This Spring’s 44 Most Anticipated Books

There are plenty of reasons to feel a little gloomy these days, but happily, this spring’s selection of new books is not one of them. March is always a stacked month for the publishing industry, but it seems even more stuffed to the brim with must-read titles than usual (see: new Xochitl Gonzalez, Morgan Parker, and Jennine Capó Crucet), and April and May’s lists aren’t anything to sniff at, either (Julia Alvarez! Jonny Garza Villa! K-Ming Chang!).

Below, you’ll find a wide mix of genres and sensibilities, from poetry collections to literary memoirs to paranormal young adult novels. Several big-name writers have new books out in the coming months, including fairytale maestro Helen Oyeyemi, who paints a fantastical portrait of Prague in her latest; fantasy bestseller Leigh Bardugo, who dips her toe in historical fantasy for the first time; and beloved romance novelist Emily Henry, who delivers another rom-com for the ages. And that doesn’t even include all the striking debuts, from Emet North’s sci-fi-leaning queer allegory, In Universes, to J. Nicole Jones’ affecting novel about a fictitious California cult, The Witches of Bellinas.

Arriving just in time to help ward off the last chilly remnants of winter, these titles are sure to transport you — and stay with you long after you’ve set them on the shelf.

Blank by Zibby Owens

Out March 1. Zibby Owens' first novel, Blank, rewards readers who come to it with insider knowledge of the publishing world. Our heroine, Pippa Jones, risks becoming a one-and-done bestselling author unless she can present her agent and editor with a new draft stat; naturally, the pressure leads her to employ some unusual tactics. The plot's arcs and valleys are shaped by industry existentialism and protocols, which makes sense given the author's own growing role as a Kingmaker within it. — Brianna Kovan

Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon

Out March 5. I’m a big-time sucker for Greek mythology — where’s my Edith Hamilton hive at? — which has me practically salivating (gross, sorry) for Rachel Lyon’s new novel. Reimagining the relationship between Demeter and Persephone in capitalism-run-amok New York, the story centers on an 18-year-old camp counselor who’s lured to a private island by one of her camper’s dads, a Fortune 500 CEO. (Hey, anything for job security.) — B.K.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

Out March 5. In the year since Xochitl Gonzalez’s debut novel dropped, she’s been on a fast-track to literary fame. Olga Dies Dreaming became a national bestseller, she created a must-read newsletter for The Atlantic, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. This month she’s back with a sophomore book, which again places its Latina protagonist among the monied elite (before, it was through the wedding industrial complex; now, it’s via a college art-history department). — B.K.

Say Hello to My Little Friend by Jennine Capó Crucet

Out March 5. Yes, Stefon’s iconic line “this club has everything” is too often paraphrased, but this book really does have everything: a Pitbull impersonator angling to reinvent himself as Scarface’s Tony Montana, an orca named Lolita, and mommy issues. Crucet’s latest is cleverly crafted from start to finish, and one hell of a wild ride. — Chloe Joe

Parasol Against the Axe by Helen Oyeyemi

Out March 5. Oyeyemi is a modern master of fairy tales and topsy-turvy narratives, and her new novel is no different. What does make Parasol Against the Axe stand out is its subject: Oyeyemi’s adopted home of Prague, which serves as a setting, character, and sometimes-narrator. The city propels the novel through fits and starts, time-skips and stories-within-stories. Check your expectations at the door. — C.J.

The Great Divide by Cristina Henríquez

Out March 5. In this immersive, sweeping work of historical fiction, Henríquez explores the neglected history of the building of the Panama Canal, a marvel of engineering that brought together people of all races and classes from across the Western Hemisphere. Henríquez’s large cast of characters includes Omar, a rare Panamanian teenager who helps dig the canal (most of the laborers came from the West Indies); Ada, another teenager who stows away on a ship from Barbados to find work; John Oswald, a wealthy white American tasked with overseeing the eradication of malaria in the region; and John’s wife Marian, a frustrated botanist who sacrifice her own dreams for her husband’s career. Henríquez masterfully weaves these narratives together, leading to unexpected relationships between characters and leaving the reader with a rich picture of this extraordinary undertaking. — Morgan Leigh Davies

The Extinction of Irina Rey by Jennifer Croft

Out March 5. In this wily fusion of locked-room mystery and literary satire, a group of eight translators makes a pilgrimage to the remote home of writer Irena Rey, only to find themselves at a loss when Irena mysteriously disappears. Croft, who has served as a translator for authors including Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk, has fun skewering her own tribe: The characters treat Irena as a deity (“Our Author”) and their normal habits fall to pieces once she’s gone. Because the novel itself is presented as an English translation of a character’s account of the trip, complete with footnotes, it’s never quite clear where reality ends and fantasy begins — but Croft spins such a seductive tale, it’s impossible not to get sucked in. — M.L.D.

Women of Good Fortune by Sophie Wan

Out March 5. Lulu has just been proposed to by one of Shanghai’s wealthiest, most eligible bachelors. And while she doesn't love him, she could certainly use the cash. So after conspiring with her two best friends, she decides to move forward with the wedding... in order to steal all the gift money. One part Crazy Rich Asians, another Ocean's 8, this debut novel is one hell of a thrill ride. — Samantha Leach

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel

Out March 12. Bullwinkel’s 2018 short story collection Belly Up wasn’t afraid of bewildering its readers. Her first novel is even more brazen, testing the boundaries of what a novel can even be while refusing to hold back a single, brutal punch — much like the eight teen girls she follows through the Daughters of America Cup in Reno, Nevada, a competition which holds extraordinary significance within the niche world of 18-and-under women’s boxing. The timeline spans just the two days of the tournament, each chapter dedicated to a bout, but the story itself is cavernous, spreading across time and space, expanding into profound experiences of love, grief, girlhood, and ambition, and how these experiences interplay with the power and catharsis of physical pain. It’s awe-inspiring and incomparable. — Arianna Rebolini

Selling the Dream by Jane Marie

Out March 12. Those familiar with audio journalism vet Jane Marie and her excellent podcast The Dream will not need much cajoling to secure a copy of this nonfiction book. So, for those who aren’t: Her podcast investigates the snake oil salesmen who peddle a piece of the American Dream, often via multi-level marketing companies (MLMs). In Selling the Dream, she goes even deeper into these dubious organizations and their marketing practices, keeping us entertained all the while with her chatty wit. — C.J.

Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham

Out March 12. It’s 2007, and 20-something tutor David unexpectedly lands a fundraising job on the presidential campaign of a Black senator from Chicago. (The senator is never named, but it’s clear who we’re talking about.) Despite never having been particularly interested in politics, David — a Black college dropout and father with dreams of being a writer — is drawn to the campaign’s energy and optimism, as well as its proximity to wealth and power. Within this whirlwind, David contemplates the responsibilities of a person from a marginalized community who suddenly holds such influence, and how leadership can turn a person into a symbol. Cunningham, A New Yorker culture critic, has fittingly released a cogent and meditative debut, spanning the intersections of politics, family, identity, and artistic expression. — A.R.

You Get What You Pay For by Morgan Parker

Out March 12. When Morgan Parker released her poetry collection Magical Negro a few years back, it quickly dominated bookstore displays and year-end lists, finishing its run with a National Book Circle Critics Award. Lucky for us, Parker is back with a new prose collection, a series of essays in which she wields her deft control of language to examine the perimeters of individual identity, particularly for Black Americans. — B.K.

Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

Out March 14. The latest paranormal YA novel from the New York Times-bestselling author of Ace of Spades follows Sade Hussein, a new boarding school student whose roommate goes missing. When people start to assume that Sade had something to do with it, she takes matters into her own hands, leading her to uncover even greater secrets than the ones she’s been keeping. — S.L.

The Tree Doctor by Marie Mutsuki Mockett

Out March 19. At the beginning of the pandemic, an unnamed Japanese American writer leaves her family in Hong Kong to coordinate care for her ailing mother and tend to the beloved garden of her childhood home in Northern California. As her return trip gets pushed back again and again, she becomes emotionally and sexually enmeshed with a local “tree doctor” who’s taken on not only the struggling plants, but also the middle-aged woman as a revitalization project — but the protagonist soon realizes she doesn’t need anyone’s help in rediscovering her desires. Mutsuki Mockett expertly connects the astonishing awakenings within both the garden and the protagonist, exploring in brooding and lyrical prose how life flourishes within even the most hostile environments. — A.R.

No Judgement by Lauren Oyler

Out March 19. If you didn’t read Lauren Oyler’s much-shared account of going on the Goop cruise last year, you certainly saw it floating on the interweb. In No Judgment, the cultural critic’s first-ever anthology, she delivers similarly eyebrow-raising takes. Alongside previously published work, Oyler presents eight new essays, which, in her words, are about “revenge, gossip, Goodreads, expats, autofiction, vulnerability, anxiety, and spoilers.” I mean, sign me up. — B.K.

Like Happiness by Ursula Villarreal-Moura

Out March 26. In 2015 Chile, Tatum Vega is contacted by a New York Times reporter requesting an interview about M. Domínguez, a brilliant and beloved Puerto Rican writer being accused of sexual abuse. Tatum is ambivalent—though M., a mentor and benefactor–turned–lover, was fickle in his desires and attentions, he’d never technically abused her. As she considers what she can contribute to this breaking story, she starts writing a letter to M. retreading their shared history, from the moment in 2000 she decided to write him a fan letter, to the day, over 10 years later, of his brutal betrayal. Seamlessly alternating between these two timelines, Villarreal-Moura writes with stunning emotional clarity about sexual identity, art and marginalization, and the ways control can masquerade as love. — A.R.

Rabbit Heart by Kristine S. Ervin

Out March 26. In 1986, when poet Kristine S. Ervin was 8 years old, her mother left their Oklahoma home to go shopping and never came back. Days later, her body was found in a nearby oil field. Rabbit Heart follows Ervin’s quest to understand not just her mother’s murder, but the woman herself. It’s part true crime, examining the original corrupt trial as well as DNA evidence that emerged decades later, and part memoir — in poetic, heartbreaking prose, Ervin pieces together an image of her mother and revisits her younger self with the empathy and understanding she needed so desperately at the time. To say it’s a difficult read would be putting it mildly, but it’s even more so empowering, revelatory, and abundant with love. — A.R.

Worry by Alexandra Tanner

Out March 26. This debut novel about a pair of dysfunctional siblings — classic older-sister Jules, who tries to keep things together, and couch-surfing Poppy who’s pulling at the seams — sounds like a great-time mess: Mormon mommy bloggers, inflamed bodies, a rescue dog named Amy Klobuchar, and conspiracy theories. — B.K.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories by Julia Alvarez

Out April 2. Julia Alvarez has been one of the most successful and acclaimed Latina writers since the 1990s, when she published her debut When the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents (1991). In this latest novel, she considers life and writing from the point of view of aging author Alma Cruz, who like Alvarez hails from the Dominican Republic. After the death of her parents, Alma decides to use the plot of land she’s inherited on the island to serve as a cemetery for the manuscripts and ideas she’s never been able to fully realize, including one about the dictator Rafael Trujillo’s wife, Bienvenida. Soon, the local caretaker of the cemetery, Filomela, starts hearing the manuscripts speak to her. In a brilliant fusion of the personal and the political, Alvarez’s characters are haunted by both their own memories and the lingering memory of Trujillo’s regime, which is at risk of being forgotten. — M.L.D.

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

Out April 2. Gramazio’s debut novel begins like a thriller: Lauren, a millennial living in London, arrives home from a night out to find a strange man in her apartment. Even more alarming, he claims to be her husband. Lauren quickly realizes that this man may not be lying—there’s evidence of their shared life together in the apartment and on her phone—but she doesn’t remember him at all. Things get even weirder when the husband goes up into their attic, and a new one comes down. Soon, the book turns into an odd kind of romantic comedy, by turns insightful and hilarious. Gramazio satirizes dating apps and relationships more broadly through Lauren’s adventures with the husbands, some of whom she keeps around for weeks, and some of whom she immediately sends back to the attic for a new model merely because she doesn’t like their haircut. — M.L.D.

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Out April 2. Dating hasn't been going so well for Justin. Every woman he takes out goes on to find their soulmate... the moment after they break up. So when a woman slides into his DMs claiming to have the exact same problem, they decide to date (and then dump) one another so they can finally find true love. But what if it's fate, not their mutual curse, bringing them together? — S.L.

How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang

Out April 9. Rom-com screenwriter Yulin Kuang’s debut novel follows bestselling writer Helen Zhang as she moves from NYC to LA to help bring her hit YA series to television. Unfortunately, Helen has a traumatic history with Grant, the showrunner's second-in-command: When her little sister jumped in front of a car back in high school, he was the one driving it. Alternating between Helen’s and Grant’s perspectives, How to End a Love Story is a poignant and charming enemies-to-lovers romance that gracefully explores grief, forgiveness, and growth. — A.R.

The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo

Out April 9. Bummed about Netflix’s cancellation of Shadow and Bone Season 3? (Yes, same.) While Leigh Bardugo’s new historical fantasy novel doesn’t return to her bestselling Grishaverse series, it does assemble a new tale of small-scale magic, this time in 16th-century Madrid. Here, a gifted Jewish servant is thrust up the social order during Inquisition-era Spain as royals and their hangers-on volley for control of her powers. — B.K.

Rangikura by Tayi Tibble

Out April 9. After Indigenous New Zealander Tayi Tibble, published her first poetry collection, U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo heralded her, “One of the most startling and original poets of her generation.” Now, Tibble is back with an unmissable meditation on desire, exploitation, and the violence enacted against indigenous women; and once again, Tibble’s poems are infused with her signature wit, subversion, and nostalgia. — S.L.

Canto Contigo by Jonny Garza Villa

Out April 9. This novel, Villa’s third, digs deeper into themes they’ve explored in their previous novels — queerness, belonging, and Mexican and Chicane culture — through the lens of mariachi, which the author celebrates while also acknowledging its history of exclusion. The novel’s protagonist, Rafael, is a gifted teenager who has led his school’s mariachi group to win national awards. But when his family moves to San Antonio for his senior year of high school, he’s forced to play second fiddle to another singer, and his understanding of himself collapses.. To make matters worse, he met that boy, Rey, at a competition over the summer and sparks flew. Villa’s rich tapestry of Chicane life, Spanish language, and queer joy is irresistible, and the novel’s delicious enemies-to-lovers plotline is sure to delight romance fans. — M.L.D.

Committed by Suzanne Scanlon

Out April 16. When Suzanne Scanlon entered the New York State Psychiatric Institute in 1992 after a suicide attempt, she had no idea that she would remain there for almost three years. In this bracing memoir, Scanlon, now a writer, teacher, and mother, tries to understand how and why she was institutionalized for so long. By writing about her own history as well as those of other writers including Virginia Woolf and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Scanlon explores the experiences of women dealing with mental illness and critiques a medical establishment overly reliant on medication. This frank memoir doesn’t provide easy answers, but does shed light on important subjects many still consider taboo. — M.L.D.

Days of Wonder by Caroline Leavitt

Out April 23. The New York Times-bestselling author of Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow is back with her most audacious, empathetic novel yet. Ella and Jude meet as teenagers in New York City, where they fall quickly in love — just before tragedy strikes. A pregnant Ella is accused of trying to murder Jude's father and is sentenced to 25 years in prison. This gripping epic then picks back up six years later, when Ella is released from prison early, and sets out on a journey to both clear her name and get her daughter back. — S.L.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

Out April 23. When romance novelist Emily Henry releases a new book, it’s nothing short of a literary event. And this spring’s Funny Story — which has already been named one of the most anticipated books of 2024 by everyone from the New York Times to the Today show — is sure to be no exception. Centered on Daphne, a down-on-her-luck, recently dumped children’s librarian who might just be catching feelings for her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex, this sumptuous novel is Henry at her very best. — S.L.

I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays by Nell Irvin Painter

Out April 23. A historian and visual artist who has studied at UC Berkeley, Harvard, RISD, and the University of Ghana, Painter is a pioneering historian and polymath who has written celebrated books on Sojourner Truth and the history of whiteness; here, her intellectual powers are on full display. In an expansive collection of essays that span a long and varied career, Painter writes with insight, acuity, and eloquence about the history of Black people and culture in America, Black visual art and film, and America’s current racial politics, tackling subjects including affirmative action and reparations. It’s impossible to briefly summarize the vast range of topics Painter considers in this book, or the profound depths of her thought. The collection serves as a testament to her rigorous, flexible, and curious mind. — M.L.D.

Real Americans by Rachel Khong

Out April 30. Readers who know Rachel Khong from her debut Goodbye Vitamin (2018) will be surprised by the different approach she’s taken with this new novel. While her previous novel was brief and treated a serious topic — Alzheimer’s — with humor, Real Americans is a sprawling family saga spanning multiple generations, reaching back into Chinese history and forward into a precarious American future. It begins with Lily, a daughter of Chinese immigrants, who falls in love with Matthew, a pharmaceutical heir whose wealth is beyond anything she’s ever imagined. Decades later, after their relationship collapses and Lily winds up raising their son, Nick, as a single mother, he sets out on a quest to discover his father’s identity — a quest that will uncover deeply buried family secrets on both sides. — M.L.D.

In Universes by Emet North

Out April 30. Young scientist Raffi is searching for dark matter, hoping if they can understand the mysteries of the universe then perhaps their own life will start to make sense. After reconnecting with Britt, an artist who went to school with them, Raffi becomes disillusioned with their work and their personal life, which is inhibited by fear. When they quit their job to investigate the theory of branching universes, it’s really a journey to find the world in which Raffi has done right by the woman they love. With each chapter veering into these different worlds, In Universes is a magical, bighearted, genre-jumping ode to queerness and the breaking and re-making of reality. — A.R.

Love Is a Burning Thing by Nina St. Pierre

Out May 7. Debut memoirist Nina St. Pierre was born a decade after her mother lit herself on fire in a dual suicide attempt. In her recovery, St. Pierre’s mother became infatuated with the pursuit of enlightenment — a journey that dictated St. Pierre’s childhood, leading them up and down the state of California, and to eventually settle on the foot of a mountain where a fire touched their lives once again. But as much as this book is the story of St. Pierre and her mother’s relationship, it’s also a kaleidoscopic, illuminating reflection on mental health, poverty, gender, and spirituality. — S.L.

The Ministry of Time by Kailane Bradley

Out May 7. Part time travel adventure, part espionage thriller, part climate change dystopia, part odd-couple sitcom, and part forbidden romance, this audacious debut novel shouldn’t work — but somehow, these disparate elements combine to form a ridiculously smart and enjoyable book. The novel’s narrator, a mixed-race Cambodian Englishwoman who works for the secret service, is tasked with supervising Commander Graham Gore’s adjustment to life in the 21st century. Gore, a real historical figure who died on the doomed Franklin expedition to the Arctic in 1847, is only one of a group of “migrants” the government has moved across time for unclear but ominous reasons. Gore must adjust to the modern world and learn how to live with a woman; soon, though, he and the narrator develop a rapport that might turn into something more, making their lives and work much more complicated. — M.L.D.

Early Sobrieties by Michael Deagler

Out May 7. Michael Deagler’s debut novel reads almost like a collection of connected short stories, each chapter dropping 26-year-old Dennis Monk in a new absurd phase of his first year of sobriety. We meet him living with his parents four months after giving up drinking cold-turkey, but he is summarily (and unexpectedly) kicked out when his brother graduates. Thus begins months of hopping from friends’ couches to situationships’ beds and taking odd jobs, game for anything as he tries to find a place in the world — or at least in South Philadelphia. It’s sharp and self-aware, with deep insight packed into no-fuss prose: a quarter-life-crisis tale for the ages. — A.R.

Rebel Girl by Kathleen Hanna

Out May 14. For fans of the Riot Grrrl movement, Kathleen Hanna is a living legend: the frontwoman of beloved bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, and an indefatigable feminist activist. Hanna previously pulled back the curtain on her life and struggle with chronic Lyme disease in a 2013 documentary, The Punk Singer, but Rebel Girl offers deeper insights and more candid reflections, particularly about the shortcomings of the movement she helped launch. — C.J.

All Fours by Miranda July

Out May 14. In July’s sophomore novel, an Art Monstress suffers a midlife crisis for the ages, setting off on what is meant to be a cross-country road trip and instead embarking on an altogether different journey much closer to home. The (often hilarious) prose hurtles the reader along at a clip, as if we’ve arranged a ride-along for the narrator’s antics. — C.J.

The Witches of Bellinas by J. Nicole Jones

Out May 14. This scintillating book reads as a written statement from its lead character, Constance “Tansy” Black. Black recounts her experience in a Northern California cult — where her husband died — explaining how she tried and failed to extricate herself from the sinister community before it was too late. — C.J.

Very Bad Company by Emma Rosenblum

Out May 14. With her debut novel, Bad Summer People, Rosenblum revealed her talent for pulling readers in with a scintillating mystery, all while satirizing the petty grievances and chicanery of the upper crust. In Very Bad Company, she turns her gaze to the absurdity of corporate culture — the inanity of which is thrown into high relief when an executive goes missing on the first night of an annual retreat, and the rest of the company’s higher-ups must continue with their bonding and brainstorming as if everything’s fine. — C.J.

Editor’s note: Rosenblum is the chief content officer of BDG, which owns Bustle.

This Strange Eventful History by Claire Messud

Out May 14. Claire Messud’s latest is a masterwork of historical fiction, spanning seven decades in the lives and dramas of one family. Inspired by her own background, This Strange Eventful History begins in Algeria in 1940, when married couple Gaston and Lucienne Cassare flee political unrest, and follows their clan as they travel across continents without a real homebase. Their children, Francois and Denise, search for their own meaning through differing paths — religion, business, marriage, art. The effects of these searches ripple into the third generation, including Messud’s fictional stand-in: an aspiring writer who believes in the necessity and power of putting these stories on paper. It’s rich in place and perspective — an immersive, captivating story of love, politics, and entanglement. — A.R.

Cecilia by K-Ming Chang

Out May 21. Chang’s won quite a few fans with her previous novels, Organ Meats and Bestiary, and they won’t be disappointed by her new novella, Cecilia. The story follows Seven, whose chance reunion with a childhood friend forces her to reckon with what drove them apart. Erotic and strange, captivating and twisted: This one’s for the freaks (complimentary). — C.J.

Perfume & Pain by Anna Dorn

Out May 21. In her fourth novel, Dorn pays homage to the legacy of lesbian pulp, but mixes it with her distinctly contemporary sensibility. The result is a page-turner, at once sexy, bawdy, and riotously funny. (Evidence of the latter: The main character’s drug cocktail of choice is Adderall, alcohol, and cigarettes, which she dubs the Patricia Highsmith.) — C.J.

Mood Swings by Frankie Barnet

Out May 21. There is a lot in this novel that should feel deeply strange: an animal uprising, people paid to role-play as pets, Instagram poets (just kidding). And yet, this surreal world full of tech oligarchs and unmoored 20-somethings feels all too close to home, as if we’re looking at our current reality through a funhouse mirror — which is really something, given how funhouse-mirror-y life seems these days. — C.J.

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

Out May 21. Kwan, best known for his much-loved Crazy Rich Asians trilogy (which, yes, inspired the hit 2018 film), returns with another beguiling tale of intrigue, betrayal, and sex. This time, the story centers around a blue-blooded bachelor whose mother — a onetime Hong Kongese supermodel, naturally — is insistent that he find a well-off bride, so as to refill the family’s quickly dwindling coffers. Which would be easy enough, were it not for his long-simmering attraction to the girl next door. Cue the drama! — C.J.

Exhibit by R.O. Kwon

Out May 21. At an artsy, drug-riddled party in San Francisco, photographer Jin Han meets ballet dancer Lidija Jung. The two women — both Korean American in a house full of mostly wealthy white men — are drawn to each other, and Jin surprises herself by revealing intimate details of her life. Like, for example, how her husband wants to have a child despite their agreeing they wouldn’t; how she finally admitted she wanted him to hurt her in bed and he balked at the idea; how it’s been years since she’s taken a photograph she likes. Most significantly, though, Jin shares a story she’s never told anyone, and which has been weighing heavily on her mind: that her family has been cursed by a kisaeng (a girl sold into slavery as a courtesan) for generations. In a hypnotic, sensual stream of consciousness — sometimes with asides directed at Jin’s husband, sometimes with interruptions by the furious kisaeng — Kwon explores an intimacy that grows into obsession, revealing insights into the nature of power, sexuality, and free will. — A.R.