Grab a cup of tea and let us guide you to the best books due out this spring.

I OWE YOU ONE
SOPHIE KINSELLA
Bantam Press, £14.99

Chicklit often gets a bad press but ignore the literary snobs and settle down for a little pure joy courtesy of Sophie Kinsella. Fixie Farr got her name because of her obsession with putting things right. When she saves a stranger’s computer from certain disaster he offers her an IOU. Soon the pair are caught in a cycle of swapping small favours to life-changing debts and Fixie is torn between the past she’s used to and the future she deserves.

MENTORS: HOW TO HELP AND BE HELPED
RUSSELL BRAND
Bluebird, £12.99

What qualifies Russell Brand to release a
self-help book? Well, he’s had enough therapy over the years to know what works and what doesn’t. The follow-up to his bestseller Recovery, here he reveals the impact that a series of significant people have had on him – from the wayward youths he tried to emulate growing up in Essex, through the first ex-junkie sage, to the people he turns to today to help him be a better father.

THE STRAWBERRY THIEF
JOANNE HARRIS
Orion, £20. Out April 4th

Can it really be six years since Joanne Harris’ last Chocolat series book? Yep. Thankfully she is returning to the sleepy village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes. Once an outcast Viannne Rocher, who runs a chocolate shop on the square, is part of the community, but when a mysterious new shop opens where the florists once stood the status quo doesn’t last long.

MACHINES LIKE ME
IAN MCEWAN
Jonathan Cape, £18.99. Out April 18th

Lord knows what state British politics will be in when McEwan’s new book is out, but in his alternative 1980s Britain has lost the Falklands war, Margaret Thatcher battles Tony Benn for power and Alan Turing achieves a breakthrough in artificial intelligence by creating the first batch of synthetic humans who might just be able to love more deeply than we can.

THE CHESTNUT MAN
SOREN SVEISTRUP
Michael Joseph, £12.99

Given he created the television phenomenon The Killing, it should probably come as no surprise that this is an accomplished thriller from the Nordic noir specialist.

Ambitious young detective Naia Thulin and burned-out investigator Mark Hess are sent on the trail of a bizarre murderer who may also be behind the disappearance of the daughter of Copenhagen politician Rosa Hartung.

bish bash bosh!
HENRY FIRTH & IAN THEASBY
HQ, £20. April 4th 

Having re-written the rule-book for meat-free cooking, Sheffield’s own BOSH! boys are back with 140 fresh and innovative new recipes that are sure to tempt even the most hardened carnivore to eat their greens. Featuring 140 new recipes, this is a cookbook that’s as invaluable for those just looking to inject some new flavours into their repertoire as it is to anyone looking to make the switch to a plant-based diet.