Chung, Eve J. Daughters of Shandong. Berkley. May 2024. 400p. ISBN 9780593640531. $28. F

Taiwanese American Chung, a human-rights lawyer, debuts with a preempted novel based on her grandmother’s life. In 1948 China, a civil war rages, and a mother and her daughters are abandoned when their family flees to safety. But these resourceful women embark on an arduous journey to freedom, and eventually to Taiwan.

Jenner, Natalie. Every Time We Say Goodbye. St. Martin’s. May 2024. 336p. ISBN 9781250285188. $29. F

The latest from the best-selling author of The Jane Austen Society gets a 100K-copy first printing. In 1955 London, playwright Vivien Lowry’s new production is panned and shuts down, so she takes a job as a script doctor for a film shooting in Rome, where she mingles with celebrities while reckoning with the past and forging a new future.

Oates, Joyce Carol. Butcher. Knopf. May 2024. 352p. ISBN 9780593537770. $30. F

Based on historical documents, this story from best-selling Oates (48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister) portrays a 19th-century women’s hospital where Dr. Silas Weir practices and experiments on patients as he establishes himself as a pioneer of surgery.

Shaara, Jeff. The Shadow of War: A Novel of the Cuban Missile Crisis. St. Martin’s. May 2024. 368p. ISBN 9781250279965. $30. F

Best seller Shaara (The Old Lion) offers an extensively researched novel about the 1960s Cuban Missile Crisis. Told from multiple perspectives, the narrative details the confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as both built up their nuclear arsenal and war loomed. With a 100K-copy first printing.

Simonson, Helen. The Hazelbourne Ladies Motorcycle and Flying Club. Dial. May 2024. 432p. ISBN 9781984801319. $29. F

As men return from the front after World War I, Constance Haverhill is forced to give up her wartime job and is sent to work as a lady’s companion on the English coast, where she meets independent Poppy and her ladies’ motorcycle club, along with wounded fighter pilot Harris. From best-selling Simonson (The Summer Before the War).

Forthcoming Series Title

Weir, Alison. The Passionate Tudor: A Novel of Queen Mary I. Ballantine. (Tudor Rose, Bk. 3). May 2024. 560p. ISBN 9780593355107. $30. F