“Paris-Underground,” a powerful memoir published by American widow Etta Shiber in 1943, recounted her daring rescue missions alongside her roommate Kate Bonnefous, a gregarious British divorcée. The women smuggled Allied soldiers trapped behind enemy lines to safety until the two were arrested by the Nazis in 1940. Shiber, liberated in a prisoner exchange after 18 months, hoped to spotlight her friend’s bravery, but the book’s popularity further endangered Bonnefous, who had been sentenced to death and whose whereabouts in the Nazi prison camps were at the time unknown. Goodman’s gripping account chronicles the events — both courageous and horrifying — and illustrates how loyalty and betrayal can coincide in wartime and its aftermath. (Ballantine, Feb. 4)

Newly hired governess Winifred Notty isn’t terribly impressed with her new employers and their causal cruelty, or with her indolent young charges: Andrew, the tantrum-wielding future lord of the manor, and adolescent Drusilla, more concerned with her future husband’s income than classroom nonsense. The family’s woes are of little concern to the menacing Miss Notty, however, as she is making deadly plans for everyone who crosses her. Feito’s gruesome descriptions are cinematically horrifying — decorative stag skulls are “the same shade as Mother’s teeth, stained yellow from the pipe” — and a movie adaptation starring Margaret Qualley is set to start filming in March. (Liveright, Feb. 4)

Raised in an impoverished Philadelphia neighborhood, Rosser had to navigate the minefields of drug abuse and violence in his home and community. Joining the Work to Ride program allowed him to find sanctuary in the barn — caring for horses, learning to play polo and eventually meeting Lee Lee Jones, a competitive equestrian from an affluent suburb. Their wildly different upbringings didn’t hamper their mutual infatuation, which grew into something deeper; but their plans for a shared future were derailed by an accident that nearly cost Lee Lee her life. With unwavering dedication to the relationship they once had, Rosser is left to confront his trauma and find peace with a new reality. (Simon Element, Feb. 4)

Hobbs respectfully illustrates the desperation of America’s housing crisis through the lens of one woman trying to do her best for her family. Evelyn, a 29-year-old mother of five, has almost $4,000 saved and hopes to secure a home in a better school district. But years-long waiting lists for assistance combined with poverty and domestic violence render her well-intentioned dream nearly impossible, especially when aid comes with the risk that her kids could be separated or required to attend the kind of schools she was trying to keep them away from. Though she struggles to support her children on her full-time waitress’s salary, she makes sure everyone arrives for class on time every day, even when it’s uncertain where they will sleep that night. Running parallel to Evelyn’s story is that of Wendi, a social worker who was once in similarly dire straits but made it to the other side and has since dedicated her life to helping others. (Scribner, Feb. 4)

The host of the “Keep It” podcast revisits the key cultural touchstones of his youth as a gay, Black, wannabe thespian at an all-White, all-boys Jesuit high school in Milwaukee. Dotted with references from the ’90s and 2000s — “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (both the TV show and the attendant fan fiction), Jennifer Hudson’s outrageous loss on “American Idol” and the Disney VHS clamshell canon — Madison also writes movingly about being overweight in a thin-obsessed society and coming to terms with his burgeoning sexual identity. True to the book’s title, Madison’s humorous and perceptive essays will light a spark of recognition for those who came of age glued to their televisions at the turn of the century. (Random House, Feb. 4)

Before World War II, the real-life Lévitan was an exclusive furniture store catering to French elites, but during the Nazi occupation of Paris, it became something more sinister: a satellite concentration camp where prisoners were forced to sort and display items looted from Jewish apartments to be sold to German officers. Helaine, a fictitious occupant of Lévitan, is separated from her husband, a cellist with the Parisian symphony, and struggling to keep her hope for a reunion alive. Years later, Louise, a former wartime volunteer delivering packages for the Red Cross, encounters a secondhand necklace whose origins connect back to Lévitan and to her closest friend, Franny, who was killed when she may have been trying to return the necklace to its owner. Jenoff weaves the two women’s storylines together to create an intriguing mystery. (Park Row, Feb. 4)

Asma, an ER resident, is facing pressure from her family to get married, especially after her father loses his wealth in a Ponzi scheme. In college, she turned down her boyfriend Farooq’s proposal after her family rejected him, but now he’s sold his Silicon Valley start-up and is one of California’s most eligible bachelors. When a chance encounter brings him back into Asma’s orbit, she must separate her family’s now-reconsidered demands from her own feelings and decide what she really wants. Maznavi’s Pakistani-American Muslim-centered romance pleasingly updates Jane Austen’s “Persuasion” for the 21st century. (Dutton, Feb. 18)

Ciara has developed a sixth sense for the mercurial temper of her Irish husband, Ryan. He has never actually struck her or their two young daughters, but his threatening persona keeps her on tenterhooks while her family in England urges her to leave him. After stashing away some cash, she finally finds the strength to gather the girls into the car and drive away, beginning a journey that takes her through the broken housing system to a hotel for women with nowhere to go. Summoning her reserves, she must find a job and a way to care for her children, all while Ryan relentlessly tries to gaslight her into coming home. O’Donnell’s thoughtful portrayal of a bad relationship illustrates how difficult it is for women to break free from a cycle of abuse. (Algonquin, Feb. 18)

Elisabeth of Austria and Eugénie of France, wife of Napoleon III, were 19th-century empresses from relatively humble beginnings who became highly influential in culture and fashion; they also embraced modern values in an era known for rapid advancements in politics and technology. Their paths were different: Flighty and fanciful, Elisabeth had to learn to stand her ground against her controlling mother-in-law; Eugénie endured the public humiliation of her husband’s multiple affairs, eventually becoming an advocate for women’s rights. Goldstone’s sprawling chronology illustrates the influence the two imperial women had on the course of history at a time when traditional royal pageantry belied a modernizing world. (Little, Brown, Feb. 25)

In Unger’s new novel, Adele, a single mother drowning in debt, has pinned her hopes on winning the $1 million prize of the streaming reality competition “Extreme Hide and Seek.” Host Maverick Dillan and his team fly the competitors to a remote island that Adele quickly learns may have dangers of its own. As the audience follows along online, what starts out as a social media stunt soon turns into a deadly race for survival as an intense storm rages and players start to go missing. As entertainment blurs with reality, this tense thriller asks how far someone might go to protect the ones they love. (Park Row, Feb. 25)