There are times when you just want to escape. Although you can’t escape anywhere during these Covid times with quarantine, however, you can do it without quite leaving your space — whilst sitting on the chair with a good book. While we are confined to our homes, books keep us going and allow us to discover new worlds without going anywhere.

Here are the new books you need to get your hands on for a perfect escape. Happy Reading

Admissions: A Memoir of Surviving Boarding School
by Kendra James

Before she became an admissions officer working with some of the country’s most prestigious prep schools, Kendra James was a student at one of them—indeed, she was the first Black legacy student at the Taft School when she attended. James’s memoir is a thoughtful story about coming-of-age and finding your place in the world; she’s a funny, observant writer with a powerful, unforgettable story to tell.

Olga Dies Dreaming
By Xochitl Gonzalez

Olga Acevedo plans high-end weddings — for everyone but herself. She is happy to have moved on from down-at-heels Sunset Park, Brooklyn, where she grew up, to a Fort Greene high-rise. Meanwhile, brother Prieto is a congressman whose good works are compromised by compromising photos. And both siblings must cope with their estranged mother, a Puerto Rican activist in the eye of Hurricane Maria. The sharpest and best written social comedy in a while.

Brown Girls
By Daphne Palasi Andreades

This debut novel is a love letter to a group of friends and immigrant families from Queens. Andreades writes about the soundscape of growing up in New York City: “If you really want to know, we are the color of 7-Eleven root beer,” she writes. “Dark as 7 pm dusk, when our mothers switch on lights in empty rooms. Exclaim, Oh! There you are.” Of course, they’re teens, so they also belt Mariah Carey and roam the streets while pining over crushes.

Fiona and Jane
By Jean Chen Ho

Jean Chen Ho’s debut collection of short stories connect together to tell the tales of two childhood best friends who grow up together in Los Angeles and how they fit into (or stick out of) each others’ lives in the years to come.

The Good Son
By Jacquelyn Mitchard

Three years ago, Stefan was sentenced for the drug-fuelled murder of his love interest Belinda. When Stefan is released from prison, his mother Thea struggles to support him as he tries to make amends to a community that wants nothing to do with him. As threats escalate, Thea wonders how well she truly knows her son and questions what actually happened the night Belinda died.