Big book‑club picks this April
Major book clubs for April include Good Morning America selecting Caro Claire Burke’s debut The Drowners and Read with Jenna picking Woody Brown’s The Unraveling of Julia, a grouping highlighted in Publishers Weekly and Book Riot roundups. (publishersweekly.com) (bookriot.com)
April’s biggest TV-linked book clubs landed on two debut novels: Good Morning America picked Caro Claire Burke’s *Yesteryear*, and Read With Jenna picked Woody Brown’s *Upward Bound*. (publishersweekly.com) Good Morning America announced *Yesteryear* on April 7, the same day Knopf published the 400-page novel. The book follows Natalie Heller Mills, a “tradwife” influencer who wakes up in 1855 and has to survive the life she had romanticized online. (goodmorningamerica.com) Read With Jenna named *Upward Bound* its April selection on April 1, and the novel had been published one day earlier, on March 31. Woody Brown’s debut is set at a Southern California adult day care center and centers people with disabilities who are rarely at the center of mainstream fiction. (today.com) Both April picks came from first-time novelists, but the books are reaching readers through two of the largest mainstream book-club platforms in the United States. Publishers Weekly grouped them with other national club selections in its April roundup, and Book Riot framed the month’s lineup as a mix of “the biggest and most interesting” clubs that readers can follow online. (publishersweekly.com) (bookriot.com) The subjects of the books also point in different directions in the current fiction market. *Yesteryear* uses satire, time travel, and social-media performance to examine the modern “tradwife” aesthetic, while *Upward Bound* arrives in April with Brown described by TODAY as autistic and nonspeaking, bringing a perspective that television book clubs have rarely elevated. (goodmorningamerica.com) (today.com) Other April selections broadened the field even further. Reese’s Book Club chose Emma Brodie’s *Into the Blue*, and Oprah Winfrey announced Maria Semple’s *Go Gentle* on April 14 through CBS Mornings. (global.penguinrandomhouse.com) (cbsnews.com) That leaves April’s book-club map looking unusually concentrated around fresh releases and fresh names. Two debut novels published within days of their announcements are now the month’s most visible communal reads. (penguinrandomhouse.com 1) (penguinrandomhouse.com 2)
