Carr, Garrett. The Boy from the Sea. Knopf. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593802885. 336p. $29. LITERARY FICTION

Carr makes his debut with a novel that has seen hot auctions and preempts across the globe. It is set in 1970s Donegal, Ireland, and centers on a baby boy found on the beach who is adopted by fisherman Ambrose Bonnar and his family. This one family becomes a lens for the changing world, as well as Irish village life and much more.

Courage, Ariel. Bad Nature. Holt. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9781250360885. 304p. $28.99. LITERARY FICTION

Courage, an assistant fiction editor at AGNI, debuts with the story of Hester, a woman facing a terminal disease, holding a grudge, and plotting to kill her father—a lifelong desire. She decides to head toward California but does not get far before she meets environmental activist John, who hitches a ride with her to get to different superfund sites across the country.

Edwards, Kyle. Small Ceremonies. Pantheon. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593701515. 368p. $29. LITERARY FICTION

Edwards, an award-winning Anishinaabe journalist who has worked for Native News Online, ProPublica, and Maclean’s, debuts with this story set in the north end of Winnipeg, centered on the Tigers’ last season. Tomahawk Shields, known as Tommy, feels the loss of his hockey team acutely, a metaphor for his community, his innocence, and his quest to find his own sense of place.

Haigh, Jennifer. Rabbit Moon. Little, Brown. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780316577137. 288p. $29. LITERARY FICTION

Award-winning and bestselling Haigh (Mercy Street) sets her newest in Shanghai, where a hit-and-run crash begins unspooling the secrets and traumas of a family consisting of bitterly divorced Claire and Aaron, their youngest daughter Grace, adopted as an infant from China, and 22-year-old Lindsey, now fighting for her life in a hospital bed.

Hewitt, Seán. Open, Heaven. Knopf. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593802847. 224p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Award-winning poet and memoirist Hewitt (Tongues of Fire; All Down Darkness Wide) makes his fiction debut with a novel about sexual awakening set in a remote village in northern England. The novel traces the lives of two teenage boys—James, sheltered, shy, and wishful, and Luke, abandoned, wounded, a bit older, and charismatic—across one transformational year.

Hickey, Jon. Big Chief. S&S. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9781668046463. 320p. $28.99. LITERARY FICTION

Hickey, an enrolled member of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, debuts with the story of Mitch Caddo and Mack Beck, who run the government of the Passage Rouge Nation and the tribe’s casino. Their power is put in doubt, and an all-out political fight sets the stage for multiple realizations, about limits, costs, and, ultimately, bonds.

Kitamura, Katie. Audition. Riverhead. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593852323. 208p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Kitamura (author of the National Book Award–longlisted Intimacies) writes a novel built on an open question. Two characters meet for lunch. One is an actress, in rehearsals for her newest premiere. The other is an attractive young man who could almost be her son. Who are these characters, and how do they connect? Two stories play out and question truth, roles, and performance.

Millet, Lydia. Atavists: Stories. Norton. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9781324074410. 256p. $27.99. LITERARY FICTION

Millet (author of the National Book Award finalist Children’s Bible) offers a collection of linked stories that explore generational conflict, class, and the era of mass overwhelm from tender, joyful, and alienated perspectives. There are characters in families and characters living alone, and each of them is an “-ist” of some kind: a futurist, a plagiarist, an insurrectionist, a cosmetologist.

Murata, Sayaka. Vanishing World. tr. from Japanese by Ginny Tapley Takemori. Grove. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780802164667. 240p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Award-winning Murata (Convenience Store Woman) sets her newest in a version of Japan where all children are born via artificial insemination. Amane and her husband Saku move to the mysterious Experiment City, or Paradise-Eden, where everyone is considered a Mother to every child, men use artificial wombs, and children are nameless.

Natsukawa, Sosuke. The Cat Who Saved the Library. tr. from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai. HarperVia. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780063419247. 208p. $24. LITERARY FICTION

Bestselling Natsukawa returns with a sequel to The Cat Who Saved Books. Thirteen-year-old Nanami spends her time reading in the library until one day she notices that books are disappearing. Determined to save them, she is joined by Tiger, a talking tabby on the same mission. Together they fight the faceless gray soldiers who steal books and burn them.

Norris, Denne Michele. When the Harvest Comes. Random. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780593729601. 304p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Norris, the editor in chief of Electric Lit, debuts with a novel that blossoms out from a celebration and a tragedy. All Davis can think about is his wedding to his beloved Everett, but their reception is interrupted by the news that Reverend Dr. John Freeman, Davis’s disapproving father, has died in a car accident, bringing up decades of memories and trauma.

Puchner, Eric. Dream State. Doubleday. Apr. 2025. ISBN 9780385550666. 448p. $28. LITERARY FICTION

Short story author Puchner (Last Day on Earth) pens a novel that spans 50 years as it follows two generations. Cece plans to marry Charlie, but when she meets his best friend from college, she runs off with him instead, on the eve of her wedding. Years later, Charlie invites them back into his life, but it’s difficult to let go of the past.