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Spring may officially begin at the end of March, but it’s April that really feels like the beginning of springtime to me. The idea of reading outside, enjoying the breeze, and going on nice long walks with my dog and a good audiobook is at the forefront of my mind. I guess that’s just what sunshine and warmer weather after months of winter do to me: more energy and more time for reading! So April clearly equals the opportune time for new books.
Whether or not April brings showers this year, as the saying goes, it’s certainly bringing a lot of great historical fiction. There’s no real rhyme or reason or common theme to the books coming out this month. There are mysteries and retellings (including a new Robin Hood retelling! add it to the list) and historical fiction that runs the gamut from literary to romantic. The only thing all these books have in common is that they sound incredible. Sorry in advance for what I’m about to do to your library holds list and TBR. For what it’s worth, though, I do this to myself, too. Every month I’m just adding more books to my never-ending TBR. At least we’re in this together, right?
Happy Land by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Release date: April 8, 2025
When Nikki is summoned to North Carolina by her estranged grandmother, she expects to finally get some answers about her family’s complicated recent past. Instead, Mother Rita tells her the shocking story of her great-great-great grandmother, Queen Luella, and the Kingdom of the Happy Land. Her grandmother insists the land they stand on must be protected at all costs. If what Mother Rita is telling her is true, it might explain a lot about her family. But can they reclaim what’s been taken from them after all this time?
The Eights by Joanna Miller
Release date: April 15, 2025
In 1920, for the first time in its 1,000-year history, four women are admitted to Oxford. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne and Otto come from very different backgrounds, with very different reasons for wanting to attend one of the best universities in the world. But while Oxford may provide the possibility of a brighter future for each of them, it’s not without issues of its own. Misogyny runs rampant, the threat of influenza isn’t over, and the horrors of the Great War linger on, even here. Only by banding together will they be able to make history.
Six Days in Bombay by Alka Joshi
Release date: April 15, 2025
The author of The Henna Artist is back with a rich historical mystery about a nurse who embarks on a journey to prove her innocence when a famous painter dies under mysterious circumstances in her care. Mira Novak seemingly died of complications from a miscarriage, but if that’s true, why did she leave a note behind for her nurse, Sora, asking her to deliver three paintings to important people from her life? It’s almost as if she knew what was coming. That’s not enough to exonerate Sora, though. After leaving the hospital in disgrace, Sora ventures to Prague, Florence, Paris, and London to honor Mira’s last wishes. Along the way, she discovers the woman she befriended is far more complicated than she knew. But will she be able to uncover the truth of what really happened to Mira and clear her name, or has her life been upended for nothing?
Zeal by Morgan Jerkins
Release date: April 22, 2025
Morgan Jerkins, the bestselling author of Caul Baby, pens a modern-day love story that rights the wrongs of a star-crossed past. When Ardelia and Oliver find each other, they discover each of them has a family history full of holes and secrets. Is it possible that their love story stretches back through the generations to a newly freed man looking for the woman he loves whose family fled in the Great Migration?
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The Lilac People by Milo Todd
Release date: April 29, 2025
A trans man and his girlfriend escape the Nazis by fleeing to life on a countryside farm where they pose as an elderly couple. But when they find a young trans man collapsed on their property, still wearing the clothes of the concentration camp he was being held in, they vow to protect him. The Allied liberation should mean freedom from the fear Bertie, Sofie, and others like them have lived with for years. Instead, the Allies are arresting queer prisoners even as they free the rest.
The Traitor of Sherwood Forest by Amy S. Kaufman
Release date: April 29, 2025
This historical reimagining of the Robin Hood ballads is told from the eyes of a peasant girl who becomes one of Robin Hood’s spies. She becomes his eyes at the King’s Houses, an unassuming girl who will go unnoticed as she ferries out information about nobles and the new Sheriff of Nottingham. Jane can’t help but fall for the charming Robin Hood, at least a little. But as his deeds become more daring and dangerous, she begins to question whether it’s really the good of the people he’s fighting for. And when one of his schemes implicates Jane in a brutal murder, she’ll have to decide what role she really wants to play in the battle for Sherwood Forest.
The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet by Lindz McLeod
Release date: April 29, 2025
Described as a mixture of Bridgerton and Jane Austen, The Unlikely Pursuit of Mary Bennet tells the story of Mary Bennet and Charlotte Lucas after Pride and Prejudice leaves off. When Mr. Collins dies after only four years of marriage, Charlotte is left adrift. She’s not exactly heartbroken, but she is soon to be without a home. Enter: Mary Bennet. Sent by her older sister Lizzy to help Charlotte in this difficult time, the two soon grow surprisingly close. Mary is no longer the ridiculous young girl Charlotte remembers. She’s clever and flourishing now that she’s finally out from under her mother’s thumb. But when a new suitor arrives at the parsonage, Charlotte will have to decide whether she wants the stability of another marriage or an altogether different with the woman she’s growing to love.
Marriage Bargain with the Comte by Parker J. Cole
Release date: April 29, 2025
In this friends-to-lovers romance set in the court of Louis XVI, two people find love after being forced to wed. The Comte de Montreau was just trying to save his friend, the heiress Evena, from a compromising situation with a disreputable suitor when he accidentally places her in a compromising situation of his own making. Now the only way to save her reputation is for the two to marry. But the Comte isn’t the wealthy noble Evena needs to save her ailing father, and she’s not sure he’ll ever see her as more than a necessary burden, even if she desires his love. Can they find something more if this isn’t what either of them wanted?
Did you miss March and February’s new historical fiction? It’s never too late to catch up on all the great new books coming out this year. And if those last two historical romance books caught your eye, you might want to read up on even more new historical romances out recently.