The CBC Books spring reading list: 12 books you should read this season

Spring 2018 is officially here! Check out these 12must-read books and celebrate the official end of winter.

Heart Berriesby TereseMarie Mailhot

What it's about:Heart Berriesis amemoir about a Terese Marie Mailhot's coming of age onSeabird Islandin British Columbia, growingup with an activist mother and an abusive and alcoholic fatherand coming to terms with her own mental illness.

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The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermoreby Kim Fu

What it's about:InThe Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore, Kim Fu offers up this emotional look at a group of young girls who find themselves stranded at a remote camp.

Lands of Lost Borders by Kate Harris

What it's about:InLands of Lost Borders,Kate Harris recounts her 10,000-kilometre cycling trip along the Silk Road, crossing into 10 countries including Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Tibet andexploringthe political, cultural and environmental history of the places and people she encounters.

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The Storm by Arif Anwar

What it's about:The Stormweaves together five interconnected stories and explores love and emotion across 50years of Bangladeshi history.

Freshwaterby Akwaeke Emezi

What it's about: AkwaekeEmezi's debut novelis a story about a young Nigerian woman named Ada who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born "with one foot on the other side."

Liminal by Jordan Tannahill

What it's about:What thoughts cross one's mind when faced with not knowing ifa loved one is alive or dead?JordanTannahill'sLiminalfunctions as alove letter to a mother, and a meditation on love, livingand dying.

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Things Are Good Nowby Djamila Ibrahim

What it's about:This debut collection of short stories looks at the migrant experience from various angles. Set in East Africa, the Middle East, Canadaand the U.S.,Things Are Good Now examinesthemes of displacement, hardship and disillusionment.

• How short story writer Djamila Ibrahim's family and friends inspire her fiction

Hysteria by Elisabeth de Mariaffi

What it's about:Elisabethde Mariaffi'sHysteriais a psychological thriller about a woman namedHeike, hermissing son and her increasingly distanthusband.

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Find You in the Dark by Nathan Ripley

What it's about:This thriller by Naben Ruthnum, under his pen name of Nathan Ripley, delivers this tale of afamily man obsessed with digging up the undiscovered remains of a serial killer's victims, catchingthe attention of a murderer in the streets of Seattle.

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Dear Current Occupant by Chelene Knight

What it's about:Through a series of letters,Chelene Knight recalls growing up as the only mixed East Indian/Black child in her family during the 1980s and 1990s in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Her family lived in 20 different residences and Knight revisits each one, trying to deconstruct and understand her past.

• Why Chelene Knight wrote letters to the current occupants of the houses she lived in growing up

Wrestling with the Devil by Ngg wa Thiong'o

What it's about:This prison memoir detailsNgg wa Thiong'o's experience as a political prisoner in Kenya and developing a novel while under constant surveillance.

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An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

What it's about:Newlyweds Celestial and Roy representthe American Dream of happiness and material success. Things, however, take a turn for the worse when Roy is arrested andCelestialturns to her husband's best friend for comfort.

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