New Book Releases: March 23, 2021

Each week, I’ll catalog the biggest and most exciting adult and YA fiction — and the occasional nonfiction — coming out that Tuesday.

THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS AN EASY JOB, Kikuko Tsumura, Polly Barton (translator). After quitting a job she loves due to burnout, a woman requests her recruiter to find her the easiest job she can. “Taking her place among a growing number of exceptional female writers in Japan, Tsumura deftly handles work habits and relationships, stereotypes and expectations for success, all of which are set against a repetitious, unending search for what is valuable and valued,” writes the Japan Times. Aggregated critical reviews, Bookshop.

A QUESTION MARK IS HALF A HEART, Sofia Lundberg, Nichola Smalley (translator). When a fashion photographer receives an envelope with a star chart inside, she begins to see flashbacks to a poverty-stricken childhood very different from the past she recounts to her husband and daughter. “Readers will soak up the suspense as they search for the truth alongside Elin up until the end,” writes Publisher’s Weekly. Bookshop.