This month’s must-read books

——————— American War by Omar El akkad March 28, Penguin Random House

A spookily resonant novel about America on the brink of a second civil war, El Akkad’s gripping tale is set at the end of this century. As the plague-ridden North and South engage in a vicious battle over fossil fuels, one young woman rises up to lead the southern resistance.

——————— Little Sister by barbara GOwdy April 18, HarperCollins

Gowdy writes neoGothic psychodrama like no other Canadian. Her first novel in a decade is the spectral tale of a rep-cinema owner from Toronto who finds herself slipping into another person’s consciousness after a thunderstorm— like Being John Malkovich, with a literary twist.

——————— When You Find Out the World Is Against You by kElly OxfOrd April 18, HarperCollins

The Edmontonian mom has parlayed her Twitter superstardom into real-world success: her first book was a New York Times bestseller, and Seth Rogen is producing her new screenplay. Her latest collection of essays—on pop culture, parenting and life in Los Angeles—is equal parts plaintive melancholy and caustic wit.

——————— The Last Neanderthal by ClairE CamErOn April 29, Penguin Random House

Cameron has a knack for harrowing survival sagas. This one flashes between two timelines: 40,000 years in the past, as a teenage Neanderthal girl struggles through wintry barrens; and the present day, when an archaeologist discovers her bones.

——————— Roughneck by JEff lEmirE April 18, Simon and Schuster

When he’s not drawing X-Men comics for Marvel, Lemire creates gritty graphic novels. His latest, Roughneck, is a dose of blue-collar Canadiana about a grizzled ex– hockey player who reconnects with his troubled sister in a remote northern Ontario hunting camp.