Alex Comfort’s classic illustrated manual and pop-culture icon The Joy of Sex has been changing lives since 1972. And that includes Nina, a Rochester housewife who is given the book at her consciousness-raising group in 1977 – and proceeds to set her comfortable life on fire. Shifting between the viewpoints of Nina and, later, her adult daughter, the passionate affair of the former’s mid-life sexual awakening and its repercussions are the heart of this warm and self-deprecating novel of family life, from the author of The Nest. (March 3)

Prep for Christopher Nolan’s next IMAX extravaganza The Odyssey (in cinemas in July), based on Homer’s Ancient Greek epic, starts with the latest from 2002 Man Booker Prize-winner for Life of Pi. The Canadian author retells the Trojan War by connecting the life of a foot soldier Psoas of Midea (known to all as “son of nobody”) with the modern-day classical scholar in Oxford who discovers a lost account of the war and Psoas’ role in the legendary conflict while researching at the Bodleian Library. (Mar. 31)

Suburban Los Angeles housewives Beverly, Elsie and Margot are expected to be deferential to their husbands, but when they hear of unusual murders in the late 1960s, they band together to investigate. This suspense thriller was the object of a bidding war at the last London Book Fair – and just a few pages in, the reason becomes clear. The propulsive, thought-provoking mystery conjures the sinister, paranoid L.A. atmosphere of a serial killer era (that culminated in the Manson Family murders) while capturing an iconic period of social change: the counterculture clashes of the Sunset Strip curfew riots, Vietnam War protests and the Civil Rights movement, complete with links to old Hollywood. (March 3)

Fans have been waiting nearly 14 years for a follow-up to the juggernaut The Light Between Oceans phenomenon. And now author Stedman has delivered another epic family drama, this time set in Western Australia, where the MacBrides have run a sheep ranch for centuries. In the late 1950s, tragedy strikes and changes the contours of the family, greatly impacting subsequent generations. Spanning the 1960s mining boom through the 2000s and contending with the revelation of a dark secret, Stedman delivers a dramatic sense of place by setting the engrossing tale in the Outback’s majestic barren landscape. (March 3)

Anticipation is high for this time-bending tale from the author of critically acclaimed novels Golden Hill and Cahokia Jazz. Starting the story in 1939 just before The Blitz, Spufford has crafted an imaginative historical fantasy with timely moral themes about a typist and her lover in wartime London battling time-traveling fascists. It’s being likened to Philip Pullman’s masterpiece His Dark Materials and bestselling horror/fantasy author Joe Hill describes it as “a book that scoops up all the wonder and hope and pleasure of the Narnia novels, and pours it into a story for grown-ups.” (March 10)

The striking yellow cover is a design treatment that could be mistaken for the latest from romance superstar Emily Henry. That fits, since we’ll probably be calling this novelist “the other Emily” soon enough. A former Harlequin editor, the Canadian author makes her rom-com debut with a sunny enemies-to-lovers trope, where the pairing is a vivacious podcast host turned self-help author on a promotional cross-country tour with a reluctant, stuffy publicist who prefers “high-brow” literature. Coming from an insider who has shaped other people’s romances, it sizzles while also being a bibliophile’s delight. (March 3)

If a season of The White Lotus took place on a cruise ship in the days just after 9/11, it would look like this story — a mix of entitlement, self-doubt and bottomless buffet brunch. The passengers of the Sonata voyaging to Bermuda include Doug, the former star of a classic TV show set and filmed on the ship; Lucy, the only Black graduate student in her computer department; and “not cruise people” Tom and Franny, who have organized a family trip to celebrate Franny’s mother’s 70th or chilsun, a rite of passage in their Korean culture. All still in shock, they reflect on their lives and the seismic world event, while figuring out how to carry on life as usual – and whether that’s even possible. (March 10)

If you wrote Eat Pray Love without the exotic travel – or, um, love – the result would be this slice of life novel about a woman who retreats to her hometown after abandoning a sedentary marriage. As Clemence starts from scratch, renting an apartment in west-end Toronto and living alone for the first time, this witty and whimsical story embroils her in church-basement politics, neighbourhood gossip and the fabric of her community through a local secondhand bookstore. (March 17)

Present-day conversations regarding Canada’s past are threaded throughout this literary novel about a Métis woman who lightens her hair and passes as white in her small Prairie town, circa 1946. Bound to connect with readers of The Vanishing Half, The Berry Pickers and fans of Michelle Good, the Saskatchewan writer draws on her own family history — a descendant of the Red River Métis, Gereaux’s grandfather chose to hide his Métis identity. (March 3)

An aging married couple – whose default mode is sparring – retire early to their custom-built Maui estate after the husband is ousted from his TV network job. Barely have they begun to enjoy leisurely days before learning they are now the guardians of a childhood friend’s four minor grandchildren – who are back in his home country of Canada. Cue the introspection around second chances, both universal and personal (they’ve already been unsatisfactory parents to one adult daughter). The backstory is as wonderful as the book itself: this is the fiction debut of veteran North Vancouver ghostwriter and TV writer Finn, 71, who is married to retired X-Files and The Flash television producer JP Finn. (March 10)