley)Dolen Perkins-Valdez returns to the page almost seven years since her last novel with Take My Hand—an epic piece of historical fiction inspired by true events. It tells the story of Civil Townsend, a Black nurse living in 1973 Montgomery who must grapple with the horrors of post-segregation Alabama first-hand. A heart-wrenching page-turner as relevant as ever, Perkins-Valdez presents a smart way in for Americans ready to illuminate history’s darkest corners so that we may forward meaningful change in the present. [Alison Foreman]

The Odyssey by Lara Williams

The Odyssey by Lara Williams (April 22, Zando)Chronicling a young woman’s journey through land and sea, Supper Club’s Lara Williams tells the story of Ingrid, who works in the gift shop of a luxury cruise liner. She departs the ship on her days off, treating herself to clothes and the local alcohol offerings. Ingrid has worked on the liner for five years, and tries not to think too much about the life she left behind. That is, until she’s taken under the wing by captain Keith. The Odyssey mirrors Supper Club in the way we see one woman undergo a transformation and confront her past through mentorship, all with Williams’ sharp wit intact. [Gabrielle Sanchez]