In this sweeping and brilliant history, Paula Akpan takes us into the worlds of queens and warriors who ruled vast swathes of the African continent, yet beyond the lands they called home, so few of us have ever heard their names.

When We Ruled follows their stories and how they came to rule and influence the futures of their people. It’s a beautiful and historical recollection of stories that span pre-colonial Nigeria and the farming villages of Rwanda to the hills of Madagascar and apartheid South Africa. (out 8 May)

Shahed Ezaydi, writer

Shop When We Ruled by Paula Akpan (Orion) from Bookshop.org, £20.90

You wait ages for The One then 203 come along at once.

In this book, Lauren finds a strange man in her flat who claims to be her husband. All the evidence – from photos to electricity bills – suggests he’s right. And then another one appears. Lauren’s attic, she slowly realises, is creating an endless supply of husbands for her. But when you can change husbands as easily as changing a lightbulb, how do you know whether the one you have now is the good-enough one, the wrong one or the best one? And how long should you keep trying to find out?

Amy Beecham, senior writer

Shop The Husbands by Holly Gramazio (Vintage) from Bookshop.org, £9.49

Fundamentally centres on Nadia (heartbroken, working for the UN in Iraq) and Sara (a 15-year-old girl from east London who joined Isis), who bond over their shared lives and humour.

Nadia is struck by how similar they are: both feisty and opinionated, from a Muslim background, with a shared love of chocolate and rude pick-up lines. A powerful friendship forms between the two women, until a secret from Sara threatens everything Nadia has been working for.

Helen Bownass, entertainment director

Shop Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis (Orion) from Bookshop.org, £16.14

It’s been 15 years since the second world war, and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Alone in her late mother’s country home, Isabel lives her life by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel’s doorstep as a guest to stay for the season.

In the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel’s paranoia gives way to desire, leading to a discovery that unravels all she has ever known. The war might not be well and truly over after all, and neither Eva nor the house are what they seem.

Charlotte Bitmead, senior beauty writer

Shop The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin) from Bookshop.org, £16.14

Easter Sunday, 1938. Ivy is 19 and ready for her life to finally begin. In the Sussex countryside, her sprawling, bohemian family and their friends gather for lunch, awaiting the arrival of a longed-for guest. It is a single afternoon that ends in tragedy.

Days later, at a funeral, Ivy is kissed by the man she will marry, and grieves with the woman who will become the love of her life. And this is only the beginning. Days Of Light moves through the second world war and the 20th century on a radiant journey through a life lived in pursuit of love and in search of an answer. (out 17 April)

Lauren Geall, Strong Women senior writer

Shop Days Of Light by Megan Hunter (Pan Macmillan) from Bookshop.org, £18.04

Marnie is stuck. Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that increasingly feels like it’s passing her by. Michael is coming undone. Reeling from his wife’s departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells.

When a mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship. But can it survive the journey?

Abbi Henderson, acting social media lead

Shop You Are Here by David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton) from Bookshop.org, £19