From the latest novels by star authors such as Zadie Smith and Richard Osman, to exceptional debuts and a spellbinding new children’s classic, 2023 has offered up a trove of present-worthy books. But which ones should you leave under the tree for your loved ones?
When you’re surrounded by hordes of harried Christmas shoppers, craning your neck to examine bookshop displays, it’s not exactly easy to narrow down the selection.
With that in mind, i’s critics and I have rounded up the very best releases of the year. Whether you’re shopping for budding bookworms or for your most hard-to-please friend, our recommendations should have you covered. Happy browsing.
FICTION
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray
This propulsive, humane, thrillingly unpredictable story of a family in freefall was robbed at this year’s Booker, in my mind at least. Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song may have scooped the top award, but this was my pick to win thanks to the bold and original way Murray brings to life the Barnes family, who are slowly imploding after the failure of dad Dickie’s car rental business. That might not sound like the most exciting premise perhaps, but Murray gives a totally fresh perspective on subjects like abuse, money, sexuality, love, climate disaster and violence, all the while conjuring characters who leap off the page.
Hamish Hamilton, £18.99
BEST FOR CRIME FANS
Kala by Colin Walsh
With shades of Tana French and Donna Tartt, Kala is the crime debut everyone has been talking about this year. In a seaside town on Ireland’s West Coast, three old friends are thrown together for the first time in more than a decade. They think back to a heady summer they shared 15 years ago, which ended with the disappearance of their charismatic best friend, Kala. Secrets from the past begin to unravel as, in the present day, human remains are discovered in the woods and two more girls go missing. It is both a heartfelt coming-of-age story and a gripping whodunnit. Walsh is a voice to watch.
Atlantic, £16.99
Tremor by Teju Cole
Teju Cole pours several versions of himself into his long-awaited novel, which follows Tunde, an American photography professor with roots in Nigeria, as he puzzles over how to live a moral life. Come for the ideas, not the plot, and prepare to be shocked into looking differently at everything you see. My most interesting read this year.
Recommended by books critic Susie Mesure
Faber, £18.99
The Fraud by Zadie Smith
Any new Zadie Smith book is a major event, so the publication of the author’s first historical novel – and her first novel in seven years – was one of the most exciting days of the literary calendar this year. The Fraud is inspired by a real-life 1873 court case in which a poor Australian immigrant claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne, an heir to a Hampshire estate who was lost at sea after his boat disappeared. Smith transports us back to a Victorian Britain gripped by the trial, in which an ex-slave from Jamaica found himself the star witness. A daring dissection of race, class and Empire from an author dubbed the “voice of the 21st century”.
Hamish Hamilton, £20
BEST DEBUT
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
It was no surprise to me when Alice Winn’s First World War love story won this year’s Waterstones debut fiction prize. It’s a terrific piece of storytelling – by turns heart-wrenching, visceral and luminously clever as it charts a passionate love affair between two public schoolboys, which blooms against the chilling backdrop of the trenches. No other book has more potently conjured for me the horrors of the war – the gore, the stench, the bodies, the grotesque scale of the sacrifice and the unforgivable futility of it all. But while it is devastating, Winn has also produced a pacy adventure story and an exquisite chronicle of young love.
Viking, £14.99
Victory City by Salman Rushdie
Set in a fantastical version of mediaeval India – complete with talking crows, an army of pink monkeys and an ancient poet goddess – Victory City is Salman Rushdie at his imaginative best. Rushdie invents his 15th novel’s universe meticulously, plotting his characters’ dramatic downfalls and resurrections at the same time as tackling eternal themes of war, misogyny and the power of art. He does so with grace and gusto, sweeping the reader on a journey that feels epic in a mere 320 pages.
Recommended by books critic Max Liu
Vintage, £22
BEST FOR ANCIENT HISTORY
The Iliad by Emily Wilson
If you want to make your loved ones feel clever, while at the same time presenting them with a beautiful-looking book, then this acclaimed translation of The Iliad is an excellent bet. Emily Wilson’s fresh take on the ancient epic was hotly awaited when it was published in September – the classicist had already won praise for her 2017 translation of The Odyssey, which made her the first woman to translate Homer’s epic work. She breathes similar fire and clarity into The Iliad, Homer’s darker poem set in the ninth year of the Trojan war.
WW Norton, £30
BEST ROMCOM
Good Material by Dolly Alderton
This is Dolly Alderton’s best book yet. The author – who shot to bestseller status with her 2018 memoir Everything I Know About Love before publishing her debut novel Ghosts in 2020 – examines millennial romance through a man’s eyes in her second work of fiction. Flailing stand-up comedian Andy is left heartbroken and even more rudderless than usual when his girlfriend Jen suddenly breaks up with him. He sets about trying to find out why she left him – for if he can answer that question, maybe he’ll be able to win her back? Alderton is a great social chronicler: her observations here about thirty-something friendship and the differences (or not) between millennials and Gen Z feel particularly true. But, most crucially, this is a tender, bittersweet portrait of the addictive fug of long-term monogamy – and the crushing pain when it ends.
Fig Tree, £18.99
BEST FOR CHILDREN
Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
When Christopher rescues a drowning griffin, he is hurled into the Archipelago, a secret cluster of islands where magical beasts and humans live side by side. But now the magic is dying… A rip-roaring story that burns with love, daring and, above all, hope, Impossible Creatures confirms Rundell’s status as one of our most celebrated children’s writers. Bold, brave and beautiful, this book is already being hailed as a modern classic.
Recommended by children’s books critic Marianne Levy
Bloomsbury Children’s, £14.99
If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery
One of the standout debuts of the year, this collection of eight interlinked short stories, mostly set in Miami, portrays a young Black man searching for a sense of belonging. Escoffery expertly charts his life, as he navigates recession, Hurricane Andrew, family tension, racism and personal struggles, all the while conjuring an arresting meditation on identity that heralds great things to come from the author.
HarperCollins, £14.99
The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman
It’s practically a Christmas tradition now to find one of Richard Osman’s megahit Thursday Murder Club thrillers under the tree. His series following the sleuthing exploits of a group of pensioners living in a Kent retirement village is funny, comforting and packed with endearing characters. The latest is my favourite so far, a beautiful examination of love and frailty along with a tight crime caper – in the plot, the amateur detectives are pulled into a crime web surrounding a lost stash of heroin, after their antiques dealer friend is found shot dead. Savour it – this is Osman’s last Thursday Murder Club for some time, as he takes a break to concentrate on a new, “Da Vinci Code-inspired” series.
Viking, £22
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
Two-time Pulitzer winner Colson Whitehead (The Underground Railroad, The Nickel Boys) is an inimitable world-builder who so brilliantly evokes the eras he’s writing about, you’d swear you were living in them. In this sequel to the superb Harlem Shuffle, he presents 1970s New York, where the Black Liberation Army has taken up arms against the state and grandees are setting the city aflame to profit on its rebuilding. Into this maelstrom steps Ray Carney, family man, furniture salesman and sometime receiver of stolen goods. This time he gets mixed up in some heavy-duty trouble while seeking Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter. It is a crime caper shot through with social satire – and I cannot wait for the finale in the trilogy.
Recommended by Robert Epstein, Friday sub-editor
Fleet, £20
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
This year’s Women’s Prize winner ought to be required reading. An ingenious modern retelling of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield, Demon Copperhead swaps the Victorian England setting for rural, poverty-stricken Midwestern America, where our eponymous protagonist grows up a casualty of the opioid crisis. Born to a drug-addicted mother in a trailer park, Demon goes on to experience all the vicissitudes of life with foster care, child labour, abuse, heartbreak, friendship, hope and love. Gritty and consistently compelling, this is the kind of novel that seeps under your skin and burrows into your heart – and should be filed in the dictionary under “tour de force”.
Recommended by iWeekend writer Anna Bonet
Faber, £20
Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang
One of the biggest fiction releases of the year, Yellowface morphs from frenemy drama to literary heist thriller, as it tells the story of June, who passes off a manuscript written by her rival Athena Liu as her own after Athena dies in a freak accident. But Athena’s novel is about the Chinese workers recruited by the British army during the First World War, and the internet soon accuses June of cultural appropriation and plagiarism. A snappy, zeitgeisty skewering of who gets to tell which story.
The Borough Press, £16.99
The List by Yomi Adegoke
Ola and Michael are young and successful and have legions of fawning followers on Instagram, where they’re heralded as “the king and queen of #BlackLove”. Then, one month before their wedding, a roll call of men working in the British media who have been identified as predators and abusers is published online – and Michael’s name is on it. Slay in Your Lane co-author Adegoke dissects “cancel culture”, online influencers and celebrity in a timely and light-footed fiction debut.
Fourth Estate, £14.99
BEST SHORT STORY
So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan
Irish writer Claire Keegan is known for her sublime short stories, which pack more of a punch over their slim page counts than do many full-length novels. So Late in the Day is no different, as it scrutinises misogyny and what men expect from women through the lens of one former couple. The story centres on a civil servant ruminating on a failed relationship after coming home from work one Friday night. Haunting and supremely powerful.
Faber, £8.99
Tackle! by Jilly Cooper
The queen of the bonkbuster has, aged 86, taken a bold new direction in her latest novel – Tackle! is not about horses or polo games but football. It’s fair to say Cooper isn’t quite so knowledgeable about the beautiful game as she is about her pet subjects. But, as she resurrects her scoundrel sex symbol Rupert Campbell-Black – who here must deal with amorous footballers’ wives and the Premier League table after he buys a local football team – Cooper delivers another irresistible read. And the sex scenes are just as hilariously smutty as ever.
Bantam, £22
BEST FOR SCI-FI FANS
A Stroke of the Pen by Terry Pratchett
This is the ultimate treat for Pratchett fans. In the 1970s and 1980s, the fantasy author published a series of stories as a local newspaper journalist under the pseudonym of Patrick Kearns. Half a century later, a husband-and-wife pair of retired doctors tracked them down, after combing through hundreds of newspaper back issues. While not set in Pratchett’s beloved Discworld universe, the 20 stories – about cavemen, otherworldly visitors to small market towns and dangerous quests – flash with Pratchett’s formidable imagination and hint at what he would go on to write.
Doubleday, £20
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy
Trespasses is a tragic romance but, at its core, this novel – which was shortlisted for the 2023 Women’s Prize – isn’t about love. We are in Belfast in 1975 and a 24-year-old Catholic woman is falling for a married Protestant. While this is a painful story, the tragedy in Kennedy’s debut novel isn’t the forbidden infatuation, which is both sexy and gripping. This is a novel about the Troubles and the destruction it caused. We spend the novel searching for purpose in its wreckage.
Recommended by people writer Eleanor Peake
Bloomsbury, £14.99
NON-FICTION
A Memoir of My Former Self: A Life in Writing by Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel’s posthumousl- released collection, A Memoir of My Former Self, is staggering – I’ve given it to two people already this year and felt giddy both times. I dip in to read a three-page essay or review and find myself so moved I am electrified, whether she is writing about endometriosis, Princess Diana or When Harry Met Sally. Mantel had an unmatched ability to write with simple, clear brilliance. No flowery embellishment, never esoteric, and all without sacrificing depth of consideration or emotion. This is something to treasure and its wisdom is valuable and easy for readers of any level, whether they have attempted Mantel’s magnum opus, Wolf Hall, or not.
Recommended by culture editor Sarah Carson
John Murray, £25
Decolonising My Body by Afua Hirsch
When she turned 40, the writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch decided to embark on “a year of adornment” – a new phase of her life when she would celebrate her body as it is. Getting older had convinced her to embrace the belief in her mother’s Ghanaian culture that age bestows beauty and power, and reject the European obsession with youth. This is a vital, challenging account of reassessing body image beyond the colonial, patriarchal gaze – told with Hirsch’s trademark rigour and purpose.
Square Peg, £20
BEST FOR HISTORY
Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard
British classicist Mary Beard is beloved for making ancient history come alive even to those who have only the most basic knowledge of it. Her latest book – which takes us through the various rulers of the Roman Empire, using the stories and myths about them as a way of understanding power and society – is no different. When I interviewed Beard about the book earlier this year, I admitted to her that I was far from an expert. “Good,” she told me. “Because in that case you’re exactly the person it was made for.” Then again, it is so vibrant, intelligent and full of new perspectives that I suspect history buffs will enjoy it very much too.
Recommended by culture editor Alexandra Pollard
Profile, £30
Glutton by Ed Gamble
Anyone who has read Katy Wix’s heartbreaking 2021 memoir, Delicacy, charting moments of love and trauma in her life through the lens of different cakes connected to each memory, will know that comedians surveying their lives through the prism of food can be fruitful territory indeed. Here, Off Menu host Ed Gamble tries the formula – to great success. His life has truly been one lived through food: he shares stories of being a diabetic with a sweet tooth, teenage obesity and the joys of cooking.
Bantam, £20
BEST MEMOIR
Stay True by Hua Hsu
The New Yorker writer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book stands among the great memoirs about friendship. In it, Hsu remembers his friend Ken, whom he hated on principle when the two met in a 1990s Berkeley dorm room – Ken was a frat boy with no music taste while Hsu made zines and haunted indie record shops. By the time they had learned to see past their differences and become close friends, their days together were cruelly numbered: not three years after they met, Ken was killed in a violent carjacking. An exceptional portrait of male affection and a young life senselessly cut short.
Picador, £10.99
The Art of Stargazing by Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Telescopes at the ready! This book comes with the added bonus of an activity to keep the family entertained during lulls in the festivities: the brilliant Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock, who makes even the most complex scientific ideas accessible, guides us through the wonders of the sky at night. She talks us through the 88 constellations as well as exploring the science, history and culture behind the celestial world.
BBC Books, £16.99
BEST SPORTS BOOK
The Race to be Myself by Caster Semenya
Caster Semenya is a double Olympic gold medal-winning runner – but she’s discussed as much for the controversies around her competing as for her victories. In her forceful memoir, she recounts a career mired in legal and ethical controversies, as her elevated testosterone levels led people to question her right to race. The athlete pulls no punches when it comes to World Athletics’ attitude to women with high testosterone levels, but this is also a compelling insight into her early life and her towering resilience and determination.
Merky Books, £20
Britney Spears: The Woman In Me
Britney Spears’ account of her life is more than just a celebrity memoir: as our critic Kate Solomon wrote when reviewing the book, The Woman In Me “dissects the notion of the mad woman” as well as offering pertinent insights into celebrity and the failings of the American legal system. The star went from one of the world’s most powerful musicians to a woman severely damaged by fame, labelled “crazy” and held in a horrifying conservatorship by her father. Here, she finally seizes control of her narrative – and the result is a blistering indictment of the system that exploited her.
Gallery Books, £25
Went to London, Took the Dog by Nina Stibbe
Few of us would sniff at the prospect of a new book by Nina Stibbe in our stocking. In the humourist’s second memoir since 2013’s Love, Nina, she charts her grand return to London after years spent living in Cornwall, following the disintegration of her marriage. It’s an honest, touching account of starting over aged 60, as well as a book filled with Stibbe’s entertaining musings on the quirks of modern life – and plenty of gossip about London’s literati.
Picador, £16.99
BEST FOR POLITICS
Politics on the Edge by Rory Stewart
The standard political memoir tends to be an exercise in obfuscation and white-washing, and so the fact that Rory Stewart’s Politics on the Edge does anything but is what makes it so very memorable. A scathing account of how to survive (and also not) inside the House of Commons when your peers tend towards the venal, it’s a fascinating account of power, corruption and lies.
Recommended by books critic Nick Duerden
Jonathan Cape, £22
O, Brother by John Niven
Straight White Male author John Niven’s younger brother Gary took his own life aged 42. In this raw, affecting memoir, Niven tracks both their lives, as Gary spiralled into drug deals, prison and bankruptcy and Niven’s love for him was stretched impossibly taut. An unflinching account of how families survive suicide, O, Brother is shatteringly emotive but also shot through with Niven’s pitch black wit.
Canongate, £18.99
BEST FOR BRAIN FOOD
The Coming Wave by Mustafa Suleyman
Admittedly, staring down the barrel of a world where robots have taken over our lives doesn’t seem a particularly cosy way to spend Christmas. But Mustafa Suleyman’s account of how the next decade will be shaped by artificial intelligence (AI) will certainly snap sluggish, food-and-booze-dulled brains into gear. As one of the co-founders of DeepMind, the now Google-owned British start-up that aims to produce the sort of AI that most resembles the human brain, Suleyman is the perfect guide to a frequently overwhelming subject, as he argues that AI is the biggest challenge of our age – and sets out a plan to deal with it.
Bodley Head, £25
Unruly: A History of England’s Kings and Queens by David Mitchell
The Peep Show comedian and one-time history student brings the past to life in his inimitable, rant-filled way. His history of England’s rulers is guaranteed to be 100 per cent sparkier and more irreverent than your school textbooks, as he explores Britain through the lens of the monarchs in charge of it from the mythical King Arthur right up to Elizabeth I. It’s both full of jokes and shot through with canny insights about power, privilege and English identity.
Michael Joseph, £25