Miss Austen by Gill Hornby (Flatiron Books, April 7, 2020)
Missy is 79 and lonely. She is widowed, estranged from her daughter, and far away from her son. But into her life come two strangers and a dog named Bob, and things are never the same again.
No Modernism Without Lesbians by Diana Souhami (Apollo, April 2, 2020, ebook only)
The famous Parisian bookstore Shakespeare & Co was founded by Sylvia Beach in 1919, and became a haunt and gathering place for artists and writers who made Modernism what it was. This book tells the story of that shop, its owner, and the birth of Parisian Modernism between the Wars. It’s about four women – Sylvia Beach, Bryher, Natalie Barney, and Gertrude Stein – and how their lives intersected with those of Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso, Gauguin, Hemingway, Scott Fitzgerald, Paul Bowles, and more.
This Lovely City by Louise Hare (Anansi International, April 7, 2020)
It’s 1950 in London, and England has put out a call for labour. Lawrie Matthews, like many others, has arrived from Jamaica in response to that call. He works as a postman and plays in the jazz clubs at night, making a new home for himself and falling in love. But everything changes after he makes a horrifying discovery on Clapham Common one morning.
