5 must-read books arriving in March 2025

Book covers of of Dream Count, Stag Dance and Sunrise On The Reaping

Empathetic, imaginative fiction is the name of the reading game this March

(Image credit: Fourth Estate / Serpent's Tale / Scholastic)

published 5 March 2025

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Spring is on its way, a perfect opportunity to refresh your bookshelves. If you are looking for new books to add to your stack(s), March's must-reads include a double-helping of nostalgic prequels and a return to fiction by the acclaimed author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

After more than a decade, the author of "Americanah" returns to fiction, and her latest "feels like a homecoming," said The Associated Press. "Dream Count" follows the stories of four women navigating life during the pandemic. Living between Washington, D.C., and Nigeria, the four women grapple with their personal lives as they seek stability. The Nigerian author's return to long-form fiction "reminds us of the sharp wisdom and sturdy empathy that have made her one of the most celebrated voices in fiction." Her new book succeeds because "every page is suffused with empathy," and "Adichie's voice is as forthright and clarifying as ever." (March 4, $29, Amazon, $32, Knopf)

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Bestselling author Torrey Peters presents a "provocative collection" of three short stories and a novella that "explore what happens when people are forced to hide their gender and sexual identities," Time said. The four works are highly anticipated follow-ups to Peters' critically acclaimed 2021 debut novel "Detransition, Baby." The titular novella tells the story of a group of lumberjacks who plan a dance, leading some of them to volunteer to dance as women. The "series of explosive scenarios" that Peters presents in these four works "explore the complexities of queerness and trans life," said The New York Times. (March 11, $26, Amazon; $28, Random House)

Speaking of prequels, Gregory Maguire gave us the book that inspired the "Wicked" musical about the college life of the green girl who would become the Wicked Witch of the West. Now, he returns to the land of Oz with another prequel that takes readers back to Elphaba's childhood as "the elder daughter of a fanatical father and a self-involved mother, prone to jealousy but full of hope," said the Times. Tracing Elphie's path from a young child to a student at Shiz University, Maguire "enchants with his whimsical narrative voice and the detailed wonders of the world he's spent so many years playing in," said Publishers Weekly. (March 25, $21, Amazon, $15, William Morrow)

Atlanta journalist Brian Goldstone explores the lives of the "working homeless," a reality all too common in America. The book follows "five local families through stints of couch-surfing, car-living and squalid extended-stay hotels, all while the adults struggle to hold down jobs," said the Times. Their stories are heart-wrenching evidence that no city exists where a "full-time worker earning the local minimum wage can afford a two-bedroom apartment," Goldstone said. (March 25, $30, Amazon, $30, Crown)

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Theara Coleman has worked as a staff writer at The Week since September 2022. She frequently writes about technology, education, literature and general news. She was previously a contributing writer and assistant editor at Honeysuckle Magazine, where she covered racial politics and cannabis industry news.