April 2026 Books

What’s new and good to read? Dan Coombes has a look at what’s on offer from publishers in April and chooses The Lost Soldiers by Anrdey Kurkov, The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke and Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh.

The Lost Soldiers by Andrey Kurkov

I was quite proud of myself this morning when I woke up early enough to make toast, rustle up a lunch for work and take the rubbish out.

Andrey Kurkov on the other hand has written four novels and regular reports on life during conflict, all while living in war-torn Ukraine – which did kind of put slapping some butter and marmite on a piece of cooked bread into perspective.

The Lost Soldiers is the third book in the Kyiv Mysteries – Russian Revolution-era crime tales set in Ukraine and featuring a detective who got his ear chopped off by a Russian soldier but can still hear through it.

He uses this strange talent to listen in remotely on all kinds of shenanigans, pretty much always ending with him being dragged into increasingly strange criminal conspiracies he really didn’t count on.

Thankfully, unimaginable real-life circumstances have done nothing to diminish Andrey Kurkov’s brilliant and surreal writing, sharp satire and maybe most importantly his dry sense of humour, all of which permeate pretty much everything he writes.

Fresh from a case that has shattered his belief in the regime he works for, Samson Kolechko is confronted with a mystery that borders on the impossible.

A troop of Red Army soldiers has disappeared without a trace while visiting the Halytska bathhouse, their abandoned boots and uniforms the only proof that they ever existed.

Faced with such a fantastical conundrum, Samson must resort to a fantastical investigation method: stitching his operative severed ear into a bathhouse worker’s jacket, he is able to eavesdrop on his every move.

But he discovers far more than he bargained for, and matters are further complicated by the human remains found in the stoves and the presence of a sinister religious cult in the city.

With his quick-witted new wife Nadezhda at his side, Samson must not only solve the case but navigate the political turmoil that still grips Kyiv as civil war looms and trust between neighbours and comrades is eroded day by day.

The Lost Soliders, Author Andrey Kurkov

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke

I have a bit of a soft spot for books about books. I also quite like the Knives Out films. If by any chance you like books about books, and oh I don’t know, maybe have enjoyed any or all of the Knives Out films, there’s a pretty decent chance you’ll thoroughly enjoy this book, which is a book about books, has a similar vibe to the Knives Out films.

Secretly (unless you have something called ‘Google’) written by a critically acclaimed fantasy author with a handy knack for clever plotting, if anything about the setup appeals to you, it’s a pretty much guaranteed good time.

Six authors. One private island. Seventy-two hours to write the ending.World-famous author Arthur Fletch is dead.

His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself.

When six struggling authors are invited to Fletch’s private Scottish island and presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, the plot thickens: whoever writes a worthy ending will receive a game-changing book deal and two million dollars.

Why have they been chosen to attend? Who is behind the invitation? And just how far would they go to secure a place on the bestseller list? They have just seventy-two hours, a typewriter and a blank page.

All they have to do is write… Starting is often the hardest part, but getting to the end could be murder.

The Ending Writes Itself, Cat Clarke and Victoria Schwaba aka Evelyn Clarke

Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh

Amitav Ghosh certainly doesn’t let silly things like genre expectations restrict him. Oh no. For context he’s won the Arthur C Clarke Award for science fiction and has been shortlisted for the Booker prize, and likes to blend science, mysticism and general strangeness into ambitious, detailed and beautifully written historical novels.

Ghost-Eye is magical realism at its finest, looking at past lives, reincarnation and ecology along with, y’know, smaller details like the nature of humanity and our entire social and political existence.

Varsha Gupta wants fish for her lunch. Her family can’t understand it; the three-year-old has never tasted fish in her life. But Varsha claims she can remember another life, a mud house by a river where she caught and cooked fish with a different mother.

Perplexed, the Guptas turn to Dr. Shoma Bose, a psychiatrist who has been investigating what are known as ‘cases of the reincarnation type’ for years. But her understanding of the world is changed forever by Varsha’s revelations.

Half a century later, Varsha’s case file catches the attention of environmental activists, and Shoma’s nephew Dinu is drawn inexorably into their plans.

As Dinu finds himself caught up in the search for Varsha, buried memories of his own past begin to surface.

Travelling between late-sixties Calcutta and present-day Brooklyn, Ghost-Eye is an urgent and expansive novel about family, fate and our fragile planet.

Ghost-Eye, Author Amitav Ghosh