The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami
Since his breakthrough debut Norwegian Wood in 1987, this Japanese author has garnered a cult-like following, his works being translated into 50 languages and selling five million copies worldwide. Murakami’s latest endeavour should not disappoint these legions of fans. Dripping with all the same magic realism and surreal twists and turns that have made him so famous, this novel follows an everyman’s quest to the shadowy parallel universe where his girlfriend has disappeared. Here, he takes a job in a mysterious library – allowing Murakami to explore the power of books, along with his favourite themes of love and loss, with typical storytelling prowess.
(Harvill Secker)
Nonfiction pick
The Forbidden Garden of Leningrad by Simon Parkin
One of the Soviet Union’s finest achievements was building the world’s first seed bank in the 1920s. Situated in a former palace in Leningrad – now St Petersburg – this living plant library contained the raw material for breeding crops to ease food shortages. So when the city came under siege in 1941, the botanists were faced with a terrible choice: use the seeds to help save the current starving population, or preserve them to help end global famine in generations to come. Recounting this forgotten episode of Second World War history – one of science and sacrifice – this book is fantastically well researched, fascinating and saturated in drama.
(Sceptre)
Best of the rest
The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathon Coe
A young woman’s life becomes entangled in that of a political blogger who’s on the run. Set during Liz Truss’s premiership, Coe’s latest novel is part political satire, part cosy crime pastiche, and every bit entertaining.
(Viking)
The Fate of Mary Rose by Caroline Blackwood
When a child is abducted from a quiet Kent village, the effects on a local family – Rowan, Cressida and their daughter Mary Rose – are devastating. First published in 1981, this reissue is giving a forgotten classic the attention it deserves.
(Virago Modern Classics)
You Can’t Hurt Me by Emma Cook
With screen rights already sold, this is a psychological thriller you can expect to be compulsive from first page to the last. It follows Anna Tate as she is assigned to ghost-write the memoir of a neuroscientist whose glamorous wife – and former patient – has been found dead.
(Orion)
Killing Time by Alan Bennett
Quite the treat for winter from the 90-year-old writer, Killing Time is a whimsical, darkly comic novella set in a home for the elderly during Covid – complete with a terrific cast of characters, and secrets and chaos aplenty.
(Faber)
Beautiful People by Amanda Jennings
Saltburn meets quintessential crime thriller, Jennings’s latest sees Victoria pulled into the privileged world of the boyfriend she meets at university. 25 years after things take a very dark turn, she finally is ready for answers.
(HQ)
What Will People Think? by Vedashree Khambete-Sharma
It’s 1970s Bombay and the mother of four daughters is keen to get them married as soon as possible. But in this warm and clever novel, which is being billed as Bollywood Jane Austen, the girls have their own ideas.
(Atlantic Books)
Set My Heart on Fire by Izumi Suzuki
The late Japanese author has become a recently rediscovered sensation and this, her first novel to be translated into English, is the semi-autobiographical story of a young woman’s foray into counterculture, short-lived romances, and the arms of one particular mysterious person in 1970s Japan.
(Verso)
Murder Island by James Patterson & Brian Sitts
Soon after Brandt “Doc” Savage and his girlfriend arrive on a utopian-like island in the middle of the Atlantic, they are violently separated. And, in his search for Kira, Doc begins to unravel a global conspiracy which could upend everything.
(Century)
To Die For by David Baldacci
When Betsy’s parents die, the police report states it’s down to drug overdoses – but she knows this is far from the truth. Travis Devine soon finds himself as her bodyguard, and as more people are killed, time is running out to get to the bottom of it.
(Macmillan)
Flint Kill Creek by Joyce Carol Oates
The literary titan turns her pen to the short form for this collection of macabre, skin-crawlingly good stories. With interrogations into the human psyche, modern world, and complex relationships, it is vintage JCO.
(Apollo)
Heavenly Bodies by Imani Erriu
A debut romantasy novel from a TikTok phenomenon, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this follows in the hallowed halls of Sarah J Maas and others who have made this genre so popular. A cosmic, enemies-to-lovers story, Waterstones are expecting such big things they are releasing a deluxe edition with bonus content alongside standard release.
(Viking)
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht
A brilliantly caustic novel which was revered when it was first published in Switzerland, Eurotrash is the tragicomic story of a middle-aged Swiss-German man and the roadtrip he decides to take with his terminally ill – and terminally drunk – 80-year-old mother.
(Serpent’s Tail)
The Ice Retreat by Ruth Kelly
When contacted by a mother whose son went missing after his stay in a controversial wellness retreat in the Swiss Alps, Hollie, a documentary maker, heads to its icy epicentre in search of what really goes on there.
(Pan)
The Older I Get by Fern Britton
The TV presenter and novelist, now in her 60s, reflects on aging, divorce, loss – and the joy of starting over. Subtitled How I repowered my life, Britton’s second memoir is her story of relocating to Cornwall, regaining confidence and rebuilding her life.
(Ebury Spotlight)
In the Blood by Arabella Byrne and Julia Hamilton
Exploring the devastation of addiction and how it passes from one generation to the next, this dual-voiced memoir is written collaboratively by a mother and daughter who both found themselves in Alcoholics Anonymous just nine months apart.
(HQ)
A Short History of British Architecture by Simon Jenkins
The bestselling historian traces the UK’s architectural past – from Stonehenge to the Shard; from classic cathedrals to Brutalist buildings. A brilliant read and the perfect Christmas gift for that certain impossible-to-buy-for person.
(Viking)
Patria by Laurence Blair
A history of South America unlike any told before, Blair’s undertaking is a 450-page journey which spans five centuries and thousands of miles – from Incan dynasties to Patagonian powers. Patria is both enlightening and surprisingly difficult to put down.
(Bodley Head)
Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher
With “a life too immense for only one book”, the first instalment of the inimitable music icon’s memoir takes in her roving childhood, early fame and marriage then subsequent breakup from Sonny Bono – promising an intimate glimpse of what made her the woman she is today.
(HarperCollins)
That Librarian by Amanda Jones
When Amanda Jones, a school librarian based in Louisiana, stood up against the book banning which she saw quietly becoming rife in her country, she was accused of “indoctrinating children” and sent death threats. Her own book – part memoir and part manifesto – is an extraordinary, necessary read.
(Bloomsbury)
The Position of Spoons by Deborah Levy
Following her triptych of living autobiographies – Things I Don’t Want to Know; The Cost of Living; August Blue – Levy’s latest is a smattering of intimate essays reflecting on her writing life and creative muses, as well as gender, language, mortality and more.
(Hamish Hamilton)
The Boy Who Lived by David Holmes
Holmes was 14 when he started work as Daniel Radcliffe’s stunt double in the Harry Potter films; he was 25 when he was paralysed doing a stunt during the seventh movie. His brilliantly-titled memoir tells a story of resilience, pain and joy.
(Hodder & Stoughton)
Citizen by Bill Clinton
A sequel of sorts to his 2004 memoir, here Clinton documents what life is like after you stop being president of the United States – reflecting on everything from the run-up to the Iraq war to Hillary’s bid for the presidency; Covid-19 to the January 6 insurrection.
(Hutchinson Heinemann)
Freedom by Angela Merkel
Exploring ideas of both personal and political freedom, the former German chancellor recalls her upbringing in the German Democratic Republic – speaking more intimately about her youth than ever before – and subsequent role in modern politics.
(Macmillan)
Eight Weeks by Lola Young
Lola Young went into foster care at eight weeks old: few might have predicted she would go on to become one of the first Black women in the House of Lords. This memoir is the moving story of someone who is only now making sense of her childhood and journey that followed.
(Fig Tree)
The Company of Owls by Polly Atkin
A poet and writer based in Cumbria, Atkin has long been an observer and lover of owls; with frequent visitations to her garden, she sees them as her neighbours. This gorgeous piece of nature writing reveals what keeping such illustrious avian company has taught her about life.
(Elliott & Thompson)
Forest of Noise by Mosab Abu Toha
Abu Toha was already a well-known, award-winning Palestinian poet when the war began. Following the destruction of his home in Gaza – and the library he’d built for community use – he fled with his family, writing this visceral poetry collection to capture his experiences.
(Fourth Estate)
‘Power is one of my primary concerns’
Everything Elia Clark touches turns to gold (Photo: Robin Silas Christian)
It seems that anything Eliza Clark touches turns to gold. It began in 2020, when her darkly comic debut novel, Boy Parts, became her breakout sensation (largely thanks to TikTok, where it went viral), and was later adapted into a stage play (opening in London’s Soho Theatre last year).
By the time she had published Penance, her ingenious second novel – which is presented as the true-crime story of a murder among teenage girls – she had been named one of Britain’s best young novelists on Granta’s once-in-a-decade list.
Now the 30-year-old from Newcastle is publishing her first short-story collection. She’s Always Hungry blends horror, fantasy and speculative fiction to examine greed and power in its myriad forms, all through the lens of the female experience.
“I think I’m more interested in gender as an expression of, or a vehicle for, power than I am in gender itself,” she says. “Power is one of my primary concerns as a writer. But why I’m drawn to it is something I’m not articulate enough to explain concisely.”
Turning to the short form for her third book wasn’t a conscious decision. “I didn’t exactly sit down and decide my third book would be a short-story collection – I write short stories habitually and have had enough of them for a collection for a while,” she explains.
“The book was, in some capacity, ready before Penance, which means I have had plenty of time shuffle in new stories, and shuffle out or re-edit the older ones.”
Having the time and space to get the collection right may also be a by-product of being held up as one of our best contemporary young novelists working today. If a declaration on her own website is anything to go by, she believes she is “overhyped”. But she still acknowledges this gives her an advantage.
“I’ve talked a bit before about how publishing creates a crabs in a bucket mentality among writers” – that is, an envious mindset, which means you feel you need to prevent others from gaining a favourable position – “so I suppose it’s nice to be one of the larger crabs toward the top end of the bucket. I just hope to be in a position to pay that forward at some point.”
