10 Spring Novels for New Beginnings

Divorced and cut off from his family, Taro lives alone in an apartment on a block that is to be torn down as soon as the remaining tenants leave. Since the death of his father, Taro has kept to himself but is soon drawn into an unusual relationship with the woman upstairs, Nishi, as she shares stories of the sky-blue house next door. First discovered by Nishi in a rare photo book, Spring Garden, the sky-blue house soon becomes a focus for Nishi and Taor: Of what is lost, what has been destroyed, and what hope may lie in the future for them both if they only seize it.

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all leading to an unforgettable revelation. It is a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity immersed in addiction, violence, and trauma but undergirded by compassion and tenderness.

Gatsby emerged as if from nowhere, evading questions about his past, and throwing dazzling parties sparkling with champagne and jazz at his luxurious Long Island mansion. Nick Carraway, a young man who has moved in next door, is fascinated by his odd neighbor and by the discovery that Gatsby is motivated by a single-minded quest to regain his long-lost love, Daisy Buchanan. Nick finds something both appalling and appealing in Gatsby’s intense ambition to reinvent himself. But Daisy and her wealthy husband are cynical and careless people and as Gatsby’s dream collides with reality, Nick is witness to the violence and tragedy that result.

In the city of Houston – a diverse microcosm of America – the son of a Black mother and a Latino father is coming of age. He’s working at his family’s restaurant, weathering his brother’s blows, resenting his older sister’s absence. And, discovering he likes boys. Around him, others live, thrive, and die in Houston’s myriad neighborhoods: A young woman whose affair detonates across an apartment complex, a ragtag basketball team, a group of young hustlers, hurricane survivors, a local drug dealer who takes a Guatemalan teen under his wing, and a reluctant chupacabra. Energetic, witty, and raw these stories explore the infinite longing of people searching for home.

In this lyrical world of gurgling rivers and whispering reeds live four of the wisest, wittiest, noblest, and most lovable creatures in all of literature – Rat, Mole, Badger, and Toad of Toad Hall. They glory in life’s simplest pleasures and natural spring season wonders. But it is Toad, cocky and irrepressible, whose passion for motorcars represents the free and fearless spirit in all of us; just as it is Toad’s downfall that inspires the others to test the miracle of loyalty and friendship.

The women at the center of this story are alike only in their dissatisfaction with their everyday lives. They find each other – and the Italian medieval castle of their dreams – through a classified ad in a London newspaper one rainy February afternoon. The ladies expect a pleasant holiday, but they don’t anticipate that the month they spend in Portofino will reintroduce them to their true natures and reacquaint them with joy. Now if the same transformation can work on their husband and lovers, the enchantment will be complete.

Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely – until her beloved father died. Now, an orphan, she moves to New Moon Farm on Prince Edward Island with her snobbish relatives. Emily is sure she’ll never be happy there, but things slowly begin to change for the better when Emily makes some new friends: Teddy Kent, who does marvelous drawings; Perry Miller, the hired boy who’s sailed the world with his father but has never been to school; and Ilse Burnley, a tomboy with a blazing temper. With her new friends and adventures around every corner, Emily begins to find a new home and comes to think of herself as Emily of New Moon.

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina Coast. So in 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she survived alone in the marsh she calls home, finding friends in the gulls, and lessons in the sand. The time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved and two young men from town appear, intrigued by her wild beauty. Kya opens herself to a new life – until the unthinkable happens. A coming-of-age story that is an exquisite ode to the natural world.

Kai, a white-collar worker living in Seoul, has just been abandoned by his longtime lover. Follow him through a labyrinth of alleyways as he reels from this sudden departure. Mourning can be both an art and an ever-unfolding journey that is epitomized in the paths that Kai crosses and the lives he alters, for better or worse. Kai is not the only one feeling disoriented and aimless these days. His inner circle, similarly, experiences personal crises as they go through their thirties in a nation simmering with class and general tensions as well as the specter of new and old wars.