Browns Best New Books for March 2025
28th February 2025
Every month we carefully select our favourites from the fabulous new titles on offer. March feels like a special month, not least because it contains one of our favourite days of the year here at Browns – World Book Day which this year falls on Thursday March 6th. World Book Day is a chance to celebrate the magic and wonder of books and reading and helps to get books into the hands of readers through the special World Book Day books and vouchers. March also contains International Women’s Day on March 8th, World Poetry Day on March 21st and Neurodiversity Celebration Week from 17th – 23rd March so there is lots to enjoy over the coming weeks. Of course, March has some great new books to inspire and excite readers and here are a few of our favourites published this month.
Check back next month for our picks of the new books April has to offer.
Adult Non-Fiction
Story of a Murder
Rubenhold, Hallie
Hardback
On February 1st 1910, music hall performer Belle Elmore vanished from her home in North London, much to the concern of her friends and fellow entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies Guild. As questions continued to be asked, Belle’s husband, - medical fraudster Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen- first claimed that Belle was in America and then that she was ill and had passed away. When Scotland Yard were called in a gruesome discovery was made and a manhunt for Crippen and his typist and lover Ethel Le Neve began…
Social historian Hallie Rubenhold’s book The Five, which examined the lives of and overturned myths about the five victims of Jack the Ripper, was a critically acclaimed bestseller and winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. The Crippen murder was one of the most infamous investigations of twentieth century Britain and in this new book Hallie Rubenhold looks at this notorious case and gives voice to the often over-looked and misunderstood women at the centre of it. With detailed research, a fantastic cast of interesting and eccentric characters and a fascinating look at the darker side of Edwardian life, this is an entertaining and informative new look at a true crime case many may think they already know. This is the story of a murder, rather a murderer - a gripping mix of storytelling, research, sleuthing and sympathetic writing.
More DetailsAdult Fiction
Dream Count
Ngozi Adichie, Chimamanda
Hardback
Four women, four connected lives, four sets of triumphs and struggles. Nigerian travel writer Chiamaka is living in America, alone during the pandemic she thinks of her past, her choices and her regrets. Chiamaka’s cousin, confident and fiery Omelogor is successfully navigating the corporate world but is beginning to question herself. Zikora is Chiamaka’s best friend and a lawyer whose polished professional exterior hides a story of betrayal and resilience. And Kadiatou is Chiamaka’s housekeeper, a woman who faces hardship and systemic inequality as she raises her daughter in America.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the bestselling and award-winning author of, among others, Purple Hibiscus, Half of a Yellow Sun and We Should All Be Feminists. This new novel is one that the many fans of her beautiful writing have been waiting for. Following four Nigerian women, this wonderful novel looks at the complexity of women’s exterior and interior lives, friendships and relationships and is a moving look at integration. As always with Adichie’s writing, the themes are approached with a light touch and the reader feels a genuine connection with the beautifully drawn characters. A book that will stay with you for a long time and will delight Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s fans and new readers alike.
Children’s Non-Fiction
Keep Smashing It: Be Strong, Be Brave, Be Confident
Ounsley, Jodie
Paperback / softback
Many of us have been enjoying the return of Gladiators on Saturday nights with all the drama, excitement, showmanship and shiny Lycra! The determination and dedication of contestants and Gladiators is both entertaining and inspiring (and lots of fun to watch!). One of the favourite new Gladiators is Jodie Ounsley AKA Fury. Jodie is not only a Gladiator but a former England rugby player as well as working to inform and educate on what it is like to live as a profoundly deaf person.
In her first book, written with sports journalist Becky Grey, Jodie shares stories from her life, offers guidance and shares tips to help readers believe in themselves. Full of inspiring stories and helpful advice this book will help children learn that our differences can be the source of our power, how to stand up for what you believe in, break down barriers that stand in our way and how to recover from disappointments and failures to pick ourselves up and try again. A great book to help motivate children to be the best they can be and an inspirational addition to KS2 classrooms and libraries.
More DetailsChildren’s Fiction
Hidden Treasure
Burton, Jessie
Hardback
The river Thames is a living entity, it can take your treasures, it can hide them and sometimes it can give them back… Billy and Bo are two children who have never met but they are both poor and have both found half of a priceless treasure given up by the river. A treasure which has the power, when the pieces are reunited, to give back to one of them the most precious thing they have lost. But why has the river gifted them this particular treasure now? And should the pieces be reunited? Billy and Bo must work together to solve an ancient river mystery.
Jessie Burton is probably best known as the author of the hugely popular The Miniaturist and her Carnegie Medal for Writing shortlisted retelling Medusa. This fantastic new book, perfect for readers of 9 and above is a fabulous mixture of adventure, history, magic and friendship. Set during WWI but with a distinctly Gothic feel, this charming story has something for everyone - a magical mystery, a brilliantly plotted adventure, strong characters and a sensitively portrayed historical setting. Whilst the fantasy elements of the story are wonderful what really makes this book stand out are fantastic characters and the relationship between the protagonists. Perfect for fans of Katherine Rundell and Emma Carroll this is a real treasure of a book that will enchant and enthral readers.
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