There’s nothing quite like an unreliable narrator; when done well, the literary tool can catch a reader off guard, can shock them–it can even implicate them in the book’s conflict. I’m partial to female unreliable narrators; women so rarely are given the space in fiction or in real life to be broken, to be unkind, or to simply be free and so it’s a delight to see the world through the eyes of someone unafraid to be all of the above.

May’s new fiction runs the gamut from classic unreliable narrators to women on the brink; this month’s books explore grief, sex, fertility, and family all with unforgiving and unblinking clarity. Whether it’s a literary tale about a woman forging a relationship with her horse that proposes an expansive definition of motherhood, or a locked room thriller about a bookseller who lets her self fall in love only to find herself faced with the challenge of who to trust–May’s title’s deliver something for any woman looking to see her challenges reflected back to her. Some might refer to these kinds of characters, the ones we can’t always trust or who we watch make bad choices as “difficult,” or unlikeable–but who says there’s anything wrong with that? Lucy Foley, a master of the unreliable narrator and the hard-to-love female protagonist put it best, writing for Vogue, “This isn’t to bash “niceness,” per se—but it is to say don’t be nice at the expense of your sense of self-worth. Difficult women never do that—and that’s why I love them. It’s why I aspire to be one. Because being difficult is also, crucially, about loving yourself.”

‘Mare’ By Emily Haworth-Booth: This tender novel about a woman and the horse she takes care of after learning she cannot get pregnant is a timely and felt exploration of motherhood in all its iterations.

‘Immersions’ By Kyle McCarthy: Set in the lush and cutthroat world of ballet in New York City, McCarthy’s exploration of familial bonds, intimacy and the erotic, and obsession is taut and delicate all at once.

‘Artifacts’ By Natalie Lemle: With vivid prose, Lemle’s debut immerses readers in the unctuous world of archeology and artifact as her protagonist, a trusts and estates attorney, is drawn into a lurid looted art case in Italy. The case draws her back to her college self, and confronts her with bigger questions about history and how we claim it.

‘Nerve Damage’ By Annakeara Stinson: Clarice thinks her stalker boyfriend is back; the restraining order she won against him three years ago is up and she sees him everywhere. Or does she? Kaveh Akbar, New York Times bestselling author of Martyr! lauded Stinson’s debut saying “It’s impossible for a book so chilling, so uncanny, so urgent to also be this funny.

‘Accumulation’ By Aimee Pokwatka: A searing indictment of the lure of domesticity, Pokwatka’s latest tells the story of a filmmaker turned homemaker who moves into her dream home with her family, only to find it haunted.

‘Salomé’ By Leslie Baird: Salomé is an enigma; Courtney is enraptured by her–and so the opportunity to visit Salomé’s mother’s home in northwestern France is irresistible. What ensues is a femme fatale story like you’ve never heard–with a woman’s touch at the helm.

‘Attention Seeking Behavior’ By Aea Varfis-van Warmelo: For lovers of unreliable narrators, this slim novel winds its reader into the narrator’s like a deft and lethal spider. But can you believe her?

‘Absence’ By Andrew Dana Hudson: In this gripping speculative novel, people are “popping”–disappearing as if into mid-air: Absent. When a woman appears, claiming to have returned from the other side of absence, it rattles the sense of order and sets off a reckoning.

‘Mercy Hill’ By Hannah Thurman: In this debut, four sisters grow up in the shadow of their foreboding mother on the rambling campus of a crumbling mental health hospital. When an incident in a secure ward puts the whole hospital under a microscope, their mother’s reaction sets the four on disparate paths.

‘Gulf of Lions’ By Caitlin Shetterly: Lauded by Elin Hilderbrand as “deliciously irresistible,” Gulf Of Lions tells the story of Alice–recovering from breast cancer and trying to heal a broken marriage, she’s presented the opportunity to go on a camping trip across France. With her daughter in tow she embarks on a journey not only of a foreign country but of sex, freedom, and survival.

‘Until Death’ By Mary Berman: Getting married isn’t supposed to be a nightmare... right? With her mother’s worsening condition, Ophelia Cohen decides to settle and settle down. Hailed as “Say Yes to the Dress meets Rosemary’s Baby” by Margie Sarsfield this debut will make think twice about vowing ‘til death.

‘Good News’ By Alexa Yasemin Brahme: Navigating her station in her immigrant family, Maggie is balancing a treacherous MFA thesis, a reemergent ex-boyfriend, and a brother who just so happens to be in a relationship with her art-world rival. Brahme’s debut beautifully explores the labyrinthine pressures of one’s late twenties.

‘Library After Dark’ By Ande Pliego: A locked room mystery perfect for book lovers, this novel follows a bookseller who accepts her crush’s invitation to an after-dark tour of a haunted library. With a murderer in their midst, she must decide who she can trust if she plans to leave alive.