Chinese teenager Hoi Wing Woo comes to St. Catharines, Ont., in 1913 to work in a laundry, where he struggles with the harsh demands of his new employer, as well as the casual bigotry of the locals, while also experiencing the rollercoaster of first love. The Montreal-born, Toronto-based former lawyer’s debut is loosely based on the lives of his grandfathers, both of whom came to Canada at the turn of the 20th century. (Apr. 2)

After nearly 30 years, the internationally bestselling American author, 70, of The Cartel trilogy presents the third and last instalment in his City trilogy, which the former investigator and anti-terrorist trainer has declared will be his final novel. The story of gangster Danny Ryan (now a billionaire Las Vegas mogul), which also chronicles the feud between Irish and Italian criminals in Rhode Island, comes to an explosive end as Ryan has to return to his scrappy fighter roots to preserve everything he’s built; the upcoming film will star Elvis’s Austin Butler. (Apr. 2)

The rural-set, darkly funny coming-of-age tale by this Winnipeg author who won the Kobo emerging writer prize has been likened to CanLit superstar Miriam Toews. It demonstrates the same simultaneous tragedy and uplift: On the cusp of 16, Bria Powers is an adolescent in crisis who’s been sent to live with her aunt for the summer. While working at a fast food joint, she deals with broken relationships and the cycle of addiction, and takes care of her young cousins. Where Decter’s writing shines is in the authenticity of her experience and resilience in difficult circumstances. (Apr. 2)

In the near-future America of this wondrous nautical adventure, billionaires are the ruling class – they’ve made reading and books treasonous, therefore illiteracy is rampant (and greed rules, so kindness is scarce). Mourning his beloved wife Lark, bereaved musician Rainy sets sail on a sentient Lake Superior in the hopes of finding her spirit. That’s right: The body of water becomes a character as much as the various people Rainy meets while navigating the broken world. If there is such a thing as a hopeful dystopian story, the Minnesota-based author of the modern classic, Peace Like a River, delivers it here. (Apr. 2)

Pitched as a Bonfire of the Vanities for this century, the Pushcart Prize-winning New  York author’s debut is an insightful portrait of clashing socioeconomic worlds, charting the ambitious climb of 25-year-old Rudy, who comes from Queens, up the dubious ladder of success. He starts out as the night doorman of an apartment building on Park Avenue, and is taken on, first as a bodyguard, and then as an essential helper to a wealthy resident (a corrupt taxi mogul). Soon, Rudy is unwittingly back in the sphere of his own family, who had sent him out into the world to make his own way. (Apr. 2)

This anthology collects short fiction from the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway and A Gentleman in Moscow (now a TV series starring Ewan McGregor). Six are New York stories, while the novella dips back into the 1930s world of his 2011 breakout, Rules of Civility. It presents the further adventures of Eve as she shapes a life for herself against the backdrop of the studio system of Golden Age Hollywood, through both afro-Cuban dance clubs and Beverly Hills, and into the less glamorous, often seedy side, of Los Angeles. (Apr. 2)

I was expecting a cosy whodunit with elderly amateur sleuths in the vein of Richard Osman’s wildly popular Thursday Murder Club series. I did not expect to sob happily and so often; this book is firmly on my Best Of 2024 list. Perky 87-year-old Florrie Butterfield, who uses a wheelchair, enlists friends at her Oxfordshire retirement residence to look into the manager’s accidental death. A mystery unfurls, but more importantly, so does the story of Florrie’s extraordinary personality and her life of love, companionship and adventure, in a moving story about friendship, forgiveness and mending the past. (Apr. 2)

“I was disturbed by the 21st century’s many conformist social hysterias,” the Orange Prize-winning author of We Need to Talk About Kevin explains of this hotly anticipated novel. Set in an alternate 2011 America, where the Mental Parity Movement – which prohibits discrimination against the stupid – dominates the culture wars and threatens the lifelong friendship of two women. Expect provocative commentary on the current state of affairs: Critics are hailing the novel as a “scary-smart and scathing satire.” (Apr. 9)

Fans of historical fiction about women’s rights will be enthralled to read about 15-year-old Daisy who, in 1964, escapes a forced marriage in her fictional polygamist community called Redemption, only to be called back years later to help her childhood best friend. Elements are based on the true story of the Mormon fundamentalist community on the Canada-U.S. border in Bountiful, B.C. (established as an offshoot of the infamous Utah chapter), where polygamy is still practised today despite the criminal convictions of two leaders in 2018. The B.C. novelist known for The Brideship Wife lays bare the cultish patriarchal and sexist constructs. (Apr. 9)

Taking inspiration from the real 2012 case of a serial-killer chef, this gripping 2017 Japanese bestseller about a gourmet cook turned murderer is newly translated into English. It follows the destructive relationship between Rika, a female investigative journalist, and the convicted killer Kajii, after the reporter requests a recipe as a pretext to initiate contact. As their gastronomic exchanges about the transgressive pleasures of food escalate, the power dynamic becomes ever more dysfunctional. (Apr. 16)

The moody cover reminiscent of a vintage album design should be your first clue that the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres is tracing the trajectory of a budding folksinger. No surprise, then, that midwestern 1960s university student Jodie Rattle’s – whose unexpected hit leads her on a bohemian journey that eventually returns her to family roots – draws on the lives of real talents like Judy Collins and Joan Baez. The novel hinges on the exploration of what it means to be lucky and has an interesting meta-narrative twist. (Apr. 23)

A decade ago the beloved American cook, food critic and former Gourmet editor, 76, made her fiction debut with the roman à clef, Delicious. Character and plot may not be her strength, but in this follow-up, Reichl brings the full measure of her considerable descriptive powers to the City of Light in 1983. The preparation and enjoyment of food are especially mouth-watering as we follow timid Stella’s awakening after she inherits a one-way ticket to Paris from her estranged mother. The escapist fairy tale on the level of Emily in Paris (or if Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris were a book) features every last delectable morsel of moveable feast cliché – a vintage Dior dress, a visit to Les Deux Magots literary brasserie and even a stint living at Shakespeare & Company. To see what Reichl has to say about writing the book, read our Q&A with Corey Mintz. (Apr. 23)

The Californian writer of the acclaimed 2017 debut, Goodbye, Vitamin, spans three generations of a family who interrogate their place in the world. The novel follows a Chinese-American family from 1960s Communist China to contemporary Silicon Valley, after two geneticists leave during the Cultural Revolution and start a family there. Winding across their respective timelines (one begins on the eve of Y2K, with all its fraught uncertainty, for example) and narrated by different voices, each generation considers ideas of status, belonging, identity and inheritance and offers commentary on the social constructs of class and race. (Apr. 30)