Explore the Lives of Incredible Women in April’s New Historical Fiction

release date: April 14, 2026

At an excavation site in Egypt in the early 20th century, a prominent papyri scholar and one of the few women present at the excavation site learns that her predecessor has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. One hundred years later, archivist Maddie Sloan jumps at the chance to collaborate with a famous television archaeologist investigating the origins of certain artifacts believed to be from the ancient city of Kariopolis. Maddie herself has a connection to the site through her grandmother, who worked there. But when an investigation reveals that two papairologists have disappeared without explanation at the excavation site, questions about the past and a murder that may have been hidden for more than a century come to light.

release date: April 14, 2026

This work is inspired by a real-life nun who was executed for prophesying against the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. elizabeth burton’s lost books Imagine an amazing discovery. It was the manuscript containing the nun’s infamous prophecies, all of which were thought to have been destroyed. But the discovery could also lead to danger for the historians who excavated it, as past and present results collide in the English manor house, right next to the crumbling monastery where Elizabeth once lived.

release date: April 21, 2026

In this novel based on the life of poet Akiko Yosano, Jean Gordon Kocienda paints a portrait of a woman determined to live her life, no matter the cost. Akiko is known to all elementary school students in Japan for her translation of “. The Tale of GenjiAlthough this work is widely considered to be her first novel, she was a pioneering poet who fled her parents and the restrictive patriarchal society of 20th century Japan to relentlessly pursue her art. However, her single-minded obsession with art results in a daughter with a scar that eerily reflects her own childhood.

release date: April 28, 2026

Orphaned at the age of eight, Edmonia Lewis shows extraordinary talent, which her half-brother Samuel hopes will be nurtured. Placed in the care of a trusted benefactor, Edmonia thrives at an abolitionist prep school and earns admission to Oberlin College. But there, shocking accusations threaten to derail her entire life, resulting in a trial and a violent attack from a white mob. It is only when she heads to an enclave for foreign female artists in Rome that she begins to feel that her art is blossoming again, despite criticism, outright racism, and her own withering self-doubt.