5 books not to miss: Louise Erdrich’s ‘The Night Watchman,’ ‘Separation Anxiety’

In search of something good to read? USA TODAY's Barbara VanDenburgh scopes out the shelves for this week’s hottest new book releases.

1. “The Night Watchman,” by Louise Erdrich (Harper, fiction, on sale March 3)

What it’s about: National Book Award-winning author Erdrich based her new book on the life of her grandfather, who worked as a factory night watchman and took his fight against Native dispossession from rural North Dakota all the way to Congress.

The buzz: “In powerfully spare and elegant prose, Erdrich depicts deeply relatable characters who may be poor but are richly connected to family, community and the earth,” says a ★★★½ (out of four) review for USA TODAY.

2. “We Ride Upon Sticks,” by Quan Barry (Pantheon, fiction, on sale March 3)

What it’s about: Field hockey and … witchcraft? That’s the irresistible pairing behind Barry’s new novel, in which a girl’s high school field hockey team in the 1980s taps into dark powers to make it to the state finals.

The buzz: “Readers with fond, or even not so fond, memories of the 1980s are bound to be entertained,” says Publishers Weekly.

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3. “Separation Anxiety,” by Laura Zigman (Ecco, fiction, on sale March 3)

What it’s about: Judy is in mid-life limbo: Her career as a children’s book author crashed and burned, her son has hit his obnoxious teens and she can’t afford to divorce her pot-addled husband. Oh, and she’s taken to carrying the dog around with her in a baby sling, just to feel connected to something.

The buzz: “The author gamely combines characters and caricatures, real pain and farce,” says a review for Kirkus Reviews.

4. “House of Earth and Blood,” by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury, fiction, on sale March 3)

What it’s about: The best-selling YA author of the “Throne of Glass” series makes her adult fiction debut with the launch of new fantasy series. Half-human, half-Fae Bryce Quinlan was a carefree party girl until a demon murdered her best friend. Desperate to solve the murder, she teams up with an enslaved fallen angel tasked with finding the killer in exchange for his freedom.

The buzz: “Maas’s adult readers and fans of Charlaine Harris will devour this ambitious, emotionally charged contemporary fantasy,” says Publishers Weekly.

5. “Rust: A Memoir of Steel and Grit,” by Eliese Colette Goldbach (Flatiron, nonfiction, on sale March 3)

What it’s about: Known simply as “#6691: Utility Worker” at the Ohio steel mill in which she labored, Goldbach writes a gritty memoir of life in the Rust Belt she’d so desperately wanted to escape, and the hardworking people she’d come to love.

The buzz: “An affecting, unblinking portrait of working-class life,” says Kirkus Reviews.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 5 hot new books: 'The Night Watchman,' 'Separation Anxiety'