Barnes & Noble Announces Its March Lineup of Monthly Picks

Barnes & Noble Announces its March Lineup of Monthly Picks and Most Anticipated New Releases

March selections include books by Abi Dare, Scott Carson, Natasha Preston, and Linden A. Lewis along with New Releases from Isabel Allende, Martha Hall Kelly, Sister Souljah and more

New York, NY –March 1, 2021 – Barnes & Noble, Inc., with bookstores in every state across the United States, announced its Monthly Book Picks for March with five newly released paperbacks for spring with titles in literary fiction, nonfiction, YA, Young Reader, and speculative fiction. The bookseller also announced its Most Anticipated New Books for readers to look forward to this month.

“We are so excited about all of our picks for March. We have a fantastic collection of Monthly Picks, carefully chosen by our booksellers to inspire, thrill, chill and delight,” said Jackie De Leo, Vice President, Bookstore, Barnes & Noble. “Plus, in celebration of Women’s History Month, we curated our Most Anticipated New Books for March around some of today’s most brilliant and insightful female authors. This thoughtful selection of titles is sure to deliver for passionate readers of all types.”

March Monthly Picks

March is here and it’s time to Spring ahead into some amazing reads! Our March Monthly Picks invite readers to explore a universe at war, find their “louding” voice, uncover a dark prophecy, get inspired by an unlikely band of brothers, unearth secrets that were never meant to be buried and open a portal to the farthest corners of the galaxy!

Barnes & Noble’s Monthly Picks are available in-stores and on BN.com with a Buy One, Get One 50% off offer. The March selections are:

Speculative Fiction: The First Sister
Linden A. Lewis
The fight for humanity in a broken society underscores the thrilling action in Lewis's debut speculative novel, The First Sister. Compelling characters, diverse representation, rich worldbuilding, superb plot development, and phenomenal twists all combine to form the space opera you didn't know you were waiting for.

Fiction: The Girl with the Louding Voice
Abi Daré
Powerful and unforgettable. This is the type of novel that will stay with you long after you finish it and make you immediately recommend it to your closest friends. Adunni’s tale is one of heartbreak, but also of perseverance, resilience and a light that cannot be dimmed. The Girl with the Louding Voice is told with such an original voice that it will most likely inspire you to find your own.

Mystery/Thriller: The Chill
Scott Carson
Memory and disaster (both natural and man-made) haunt this story of ghosts creeping their way into each of the characters’ lives. We often think of ghosts haunting a home. The Chill reminds us that nature is our original home; and that, too, is not off-limits to the other world. It is an eeriness that seeps into the novel; the way water drips slowly so you don’t notice the flood.

Nonfiction: A Most Beautiful Thing: The True Story of America's First All-Black High School Rowing Team
Arshay Cooper
The true story of the first all-Black high school crew team that went on to do great things. An inspirational story of Arshay Cooper and students from Manley High School in Chicago's West Side who stumble upon crew, learn to row and become champions. The sport, and the conditioning it requires, bring about physical changes to their bodies, but it's the positive mental and emotional benefits they discover that are the best part.

YA: The Lake
Natasha Preston
Esme and Kayla are back at Camp Pine Lake as counselors-in-training, years after they agreed to cover up a terrible incident that occurred while they were campers there themselves. Unfortunately, it’s not all fun and games at camp, and when mysterious threats aimed at the counselors start getting more and more violent, the girls know they aren’t the only ones who know their secret. Preston’s latest thriller is dark, gripping and, wait for it — a bit campy (in the best way possible).

Young Reader: Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox
Michael Buckley
What do you get when your little sister’s pink unicorn lunchbox turns out to be a portal to another part of the galaxy? Giant alien bugs, seven-foot-tall robots and a quest to save the universe, of course! Finn and the Intergalactic Lunchbox is a rollicking, non-stop adventure that will leave young readers begging to pick up the next installment.

March Most Anticipated New Books

Readers across the country are ready to shake off winter and look ahead to those fresh, sun-kissed days of early spring. And what better way to welcome a new season, than with a spectacular new read. From sweeping historical epics to breathtaking debuts, a long-anticipated sequel, and a pitch-perfect murder mystery, here are the Barnes & Noble picks for the best new books to look out for this March, all written by fantastic female authors in celebration of Woman’s History Month.

Our Most Anticipated Books of the Month are:

• The Rose Code Kate Quinn Kate Quinn is back with another enthralling novel set in 1940’s London. The Rose Code centers on three women who were once closer than sisters but have been ripped apart by betrayal and misunderstanding. Osla, Mab, and Beth are forced together to solve one last puzzle, with the country’s security hanging in the balance. For lovers of historical fiction, but also lovers of simply good books in general.
• Eternal Lisa Scottoline Lisa Scottoline proves her prowess for powerful storytelling in her entrance into historical fiction. Written with her trademark fast-paced, captivating style, she tells the story of a love triangle between lifelong best friends caught in the throes of Mussolini’s dangerous rise to power in Rome. Brilliant, heartbreaking, and moving, Eternal’s characters will stand the test of time in this gripping novel of love, friendship, and courage in the face of unimaginable circumstances.
• Sunflower Sisters Martha Hall Kelly The much-anticipated new novel from Martha Hall Kelly, Sunflower Sisters serves as an enthralling prequel to Lilac Girls and tells the story of Georgeanna “Georgey” Woolsey (the ancestor of Caroline Ferriday) and her search for a sense of self during the turbulent Civil War. A story of women defying the odds in a war-torn and racially divided landscape, Sunflower Sisters is ultimately a novel of hope and healing.
• What’s Mine and Yours Naima Coster A multi-layered drama about the long-lasting consequences of crime and the effects of school integration on two different families. The universal fear of failure and the strength of a parent’s love thread throughout this novel and are buoyed with dynamic characters and unforgettable phrasing. A beautifully woven, heartbreaking work.
• Life After Death Sister Souljah After 20 years, readers finally get a chance to return to the tumultuous life of Winter Santiaga. Action-packed and unexpected, and in true Winter style, Life After Death will keep you guessing until the very last page. Join us as we welcome Sister Souljah for a live virtual event on Monday, March 15 at 3 PM ET to discuss Life After Death. You must purchase a ticket on Eventbrite to join this event. Please click here to learn more.
• The Lost Apothecary Sarah Penner An avenging woman in the guise of a quiet apothecary takes center stage in this propulsive historical fiction debut. In 18th-century London, women come to Nella when they need to act against the abusive men in their life. Soon, the very young Eliza is involved with an act gone wrong, and a modern woman’s search for meaning, in the present-day, becomes irrevocably tied with the past. With immersive storytelling, a dark, gothic atmosphere, and unforgettable characters, this is a subversive debut that should not be missed.
• Of Women and Salt Gabriela Garcia Beautiful and tragic, Of Women and Salt follows five generations of women in Cuba, Mexico, and Miami. A story about immigration, mothers and daughters, and the choices women make for their families. “Gabriela Garcia captures the lives of Cuban women in a world to which they refuse to surrender, and she does so with precision and generosity and beauty.” —Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist.
• Brood Jackie Polzin Jackie Polzin’s Brood is a powerful debut novel that sets Polzin up as a strong new literary voice and one to watch. The unnamed narrator has thrown herself into taking care of chickens in the wake of an unimaginable tragedy, and while the entire novel is framed around the chickens’ well-being, it is the heartbreaking, small snippets around her miscarriage and its aftermath that are brutally poignant. An honest take on internalized versus externalized pain, Brood is a beautiful novel with real staying power.
• The Lamplighters: A Novel Emma Stonex December 1972: three lighthouse keepers on a remote island mysteriously vanish. All the doors are locked from the inside, dinner is laid out, and the clocks have stopped at 8:45. Their disappearance leaves only questions and feelings of betrayal and loss behind for their wives to grapple with even 20 years later. Think you have an idea of where this book is going? Think again. Emma Stonex’s debut novel is all at once a mystery and a haunting and heartbreaking story of how we seek truth and resolution, the stories we tell ourselves, and the lasting effects of loss and loneliness.
• The Windsor Knot SJ Bennett If you are as much a fan of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman as we are then you are going to fall in love with The Windsor Knot. Wry, witty, and full of charm, you are quickly engrossed in finding out “who did it.” Luckily for us, Queen Elizabeth II has some ideas and challenges everyone else’s notions. Even with a mysterious death at Windsor Castle, you’ll beg to be invited for a “dine and sleep” there before the novel’s end.
• How Beautiful We Were Imbolo Mbue An unforgettable novel about the devastatingly lasting effects of greed, manipulation, and environmental destruction of vulnerable people, Mbue’s How Beautiful We Were tells the story of one community’s determination to save their ancestral land. The small African village of Kosawa has long been exploited by an American oil company, leading to infertile farmlands, toxic water, and ultimately the death of its inhabitants. This is a story of the power of standing up for what’s right in the face of unbelievable odds.
• Black Girl, Call Home Jasmine Mans While you can’t read this one right now, you’ll want to mark your calendars. If the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, then Jasmine Mans moves from her heart to her pen to your heart. Womanhood, daughters, mothers, family, and neighbors all come together in Mans’ succinct and deeply sincere poems. And while her path is clear, sometimes it is the map (of society) that is complicated. We are fortunate to have Jasmine Mans as our navigator.
• The Soul of a Woman Isabel Allende With a liberated perspective and knowing wisdom that certain age and retrospection can bestow, Soul of a Woman is an opinionated, embracing, and compassionate look at a big full life, its experiences savored, its lessons lived and lessons learned. For Allende, feminism is central to life, a world view, and the thread that binds her past to her present, young self to older, daughter to mother, human to human. A memoir with enormous spirit and heart.
• Dusk, Night, Dawn: On Revival and Courage Anne Lamott “Help and humor save us. Goodness and courage are how the divine presents itself so often — whether in drag, as close friends, or as EMTs.” Anne Lamott is back with a collection of beautifully written essays. Her goal here is to illuminate how we can go on despite all that is difficult. Her voice is wry, humorous, and laden with wisdom. I lost count of the number of quotes I circled. This is the book we need from a voice we love.

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