The 20 Best New Fiction Books You Need to Add to Your Summer Reading List

Every single book on our list is a page-turner.

summer fiction books

We've been independently researching and testing products for over 120 years. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Learn more about our review process.

A few legendary authors have new work out (We see you, Isabelle Allende, Emily St. John Mandel, and Jenny Offill) that we've been waiting for since they were announced. And newcomers like Kiley Reid and Chelsea Bieker will find their way onto your list of favorites before you know it. Crack one of these amazing reads open and watch the hours fly by.

Kiley Reid Such a Fun Age

Such a Fun Age

Emira Tucker is just babysitting for business owner Alix Chamberlain while she figures out what to do with her life, but she gets thrust into a scandal after she's filmed late at night with Alix's toddler in a grocery store. This affecting story explores the way race, class, and even well-meaning gestures can have real impact on people's lives. 

RELATED: The Best Books of 2020 to Add to Your Reading List ASAP

Jennifer Weiner Big Summer

Big Summer

From the author of Mrs. Everything comes this beach-ready peek into female friendship, romance, and some stunning beachside mansions. Daphne has finally escaped the toxic clutches of Drue Cavanaugh and come into her own as a plus-sized influencer when Drue begs her to be in her wedding on Cape Cod. Daphne agrees, but soon finds herself involved in a scandal nobody expected. 

Emily Gould Perfect Tunes

Laura arrives in New York City from Ohio with big dreams, but instead of launching her singer-songwriter career, she falls hard for a troubled musician whose impact lasts much longer than their relationship. Fifteen years later, she and her daughter have grown apart, and her past starts bubbling to the surface. Turn on your favorite tunes and rock out with this beautiful story of friendship, family, and what really matters. 

Liz Moore Long Bright River

Fans of crime fiction will love this drama that centers on the human impact of the opioid crisis. At the center of the story are two estranged sisters: Kacey struggles with addiction, while Mickey is a cop. When Kacey disappears and girls like her start turning up dead, Mickey hunts for the killer — and Kacey — before it's too late. 

RELATED: The Best Psychological Thrillers to Scare Yourself Silly 

Jenny Offill Weather

You'll see echoes of our modern times when you meet Lizzie, a librarian working at the university she dropped out of to help her drug-addicted brother. When someone she admires hires her to sort through emails to her climate podcast  Hell and High Water , Lizzie learns more about the planet and human nature than she bargained for. 

Emily St. John Mandel The Glass Hotel

Sometimes books just feel exactly right for the present moment. This is that book. Fans of the dystopian hit  Station Eleven will also love this story that makes a connection between the implosion of a Ponzi scheme and a woman lost at sea. 

Terry McMillan It's Not All Downhill From Here

At 68, Loretha Curry's life is going pretty well: she runs a successful business, has a tight-knit crew of friends, and a husband who still gets her blood moving. When a terrible tragedy shatters her world, it's up to her support system to remind her how much she still has.

Lily King Writers & Lovers

Anyone who's ever had a tough choice to make in love will appreciate this story of a woman who's drowning in debt and grief after her mother's death and trying to pick between two men. Each of them can offer her a very different life, and you'll hold your breath as she realizes what she wants. 

Miranda Popkey Topics of Conversation

Think about how much time we spend talking to each other and how much those chats make up our lives. This quiet novel is written almost entirely in conversations between women, focusing on all they contain. It fizzes with passion, humor, misunderstanding, and so much more that comes out when women open up. 

Emma Straub All Adults Here

After she witnesses a school bus accident, a small-town matriarch has to reckon with her relationships with her own adult children. This book has it all: conflicted characters, teenagers learning who they are, a single mom having a steamy affair, and goats. Yep, goats. 

Isabel Allende A Long Petal of the Sea

From romance expert Allende comes this new lyrical adventure following pregnant widow Roser and Victor Dalmow, the brother of her deceased love. They marry after the 1930s fascist takeover in  Spain, fleeing before war breaks out on a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda. The new couple starts over in Chile, learning to love one another in exile. 

Andrea Bartz The Herd

When the put-together founder of a hot women-only coworking space disappears, her friends are shocked. But as they search for clues to her whereabouts, they learn even more unsettling details about her, their friendship, and themselves. The twist at the end really pays off, but don't take our word for it. 

Amy Bonnaffons The Regrets

At first, Rachel and Thomas's chemistry is infectious, but one thing stands in their way: he's dead. He's also not supposed to entangle himself with anyone who's alive, the consequences of which make themselves known as they get closer and closer. This romantic ghost story is wonderfully weird. 

Gish Jen The Resisters

Missing baseball? Salve that wound with this near-future dystopia. In AutoAmerica, the favored Netted people live on land, while the Surplus folk live on water. When a child with an arm like a shotgun is born to a Surplus family, she winds up playing for a Netted team, even as her family challenges the world order.

Chelsea Bieker Godshot

Lacey May's life in drought-parched Peaches with her alcoholic mom isn't perfect, but they've got each other and their church, led by the charismatic Pastor Vern. But when her mom disappears, Lacey will go to great lengths to find her. This story will make your heart ache for the teen protagonist who's just after the love we all crave. 

Alli Frank and Asha Youmans Tiny Imperfections

Parents and anyone who's ever been to school will love this peek into the turbulent world of private school, from two women who have worked in it for more than 20 years. Get to know three generations of black women in San Francisco as they navigate that universe, along with their relationships, motivations, and a heaping helping of drama. 

Diana Clarke Thin Girls

Twins Rose and Lily are so close, they literally taste each other's emotions. As they enter high school and yearn to fit in, Rose stops eating and Lily overcompensates, leading to Rose's admission into an eating disorder treatment facility and Lily battling her own self-worth outside. This book shows how our closest relationships can turn toxic, if we don't face ourselves head-on. 

Kate Elizabeth Russell My Dark Vanessa

This novel looks at the relationship between a 42-year-old teacher and his 15-year-old student years after the fact, when the teacher is accused of sexual misconduct. Now an adult, Vanessa still sees their dalliance as consensual, and to speak out now would force her to re-examine that. It's a powerful look at sexual agency, power, and memory. 

Sophie Mackintosh Blue Ticket

On the day they get your first period, all girls undergo a lottery. White tickets get to marry and have children, while blue tickets get a career and devil-may-care lives. But when Calla decides to flout the system, she has to go on the lam and rely on the survival skills the lottery taught her to outrun those whose mission it is to preserve it.

Ottessa Moshfegh Death in Her Hands

This striking book starts, "Her name was Magda. Nobody will ever know who killed her. It wasn't me. Here is her dead body." After an elderly widow finds it in the woods, her curiosity quickly morphs into an obsession. But can we trust her sense of events? This one's part  crime thriller , part dark humor, and completely worth your time. 

@media(max-width: 64rem){.css-o9j0dn:before{margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-right:0.625rem;color:#ffffff;width:1.25rem;bottom:-0.2rem;height:1.25rem;content:'_';display:inline-block;position:relative;line-height:1;background-repeat:no-repeat;}.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}}@media(min-width: 48rem){.loaded .css-o9j0dn:before{background-image:url(/_assets/design-tokens/goodhousekeeping/static/images/Clover.5c7a1a0.svg);}} All the Best Books to Read Next

female young behind book with face covered for a red book while smiling

6 Best Taylor Swift Books for Kids of All Ages

the view whoopi goldberg book memoir news instagram

Whoopi Goldberg Shares Personal Book Announcement

today show savannah guthrie book jenna bush hager instagram

Savannah Guthrie Shares Career News with JBH

the first five percy jackson books in a row

How to Read the 'Percy Jackson' Books in Order

today show savannah guthrie book mostly what god does instagram

'Today' Star Savannah Guthrie Reveals New Project

best books of 2023

Must-Read Books Before the End of 2023

best romance books

Turn Up the Heat With These Steamy Romance Books

closeup on happy housewife preparing christmas dinner in kitchen

The Best New Cookbooks That Make Great Gifts

five books in a row on an orange background

The Most-Anticipated Books of 2024 (So Far!)

midnight is the darkest hour book cover

GH+ Reads Review: 'Midnight Is the Darkest Hour'

seafaring sexism

How Women Deal With Sexism on the Open Seas

The Best Books of 2020

This year, we were captivated by stories from literary icons, debut novelists, and more.

Poster, Font, Graphic design, Advertising,

Every product on this page was chosen by a Harper's BAZAAR editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

2020 came and went fast, but fortunately, the publishing industry kept pace with the passage of time with a slew of the year’s most anticipated titles. Here, take a look back at the best new books that arrived this year—and add them to your 2021 reading list if you haven't dug into them yet.

The Lying Life of Adults

The Lying Life of Adults

Revealed via surprise announcement in September 2019, the reclusive writer’s latest title leaves behind the characters of the Neapolitan Novels to tell a new tale in the same setting. Playing on Ferrante’s favorite themes of beauty versus ugliness and class mobility, The Lying Life of Adults tells the story of a rich and rebellious teenager’s coming of age in a divided Naples. 

Rodham

From  Prep  to  American Wife , Curtis Sittenfeld has built a name for herself as contemporary fiction’s foremost chronicler of WASP America. Now, she turns her literary lens away from wry observation and towards the realm of one particularly topical what-if: What would have happened if Hillary Rodham had never agreed to marry Bill Clinton?

Transcendent Kingdom: A Novel

Transcendent Kingdom: A Novel

From the author of Homegoing , the breakout debut novel about the two very different legacies of an Asante woman living in 18th-century Ghana, comes a contemporary tale of a Ghanaian family in Alabama struggling to make sense of loss. 

The Glass Hotel: A novel

The Glass Hotel: A novel

Fans of the genre-defying post-apocalyptic novel Station Eleven , rejoice: Emily St. John Mandel is back with a new novel that weaves otherworldly elements throughout the storyline of a modern financial thriller.  

My Dark Vanessa: A Novel

My Dark Vanessa: A Novel

When a fellow former student comes forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Vanessa’s high school English teacher, Jacob, Vanessa must grapple with a discomfiting question: whether her own teenage affair with Jacob was as consensual as she’s been telling herself for 17 years. In the age of #MeToo, Russell’s blistering, deeply uncomfortable, and utterly essential debut achieves required-reading status. 

The Death of Vivek Oji: A Novel

The Death of Vivek Oji: A Novel

With Freshwater and Pet under their belt, Akwaeke Emezi has cemented their reputation as a leading new voice in both YA and adult literary fiction in the span of less than two years. They’re not slowing up anytime soon, either: In their sophomore adult novel, out this summer, Emezi chronicles a Nigerian family’s experience of grief and transcendence. 

Real Life: A Novel

Real Life: A Novel

From a black, queer writer and former biochem Ph.D. candidate living in a Midwestern university town comes a searing debut about … a black, queer biochem Ph.D. candidate living in a Midwestern university town. When Wallace has an unexpected encounter with a supposedly-straight white classmate amid a time of mounting hostility in his community, he is forced to confront long-hidden wounds. Whether despite or because of Taylor’s closeness to his subject matter, the result is a novel of quiet, startling power. 

Wow, No Thank You.: Essays

Wow, No Thank You.: Essays

Ever since the publication of Meaty in 2013, Irby’s essays have been required reading on the millennial condition. In her latest collection, the writer—now approaching 40 and living a Pinterest-ified version of the American dream in a small Midwestern town—turns her addictively bummed-out wit to topics like “lesbian bed death” and the difficulty of making adult friendships. 

Death in Her Hands: A Novel

Death in Her Hands: A Novel

Dark and sharp as ever, the author of Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation returns with a tale of a woman in a small town who may or may not have discovered evidence of a murder. The problem: She can’t figure out whether or not anyone has actually been killed.  

It's Not All Downhill From Here: A Novel

It's Not All Downhill From Here: A Novel

How Stella Got Her Groove Back grows up in the author’s latest title, a story about what it takes to pursue joy after unexpected loss. Sixty-eight-year-old Loretha Curry has a full life, but when the unthinkable—and unforeseeable—happens, Loretha must turn to her friends for help healing old wounds and learning how to thrive.  

The Vanishing Half: A Novel

The Vanishing Half: A Novel

When the Vignes twin sisters were growing up, they were inseparable. But now, as adults, they’ve taken two paths: one living with her Black daughter in the same community she’s known her whole life; the other passing as white and living among loved ones who have no idea where she came from. Propulsive and compassionate, Bennett’s follow-up to The Mothers is not to be missed. 

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

Long a pillar of Black Twitter, Mikki Kendall is perhaps best known for her creation of the viral hashtags #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen, #FastTailedGirls, and #FoodGentrification. With HOOD FEMINISM , Kendall takes her timely and powerful critique of contemporary feminism from the worldwide web to the printed page. 

Fairest: A Memoir

Fairest: A Memoir

With her debut title, award-winning journalist Talusan turns her talents to memoir to chart her path from childhood in a rural Philippine village to adult life as a white-passing trans woman in American academia. The result is a stirring meditation on race, gender, and identity. 

Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation

The resisters: a novel.

The Resisters: A Novel

In the half-submerged AutoAmerica of the near future, a young girl’s preternatural baseball prowess enables her ascent from the underclass of a sharply-divided dystopian society to the upper echelons of its elite—even as her mother mounts a challenge to the very foundations of the world they know. Cautionary and warm, witty and unsettling, Jen’s fifth novel paints a portrait of an evolution of American society that feels ever more plausible. 

Drifts

The author of 2012’s acclaimed Heroines is back with a quietly stirring account of an unnamed writer’s self-imposed isolation. Desperate to complete her overdue novel, the narrator haunts the street shops of her neighborhood in search of inspiration—but as winter approaches, her progress is interrupted by a series of unsettling disturbances.

Chosen Ones

Chosen Ones

The Hunger Games . Harry Potter . The Percy Jackson books. Wherever you first encountered it, it’s a story we all know by heart: In a time of darkness, a child is singled out as the world’s last great hope for salvation. As that child grows up, one must take ownership of their powers, fulfill the prophecy, and save the world. But what happens to the chosen one after the threat is vanquished? Veronica Roth—the author of a little franchise you may know by the name of Divergent —sets out to answer this question in her adult debut, which follows five former teenage heroes as they make sense of the trauma they were left with after saving the world.

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories

I Hold a Wolf by the Ears: Stories

Though she’s racked up accolades for her two recent novels— Find Me , her debut full-length narrative from 2015, and The Third Hotel from 2018—the short story seems to be Laura van den Berg’s most natural medium. For proof, look no further than I Hold a Wolf by the Ears , the writer’s latest collection of melancholic adult fairy tales. 

Just Like You: A Novel

Just Like You: A Novel

If you’ve already devoured the Zoe Kravitz-led series High Fidelity and are desperate for your next big binge, you’re in luck: Nick Hornby, author of the Hulu show’s source material, has another unputdownable story of love and heartbreak coming this September. In Just Like You , not-quite-divorced 42-year-old Lucy is thrown for a loop when she realizes that 22-year-old Joseph—the man she’s hired to babysit her kids—just may be her perfect match.

Out September 29, 2020.

Perfect Tunes

Perfect Tunes

From her Gawker days in the early aughts to her present-day Twitter presence, Emily Gould has made a name for herself as the Internet’s foremost chronicler of the millennial condition. Now, with the release of her sophomore novel, the founder of now-defunct indie publisher Emily Books looks back on the 21st century and draws a line through the decades-long series of little choices that make us who we are. Laura, Gould’s protagonist, arrives in New York in the early 2000s to pursue ambitions of songwriting stardom, but her plan gets turned upside down when she winds up pregnant. Fifteen years later, Laura’s teenage daughter, Marie, begins to ask questions about the dreams her mother left behind.

Headshot of Keely  Weiss

Keely Weiss is a writer and filmmaker. She has lived in Los Angeles, New York, and Virginia and has a cat named after Perry Mason.

preview for Harper's BAZAAR Culture Playlist

Art, Books & Music

ariana grande eternal sunshine album

Megan Thee Stallion Launches Hot Girl Systems

kacey musgraves album deeper well

What to Know About Kacey Musgraves’s 6th Studio LP

usher rollerskating halftime show

Why Usher’s Halftime Show Embraced Roller-Skating

beyonce portrait

What to Know About Renaissance Act II

a couple of people wearing clothing

Surprise! Beyoncé Did a Super Bowl Commercial!

us singer songwriters usher and alicia keys perform during apple music halftime show of super bowl lviii between the kansas city chiefs and the san francisco 49ers at allegiant stadium in las vegas, nevada, february 11, 2024 photo by patrick t fallon  afp

Usher Delivers a Halftime Show for the Ages

best black coffee table books

The 10 Best Black Art Books for Your Coffee Table

kylie minogue 2024 grammys

Kylie Minogue Wore “Padam” Red to the 2024 Grammys

ice spice baby phat grammys

Ice Spice Brought the Bronx to L.A. at the Grammys

us entertainment music grammys award show

Jay-Z Calls Out the Recording Academy

los angeles february 4 beyoncé and blue ivy carter behind the scenes at the 66th annual grammy awards, airing live from cryptocom arena in los angeles, california, sunday, feb 4 800 1130 pm, live et500 830 pm, live pt on the cbs television network photo by francis speckercbs via getty images

The Best Twitter Reactions to the Grammys

  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

Best fiction of 2020

Best fiction of 2020

Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith and Tsitsi Dangarembga completed landmark series, Martin Amis turned to autofiction and Elena Ferrante returned to Naples – plus a host of brilliant debuts

As the first lockdown descended in March, sales of Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year and Camus’s La Peste soared, but there were uncanny echoes of Covid-19 to be found in this year’s novels too.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell’s tender, heartbreaking Hamnet (Tinder), which went on to win the Women’s prize, illuminates life and love in the shadow of death four centuries ago. Focused on Anne Hathaway rather than her playwright husband , it channels the family’s grief for son Hamnet, lost to the plague, with a timeless power. From public information slogans to individual fears, Emma Donoghue’s The Pull of the Stars (Picador), set in a Dublin maternity hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic, shows how little our responses have changed. Don DeLillo completed The Silence (Picador) just before the coronavirus hit; but this slim, austere vision of what it’s like to be in a room as screens go dark and disaster unfolds outside chimes with current fears.

The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again

Unfolding disaster was the theme of novels that spoke explicitly to the present moment, too: Jenny Offill’s Weather (Granta) assembles shards of anecdote and aphorism into a glittering mosaic that faces up to Trump’s America and climate collapse with wit, heart and moments of sheer terror. Naomi Booth’s Exit Management (Dead Ink) expertly dramatises the crisis in housing, jobs and community. Sarah Moss’s menacing Summerwater (Picador) is set over one rainy day in a Scottish holiday park: catastrophe lurks in the near future as we dip into the minds of various daydreaming, dissatisfied holidaymakers, in a sharp investigation into the meaning of community and otherness. Also deeply attuned to the anxieties of both Brexit and our long, slow post-industrial collapse is M John Harrison’s masterly The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again (Gollancz). An unsettling and multilayered narrative foregrounding two lost souls in a haunted, unheimlich England who don’t know how lost they are, it took the Goldsmiths prize for innovative fiction.

Summer (Hamish Hamilton) Ali Smith

Summer (Hamish Hamilton) completed Ali Smith’s rapid-response Seasonal quartet: four novels written over four years that have encompassed Brexit, climate change, corporate takeover and the refugee crisis along with the bracing consolations of art and nature. Reuniting characters from previous volumes and juxtaposing second world war internment with today’s migrant detention centres, Summer brought a much needed note of hope and resilience to the finale of a landmark series that explores how we live in and out of time.

This year saw the final volume, too, of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy, which has conjured a vanished age to such extraordinarily vivid life and cast profound insights about power, ambition and fate on to the present one. The Mirror & the Light (4th Estate) had to end on the executioner’s scaffold, but the reader is suspended in the unfolding present moment until the axe falls.

The Shadow King by Maaza Mengiste - book cover

Another trilogy was completed in Tsitsi Dangarembga’s This Mournable Body (Faber); written three decades on from her classic Nervous Conditions , it is a brutal, intimate reckoning with the psychological trauma of colonialism. Also shortlisted for the Booker, Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King (Canongate) is a beautifully crafted account of the female soldiers resisting Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 and their own oppression in Ethiopian society. Lyrical, furious and meticulously researched, it is a necessary act of historical reclamation.

Marilynne Robinson turned her Gilead trilogy into a quartet with Jack (Virago), a romance across the race divide in segregated mid-century America which explores the redeeming, transcendent power of love and faith. Brit Bennett also anatomised racism in The Vanishing Half (Dialogue), a stunning family saga about passing for white and the hollowness of the American dream that won her comparisons to Toni Morrison.

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

There were historical escapes from David Mitchell, in 1960s muso epic Utopia Avenue (Sceptre), and Jonathan Coe, with a bittersweet visit to one of Billy Wilder’s last film sets in Mr Wilder and Me (Viking). Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham (Doubleday) spun wistful alternative history, imagining what the world might have looked like if Hillary hadn’t married Bill, while Martin Amis drew on his own history for Inside Story (Cape), a baggy but fascinating autofiction combining cameos from Saul Bellow and Christopher Hitchens with tips on prose writing.

Andrew O’Hagan’s poignant Mayflies (Faber) explores the way all our lives recede too quickly into history, with a joyous nostalgiafest of young Scots chasing music and girls on a wild weekend in the 80s segueing into sober mid-life realisations and difficult decisions decades later. A brilliant portrayal of male friendship, it’s also the perfect gift for middle-aged alternative music fans.

The year began with an impressively assured debut from US author Kiley Reid; Such a Fun Age (Bloomsbury) is a razor-sharp take on white fragility and millennial uncertainty, beginning when a black nanny is accused of kidnapping her white charge. Also witty and fresh, Naoise Dolan’s deliciously dry Exciting Times (W&N) sees cynical Irish twentysomething Ava unsettled by genuine emotion while teaching in Hong Kong.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

Two semi-autobiographical Scottish debuts from Picador showcased essential new voices: Douglas Stuart took the Booker prize for his moving, devastating Shuggie Bain , the tale of a boy’s desperate love for his alcoholic mother in the deprived, post-industrial 80s; while Graeme Armstrong’s The Young Team , set among teenage gangs in Lanarkshire, updated Trainspotting for a new generation.

Other notable first novels included Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez (Dialogue), a fearless coming-of-age story about racial and sexual identity and masculinity focused on a young, black gay man who flees his Jehovah’s Witness community to become a sex worker. Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (Hamish Hamilton) coolly explores a toxic mother-daughter relationship in middle-class India, while Brandon Taylor’s Real Life (Daunt) weighs contradictory urges towards solitude and intimacy. The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams (William Heinemann), which continues the lexicographical playfulness of her short stories, is a singularly charming jeu d’esprit about two people a century apart doing the difficult, essential work of defining words and defining themselves.

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante

In translated fiction, Elena Ferrante returned to her emotional heartland, the psyche of the teenage girl, in The Lying Life of Adults (Europa, translated by Ann Goldstein). As Giovanna tackles parental hypocrisy, self-disgust and the disconnect between upper- and lower-class Naples, the novel builds into what feels like a portrait of the artist as a young woman. Originally conceived as a true crime story, Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor (Fitzcarraldo, translated by Sophie Hughes) is a savage, unstoppable chronicle of misogyny and murder in a small Mexican village. Another rawly compelling novel won the International Booker: young Dutch writer Marieke Lucas Rijneveld’s The Discomfort of Evening (Faber, translated by Michele Hutchison ) focuses on a girl in a deeply religious family that is falling apart in the wake of her brother’s death.

When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut

Daniel Kehlmann’s darkly funny Tyll (Riverrun, translated by Ross Benjamin), a picaresque journey through early 17th-century Europe, follows the progress of a folkloric jester figure from village to court against the bloody backdrop of the thirty years’ war. In Samanta Schweblin’s fiendishly readable Little Eyes (Oneworld, translated by Megan McDowell), the new must-have tech gadget allows users to leapfrog into the lives of strangers – a sharp idea that became even more pertinent with the isolation and atomisation of lockdown. When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamín Labatut (Pushkin, translated by Adrian Nathan West), a “nonfiction novel” focused on the exceptional minds looking into the dark heart of maths and science in the 20th century, traces revelatory connections between discovery and destruction.

The Dominant Animal by Kathryn Scanlan

Some of the most exciting short stories of the year were to be found in Kathryn Scanlan’s The Dominant Animal (Daunt), with its fiercely sculpted sentences and unnervingly off-kilter scenarios. Cathy Sweeney’s Modern Times (W&N) has a comically surreal energy and verve, while in Reality and Other Stories (Faber) John Lanchester structures a collection of ghost stories around the most dangerous, intrusive, unknowable force in our lives – technology.

Two striking books unfolded in the fertile space between story collection and novel. In poet Frances Leviston’s The Voice in My Ear (Cape), 10 different protagonists, all called Claire, contend with the demands of the world and their difficult mothers; the stories glance off each other to build into a cubist portrait of contemporary womanhood. Maria Reva’s Good Citizens Need Not Fear (Virago), meanwhile, uses interlinked tales centred around a crumbling apartment block in Ukraine to convey the absurdity of post-Soviet life.

Finally, two novels that were a long time coming. From the 18th century to the 21st, Evie Wyld’s The Bass Rock (Cape) explores violence against women in three subtly linked time periods: a blazingly angry, darkly witty tour de force, Wyld’s third novel is bleak but bracing, and as ever, beautifully written.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Sixteen years after her bestselling debut Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell , Susanna Clarke returned with Piranesi (Bloomsbury), the story of a man trapped in a many-halled House with an Ocean surging within it, his only companion a mysterious Other. Written out of long illness, but published into a world in which every reader was struggling with confinement and thrown on their inner resources, Clarke’s fantastical parable of solitude, imagination, ambition and contentment is a spectacular piece of fiction, and the perfect reading accompaniment to a year like no other.

  • Best books of the year
  • Best books of 2020
  • Fiction in translation

Most viewed

  • Search Results

Must-reads of 2020: the best new books of the year

A month-by-month guide to the titles we loved this year, from novels to non-fiction to books for kids.

Collage of books out in 2020, including Richard Osman's The Thursday Murder Club, Robin Stevens' Death Sets Sail, Avni Doshi's Burnt Sugar, Barack Obama's A Promised Land, Evie Wyld's The Bass Rock, Nigella Lawson's Cook, Eat, Repeat, Caleb Femi's Poor and Dolly Alderton's Ghosts, on a read background in two rows, with 2020 in white letters in the middle of the rows.

Fiction books

Long Bright River  by Liz Moore (9 Jan) A thriller set in the underworld of Philadelphia where two sisters are living contrasting lives: Kacey, gripped by addiction and Mickey, walking the streets on her police beat. When the former vanishes and a string of murders begin, the latter finds herself in a race against time to find both her sister and the culprit.

Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (9 Jan) The latest from the  Sunday Times  bestselling author explores the best and worst in human nature. Set over three intense, exhilarating, and harrowing hours, this novel follows a rural Somerset school under siege in the middle of a blizzard, documenting the experience of those both inside and out. An edge-of-your-seat read.

Baby by Philippa Rice (16 Jan) A collection of comics by New York Times bestselling graphic novelist Philippa Rice based on real-life moments with her baby that chronicles the everyday moments of parenthood.

The Other People by C.J. Tudor (23 Jan) C.J Tudor's debut  The Chalk Man  became an instant bestseller and The Other People is her third novel. This is the story of a five-year-old girl who is kidnapped, and the father who never gives up his search to find her.

Agency by William Gibson (23 Jan) A speculative thriller set in a world where Brexit never happened and Trump lost the election, this is the latest work from William Gibson, the visionary author of Neuromancer .

Miss Austen by Gill Hornby (23 Jan)  The question of why Cassandra Austen burned a treasure trove of family letters – mostly ones written by her deceased sister Jane – has puzzled academics for centuries. This novel, set in 1840, attempts to unlock some of those secrets and is a must-read for Austen fans.

Mix Tape by Jane Sanderson (23 Jan)  We all remember the one that got away, but what if we got a second chance? This is a love story between Ali and Dan, who exchange songs across their phones and reminisce about young love, missed opportunities and the everlasting pull of a gifted mixtape.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line  by Deepa Anappara (30 Jan)  In one of the 2020's most promising debuts novels, award-winning journalist Deepa Anappara draws on her experience reporting from her native Kerala in southern India to tell the story of nine-year-old Jai, who decides to use his crime-solving skills – picked up from episodes of Police Patrol – to find a school friend who has gone missing.

Non-fiction books

The Squiggly Career  by Helen Tupper, Sara Ellis (9 Jan) This book helped us re-imagine our career paths. The Squiggly Career  embraces the fluidity and frequency of moving between roles and industries and is packed with insights from experts about the changing shape of work.

Mindfulness for Mums by Izzy Judd (9 Jan) In her first book, Dare to Dream , Izzy Judd shared her personal account of fertility struggles and IVF. Now a mother of two, Judd brings together a brilliant and inspiring collection of simple activities and exercises to help mothers find their own piece of calm.

Eat Green by Melissa Hemsley (9 Jan)  As we become more aware of how our eating habits can impact the planet, Melissa Hemsley, one half of the Hemsley + Hemsley sister duo, is on a mission to nudge us in the right direction. With recipes that focus on UK-grown and easy-to-buy ingredients, they promise to cut down on our food waste as well as being affordable and extremely tasty too. 

Minimal by Madeleine Olivia (9 Jan)  Environmental influencer Madeleine Olivia has amassed a huge following on YouTube with her simple but powerful message of how minimalism can be attainable for everyone. Her new book continues this message and provides an aspirational guide with practical steps on how to care for yourself and declutter your life while looking after the Earth too. 

Unfree Speech by Joshua Wong (30 Jan)  At age 14, Joshua Wong made history by staging the first-ever student protest in Hong Kong to oppose National Education – and won. Since then, he has founded Demosisto, led the Umbrella Revolution and spearheaded the Extradition Bill protests. Unfree Speech is a manifesto for global democracy by a revolutionary activist.

You’re Not Listening by Kate Murphy (23 Jan) New York Times journalist Kate Murphy is known for her accessible way of explaining complex subjects. This book draws on conversations she has had with subjects ranging from priests to CIA interrogators to her friend’s toddler to make the case why the simple act of listening properly is more difficult – and important – than you might think.

Children's books

A is for Avocado: An Alphabet Book of Plant Power   by Carolyn Suzuki (2 Jan) We all know the perils of trying to convince little ones to try a new fruit or vegetable. But despair no more. This alphabet book not only teaches tots their ABC, but also helps them learn about the power of those ‘yucky’ foods you keep trying to give them.

Unlocking the Universe  by Stephen and Lucy Hawking (9 Jan)  How did the universe begin? How did we get humans to land on the moon? Unlock your mind with this collection of essays, incredible facts and astonishing photographs from Professor Stephen Hawking, one of the greatest scientists of our time.

February's must-read books

The Last Day  by Andrew Hunter Murray (6 Feb) The year is 2059 and the world has stopped turning. One half of the earth’s surface is endless frozen night, the other nothing but burning sun. Only a slim twilit region offers hope of survival. The Last Day  is the debut novel from Andrew Hunter Murray who is a veteran QI  Elf as well as co-host of the much-loved No Such Thing As A Fish  podcast.

The Water Dancer  by Ta-Nehisi Coates (6 Feb)  This surrealist story set in the pre–Civil War deep South by the award-winning author of We Were Eight Years in Power  became a New York Times  bestseller in 2019, with book-club queen Oprah Winfrey describing it as no less than ‘one of the best books I have read in my entire life.’ 

Grown Ups  by Marian Keyes (6 Feb)  A happy family gathering turns sour when Cara suffers a concussion and can’t keep her thoughts to herself. What follows is a hilarious and jaw-dropping read about the repercussions when everyone’s secrets are revealed, from one of Britain's funniest and best-loved authors. 

Bad Island  by Stanley Donwood (13 Feb)  From the primaeval wilderness to towers of stone and smoke, Bad Island  is a starkly beautiful graphic novel made in the cult designer's distinctive monochromatic, lino-cut style that is also a stark parable about environmentalism.

Actress  by Anne Enright (20 Feb)  Booker Prize-winner Anne Enright returns with a story about the highs and lows of fame. Norah’s mother Katherine is a star, but as she starts to uncover some family secrets their lives unravel with disastrous results. An examination of the corrosive nature of celebrity.

The Memory Wood  by Sam Lloyd (20 Feb) A psychological thriller from an exciting new voice, this cat-and-mouse novel follows a disturbed adolescent called Elijah and a young girl, Elissa, whom he stumbles across after she's been abducted. Tense, creepy and impossible to predict, The Memory Wood  is not for the faint-hearted. 

Dear Edward  by Ann Napolitano (20 Feb)  Those afraid of flying look away now. This is the story of Edward, a 12-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a deadly plane crash, and later discovers sacks of letters from the relatives of the other passengers. A gripping story with a life-affirming message at its heart. The Book of Echoes  by Rosanna Amaka (27 Feb)  Debut author Rosanna Amaka began writing  The Book of Echoes  20 years ago in an attempt to give a voice to the Brixton community that was fast disappearing. It follows two young people, a boy from south east London and a girl from Lagos, as they escape their past and examines the impact of history and politics on present-day black lives. 

The Lost Pianos of Siberia by Sophy Roberts (6 Feb)  Explore the snow-bound wilderness of Siberia where humanity survives in a hostile landscape. Here, travel writer Sophy Roberts explores the country through the pianos dotted throughout this remote land, from grand instruments created in the boom years of the nineteenth century to the Soviet-made uprights found in modest homes.

How To Go To Work  by Lucy Clayton and Steven Haines (6 Feb) A whip-smart book for those starting in the workplace,  How to Go to Work  is a guide for making those first days, and first impressions, count. Written by the best in the business while drawing on insight from an array of minds such as CEOs, activists, and professionals in multiple industries, it's a humourous, whistle-stop tour of the workplace that will jump-start your career.

Wintering  by Katherine May (6 Feb)  Novelist Katherine May advocates for how the natural world can benefit our mental and emotional wellbeing in this account of her own year-long journey through a difficult winter.

A Delayed Life by Dita Kraus (6 Feb)  Dita Draus was a librarian who smuggled books past guards in Nazi Germany and became the bestselling novel The Librarian of Auschwitz in 2012. This is her real story, from growing up in Prague to the unimaginable horror she faced during her imprisonment to the life she rebuilt after the war.

Dresden by Sinclair McKay (6 Feb)  During the Allied bombing of Dresden, an estimated 25,000 citizens were killed and a whole city was destroyed. Here, author and historian Sinclair McKay draws on never-before-seen sources to relate the untold stories of those who survived. The Remarkable Life of Skin by Monty Lyman (20 Feb) Dr Monty Lyman is on a mission to show us just how remarkable the skin is, our most underrated and unexplored organ. Through science, sociology and history, he examines our microbiome, from our love of tattoos to scrutinising whether beauty products really work. He reveals how the skin is far stranger and more complex than you’ve ever imagined.

Losing Eden by Lucy Jones (27 Feb)  Losing Eden is a journey into the groundbreaking science of how our bond with the natural world affects our mental wellbeing. Vital reading at a time of rising concern over the climate crisis.

The Changing Mind by Daniel Levitin (27 Feb)  We have long been encouraged to think of old age as synonymous with deterioration. But recent studies show that our decision-making skills improve as we age, as does our happiness levels.  The Changing Mind  offers a fresh perspective on what happens to our brains as we get older and offers tips to follow during each decade of life.

The Mathematics of the Gods and the Algorithms of Men by Paolo Zellini (27 Feb)  Philosopher Paolo Zellini offers a brief cultural and intellectual history of mathematics showing how its evolution is linked with philosophical, existential and religious questions. Forget those gruelling algebra lessons and jump in with the bestselling author of A Brief History of Infinity .

Topsy and Tim: On the Farm anniversary edition by Jean and Gareth Adamson (6 Feb)  Can you believe it’s been 60 years since we met Topsy and Tim? In this special anniversary edition – with original artwork – the twins are off to the farm to help collect eggs, milk cows and feed a calf.

Charlie Morphs Into a Mammoth by Sam Copeland & Sarah Horne (6 Feb)  It may be Charlie McGuffin’s third adventure, but he’s still struggling to control his ability to turn into animals. And it doesn’t help that his parents keep arguing. And that animals keep disappearing around town. And that he doesn’t have a date to the school dance…

The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle  by Hugh Lofting (13 Feb)  Everyone’s favourite doctor heads for the high seas with his assistant Tommy Stubbins. But they end up shipwrecked on the mysterious Spidermonkey Island where they meet the equally mysterious Great Glass Sea Snail.

Orphans of the Tide  by Struan Murray & Manuel Sumberac (20 Feb) If you're bereft after finishing  His Dark Materials , try this fantasy debut. Set in the last city of a drowned world, the citizens are instantly suspicious when a mysterious boy washes in with the tide. Is he the Enemy? The god who tried to drown them all? Only young inventor Ellie believes he is not to be feared…

The Song of the Tree by Coralie Bickford-Smith (5 Mar) Lyrically written and beautifully illustrated, this new fable from Coralie Bickford-Smith is about growing up and exploring the world. Completing the bestselling trilogy that began with The Fox and the Star , The Song of the Tree is a book for young and old that celebrates community and the natural world.

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver (5 Mar)  A new romance for fans of PS I Love You and Me Before You , this story follows Lydia whose partner Freddie dies on her twenty-eighth birthday, forcing her to slowly go back out and face the world again.

Aria by Nazanine Hozar (12 Mar)  Lauded as 'a Doctor Zhivago of Iran' by no less than Margaret Atwood, this is the story of a driver named Behrouz who discovers an abandoned baby in an alleyway and decides to adopt her, changing the course of his life profoundly.

Dragman by Steven Appleby (12 Mar)   A debut, long-form graphic thriller inspired by the superhero comics the author read as a child and informed by his own secret life as a transvestite. The hero, August Crimp, gains his superpowers by wearing women’s dresses as he battles greed, evil and his own self-doubt.

The Boy From The Woods  Harlan Coben (19 Mar) From the bestselling author and creator of the hit Netflix drama,  The Stranger, comes a new thriller about a man called Wilde who, having spent his own youth lost in the backwoods of New Jersey, is called upon to help find a child who has gone missing in similar circumstances.

Keeper by Jessica Moor (19 Mar)  Keeper is the story of a woman pulled from the waters of the local suicide spot. The police decide it’s an open-and-shut case but the residents of Widringham women’s refuge don’t agree.

Marilou is Everywhere by Sarah Elaine Smith (26 Mar) A haunting debut about identity and disappearance involving two girls on the margins of society in rural Pennsylvania, one beautiful, intelligent and mixed-race and the other so-called 'white trash'.

The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld (26 Mar)  Sarah, accused of being a witch, is fleeing for her life. Ruth, in the aftermath of the Second World War, is navigating a new marriage and the strange waters of the local community. Six decades later, Viv, still mourning the death of her father, is cataloguing Ruth’s belongings in the now-empty house. The lives of three women weave together across four centuries in the dazzling new book from award-winning author, Evie Wyld.

Our House is on Fire  by Malena Ernman, Greta Thunberg, Beata Thunberg, Svante Thunberg (5 Mar)  Greta Thunberg’s one-person school strike grew into a global protest that changed the conversation around climate change. Written as a family,  Our House is on Fire  is the extraordinary story of her journey from the inside.

Table Manners: The Cookbook  by Jessie and Lennie Ware (5 Mar)  Musician Jessie Ware and her mum have won legions of fans with their hit food podcast Table Manners. From the sausage and bean casserole they made Ed Sheeran to the blackberry and custard tarts served to Nigella, this book is packed with delicious recipes and celebrity stories.

This Too Shall Pass  by Julia Samuel (5 Mar)  If change is the natural order of things, why do so many of us struggle with the milestones of life, from first jobs and first loves to children leaving home and retirement? Acclaimed psychotherapist Julia Samuel shares stories about everyday people to help us understand how we approach life's biggest challenges.

How to be Narstie  by Big Narstie (10 Mar)  Politics, drugs, race, Poundland – Big Narstie, host of Channel 4’s  The Big Narstie Show , tackles all the important topics in this hilarious part-memoir, part-guide to his world.

Cured  by Jeff Rediger (19 Mar)  For years, doctors and academics have been encouraged to think about instances of spontaneous recovery with deep suspicion but, Dr Rediger, a Harvard medical faculty member was deeply curious and cautiously, and privately, conducted his own research, keen to understand these ‘Olympians of healing’ and what we can all learn from them.

Explaining Humans: What Science can Teach Us about Life, Love and Relationships  by Camilla Pang (23 Mar) Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of eight, Camilla Pang has struggled to understand the world around her and the way people work. Now armed with a PhD in biochemistry, she explores social customs and what it really means to be human.

Falastin: A Cookbook  by Sami Tamimi and Tara Wigley (26 Mar) Falastin  is a love letter to Palestine, the land and its people; an evocative collection of over 110 recipes and stories from the co-authors of  Jerusalem  and  Ottolenghi SIMPLE . Expect stunning food and travel photography interwoven with stories from unheard Palestinian voices.

Mummy Fairy and Me: Mermaid Magic by Sophie Kinsella & Marta Kissi (5 Mar) Ella’s mummy may be a fairy, but her magic keeps going wrong. However, Ella doesn’t mind too much, especially when it means she gets to swim with real mermaids... This fourth book in the series is perfect for five to seven-year-olds.

Find The Spy by Zoë Armstrong & Shelly Laslo (19 Mar) Ever wanted to have a go at being a spy? Well, now you can. Find the real-life spies hidden throughout this book, and learn some amazing facts and top-secret skills during your search – such as coding messages and dressing in disguise.

Pablo: Pablo and the Noisy Party and Pablo: Goodnight Pablo (19 Mar) Pablo has autism so he thinks differently. Parties can be too loud and overwhelming, and night-time can be scary. But luckily, his friends and family always rally around to help him. This uplifting series by writers with ASD is a great way to help children better understand how others with autism see the world.

You might like....

  • Literary fiction books to look out for in 2020
  • Romance books to look out for in 2020
  • Sci-fi books to look out for in 2020

You People by Nikita Lalwani (2 Apr)  Lalwani’s first novel,  Gifted , was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and won the Desmond Elliott Prize. Her new story follows Tuli, the proprietor of an Italian restaurant in London, and his employee Shan who, having fled the Sri Lankan civil war, is desperate to find his family. 

The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves (2 Apr) The story of a marriage on the brink of collapse. The silence between Frank and his wife Maggie is deafening and only after a heartbreaking turn of events does Frank start to reveal the secrets that have been troubling him.

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler (9 Apr) This new novel from the bestselling author of  A Spool of Blue Thread  is a wry love story about mis-steps and second chances. It follows the eccentric but content Micah Mortimer whose life is disrupted when a teenager shows up at his door claiming to be his son. A new work from one of the most celebrated American authors of her generation.

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley (16 Apr) A life-affirming debut about six strangers who are led on an extraordinary journey of friendship and forgiveness with the help of a little green notebook.

The Better Half  by Sharon Moalem (7 Apr)  In this game-changing book, Dr. Sharon Moalem makes the case that genetic females are the stronger sex at every stage of life. Drawing on a lifetime of medical research, from neonatal studies to clinical drug trials, it's a book that pushes us to reconsider our male-centric view of medicine and health, to see humanity anew.

You Are an Artist   by Sarah Urist Green (14 Apr)  Curator and host of The Art Assignment, Sarah Urist Green shows us that you don't need to draw well or know how to stretch a canvas to be an artist, by looking at the work of over fifty contemporary figures from around the world.

The Prosecutor  by Nazir Afzal (16 Apr)  Nazir Afzal OBE is a former Chief Crown Prosecutor and Chief Executive of the UK’s Police & Crime Commissioners, who prosecuted some of the most high-profile cases in the country, from the Rochdale sex ring to the earliest prosecutions for honour killing and modern slavery.  The Prosecutor  is the compelling memoir of the man who has brought Britain’s most dangerous criminals to justice. 

Life: A User’s Manual  by Julian Baggini, Antonia Macaro (16 Apr) Renowned philosophers Antonia Macaro and Julian Baggini cover topics such as bereavement, luck, free will and relationships as they guide us through the wisdom of some of the greatest thinkers in human history, from the Stoics to Sartre.

What Have I Done?  by Laura Dockrill (23 Apr) The award-winning author and illustrator shares her devastating experience of being diagnosed with postpartum psychosis in the months after the birth of her first child. It's an unflinching memoir that breaks the silence around postnatal mental health and offers hope to all new parents.

What Stars Are Made Of by Sarah Allen (2 Apr) Twelve-year-old Libby Monroe is an aspiring scientist with a big heart. Literally in her case, as she has Turner syndrome. But that doesn’t get in the way of Libby’s plan to help her big sister Nonny out when she’s struggling financially. Fans of Wonder will love this beautiful and educational middle-grade debut.

Tales for Climate Rebels by Ben Lerwill (16 Apr) Calling all climate rebels! Read about some of the humans fighting to protect the Earth, from the well-known Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough to Len Peters, protector of the leatherback sea turtle. There’s still time to change the story.

Little World: On the Beach and Little World: At the Airport   by Samantha Meredith (30 Apr) The world is big. So, introduce little ones to it slowly with these bright and charming push-and-pull books. Tots can explore the beach in the footsteps of a lifeguard. Or journey through an airport terminal – ideal to soothe any anxiety about flying.

The Glass House by Eve Chase (14 May) When a baby is found outside a remote Manor House in an idyllic wood, she’s taken in by the Harrington family. They’ve been grieving, and the presence of the baby fills their house with joy. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities they keep her secret in a world where the law doesn’t seem to apply. But their dreams of a perfect family shatter when a body is found dead in the grounds. Years late, someone will need to piece the truth back together.

Yes to Life in Spite of Everything by Viktor Frankl (7 May)  Viktor Frankl was a prominent Viennese psychiatrist before the Second World War and his deportation to numerous ghettos and concentration camps. It was an experience that inspired him to write the worldwide bestseller  Man’s Search for Meaning . This new collection of uncovered work explores his maxim ‘Live as if you were living for the second time’ as well as his conviction that every crisis also includes an opportunity.

June book releases

Sex and Vanity  by Kevin Kwan (30 Jun) The bestselling author of  Crazy Rich Asians  is back with a new satire. When Lucie Tang Churchill meets George Zao at a lavish Capri wedding, she can’t stand him, partly because she’s worried about what her family will think of the Hong Kong surfer boy. On her return to Manhattan’s Upper East Side, she meets Cecil, a billionaire more concerned with his Instagram account than the planet, who she thinks will help her forget George. Decadent and romantic, this is a delicious look at wealth, society and love.

Peppa Pig: Peppa’s Summer Holiday (25 Jun) Is it even a summer holiday if you don’t have a flamingo inflatable? Peppa Pig and her family are off to enjoy some sun, sea and sand. Peppa can’t wait! She may even get the chance to make some new friends...

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld (9 Jul) One of our back modern writers reimagines the life of Hillary Rodham Clinton in her new, highly anticipated novel. When Hillary goes to Yale Law School, she catches the eye of the handsome and charismatic Bill Clinton. But when he asks her to marry him, Hillary very firmly turns him down. Rodham is an alternate history looking at how things might have turned out for Hillary, Bill, America and the world if Hillary hadn’t married Bill.

If I Had Your Face  by Frances Cha (23 Jul)   If I had Your Face  is set in contemporary Seoul and follows the stories of four young women struggling to survive as they navigate their modern but harsh city. A dark and unsettling debut.

Miss Benson's Beetle  by Rachel Joyce (23 Jul) In Joyce’s Booker Prize-longlisted debut,  An Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry ,  the protagonist sets out to post a letter and ends up walking from one end of the country to the other. In a similar moment of madness, Margery Benson – the heroine of Joyce’s new book, abandons her sensible job and travels to the other side of the world in search of a beetle she isn’t even sure exists. This is a story that is less about what can be found, than the belief it might be found.

Feathertide  by Beth Cartwright (30 Jul)  This fairy tale-inspired debut, perfect for fans of  The Night Circus  and  The Bear and the Nightingale , follows Marea, a girl born covered in feathers.

Burnt Sugar by Avni Doshi (30 Jul) In her youth, Tara abandoned her loveless marriage to join an ashram, had a brief stint as a beggar, and spent years chasing after a dishevelled, homeless ‘ rtist’. And she did all of it with her child in tow. Now older, she’s forgetting things, and her grown-up daughter is faced with caring a woman who never cared for her. This is a dark and sharp debut about love and betrayal between a mother daughter.

How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right  by Pandora Sykes (16 Jul) Journalist and co-host of the no.1 weekly culture podcast, The High Low, brings us essential reading for those searching for contentment by interrogating all the choices our modern world throws at us and questions what does the best life look like? Covering wellness, womanhood, consumerism and more, Sykes offers insight to encourage us to find our own happiness. 

Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood  by Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova (16 Jul)  The  RuPaul’s   Drag Race  legends, stars of UNHhhh, and expert biological women share the secrets of their feminine mystique in this satirical guide to beauty and homemaking.

Anti-social  by Nick Pettigrew (23 Jul) In a time when government cuts have brought all public services to breaking point, it is often the social worker who has the job of picking up the pieces. Anti-social is a timely, rage-inducing but often hysterically funny diary of a life spent working with the people society wants to forget. 

Fear Less  by Dr Pippa Grange (23 Jul)  We all were hooked when England reached the semi-final of the 2018 World Cup. Now meet the psychologist who helped transform the team, in her first book that shows us that by starting to live with less fear, we can find our real passions and deeper fulfilment. 

Who Cares Wins  by Lily Cole (30 Jul) Lily Cole, model, actress, philanthropist and environmental activist provides a radical guide to thinking differently about the world and initiating change. Exploring issues from fast fashion to renewable energy, this book features interviews with figure-heads in their field such as Sir David Attenborough and Extinction Rebellion co-founder Professor Gail Bradbrook. 

Mabel and the Mountain  by Kim Hillyard (9 Jul) Small but mighty – that’s the best way to describe Mabel. Even though she’s a little fly, Mabel has big plans. She’s going to climb a mountain, host a dinner party, and make friends with a shark. Easy enough, right?

The Ship of Shadows  by Maria Kuzniar (16 Jul) Aleja wants to be an explorer. Trouble is, she’s a girl. Girls can’t be explorers. But according to the crew of the Ship of Shadows, that’s not true. This band of women are on a journey to find something priceless. And Aleja is joining them.

The Unadoptables  by Hana Tooke & Ayesha L. Rubio (23 Jul) In the autumn of 1886, five babies were all abandoned by their parents. Fast forward 12 years, these babies – Lotta, Egg, Fenna, Sem and Milou – have since formed their own family. But then a mysterious and menacing gentleman turns up at the Little Tulip Orphanage and threatens to tear them apart. This calls for one thing – a daring escape across Amsterdam towards a new home...

Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Dinosaur  by Rhiannon Fielding & Chris Chatterton (23 Jul) Do you have a reluctant sleeper on your hands? Help them drift off by counting down to ten with Rumble the triceratops. Rumble would much rather go on an adventure than sleep. But adventures can be very tiring…

Summer  by Ali Smith (6 Aug)  In 2015 Ali Smith began a project to capture the essence of real-time politics set within four novels. Her Booker-shortlisted  Seasons  cycle is completed this year with her final book,  Summer .

Sisters   by Daisy Johnson (13 Aug) With its roots in psychological horror,  Sisters  is a taut, powerful and deeply moving account of sibling love that cements Daisy Johnson’s place as one of the most inventive and exciting young writers today, following the shortlisting of her debut novel,  Everything Under , for the Booker prize.

The Intoxicating Mr Lavelle  by Neil Blakemore (13 Aug) The Favourite  meets an 18th-century  Talented Mr Ripley  with this high-octane, darkly funny and richly detailed historical page-turner about the thrill of first love and the devastating power of scandal.

Anxious People by Fredrick Backman (20 Aug)  The curious story of a bank robber who takes a group of people hostage while on the run. But when he sets everyone free and the police storm the apartment, he has seemingly vanished into thin air. Part comedy, part mystery, this is a literary locked room.

Eight Detectives  by Alex Pavesi (20 Aug) One of 2020’s most meta books, a former writer lives a life of seclusion but when his work is being republished, his new, ambitious editor comes to visit. She quickly realises all is not what it seems in his murderous stories and the detail seems to contain clues to a real-life, unsolved crime. An intelligent murder mystery with a twist. 

Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh (27 Aug) Booker Prize-longlisted author Sophie Mackintosh has created a dreamlike and intense dystopian world in her new book, Blue Ticket . Its protagonist is Calla, who lives in a world that runs on a lottery system. On the day of your first bleed, you report to the station to find out what type of woman you’ll be. Those who get white tickets have children, those who have blue tickets get freedom. And there’s no going back, even if the life you’re given is the wrong one. A look at motherhood and free will, this book is already garnering comparisons to Margaret Atwood ’s The Handmaid’s Tale . 

Bunker  by Bradley L. Garrett (4 Aug)  An exploration of ‘prepping’ culture, where urban explorer Bradley Garrett examines the global and rapidly growing movement. From doomsday bunkers in the American mid-West to eco-fortresses in Thailand,  Bunker  explores humanity’s greatest fears, including climate change and nuclear war.

Owls of the Eastern Ice  by Jonathan Slaght (4 Aug)  As one of the world's foremost experts on the Blakiston's fish owl, Jonathan Slaght tells the story of his decades-long quest to safeguard the world's largest and most elusive owl from extinction in Eastern Russia. A breathtaking nature and adventure story,  Owls of the Eastern Ice  is a timely meditation on our relationship with the natural world and what it means to devote one's life to a single pursuit.

Inge’s War  by Svenja O’Donnell (6 Aug)  A family memoir covering one woman’s exploration of a German grandmother’s experiences during the Second World War.  Inge's War  listens to the voices that are often missing from our historical narrative – in this case, that of a German woman caught up on the wrong side of history.

Intimations by Zadie Smith (6 Aug) There have been hundreds of pieces written already about the pandemic and its effects, including the lockdown, but few are as clear-sighted as these essays by Zadie Smith . This short collection of six essays is a personal and powerful look at lockdown, and the period just before. Reviewing the book in The Guardian , Tessa Hadley said it would "endure as a beautiful thing”. 

A Dutiful Boy  by Mohsin Zaidi (20 Aug)  A coming-of-age memoir about growing up queer in a strict Muslim household – Mohsin Zaidi was the first person from his school to go to Oxford University where he studied law before becoming a top criminal barrister. Although Zaidi’s story takes harrowing turns it is full of life and humour, and it ends inspiringly. If you enjoyed Tara Westover's  Educated  then this is the book for you. 

Dreaming in a Nightmare by Jeremiah Emmanuel (20 Aug) At just 20 years old, Jeremiah Emmanuel is already a pretty impressive person: a former deputy young mayor of Lambeth and member of the UK Youth Parliament, he’s an activist and entrepreneur who’s rubbed shoulders with the likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson. In Dreaming in a Nightmare , Emmanuel writes about growing up in an area of South London where he saw violence and poverty every day, and discusses the problems faced by a new generation of young people. Honest and inspiring, this is a book about to make the world a better place. 

Diary of an Apprentice Astronaut by Samantha Cristoforetti (27 Aug) Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti spent two hundred days orbiting around Earth on the International Space Station. In her memoir, she chronicles her journey to fulfilling her dreams, from the years of training to the many years spent travelling around the world experiencing new languages and cultures, technology and nature.

Jonathan the Magic Pony   by Stuart Heritage & Nicola Slater (20 Aug) Jonathan claims to be a brilliant magician but his tricks are kind of... bad. Sure, he can wave his magic wand and make things disappear. That’s impressive. The problem is making them reappear. And Jonathan has just magicked away Sarah’s beloved bear…

Us Three  by Ruth Jones (3 Sep)  Ruth Jones’ debut,  Never Greener , became a number one bestseller in 2018 and now she returns with a story about friendship.  Us Three  follows three besties whose bonds are shaken to the core after a trip of a lifetime.

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (3 Sep) Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron meet every week in their peaceful retirement village to investigate unsolved murders. But when a brutal killing takes place on their doorstep, they find themselves thrust into their very first live case. The four might be pushing 80, but they’ve still got a few tricks up their sleeves, and are determined to track the killer down. This is the first novel from television presenter Richard Osman , and is perfect for fans of his dry wit, as well as crime and thriller lovers. 

Islands of Mercy  by Rose Tremain (10 Sep) This novel for the senses will take you from the confines of an English tearoom to the rainforests of a tropical island via the slums of Dublin and the transgressive fancy-dress boutiques of Paris, as the bestselling author of  The Road , explores the human urge to seek sanctuary.

V2 by Robert Harris (17 Sep) Robert Harris ’ latest thriller is set during the Second World War, where Rudi Graf and his friend Werner von Braun have helped create the world's most sophisticated weapon - the V2 ballistic missile. In 1944, Graf finds himself in a bleak seaside town in Occupied Holland where he’s tasked with firing the V2s at London. Kay Caton-Walsh is an officer in the WAAF who joins a unit on a mission to locate and destroy the V2 launch sites. Harris deftly weaves history with fiction in a story that will have you glued to the page. 

Just Like You by Nick Hornby (17 Sep) What if your perfect match – someone with the same background, same age, same interests – is wildly disastrous? Where do you go from there. In his tender and funny novel Just Like You , Nick Hornby gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person, who’s nothing like you at all. 

English Pastoral by James Rebanks (3 Sep) James Rebanks ’ grandfather taught him to work the land in the old way, but by the time he inherited the family farm in the Lake District hills, the landscape had changed. English Pastoral is Rebanks’ story of how rural landscapes around the world were brought close to collapse, but it’s also a hopeful book about a farmer who used the past to guide him to salvage a tiny corner of English and leave a legacy for the future.

AZADI by Arundhati Roy (3 Sep) Azadi is the Urdu word for freedom, and the meaning of freedom is at the centre of this essay collection by award-winning author Arundhati Roy . From the freedom struggle in Kashmir to the rise of Hindu nationalism and a world gripped by a global pandemic, Roy challenges us to reflect on what freedom actually consists of in a world of growing authoritarianism. 

Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussain (3 Sep) Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain returns to her baking roots in her new book, which will teach you how to bake incredible cakes, pastries, pies and puddings for every occasion. The book includes both classics and twists on established recipes, in true Hussain style. 

Metropolis   by Ben Wilson (3 Sep) Metropolis  is a dazzling, globe-spanning history of humankind’s greatest invention: the city. Rich with individual characters, scenes and snapshots of daily life, the book combines scholarship and storytelling in a terrifically engaging, stylishly written history of the world through an urban lens.

To be a Gay Man  by Will Young (3 Sep)  Will Young is passionate about raising awareness and helping others so they don’t have to go through what he did – depression, anxiety, addiction to alcohol, porn, shopping and even love, plus a sizeable bill for therapy. The million-selling pop star and co-host of influential podcast Homo Sapiens is calling for an end to society’s legacy of gay shame, revealing the impact it had on his own life, how he learned to deal with it and how he learnt to be gay and happy.

More Than a Woman by Caitlin Moran (3 Sep) It’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a decade since Caitlin Moran ’s game-changing How to be a Woman , which looked at feminism, the patriarchy and the general difficulties of growing up.

Now Moran is turning her gaze onto middle age, a period of her life when she thought she’d have everything sorted. But there are now a whole new set of questions to be answered, from whether feminists can have Botox to what mean are really thinking and why there isn’t such a thing as a “Mum Bod”. Funny and astute, More Than a Woman is a guide to getting older, and a celebration of middle-aged women.

Just Us by Claudia Rankine (8 Sep) In a world that seems increasingly divided and confrontational, how do we have conversations which could help solve our problems? In Just Us , Claudia Rankine tries to provide the answer. The book is a collection of essays that explores whiteness and white supremacy, and how we can breach the silence, guilt and violence that surround whiteness. Also including images and poems, Rankine’s own text is accompanied by facing-page notes and commentary. Intimate and true, this is a valuable read for anyone who wants to stop arguing and start listening. 

Tomorrow Will be a Good Day by Captain Tom Moore (17 Sep) In April 2020, at the heigh of the Covid-19 pandemic and in the middle of a lockdown in the UK, then 99-year-old Captain Tom Moore undertook a challenge to raise £1,000 for the NHS by walking laps of his garden. The Second World War veteran ended up raising more than £30m. In Tomorrow Will be a Good Day , Moore tells the story of the man behind the news stories, covering his years in the Armed Forces, how he competitively raced motorbikes and more. An inspirational read, this is a book to give us hope in a year that has been filled with sorrow. 

No Rules Rules  by Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer (24 Sep)  From unlimited holidays to abolishing financial approvals, Netflix offers a fundamentally different way to run any organization. For anyone interested in creativity and productivity, this innovative culture is something close to a holy grail. Here the CEO, Reed Hastings, shares the secrets that have revolutionised the entertainment and tech industries. 

This Land by Owen Jones (24 Sep) Journalist Owen Jones turns an unflinching eye to the Left’s attempt to upturn the established political order, an attempt which came to a halt in December 2019 when Jeremy Corbyn led Labour to its worst electoral defeat since 1935. This honest look at the movement is also a journey through a tumultuous decade in British politics, and a plea to learn from our past if we’re to try and build a better future. 

The Puffin Book of Big Dreams (3 Sep) Our younger cousin Puffin turns 80 this year! And the celebrations are in full swing. They’ve put together this bumper anthology of stories, poems and illustrations from some of our favourite children’s authors, including Jacqueline Wilson, Malorie Blackman, Tom Fletcher and Humza Arshad. This is a magical book that both new and long-time Puffin readers will enjoy.

Into the Spotlight by Carrie Hope Fletcher & Kiersten Eagan (17 Sep) Carrie Hope Fletcher’s new novel is a beautiful contemporary tale that follows three adopted girls who live in an old theatre with their eccentric Great Aunt Maud. Inspired by Noel Streatfeild’s Ballet Shoes and Carrie’s own West End roots, at its core this is a story about finding the courage to be what you want despite where you come from.

Ten Minutes to Bed: Little Unicorn's Birthday by Rhiannon Fielding & Chris Chatterton (17 Sep) Twinkle the unicorn from our much-loved Ten Minutes to Bed series is back and it’s her birthday. She’s having a sleepover and has such a fun evening planned ahead. There’s going to be presents, cake, party games and even fireworks. With all this excitement going on, how does her dad expect her and her friends to go to sleep? A gentle tale that is perfect for winding down little ones at bedtime.

Trio by William Boyd (8 Oct) In the summer of 1968 – the year of the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, riots in Paris and a Vietnam War that is out of control – three artists in Brighton are all hiding secrets. Elfrida is drowning her writer's block in vodka; Talbot, coping with the daily dysfunction of making a film, is hiding something in a secret apartment; and the glamorous Anny is wondering why the CIA is suddenly so interested in her. As their private worlds begin to take over their public ones, inevitably one or all of them are going to crack.

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton (15 Oct) The author of Everything I Know About Love turns her hand to fiction for the first time with Ghosts , a story about a 30-something food writer. Nina Dean is successful and has loving friends and family but her 30s have not been the liberating and uncomplicated period she expected. When she meets Max, who tells her on the first date that he’s going to marry her, she knows the time is perfect for a relationship. A novel about missed opportunities, moving on and a life of change, this is deftly observed. 

Love  by Roddy Doyle (15 Oct)  Two friends meet for a catch-up over a pint in a Dublin bar, but when Joe recounts a secret, it leads the two men on a bender back to their regular beer-fused haunts... A hymn to love and youth from one of Ireland’s leading authors. 

Troy by Stephen Fry (29 Oct) In a continuation of his retellings of myths and legends – previous books are Mythos and Heroes – Stephen Fry turns his attention to the kidnapping of Helen and the 10-year-long siege of a city. In Troy, Fry retells the story of the war between the Greeks and the Trojans for the modern age. Troy’s heroism and hatred, desire and despair, will speak to us as much as they did to ancient audiences. 

The S S Officer’s Armchair   by Daniel Lee (1 Oct)  After discovering a stash of personal documents covered in swastikas and sewn into the cushion of an armchair, Daniel Lee follows the trail of cold calls, coincidences and family secrets, to uncover the life of what seemed to be just another Nazi officer. But as he delves deeper the life of one Dr Robert Griesinger from Stuttgart, reveals to be much more sinister. Through his investigation, Lee attempts to understand how regimes like the Nazis' are made not by monsters, but by ordinary people. 

A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough (1 Oct) Naturalist and British legend David Attenborough new book is a vision for the future of our world that takes a look at our slow destruction of it over decades. The 93-year-old TV presenter will talk about the loss of Earth’s wild places and some of its biodiversity, and see how we came to be in a situation where the survival of our planet is at risk. But A Life on Our Planet is not all doom and gloom – Attenborough believes we still have a chance to set things on the right course, and this book will show us the way. 

The Lost Spells by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris (1 Oct) This pocket-sized treasure of natural spell-poems and artwork is the perfect jolt of magic into our everyday lives. The “spells” in the book take their subject from common animals, trees and flowers, including the Barn Owl, the Silver Birch and the Red Fox. Written to be read out loud, The Lost Spells is about summoning back that which has been lost from our natural environment, and celebrating our sense of wonder at nature. 

Making a Psychopath  by Dr Mark Freestone (15 Oct)  Find out what truly makes a psychopath, from the leading expert who helped to create  Killing Eve’s  Villanelle. Dr Mark Freestone has worked on some of the most interesting, infamous and disturbing psychopath cases of recent times and is now sharing his phenomenal insight.

Limitless: The Autobiography by Tim Peake (15 Oct) Astronaut Tim Peake has inspired thousands, and in his autobiography he’ll tell his story in fascinating and personal detail. Limitless will chart Peake’s surprising path to becoming an astronaut, and will also take readers on a journey to space. Peake will write about the sacrifices astronauts make, and the experiences they go through to create a book that is about the power of following your dreams.

The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza (22 Oct) The co-founder of Black Lives Matter tells both her own story and the story of the movement in The Purpose of Power . Alicia Garza gives readers an insight into how grass roots organising can deliver basic needs, which also talking about her experience of life a Black woman. An essential and urgent look at how we can build movements to create a just and equal world. 

Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson (29 Oct) Few people can make food sound decadent and delicious through writing, but thank goodness that Nigella Lawson is one of them. Cook, Eat, Repeat is a book of narrative essays about food, covering topics including what a recipe is, the death of the “guilty pleasure” and a defence of “brown food”. And of course, there are plenty of recipes – from Brown Butter Colcannon to Rhubarb and Custard Trifle – for all seasons and tastes. Yum. 

Really Saying Something by Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward (29 Oct) Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward met in the school playground when they were four, and years later became known across the world as the pop group Bananarama. This memoir tells their story, from living in a YMCA to being immersed in Soho’s thriving club scene to teaming up with Siobhan Fahey to form Bananarama. Filled with never-before-seen photographs and brimming with anecdotes, this is a must for all music fans. 

The Danger Gang by Tom Fletcher & Shane Devries (1 Oct) Franky has just moved to a new town with his family and things get weird, pretty quickly. Following a strange storm that batters the town with green lightning and earth-shattering thunder, Franky and the other kids on his street find themselves feeling different. You might even say a little superhuman…

Frostheart: Escape From Aurora by Jamie Littler (1 Oct) The sequel to Jamie Littler’s thrilling Frostheart continues to follow Ash and his friends as they search for his parents. The crew find themselves at the extraordinary stronghold of Aurora; majestic, immense, bustling, it’s unlike anything Ash has ever experienced. But Aurora is not a safe place and a vicious attack soon leaves Ash and his friends stranded on the ice. Will they ever reach safety?

Captain Sir Tom Moore: One Hundred Steps  by Captain Tom Moore & Adam Larkum (1 Oct) Captain Tom become a national hero earlier this year when he raised nearly £40 million for the NHS in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. And so, it’s only fair we tell the story of this amazing man. Beautifully illustrated by Adam Larkum, you’ll learn about Tom’s humble beginnings in Yorkshire, his adventures around the world, and how he came to raise such a staggering sum.

Serpentine  by Philip Pullman & Tom Duxbury (15 Oct) We can’t think of a better story for the winter months than Serpentine, which takes us back to the world of Lyra Silvertongue and her daemon Pantalaimon. In this story, which takes place after the events of  Philip Pullman ’s  His Dark Materials  trilogy, Lyra and Pantalaimon return to the North to visit an old friend and discover things aren’t exactly as they seem. The book is illustrated throughout by Tom Duxbury and is perfect for existing fans of His Dark Materials and those who want a quick introduction to the world. 

The Witches   by Roald Dahl & Quentin Blake (29 Oct) As we all know, witches  look  like ordinary women. But they’re not. They really hate children and are determined to exterminate every single child! Grab a copy of Roald Dahl’s well-loved tale before the new film – starring Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci and Chris Rock – comes out this year 2020. We all need to be on the lookout.

Mr Wilder and Me by Jonathan Coe (5 Nov) Award-winning author Jonathan Coe ’s new novel is set in the heady summer of 1977, when a naive young woman called Calista sets out from Athens to venture into the wider world. On a Greek island that has been turned into a film set, she finds herself working for the famed Hollywood director Billy Wilder. As Calista embarks on a new adventure, Billy is living with the realisation that his star might be waning. A coming of age novel that is also a reimagining of history: Wilder was a real film director whose career spanned more than five decades. 

Because They Wanted To by Mary Gaitskill (5 Nov) This collection of short stories was first published in the 1990s, and was a bestseller at the time. It explores connection and disconnection in families, between friends and between ex-lovers, and is a perfect collection about alienation in modern times. 

The Cancer Journals by Audre Lorde (5 Nov) Feminist writer and civil rights activist Audre Lorde died of cancer in 1992. The story of her illness is told, in her words, in The Cancer Journals . From biopsy to mastectomy, this book moves between journal entry, memoir, and essay, with Lorde melding the personal and political to look at the many questions breast cancer raises. This is a beautiful and intimate look at survival and self-acceptance.

Poor by Caleb Femi (5 Nov)

Caleb Femi’s Poor is an extraordinary combination of poetry and original photography, which combine to explore the trials, tribulations and joys of young Black boys growing up in 21st Century Peckham. A nuanced look at gentrification, inspirational people and the world that shaped Femi, who told Penguin.co.uk that he sees himself as an archivist .

A Promised Land by Barack Obama (17 Nov)

It’s probably no exaggeration to say that this was the most anticipated book of 2020, even if at the beginning of the year very people knew it would be released.

In this first volume of his memoirs, Barack Obama tells the story of his earliest political aspirations through to the end of his first term in office. The book taught us lots of surprising things , and built upon the legacy of the Obama family . 

Unbound  by Kasia Urbaniak (19 Nov) Lessons in power, influence and persuasion from a former dominatrix and nun. Yes, you read that right. On her 17-year long journey to become a nun, Kasia Urbaniak also worked as a high-paid dominatrix in NYC. She shows how to cut through self-doubt and function in an unequal world. 

Couch Fiction by Philippa Perry and Flo Perry (26 Nov) Psychotherapist and bestselling author Philippa Perry and illustrator Flo Perry – author of How to Have Feminist Sex – have created this graphic novel guide to therapy. Annotated with footnotes, this book is a witty and thought-provoking exploration of the therapeutic journey.

Blue Planet II by Leisa Stewart-Sharpe & Emily Dove (5 Nov) The underwater wonders seen in the hit TV series have been brought to life on paper. Our planet is unique in that 71 per cent of it is covered by ocean, yet there is still so much that we do not know. But what we do know is awe-inspiring. Illustrated by Emily Dove, you’ll be taken on a journey through coral reefs, roam the oceanic forests and gardens, discover the inhabitants of the deep – and that’s only the beginning.

The Puffin Keeper by Michael Morpurgo & Benji Davies (12 Nov) Inspired by the Puffin man himself, master storyteller Michael Morpurgo writes this inspiring and heart-warming new tale. Benjamin Postlewaithe is dedicated to his work as a lighthouse keeper on Puffin Island. One stormy night, a ship is driven by angry seas to the rocks and so Benjamin rows back and forth bringing all the passengers safely to land. He unwittingly forms a lifelong friendship with the young boy he saves, and many years later they rescue an injured Puffin together.

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

By signing up, I confirm that I'm over 16. To find out what personal data we collect and how we use it, please visit our Privacy Policy

The Best Books to Elevate Your Reading List in 2020

The best fiction and nonfiction of the year covers everything from teenage sexuality to Big Tech, while also telling deeply human stories of identity, romance, and family.

best books 2020

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.

Before this singularly unusual year barrels to an end, we all have one more hurdle to cross: an atypical holiday season. To stop the spread, many Americans will be celebrating the holidays alone or in smaller gatherings, meaning that for some, dread and loneliness are already creeping in. But rest assured, you're never alone in the company of a good book.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation, by Anne Helen Petersen

In this razor-sharp book of cultural criticism spun off from her viral BuzzFeed article , journalist and academic Anne Helen Petersen explores the forces that have left a much-maligned generation feeling disempowered and dispossessed, from the gig economy to the monetization of hobbies to the identity-bending influence of social media. With blistering prose and all-too vivid reporting, Petersen lays bare the burnout and despair of millennials, while also charting a path to a world where members of her generation can feel as if the boot has been removed from their necks. 

Graywolf Press Just Us: An American Conversation, by Claudia Rankine

The visionary writer of Citizen returns with Just Us , a lyric arrangement of poems, essays, and images asking how a historically divided nation might come together to dismantle white supremacy. In a far-ranging imagined conversation, a chorus of disparate voices engage in a call and response discussion, with each encounter rooted in a different corner of American life. In Citizen , Rankine redefined how we think about and understand race; in Just Us , she redefines how we might converse about race across divisions, making for a meditative, powerful rumination on the life-changing importance of hard conversations, even in the absence of answers.

Knopf Publishing Group Red Pill, by Hari Kunzru

A master of weaving political life and postmodern anxiety into fiction, Kunzru, the acclaimed author of White Tears , returns to form with Red Pill , a dazzling novel about an American writer abroad who falls down the rabbit hole of alt-right message boards and government conspiracies. Rarely has our contemporary animus been so nakedly illuminated on the page, with Kunzru spinning a dizzying allegory from the puzzling, paranoid mind of a narrator set adrift in unreality.

Pizza Girl, by Jean Kyoung Frazier

In Frazier’s explosive debut novel, our nameless narrator is eighteen, pregnant, and feeling adrift as she stumbles through her days as a Los Angeles pizza delivery driver, all the while grieving the death of her alcoholic father and avoiding the smothering ministrations of her loving mother and boyfriend. Everything changes when she delivers a peculiar order to a suburban housewife, who becomes the locus of a pyschosexual obsessesion with dangerous consequences. In just 193 wry, propulsive pages, Pizza Girl hurtles through the dark waters of obsession and addiction, as our dysfunctional Pizza Girl downs Miller Lites while studiously avoiding any semblance of forward motion. Yet at the same time, the novel bristles with biting wit and optimism, each page a feast of Cheeto-fingered heart, humor, and lyricism.

Must I Go, by Yiyun Li

In  Must I Go , Li captures a difficult woman nearing the end of her days. At age 88, after three husbands, five children, and seventeen grandchildren, Lilia Liska looks back on her uncompromising life from the numbing stasis of a nursing home, where she fills her hours annotating the newly published diaries of Roland Bouley, a deceased writer with whom she once had a fleeting affair. Though Lilia was merely a footnote in Roland’s life, she wars with his recollection of events, speculating about his two great loves while shading in the brutal details of her own long-buried personal history. She returns unendingly to the memory of her daughter Lucy, who took her own life at 27, and to the bottomless grief of losing a child to suicide. Li's greatest talent lies in her peerless experimentation with our language of human emotion—its insufficiencies, its dissatisfactions, its refusal to capture the depth and breadth of our feelings.  Must I Go  is another remarkable entry in Li’s decades-long tug-of-war with the English language, which, luckily for her devoted readers, shows no signs of abating anytime soon. 

Boys of Alabama, by Genevieve Hudson

When Max relocates from the cool reserve of Germany to the sweaty American south, he brings along a host of supernatural secrets. But as he’s embraced by his new football teammates, his red dirt Alabama surroundings, steeped in the past and unwaveringly Christian, make him question everything—from his faith and sexuality to the very nature of his desire. Hudson’s debut, written in undeniable, visceral prose, is downright ravishing.  —Madison Vain

A Children's Bible, by Lydia Millet

From one of our finest writers of climate fiction comes a harrowing novel of environmental dystopia, wherein a group of families summering together at a vacation home are stranded by the climate apocalypse. When the storm to end all storms descends on their remote rental, the teenagers conclude that their debauched parents are unfit to care for them and strike out on their own, only to encounter all manner of biblical calamities in the wilderness. In an age when the dispossessed young generation blames the pillaging older generation for their ravaged environmental inheritance, Millet’s work has never been more timely.

How Much of These Hills Is Gold, by C. Pam Zhang

In this glittering debut, Zhang sets the scene in the dying days of the gold rush, where two orphaned children of Chinese immigrants roam the ravaged American west in search of a new home, only to meet hostility everywhere they go—not just from the unforgiving landscape, but from the racist and inhospitable locals. As these siblings form their nascent identities under the colossal weight of their loss, they reimagine their own history and their own heritage. This novel is at once a thrilling adventure, a tender coming-of-age story, an excavation of the corrosive mythmaking surrounding the American west, and the arrival of a major literary talent.

Celadon Books Hollywood Park, by Mikel Jollett

Not many rock memoirs begin on the grounds of an infamous American cult, but that’s just one of the things about the Airborne Toxic Event frontman’s personal tome that separates it from the droves. Cinematic in its recounting of his family’s exit from the Synanon commune in California, Jollet’s subsequent unraveling of the abuses that shaped his stolen childhood is piercing. His pain feels at once unknowable and universal, and his rhapsodic writing makes  Hollywood Park  impossible to put down.  —Madison Vain

They Wish They Were Us, by Jessica Goodman

Entree into the ruling inner circle of Long Island’s elite Gold Coast Prep gets served up deliciously in this debut YA novel from  Cosmopolitan  senior editor Jessica Goodman. The chilling murder mystery is an irresistible hook, but it’s the careful building of each character’s fraught, internal conflicts that really digs in, elevating the work from a high society whodunit to a knowing mission to not just uncover one’s own identity, but to build it.  —Madison Vain   

Long Time Coming: Reckoning with Race in America, by Michael Eric Dyson

Dyson’s formidable twenty-third book sees its author hold a poignant conversation with Black Americans killed at the hands of police officers—a conversation that occurs “with them, about them, through them, sometimes to them and beyond them.” In five elegantly argued chapters, each framed as a wrenching letter to Black victims of racist terror from Breonna Taylor to Eric Garner, Dyson traces the abhorrent legacy of systemic racism, from centuries-ago slave ships to contemporary police violence. Together, the letters depict “the gallery of grief that grips the collective Black soul,” whether the grief takes root in police violence or in the quotidian daily assaults on Black personhood. Inspired by the colossal worldwide protests after the murder of George Floyd,  Long Time Coming  is at once a blistering chronicle of Black pain and a rousing call to arms, each chapter threaded through with an indefatigable hope for progress.

What Would Frida Do?: A Guide to Living Boldly, by Arianna Davis

If all you know about Frida Kahlo is her visionary artwork, then you're long overdue for a re-education. Get your feet wet with Davis' luminous mediation on Kahlo's extraordinary life, where self-help meets biography in an inspiring narrative of what modern women can learn from one of the twentieth century's greatest artists. From Kahlo's brazen creativity to her unapologetic politics, her boldness in marriage to her lifelong battle with chronic illness, Davis explores the contemporary lessons we can mine from Kahlo's courageous way of life. 

The Arrest, by Jonathan Lethem

From one of our finest novelists comes an ambitious new work of speculative fiction, set in a ravaged world where, in an event referred to as “The Arrest,” all electronics and appliances have spontaneously broken down. Sandy Duplessis, formerly a Hollywood script doctor, now assists the butcher and delivers groceries in rural Maine, where he reflects often on the high-flying years he spent working with Hollywood power broker Peter Todbaum. Sandy’s fragile peace is interrupted when Todbaum crashes into town behind the wheel of a nuclear-powered supervehicle, which he drove across the United States for suspect reasons, leaving a trail of destruction and dishonesty in his wake. In Sandy’s madcap adventure to stop his onetime partner, Lethem sends up our cultural obsession with post-apocalyptic stories, making for a wry, spirited novel that will linger in your imagination for years to come.

Memorial, by Bryan Washington

The acclaimed author of  Lot  returns with another dazzling foray into literary Houston , where he turns his lens to two complicated men: Benson, a Black daycare teacher, and Mike, a Japanese-American chef. Benson and Mike’s years-long live-in relationship is on the rocks, with each one of them too apathetic to rekindle their romance or to end it. Their companionable stasis is turned upside down when Mike receives news that his estranged father is dying in Japan just as his mother arrives on their doorstep, forcing Benson and Mitsuko to become unlikely roommates in Mike’s absence. With crackling dialogue and gimlet-eyed humor, Washington paints a vivid, poignant portrait of how love, romantic and familial, is weathered and ultimately deepened by time.

African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song, by Kevin Young

In this landmark volume, clocking in at a whopping 1170 pages, one of our most talented contemporary poets presents the most ambitious anthology of Black poetry ever published. Beginning in 1770 and culminating in the artistic outpouring emerging through the Black Lives Matter movement, Young spotlights 250 important poets, each situated in an incisive historical and literary framework. Young also takes care to spotlight poetic movements and writing collectives, tracing the influence of creatives on the development of other creatives. Together, these 250 voices, old and new, celebrated and neglected, form a dazzling symphony of talent across generations, making for a breathtaking, expansive canon.

The Office of Historical Corrections, by Danielle Evans

In the ten years since  Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self , readers have waited anxiously for Danielle Evans’ next outing; at last,  The Office of Historical Corrections  is here, and it exceeds all expectations. In seven sly, haunting stories, Evans reflects our madcap world back at us, delivering a dazzling dissection of our twisted attitudes about race, culture, history, and truth. In one memorable story, a white college student is desperate to reinvent herself after a photo of her in a Confederate bikini goes viral; in another, a historian works to uncover the truth of a long-past racist tragedy. Incisive, nuanced, and deliciously complex, each of these stories proves that Evans is a bravura talent.

World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

In her sensational debut book of nonfiction, Nezhukumatathil, an award-winning poet, turns her attention to the natural world, with a lyrical and imagistic look at the minor daily miracles of life on Earth, visible to anyone who stops to bear witness. In thirty bewitching essays, Nezhukumatathil spotlights natural astonishments raining from monsoon season in India to clusters of fireflies in western New York, each one a microcosm of joy and amazement. With her ecstatic prose and her rapturous powers of insight, Nezhukumatathil proves herself a worthy spiritual successor to the likes of Mary Oliver and Annie Dillard, setting the bar high for a new generation of nature writers.

Jack, by Marilynne Robinson

In the fourth installment of her towering  Gilead  cycle, Robinson returns as ever to the enchanting town of Gilead, Iowa, her playground for soulful contemplation of the American spirit. In this volume, Robinson introduces Jack, the prodigal son of the local minister, and Della, the schoolteacher and preacher’s daughter who captures his heart. Their interracial love is star-crossed, yet Robinson traces it to its bitter end, exploring how love, even when it’s painful, conveys salvation to both the faithful and the faithless. In  Gilead , Robinson wrote, “This is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.” So too does  Jack , another sublime, rapturous entry into a breathtaking series.

Leave the World Behind, by Rumaan Alam

In Alam’s outstanding third novel, a white family’s getaway to a rented Hamptons home is disrupted by the midnight arrival of an older Black couple, who claim to own the home and ask to stay the night, as New York City has become shrouded in total darkness during an ominous blackout. With an apocalypse looming outside their walls, together the two families must endure an uncomfortable dark night of the soul, wrestling with their suspicions of one another while forming fragile bonds. Riveting and claustrophobic,  Leave the World Behind  invites us to sit with our discomfort and reflect on our own rushed judgments, delivering a dazzling and dark examination of family, race, class, and what matters most when the impossible becomes possible. 

The Cold Millions, by Jess Walter

In his first novel since 2012’s sensational  Beautiful Ruins , Walter puts forth his most ambitious work yet, solidifying his place in the contemporary canon as one of our most gifted builders of fictional worlds. Set in the early twentieth century,  The Cold Millions  follows Gig and Rye Dolan, two orphaned brothers who hop freight trains through the American West in search of a living wage. Their travels take them to Spokane, Washington, where they find themselves swept up in the burgeoning labor rights movement and the free speech riots that rocked Spokane. It’s often said that a novel contains the world; Walter brings new meaning to this phrase, peopling  The Cold Millions  with vaudeville stars, hobos, suffragists, tycoons, union agitators, policemen, and dozens of other vibrant characters. Warm and deeply humane, this transporting novel is a staggering achievement from a landmark writer. 

preview for HDM All sections playlist - Esquire

@media(max-width: 73.75rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.4375rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}}@media(min-width: 64rem){.css-1ktbcds:before{margin-right:0.5625rem;color:#FF3A30;content:'_';display:inline-block;}} Best of 2020 Guide

best romantic movies on netflix

The Best TV Series of 2020

best albums of 2020

The Best Albums of 2020

best songs of 2020

The Best Songs of 2020

best cookbooks 2020

The Best Cookbooks (and Cocktail Books) of 2020

best movies of 2020

The Best Movies of 2020

The Coolest New Tech and Gadgets of 2020

best video games 2020

The 11 Best Video Games of the Year

Hair, Face, People, Hairstyle, Skin, Eyebrow, Head, Beauty, Forehead, Cheek,

The Best Netflix Original Shows of 2020

Eyewear, Face, Head, Ear, Nose, Vision care, Hairstyle, Sunglasses, Facial hair, Collar,

The Best Netflix Original Movies of 2020

sexiest movies 2020

The Sexiest Movies of 2020 So Far

People, Human, Photography,

The 2020 Movies That Are Streaming Online Early

The Best Fiction Books Coming Out in 2020

New year, new novels to add to our TBR lists.

best-fiction-books-2020

Every item on this page was chosen by a Woman's Day editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

Maybe you want to read the latest work of your favorite fiction authors. Maybe you want to check out a debut from a new author. Whether you’re into thrillers, sci-fi, literary fiction, or historical fiction, 2020’s most promising new releases have something for everyone. Here are just 16 new fiction books that should be required reading in 2020.

'Long Bright River' by Liz Moore

'Long Bright River' by Liz Moore

This thriller tells the story Mickey, a Philly cop, and Kacey, her addict sister who disappears on Mickey's beat. But Kacey's disappearance isn't the only mystery Mickey has to solve, because right after Kacey goes missing, a string of unsolved murders plagues Mickey's district. 

Release Date: Jan. 7, 2020

'Mr. Nobody' by Catherine Steadman

'Mr. Nobody' by Catherine Steadman

From the author of Something in the Water comes this new thriller about a man who washes up on a English beach with no identification, no memories, and a strange magnetism that attracts everyone he meets. The country’s leading neuropsychiatrist is called in to figure out who this man is, but unfortunately, that means returning to the town she left behind 14 years ago. 

Release Date:  Jan. 7, 2020

'The Vanished Birds' by Simon Jimenez

In this debut sci-fi novel, a woman adrift in space and time meets a boy who has fallen from the sky and who can only communicate through his flute. The two form a bond and travel together, though their new family is threatened when the boy's past comes back to haunt him. 

Release Date:  Jan. 14, 2020

MIRA 'A Beginning At the End' by Mike Chen

This apocalyptic thriller takes place six years after a global pandemic wipes out the majority of the planet, following the survivors as they attempt to rebuild the country and move on from their loses. Four strangers who want to escape their pasts decide to band together, but their attempt to run is challenged by reports of another outbreak. 

Release Date: Jan. 14, 2020

'American Dirt' by Jeanine Cummins

In this novel that's destined to be a classic, a bookseller living in Acapulco seems to live the perfect life with her beloved son and husband, until her husband publishes a tell-all profile on the  jefe  of the newest drug cartel. She and her son are then forced to flee to safety in the U.S., the only place the jefe doesn't have the power to hurt them. 

Release Date:  Jan. 21, 2020

'A Long Petal of the Sea' by Isabel Allende

From the author of The House of the Spirits , this saga spans over several decades and multiple continents, following a pair of young exiles who are forced to marry following the Spanish Civil War. Together, the unlikely new partners must face a new life in a new country, with only the hope of returning to Spain keeping them going.

Release Date: Jan. 21, 2020

'Interior Chinatown' by Charles Yu

This spare and moving novel revolves around Willis Wu, an aspiring actor who is only ever typecast as Generic Asian Man. Though he dreams of getting a bigger role, like that of Kung Fu Guy, his mom is the only one who believes he can land the role of a leading man. 

Release Date: Jan. 28, 2020

'Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line' by Deepa Anappara

This haunting debut novel tells the story of 9-year-old Jai and his two best friends, who use their best sleuthing skills to hunt down a classmate who goes missing in their sprawling Indian city. It's only when more children start to disappear that their hunt no longer feels like a game, and the indifference of the police feels like something more sinister. 

Release Date:  Feb. 4, 2020

'You Are Not Alone' by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

From the authors of The Wife Between Us and An Anonymous Girl comes this new thriller about an increasingly dissatisfied woman named Shay and the glamorous Moore sisters, whom Shay aspires to become. However, little does Shay know that the Moore sisters want Shay's life even more. 

Release Date:  March 3, 2020

'Darling Rose Gold' by Stephanie Wrobel

If you think you've read stories about complex mother-daughter relationships before, you haven't seen anything yet. This dark debut follows a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy, the mother who made her believe she was sick, and the revenge she intends on getting once her mother is finally released from prison. 

Release Date:  March 17, 2020

'The Glass Hotel' by Emily St. John Mandel

Written by the author of Station Eleven, this thriller follows the story of a former hotel bartender and the hotel owner, who end up becoming husband and wife. Years later, after her husband's Ponzi scheme ends in financial collapse, the wife boards a ship and vanishes, leaving her husband's mess in her wake. 

Release Date:  March 24, 2020

'It's Not All Downhill' From Here by Terry McMillan

From the author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back comes this new novel about 68-year-old Loretha, who thinks she still has it all together until life throws her an unexpected curveball. Luckily for her, she has a big support system to help get her back on her feet. 

Release Date: March 31, 2020

'Something She's Not Telling Us' by Darcey Bell

Written by the author of A Simple Favor , this chilling thriller follows the strained relationship between a mother, her brother's mysterious new girlfriend, and her 5-year-old daughter Daisy, who becomes an object of obsession for the new girlfriend. When Daisy goes missing, the mother immediately points blame at the girlfriend, but soon it becomes clear the mother is hiding some secrets of her own. 

Release Date:  April 7, 2020

'Love After Love' by Ingrid Persaud

Set in Trinidad, this heartbreaking novel revolves around a woman who, after her abusive husband dies, invites a colleague to live with her and her son, Solo. The three of them form an unconventional but loving family, until Solo overhears a conversation between his mother and the boarder that compels him to escape to New York City.

Release Date: April 14, 2020

'All Adults Here' by Emma Straub

From the author of Modern Lovers and The Vacationers  comes this new novel about the complexities of family, revolving around Astrid, her three adult children, and her granddaughter. After witnessing a school bus accident, Astrid finds herself revisiting old memories and wondering what mistakes she may have made, as well as the consequences those mistakes may have had on her children. 

Release Date:  May 5, 2020

'Catherine House' by Elisabeth Thomas

This suspenseful debut takes place at an elite liberal arts university located deep in the woods of rural Pennsylvania and completely sequestered from the outside world. New student Ines expects to receive the structure and rigorous studies she desires at Catherine House, but what initially feels like a refuge gradually begins to feel like a cage. 

Release Date:  May 12, 2020

Headshot of Corinne Sullivan

Corinne Sullivan is an Editor at Cosmopolitan , where she covers a variety of beats, including lifestyle, entertainment, relationships, shopping, and more. She can tell you everything you need to know about the love lives of A-listers, the coziest bedsheets, and the sex toys actually worth your $$$. She is also the author of the 2018 novel Indecent . Follow her on Instagram for cute pics of her pup and bébé. 

.css-2lr79s:before{top:1.4rem;left:calc(-50vw + 50%);width:100vw;height:0.0625rem;z-index:-1;content:'';position:absolute;border-top:0.0625rem solid #CDCDCD;} Entertainment

leann rimes the voice australia announcement

Serena Williams Gets Real About Her Post-Baby Body

blake lively ryan reynolds

Blake Responds to Ryan’s Super Bowl Troll Post 😂

katy perry

Katy Perry Is Leaving 'American Idol'

american idol 2024 ryan seacrest dramatic transformation suit instagram

See Ryan Seacrest's Transformation Ahead of 'AI'

kelly ripa mark consuelos live name change twitter

Fans Think 'Live' Should Change the Show's Name

yellowstone season 5 part 2 kevin costner exit theory

A New 'Yellowstone' Fan Theory Predicts John's End

cup map

The Most Popular Water Bottles, State By State

2023 fox winter junket

Gordon Ramsay Looks *Just* Like His Newborn Son

christina hall and james bender pose in the unfinished dressing room and closet of the barbie dream house, as seen on barbie dream house challenge season 1

Fans React to "Offensive" Christina Hall Rumor

the voice 2024 judges niall horan promo instagram

Some 'Voice' Fans Are Sad After Season 25 Promo

super bowl lviii kansas city chiefs media availability

Travis Kelce Reacts to Engagement Speculation

The Best Fiction by Women in 2020

Bonus: They're all by women.

book covers

We're barely into the winter of 2020, but this year has already seen a  divisive election season ,   impeachment proceedings , a  Supreme Court battle , and a frightening  global pandemic.  Even if you pride yourself on keeping calm during rocky times, it can feel overwhelming. Reading fiction, however, has been shown to  increase mental well-being , both in times of stress and during stable periods. These new literary fiction selections by women are shrewd, gripping, and unexpected in the best ways, touching on everything from race in America and #MeToo to a luxury yacht trip that turns into a nightmare and a Twitter feud between fast-food heirs. When you need a moment away from real life in 2020, dive deep into one of these new novels.

This breathtaking tale of race and privilege has already been picked up for onscreen adaptation by Lena Waithe, the screenwriter behind Queen & Slim. Though Such a Fun Age technically comes out in 2019, Reid's debut is already one of the most talked-about books of 2020. It follows a well-intentioned white woman, Alix, and her black babysitter, Emira, and the events that unfold after a security guard decides that Emira has kidnapped Alix's toddler. Out Dec. 31, 2019.

A commercial plane crashes into the ground, and one person survives: Edward, a young boy whose entire family is killed in the tragedy. He's taken in by his aunt and uncle, who are dealing with traumas of their own, and slowly, gradually, begins to repair the parts of himself he thought lost. But people all over the world are writing to Edward, begging him to fulfill the dreams of the passengers who, unlike Edward, did perish. A poignant novel about grief and hope. Out January 6.

One of the most buzzed-about books set to be published in 2020, Long Bright River grips you from the outset with its Gothic language and doesn't let go. The title has many meanings, one being what the narrator terms "a long bright river of departed souls"—the people who have died from opioid overdoses in Philadelphia, where she lives. In this character-driven crime novel that's also a family drama, a policewoman named Mickey hunts desperately for her heroin-addicted sister. Out January 7.

You've Got Mail for the Twitter age, Emma Lord's debut is a searingly lovely rom-com. Pepper is the teenage maverick behind her family's fast-food chain's hit Twitter account, and her classmate Jack spends his free time working in his family's local deli. That is, until Pepper's family's chain steals an iconic recipe from Jack's deli—and the duo's feud over Twitter goes viral. "I had a bad day yesterday and this book really turned everything around," says one Goodreads reviewer. Out January 21.

Initially published in Australia back in 2018, The Majesties came out in the U.S. in early 2020. This utterly compelling novel pulls you in from the beginning; Gwendolyn, the protagonist, lies in a coma in Indonesia, the only survivor of a mass poisoning carried out by her beloved sister, Estelle. Unable to speak or even open her eyes, Gwendolyn traces the trajectory of their lives to determine how this happened to them both. Out January 21.

This sweet, sly suburban drama has a bite to it, especially since one of its protagonists is the nemesis of just about everybody else (and, yes, her first-person dialogues reveal her to be just that bad). It's primarily about two women: Julia, a snide helicopter mom with almost no redeeming qualities, and Isobel, a warm English teacher and fervent believer in a diversified curriculum. There's a viral video, a bout of censorship, a high school musical—it's great fun, but don't be tricked into thinking this is a light read. Out February 4.

Abi Daré's debut novel is told from the perspective of Adunni, a young Nigerian girl taught by her mother that education is the only way out, but sold by her father to a local man. She escapes, but finds that the only way to stay gone is to commit to serving a wealthy family. None of the indignities that befall her, however, can possibly stop Adunni from planning for a better life. Out February 25.

You Are Not Alone is the third novel to be co-written by Hendricks and Pekkanen, a duo quickly becoming known for their sharp plot twists and cadre of fully formed female characters. The novel follows a young, isolated New Yorker who happens to witness a subway death—and later finds herself enmeshed in the warm, loving company of the dead girl's friends. She feels like she's finally thriving...until the dominoes begin to fall. Out March 3.

My Dark Vanessa follows a woman haunted by her intense past relationship with a then-tutor, who was 42 to her 15 when the relationship started. Kate Elizabeth Russell's debut novel asks critical questions about consent and sexual agency in this potent, multi-layered narrative. Out March 10.

Rose Gold Watts grew up believing she was seriously ill, and her mother, Patty Watts, her diligent caregiver. Turns out that Patty, later diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome by proxy, had been abusing her daughter for years. Now Patty is out of prison, and Rose Gold shocks everyone around her by agreeing to take her mother in. Rose Gold is older and wiser, after all—but she hasn't forgotten one moment of the pain and trauma inflicted on her during her childhood. This bone-chilling account of intimacy gone horribly wrong will stay with you. Out March 17.

In Sahar Mustafah's novel, Palestinian American school principal Afaf must face the most American of tragedies: a school shooter, who ravages the Muslim school in Chicago that she presides over. As Afaf endures the horror of an alt-right maniac let loose with a gun in her school, she revisits her childhood and the loss of her beloved older sister. Out April 7.

Perhaps the most jarring genre of fiction is the kind that takes you deep into the gradual unraveling of a person's mind. Moshfegh does a masterful job with Death In Her Hands, which follows a protagonist who believes she's solving a murder. The book moves seamlessly from suspenseful to horrifying, retaining the reader's attention all the while. Out April 21.

Lucy Foley gets better with every book. The Hunting Party, her thriller debut, was a solid, well-paced novel with good characters and great twists—but The Guest List steps it up a notch. The characters leap off the page, the twists are darker and more unexpected, and the setting is straight out of a Gothic novel. The book follows a handful of guests as they attend a luxurious wedding on a desolated island—and, yes, there's a murder, but there's so much more than that. (The twists, I admit, are pretty good too.) Out May 5.

Between the Mediterranean views, five-star food, and endless supply of top-shelf champagne, Belle thinks she's struck gold aboard her friend's billionaire boyfriend's yacht. Spoiler: She's accidentally walked straight into—you guessed it—the lion's den. Quickly, everybody from Belle's self-obsessed friend to the billionaire to his bodyguards begin to unravel, and she realizes she's trapped. This delicious read has an unexpectedly brilliant ending, to boot. Out May 19.

Fresh off the success of her epic Mrs. Everything, a new favorite for me and just about everybody else, Weiner brings us Big Summer. It's a change of pace, to say the least: Presented initially as a beach read, you fall for the funny, self-deprecating protagonist almost instantly, and you're hooked into her story about That One Summer...and then things take a freaking turn. Weiner brings another spirited protagonist that breaks from the cookie-cutter "female heroine" trope to life, courageously and imperfectly, on the page. I'm not going to say any more because I don't want to ruin it for you. Out May 19.

Isabel Allende fans have been waiting with bated breath for her latest novel, and A Long Petal of the Sea doesn't disappoint. To survive the outbreak of war in Spain in the late 1930s, Roser must marry the brother of the man she loved. The two head to Chile, where they build a new life. As World War II decimates Europe they wait, patiently, for their chance to head back to their homeland. Out May 21.

Oh, this twisty, delicious funhouse-mirror of a book! The structure is simple and inspired: The protagonist, Jane, is telling a story about the seven lies that she told her best friend, Marnie. The first lie: That she likes Charles, the man Marnie is dating. Innocent enough, right? From there, things spiral, but this book is perfectly paced—you relate to Jane the entire way through, and then take a step back at the end and are left horrified by the carnage she's left behind. Out June 16.

Jessica Goodman's thrilling debut is a modern-day Gossip Girl—but darker. It's set in a wealthy Long Island enclave, where protagonist Jill Newman attends a picture-perfect prep school. Three years ago, Jill's best friend Shaila was killed, supposedly by Shaila's boyfriend—but going into senior year, Jill starts to learn with mounting horror that Shaila's death might not have been as clear-cut a case as the community had hoped. ICYMI, it's being adapted into a TV series starring Halsey and Sydney Sweeney. Out July 21.

Our #ReadWithMC pick for August, 'Luster' focuses on the relationship between Edie, a young Black artist, and Eric, an older white digital archivist. I quote: "Go buy this book. Get it from the library. Listen to it. Whatever your medium, pick up this book and meet Edie," per one #ReadWithMC review.

We all need a little mood boosting in these times, but don't worry—Lindsey Kelk is here for you. The author of the bestselling I Heart series is back with her newest novel, a hilarious rom-com about Ros, a woman returns to her native England after three years abroad. I've said it once and I'll say it again: Nobody can make people laugh like Kelk. ICYMI (see what I did there?) pairs perfectly with a winter night and a mug of hot chocolate. Out September 8

If you're looking for a new read that grabs you and doesn't let go, look no further than Alyssa Cole's latest. (You can read an excerpt here.) When Sydney and her neighbor Theo learn that their neighbors may not have moved out, things get...twisty. It's also our #ReadWithMC September book club pick, so you know it's good. Out September 21

The premise of Picoult's latest is very Sliding Doors: What would happen if you'd made a different decision? Protagonist Dawn survives a near-death experience, during which she discovers that the man she thinks about isn't her husband, but an old flame she hasn't seen in 15 years. Like all Picoult's work, expect this to be incisive and gripping, with at least one major twist. Out September 22

I'm breaking my own rules here, because this one doesn't come out 'til January of 2021, but we need something to look forward to, so—look no further. It's a story about the male gaze, about sexual obligation, about how much power we are granted as women. Daring and unputdownable, The Hare is set to be one of the most talked-about books of 2021. Out January 26

Stay In The Know

Marie Claire email subscribers get intel on fashion and beauty trends, hot-off-the-press celebrity news, and more. Sign up here.

Jenny is the Digital Director at  Marie Claire . Originally from London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and never left. Prior to  Marie Claire , she spent five years at Bustle building out its news and politics coverage. She loves, in order: her dog, goldfish crackers, and arguing about why umbrellas are fundamentally useless. Her first novel, EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD , will be published by Minotaur Books on February 6, 2024.

“There’s so many great films,” the supermodel said on the red carpet.

By Rachel Burchfield

The rapper talked about the status of his partner’s forthcoming ninth album while out and about in Paris this weekend.

The only thing more fiery than the “Dance the Night” singer’s hair was her ensemble.

By Danielle Campoamor

The forthcoming book from 'We Are Not Like Them' authors Jo Piazza and Christine Pride asks the question: Who gets to make the choice to be a mom?

By Danielle McNally

"When you are craving a loveable story with depth and true character development—this should be your next read."

By Brooke Knappenberger

Read an excerpt from Danielle Prescod's new memoir, here, then dive in with us throughout the month.

With her new podcast, the host is hoping to gain a deeper understanding of modern masculinity and its role in advancing women’s rights.

By Emily Tisch Sussman

From well-established classics to contemporary favorites.

By Bianca Rodriguez

Read an excerpt from Emiko Jean's new novel, here, then dive in with us throughout the month.

By Jenny Hollander

The latest entry in MacLean's 'Hell's Belles' universe is a delightfully feminist twist on Regency-era romance romps.

By Sarah MacLean

Consider them a form of self-care.

By Rachel Epstein

  • Contact Future's experts
  • Advertise Online
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy

Marie Claire is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site . © Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

new fiction books 2020

Den of Geek

Top New Science Fiction Books in 2020

new fiction books 2020

  • Share on Facebook (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on Twitter (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on Linkedin (opens in a new tab)
  • Share on email (opens in a new tab)

Top New Science Fiction Books in December 2020 Covers

Looking for space opera or alternate Earths? Here are some of the science fiction books that came out in 2020 that you might want to check out.

Join the Den of Geek Book Club!

Top New Science Fiction Books in December 2020

new fiction books 2020

The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2020 Edition by Rich Horton

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Prime Books Release date: Dec. 22 (Kindle)

Den of Geek says: It’s that time of year. Year’s best anthologies are here. This one draws from stories previously published in the genre’s top magazines, like Analog, Asimov’s, and Clarkesworld.

Ad – content continues below

Publisher’s summary: This eleventh volume of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy features twenty-six stories by some of the genre’s greatest authors, including Marie Brennan, Maurice Broaddus, John Crowley, Theodora Goss, Xia Jia, John Kessel, Kelly LInk, Sam J. Miller, Michael Swanwick, Fran Wilde, E. Lily Yu, and many others. 

Buy The Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy, 2020 Edition by Rich Horton.

new fiction books 2020

Gallowglass by S.J. Morden

Type: Novel Publisher: Gollancz Release date: Dec. 10 Den of Geek says: We’re taking a chance on this one. It’s one of those SF paperbacks that sometimes get lost in the churn and probably won’t end up with much marketing. But the author’s science background and the sense of a vivid understanding of just how big space is adds to the good vibes. Publisher’s summary: The year is 2069, and the earth is in flux. Whole nations are being wiped off the map by climate change. Desperate for new resources, the space race has exploded back into life. 

Corporations seek ever greater profits off-world. They offer immense rewards to anyone who can claim space’s resources in their name. The bounty on a single asteroid rivals the GDP of entire countries, so every trick, legal or not, is used to win. 

Jack, the scion of a shipping magnate, is desperate to escape earth and joins a team chasing down an asteroid. But the ship he’s on is full of desperate people – each one needing the riches claiming the asteroid will bring them, and they’re willing to do anything if it means getting there first. 

Because in Space, there are no prizes for coming second.It’s all or nothing: riches beyond measure, or dying alone in the dark.

Buy Gallowglass by S.J. Morden.

Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!

Doctor Who: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack

new fiction books 2020

Type: Novel Publisher: BBC Digital Release date: Dec. 10 Den of Geek says: We’re going out on another limb. Tie-in novels can be tricky recommendations. What if you don’t know the source material? What if you don’t know what happened in 154 other books? But Doctor Who’s episodic nature (the story about the last creature alive on a living world) and fan-pleasing fun (multiple doctors) mean this one might be a good balance for people who love Doctor Who or only vaguely know what a Dalek is and are curious. Publisher’s summary: A wasteland. A dead world… No, there is a biodome, rising from the ash. Here, life teems and flourishes, with strange and lush plants, and many-winged insects with bright carapaces – and one solitary sentient creature, who spends its days watering the plants, talking to the insects, and tending this lonely garden. This is Inyit, the Last of the Kotturuh. In  All Flesh is Grass  we are transported back to The Dark Times. The Tenth Doctor has sworn to stop the Kotturuh, ending Death and bringing Life to the universe. But his plan is unravelling – instead of bringing Life, nothing has changed and all around him people are dying. Death is everywhere. Now he must confront his former selves – one in league with their greatest nemesis and the other manning a ship of the undead…

Buy Doctor Who: All Flesh is Grass by Una McCormack.

Top New Science Fiction Books in November 2020

new fiction books 2020

From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back 

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Del Rey  Release date: Nov. 10

Den of Geek says: A collection of 40 Star Wars stories spanning The Empire Strikes Back and beyond, this is a smorgasbord of different authors, styles, takes, and genres within the movie saga. 

Publisher’s summary: On May 21, 1980, Star Wars became a true saga with the release of The Empire Strikes Back. In honor of the fortieth anniversary, forty storytellers re-create an iconic scene from The Empire Strikes Back through the eyes of a supporting character, from heroes and villains, to droids and creatures. From a Certain Point of View features contributions by bestselling authors and trendsetting artists.

Buy From A Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back.

new fiction books 2020

Stillicide by Cynan Jones

Type: Short story collection  Publisher: Catapult Release date: Nov. 17

Den of Geek says: Literary fiction publisher Catapult crosses over into science fiction with this print release of a highly acclaimed series of climate fables written for radio.

Publisher’s summary: Water is commodified. The Water Train that serves the city increasingly at risk of sabotage.

As news breaks that construction of a gigantic Ice Dock will displace more people than first thought, protestors take to the streets and the lives of several individuals begin to interlock. A nurse on the brink of an affair. A boy who follows a stray dog out of the city. A woman who lies dying. And her husband, a marksman: a man forged by his past and fearful of the future, who weighs in his hands the possibility of death against the possibility of life.

From one of the most celebrated writers of his generation, Stillicide is a moving story of love and loss and the will to survive, and a powerful glimpse of the tangible future.

Buy Stillicide by Cynan Jones.  

new fiction books 2020

Nucleation by Kimberly Unger

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tachyon Publications Release date: Nov. 13

Den of Geek says: Virtual reality meets aliens in a space opera packed with ideas about wormhole travel and first contact. 

Publisher’s summary: Helen Vectorvich just botched first contact. And she did it in both virtual reality and outer space.

Only the most elite Far Reaches deep-space pilots get to run waldos: robots controlled from thousands of lightyears away via neural integration and quantum entanglement. Helen and her navigator were heading the construction of a wormhole gate that would connect Earth to the stars . . . until a routine system check turned deadly.

As nasty rumors swarm around her, and overeager junior pilots jockey to take her place, Helen makes a startling discovery: microscopic alien life is devouring their corporate equipment. Is the Scale just mindless, extra-terrestrial bacteria? Or is it working―and killing―with a purpose?

Latest Book reviews

Interview with the vampire episode 1 review: in throes of increasing wonder, interview with the vampire review: the best anne rice adaptation ever made, the time traveler's wife review: steven moffat drama gives us another girl who waited.

While Helen struggles to get back into the pilot’s chair, and to communicate with the Scale, someone―or something―is trying to sabotage the Far Reaches project once and for all. They’ll have to get through Helen first.

Buy Nucleation by Kimberly Unger. 

Top New Science Fiction Books in October 2020

new fiction books 2020

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Type: Novel Publisher: Orbit  Release date: Oct. 6 

Den of Geek says: Robinson’s intricate eco-thriller-flavored SF novels have proved prescient in a world of droughts and fires. His latest novel leans in to make a statement about both humanity and science in the face of climate change. 

Publisher’s summary: The Ministry for the Future is a masterpiece of the imagination, using fictional eyewitness accounts to tell the story of how climate change will affect us all. Its setting is not a desolate, postapocalyptic world, but a future that is almost upon us — and in which we might just overcome the extraordinary challenges we face.

It is a novel both immediate and impactful, desperate and hopeful in equal measure, and it is one of the most powerful and original books on climate change ever written.

Buy The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson.

new fiction books 2020

To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu

Type: Short story collection Publisher: Tor Books Release date: Oct. 20 

Den of Geek says: Cixin Liu engages with both hard science and the human heart in a short story collection from a master novelist. 

Publisher’s summary:  In To Hold Up the Sky, Cixin Liu takes us across time and space, from a rural mountain community where elementary students must use physicas to prevent an alien invasion; to coal mines in northern China where new technology will either save lives of unleash a fire that will burn for centuries; to a time very much like our own, when superstring computers predict our every move; to 10,000 years in the future, when humanity is finally able to begin anew; to the very collapse of the universe itself.

Written between 1999 and 2017 and never before published in English, these stories came into being during decades of major change in China and will take you across time and space through the eyes of one of science fiction’s most visionary writers. 

Buy To Hold Up The Sky by Cixin Liu.

new fiction books 2020

Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard

Type: Novella Publisher: Subterranean Release date: Oct. 31

Den of Geek says: Aliette de Bodard’s Xuyan series is a creative blend of hard science fiction and space opera based on a network of space stations. A story from the point of view of a living starship who is also a trickster sounds like it’ll fit right in. 

Publisher’s summary : Vân is a scholar from a poor background, eking out a living in the orbitals of the Scattered Pearls Belt as a tutor to a rich family, while hiding the illegal artificial mem-implant she manufactured as a student. Sunless Woods is a mindship and not just any mindship, but a notorious thief and a master of disguise. She’s come to the Belt to retire, but is drawn to Vân’s resolute integrity. When a mysterious corpse is found in the quarters of Vân’s student, Vân and Sunless Woods find themselves following a trail of greed and murder that will lead them from teahouses and ascetic havens to the wreck of a mindship and to the devastating secrets they’ve kept from each other.

Buy Seven of Infinities by Aliette de Bodard.

Top New Science Fiction Books September 2020

new fiction books 2020

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots 

Type: Novel Publisher: William Morrow Release date: Sept. 22 

  Den of Geek says: This next-level meta take on superheroes looks witty and biting. But what really makes it stand out is the character’s predicament: she’s a laid-off henchman going from bad job to worse, struggling with her own moral code along the way. 

Publisher’s summary: Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy?

 As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured.  And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one.

So, of course, then she gets laid off.

With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks.

Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing.  And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance.

It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world.

A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics. 

Buy Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots on Amazon .

new fiction books 2020

Divergence (The Foreigner Universe) by C.J. Cherryh  

Type: Novel Publisher: DAW Release date: Sept. 8 

Den of Geek says: Why, you might rightly ask, would we recommend #21 in a series? This is because C.J. Cherryh is a master at what she does: slow, meticulous space opera with engaging characters and a transporting sense of completeness to its world of diplomatic clashes between humans and aliens. Really, we recommend you start at #1, Foreigner , if you haven’t read the series before. And if you have, this September is a real occasion.  Publisher’s summary: The overthrow of the atevi head of state, Tabini-aiji, and the several moves of enemies even since his restoration, have prompted major changes in the Assassins’ Guild, which has since worked to root out its seditious elements—a clandestine group they call the Shadow Guild. With the Assassins now rid of internal corruption, with the birth of Tabini’s second child, and with the appointment of an heir, stability seems to have returned to the atevi world. Humans and atevi share the space station in peaceful cooperation, humans and atevi share the planet as they have for centuries, and the humans’ island enclave is preparing to welcome 5000 human refugees from a remote station now dismantled, and to do that in unprecedented cooperation with the atevi mainland.

In general Bren Cameron, Tabini-aiji’s personal representative, returning home to the atevi capital after securing that critical agreement, was ready to take a well-earned rest—until Tabini’s grandmother claimed his services on a train trip to the smallest, most remote and least significant of the provinces, snowy Hasjuran—a move concerning which Tabini-aiji gave Bren a private instruction: protect her. Advise her.

Advise her—perhaps. As for protection, she has a trainload of high-level Guild. But since the aiji-dowager has also invited a dangerously independent young warlord, Machigi, and a young man who may be the heir to Ajuri, a key northern province—the natural question is why the dowager is taking this ill-assorted pair to Hasjuran and what on this earth she may be up to. 

With a Shadow Guild attack on the train station, it has become clear that others have questions, too. Hasjuran, on its mountain height, overlooks the Marid, a district that is part of the atevi nation only in name—a district in which Machigi is one major player, and where the Shadow Guild retains a major stronghold.

Protect her? Ilisidi is hellbent on settling scores with the Shadow Guild, and her reasons for this trip and this company now become clear.  One human diplomat and his own bodyguard suddenly seem a very small force to defend her from what she is setting in motion.

Buy Divergence by C.J. Cherryh on Amazon.

new fiction books 2020

An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner 

Type: Novella  Publisher: Tor Release date: Sept. 15 

Den of Geek says: Putting a robot on trial is an old concept in science fiction: just look at Star Trek . This novella looks like an entry in the contemporary conversation with this pleasingly retro concept. Publisher’s summary: The cybernetic organism known as 812-3 is in prison, convicted of murdering a human worker but he claims that he did not do it. With the evidence stacked against him, his lawyer, Aiya Ritsehrer, must determine grounds for an appeal and uncover the true facts of the case.

But with artificial life-forms having only recently been awarded legal rights on Earth, the military complex on Europa is resistant to the implementation of these same rights on the Jovian moon.

Aiya must battle against her own prejudices and that of her new paymasters, to secure a fair trial for her charge, while navigating her own interpersonal drama, before it’s too late.

Buy An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner on Amazon.

Top New Science Fiction Books August 2020

new fiction books 2020

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir 

Type: Novel Publisher: Tor Release date: Aug. 4

Den of Geek says: Muir’s necromancers in space have gained an enthusiastic following for their irreverent tone and wild gothic magic. 

Publisher’s summary: She answered the Emperor’s call.

She arrived with her arts, her wits, and her only friend.

In victory, her world has turned to ash.

After rocking the cosmos with her deathly debut, Tamsyn Muir continues the story of the penumbral Ninth House in Harrow the Ninth , a mind-twisting puzzle box of mystery, murder, magic, and mayhem. Nothing is as it seems in the halls of the Emperor, and the fate of the galaxy rests on one woman’s shoulders.

Harrowhark Nonagesimus, last necromancer of the Ninth House, has been drafted by her Emperor to fight an unwinnable war. Side-by-side with a detested rival, Harrow must perfect her skills and become an angel of undeath ― but her health is failing, her sword makes her nauseous, and even her mind is threatening to betray her. 

Sealed in the gothic gloom of the Emperor’s Mithraeum with three unfriendly teachers, hunted by the mad ghost of a murdered planet, Harrow must confront two unwelcome questions: is somebody trying to kill her? And if they succeeded, would the universe be better off?

Buy Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir on Amazon.

new fiction books 2020

The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky 

Type: Novel Publisher: Orbit Release date: Aug. 18

Den of Geek says: Portal fantasy of a sort, backed by hard science fiction from the author of the award-winning Children of Time , this novel looks inventive, rigorous, and adventurous. 

Publisher’s summary: They thought we were safe. They were wrong.

Four years ago, two girls went looking for monsters on Bodmin Moor. Only one came back.

Lee thought she’d lost Mal, but now she’s miraculously returned. But what happened that day on the moors? And where has she been all this time? Mal’s reappearance hasn’t gone unnoticed by MI5 officers either, and Lee isn’t the only one with questions.

Julian Sabreur is investigating an attack on top physicist Kay Amal Khan. This leads Julian to clash with agents of an unknown power – and they may or may not be human. His only clue is grainy footage, showing a woman who supposedly died on Bodmin Moor.

Dr Khan’s research was theoretical; then she found cracks between our world and parallel Earths. Now these cracks are widening, revealing extraordinary creatures. And as the doors crash open, anything could come through.

Buy The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikovsky on Amazon.

new fiction books 2020

Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May 

Type: Novel  Publisher: DAW Release date: Aug. 4

Den of Geek says:  This ensemble cast space opera fits nicely into the “Expanse” model of adventure stories with enough political detail and blood to make you feel like you could walk into the far-future world. An early review calls it “epic, if occasionally bumpy.” 

Publisher’s summary: When Eris faked her death, she thought she had left her old life as the heir to the galaxy’s most ruthless empire behind. But her recruitment by the Novantaen Resistance, an organization opposed to the empire’s voracious expansion, throws her right back into the fray.

Eris has been assigned a new mission: to infiltrate a spaceship ferrying deadly cargo and return the intelligence gathered to the Resistance. But her partner for the mission, mechanic and hotshot pilot Cloelia, bears an old grudge against Eris, making an already difficult infiltration even more complicated.

When they find the ship, they discover more than they bargained for: three fugitives with firsthand knowledge of the corrupt empire’s inner workings.

Together, these women possess the knowledge and capabilities to bring the empire to its knees. But the clock is ticking: the new heir to the empire plans to disrupt a peace summit with the only remaining alien empire, ensuring the empire’s continued expansion. If they can find a way to stop him, they will save the galaxy. If they can’t, millions may die.

Buy Seven Devils by Laura Lam and Elizabeth May on Amazon.

Top New Science Fiction Books July 2020 

new fiction books 2020

The Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott 

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 7 

Den of Geek says: Kate Elliott’s long career in fantasy has proven her a master of world-building. It has a heck of a tagline: “female Alexander the Great in space.” This series promises strong science fiction action. 

Publisher’s summary: Princess Sun has finally come of age.

Growing up in the shadow of her mother, Eirene, has been no easy task. The legendary queen-marshal did what everyone thought impossible: expel the invaders and build Chaonia into a magnificent republic, one to be respected―and feared.

But the cutthroat ambassador corps and conniving noble houses have never ceased to scheme―and they have plans that need Sun to be removed as heir, or better yet, dead.

To survive, the princess must rely on her wits and companions: her biggest rival, her secret lover, and a dangerous prisoner of war.

Take the brilliance and cunning courage of Princess Leia―add in a dazzling futuristic setting where pop culture and propaganda are one and the same―and hold on tight:

Buy The Unconquerable Sun by Kate Elliott on Amazon.

new fiction books 2020

Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis 

Type: Novel  Publisher: St Martin’s Press Release date: July 21 

Den of Geek says: Lindsay Ellis is known primarily as a YouTube pop culture critic. She excels at explaining why pop culture works or doesn’t work, as well as adding context to day’s top headlines. Her first book sounds like a mix between Arrival and The X-Files, set in the early 2000s. 

Publisher’s summary: The alternate history first contact adventure Axiom’s End is an extraordinary debut from Hugo finalist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis. 

Truth is a human right.

It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government―and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him―until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.

Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human―and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.

Buy Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis on Amazon.

new fiction books 2020

The Relentless Moon (Lady Astronauts) by Mary Robinette Kowal 

Type: Novel  Publisher: Tor Books Release date: July 14 

Den of Geek says: The Lady Astronaut series tackles sexism (lots and lots of sexism) in an alternate world where the space race is hurried along by the arrival of a meteor strike. It has gained a lot of fans for its determined characters and convincing alternate history. 

Publisher’s summary: The Earth is coming to the boiling point as the climate disaster of the Meteor strike becomes more and more clear, but the political situation is already overheated. Riots and sabotage plague the space program. The IAC’s goal of getting as many people as possible off Earth before it becomes uninhabitable is being threatened. 

Elma York is on her way to Mars, but the Moon colony is still being established. Her friend and fellow Lady Astronaut Nicole Wargin is thrilled to be one of those pioneer settlers, using her considerable flight and political skills to keep the program on track. But she is less happy that her husband, the Governor of Kansas, is considering a run for President.

Buy The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal on Amazon.

Megan Crouse

Megan Crouse

Megan Crouse writes for Star Wars Insider and Star Wars.com and is a co-host on Den of Geek's Star Wars podcast, Blaster Canon. Twitter: @blogfullofwords

  • Entertainment

The 10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2020

new fiction books 2020

I n a year when the headlines were dominated by conflict around the things that make us different—race, class, gender, politics and all the other markers of identity—the best nonfiction books tore into those tensions and explored the humanity beneath. Some authors revisited historical figures to ask how their perspectives on race and religion shaped the world, for better or worse. Others shared personal stories to underscore the impact of a society that endangers people due to realities outside of their control. But all these titles call for greater awareness and empathy.

Here, the best nonfiction books of 2020. Also read TIME’s lists of the 10 best fiction books of 2020, the 100 must-read books of the year and the 10 best video games of the year .

10. Just Us , Claudia Rankine

new fiction books 2020

Author and poet Claudia Rankine knows how difficult conversations about race can be: she knows they can lead to resentment, rage and even deeper misunderstandings between people. But she tries just the same to have them again and again in Just Us : An American Conversation , which blends essay, history and poetry and recounts a series of dialogues between herself and white people on a slew of thorny topics, from affirmative action to the whitewashing of history to the link between blondeness and white supremacy. Rankine sometimes finishes these talks trembling with fury, trying to hold in her emotions lest she be labeled an “angry Black woman”; other times, her counterparts reveal perspectives she hadn’t considered. Through these exhaustive (and exhausting) conversations, Rankine demonstrates how Americans of all races might begin to engage with each other with more honesty and grace—and, in the process, bridge gaps that these days can feel wider than ever.

Buy Now: Just Us on Bookshop | Amazon

9. Hitler: Downfall, Volker Ullrich

new fiction books 2020

There will never be one definitive book about a figure as complicated and malevolent as Adolf Hitler , and, indeed, each year brings a horde of new books that attempt to understand the rise of the dictator and his Nazi party. But German historian Volker Ullrich’s two-volume biography, the second of which, Hitler: Downfall, 1939-1945 , was published in a sharp English translation by Jefferson Chase this year, stands above its peers. It is an epic book that narrates in vivid detail how Hitler reached the height of his power in Germany and to the brink of triumph as he conquered much of Europe, and then fell in a long, bloody spiral of defeat. Perhaps one of the clearest insights Ullrich gives readers is a study of the amalgam of madness and narcissism that spectacularly wowed his country and other parts of the world—until it proved his undoing.

Buy Now: Hitler: Downfall on Bookshop | Amazon

8. Having and Being Had , Eula Biss

new fiction books 2020

In Having and Being Had , her collection of snappy essays concerned with capitalism and privilege, Eula Biss addresses the discomforts that come with living comfortably. At the start of the book, she and her husband have just purchased their first house, leading her to question the actual value she assigns to the items she’s considering buying. Biss investigates everything from the messaging on IKEA catalogs (which, she discovers, creepily suggest that “consumers” and “people” are not one and the same) to the origins of Monopoly, constantly evaluating the purpose these items serve in our lives. Through her precise and poetic prose, Biss makes startling observations on the inner-workings of capitalism and how it informs our perspectives on class and property.

Buy Now: Having and Being Had on Bookshop | Amazon

7. The Undocumented Americans , Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

new fiction books 2020

In her debut book, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio sets out to portray the nuanced, varied realities of life for undocumented Americans through a seamless blending of journalistic interviews, narrative storytelling and personal reflection. A DACA recipient, brought to the U.S. from Ecuador by her parents at the age of 5, Cornejo Villavicencio approaches her writing with bracing honesty and precision. She gets to know laborers in New York City, still suffering effects of carrying out treacherous cleanup work after 9/11, and patients in Miami seeking alternative options for medical care because they have no access to health insurance. The greatest strength of the book, a National Book Award finalist, is its many characters: Villavicencio paints her subjects not with the stereotypes so often forced on them in media coverage and political debate but instead in their full individuality and humanity—sometimes unflattering, sometimes affirming, but always real.

Buy Now: The Undocumented Americans on Bookshop | Amazon

6. Vesper Flights , Helen Macdonald

new fiction books 2020

When the world stopped this year, many people found themselves looking out the window, hearing birdsong replace car horns and watching green buds emerge from the frozen ground. In a moment of darkness, it was a wonderful balm to turn to nature. And in her beautiful collection of essays, Vesper Flights , Helen Macdonald shows us how to better observe and comprehend the scenes around us and to enter, however briefly, the worlds of other living things, whether starlings overhead or mushrooms at our feet. In exquisite prose, Vesper Flights further establishes Macdonald as one of the great nature writers of our time—and as a ringing voice of sorrow against the ravages of climate change. Read her to be enthralled, and read her as warning.

Buy Now: Vesper Flights on Bookshop | Amazon

5. The Dead Are Arising , Les Payne and Tamara Payne

new fiction books 2020

What does it take to become a political revolutionary and cultural icon like Malcolm X? For nearly 30 years, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Les Payne compiled research and conducted original interviews about Malcolm’s life to try to answer that question. Sadly, Payne died before he could finish the book, but his daughter Tamara Payne, who helped as a researcher, completed his mission. Together, they have written the essential book for understanding the force that was Malcolm, with deep insights into his childhood, his path to the Nation of Islam and his assassination. In this sweeping biography, which won a National Book Award, readers see a full portrait of a man, set against the vivid backdrop of an America torn apart by the fight for racial justice.

Buy Now: The Dead Are Arising on Bookshop | Amazon

4. Memorial Drive , Natasha Trethewey

new fiction books 2020

Within the first pages of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey’s memoir, we learn of her mother’s murder. In a wrenching prologue, Trethewey reflects on the moment when she was 19 years old and visited her mother’s apartment the day after she was killed. The horrific trauma, and how she remembers it, is at the center of Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir . The book is both a chilling portrait of a mother grappling with racism and abuse and a stunning dissection of the language we use to process memory and loss. In unpacking the events that led to her mother’s tragic death, Trethewey’s voice is controlled but powerful. And though we know how the story ends, the tension in its telling never falters, making its conclusion all the more gutting.

Buy Now: Memorial Drive on Bookshop | Amazon

3. The Dragons, the Giant, the Women , Wayétu Moore

new fiction books 2020

At five years old, Wayétu Moore is consumed by thoughts of her mother, who is studying in New York City on a Fulbright scholarship. The rest of the family is in Liberia, where the promise of a reunion is interrupted by the emergence of civil war. In her stirring memoir, Moore describes her family’s journey as they are forced to flee their home on foot in pursuit of safety. She narrates their saga through the eyes of her younger self, culminating in an imaginative examination of how we process hardship and dislocation. And she doesn’t stop there. Moore picks apart her experience living in Texas, where her family eventually lands, and then catapults back in time to write from her mother’s point of view as a student in the U.S. It’s an innovative and effective structure, one made possible by Moore’s ability to so effortlessly capture the many voices of her family.

Buy Now: The Dragons, the Giant, the Women on Bookshop | Amazon

2. Minor Feelings , Cathy Park Hong

new fiction books 2020

Seamlessly moving between cultural criticism and her own stories, poet Cathy Park Hong dissects her experiences as the American daughter of Korean immigrants in her searing essay collection, Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning . She mines both personal and collective adversity in a series of narratives that ask urgent questions about the impact of racism against Asian Americans. Hong’s essays are as impressive in their sharp nuance as they are in their breadth: she writes of her revelations watching Richard Pryor’s stand-up, reflects on how she treats the English language in her poetry and explores the space made for minorities in American literature, among other subjects. In unpacking the indignity and isolation that she can be made to feel as an Asian American—feelings too often dismissed as “minor”—Hong reclaims her sense of self and calls for compassion.

Buy Now: Minor Feelings on Bookshop | Amazon

1. Caste , Isabel Wilkerson

new fiction books 2020

In a year of endless tragedy for people across the country, but especially for Black Americans, The Warmth of Other Suns author Isabel Wilkerson returned with another transformative book on identity. The product of more than a decade of research and reporting, Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents is an electrifying work that reframes injustice and inequity in the U.S. as a caste system, not unlike those in India and Nazi Germany, with Black Americans in the position of least power. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist combines a deep study of history, interviews with experts and ordinary people around the world and frank yet moving stories from her own life to develop a compelling theory of American injustice and the roles we all play in perpetuating it.

Buy Now: Caste on Bookshop | Amazon

Read the rest of TIME’s best-of 2020 coverage:

  • The 10 Best Fiction Books of 2020
  • The 10 Best YA and Children’s Books of 2020
  • The 100 Must-Read Books of 2020
  • The 10 Best Movies of 2020
  • The 10 Best Movie Performances of 2020
  • The 10 Best TV Shows of 2020
  • The 10 Best Albums of 2020
  • The 10 Best Songs of 2020
  • The 10 Best Podcasts of 2020
  • The 10 Best Video Games of 2020

More Must-Reads From TIME

  • East Palestine, One Year After Train Derailment
  • How Tech Giants Turned Ukraine Into an AI War Lab
  • In the Belly of MrBeast
  • The Closers: 18 People Working to End the Racial Wealth Gap
  • How Long Should You Isolate With COVID-19?
  • The Best Romantic Comedies to Watch on Netflix
  • Taylor Swift Is TIME's 2023 Person of the Year
  • Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time

Write to Lucy Feldman at [email protected] and Annabel Gutterman at [email protected]

You May Also Like

To revisit this article, select My Account, then   View saved stories

Find anything you save across the site in your account

Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?

By Adam Gopnik

A glove holding a flower in the shape of a covid particle.

Which were the pivotal years of the past century? An argument could be made for 1929, when the worldwide financial crash ushered in the crisis that led to the rise of Nazism (and of the New Deal) and, eventually, to the Second World War; for 1945, when the United States emerged from that war uniquely victorious—having, like Hercules, strangled two serpents in its cradle, as Updike thought—and in possession of the most lethal weapon the world had ever known; for 1968, marked by a series of assassinations and domestic unrest that announced the beginning of the end of the American bulwark empire but also, through the awakening to liberation and the soft power of the European left, of the Russian one. Other years raise their hands eagerly and ask for admittance: 1979, with the rise of Margaret Thatcher and Ayatollah Khomeini and the war in Afghanistan; 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall; 2001, with its terrorism and counterterrorism. But 2020, the year when a virus came out of China and shut down the world, gets in by acclamation.

Writing the history of an event that happened generations ago is difficult enough. (The 1968 movements in Paris and elsewhere seemed leftist at the time but actually marked the break of young radicals with the Communist Party.) Writing about an episode that happened five minutes ago is hard in another way. Who knows what counts and what doesn’t? Yet 2020 already seems historic—how remote so many of its rituals now feel, from the Lysol scrubbing of innocent groceries to the six-feet rule of social distancing. Andrew Cuomo and Joe Exotic, both superstars of the first pandemic months, have been banished from attention. We speculated about how New York City would emerge from the pandemic: traumatized or merry or newly chastened and egalitarian? Now the city is back, and little seems changed from the way things were when normal life stopped in mid-March of 2020.

The restaurants—can it really be the case that for several months they were shuttered by edict?—are packed tight, the subways tighter, and almost no one wears a mask in either place, not even those of us who swore to keep wearing one in the future, though the virus continues to mutate and spread. The political trajectory of the country appears to be set on the same catastrophic path it was on before the pandemic. One can look up in the evening and see more darkened office buildings, where once sweet monitors shed their aquarium glow, but on the New York streets the last remnants of the pandemic are the ingeniously improvised sidewalk-dining sheds. Nobody knows how much longer they will last.

Read our reviews of notable new fiction and nonfiction, updated every Wednesday.

new fiction books 2020

What did it all mean? There are lots of takes on what happened, many of them plausible even as they contradict one another. A non-crazy case gets made that the period was just as epoch-changing as it seemed: a million people died of the plague in America; schoolkids were deprived of instruction and left behind in ways that may be impossible to remedy. The paranoia that was already rampant in the social-media age intensified, advancing the corrosion of institutional trust. Another non-crazy case gets made that much of the damage was self-inflicted: the schools should never have been closed; the elaborate pantomime of masking may have saved some lives but may not have; and, amid high-handed edicts, the price we paid in the erosion of social trust was higher than it needed to be.

At the same time, a non-crazy case can be made that the restrictions and restraints did not go far enough and were abandoned too soon, so that now, with the pandemic still rampant—very few families have not been through at least two or three cases—we have simply decided to ignore the bug, even as it refuses to ignore us. The cases are less lethal, but significant numbers of people suffer from long COVID —with ongoing uncertainty about whether this is a thing, or several things, or a combination of things and non-things. Many immune-suppressed people argue that we are indulging, in the name of exhaustion, a collective callousness to the welfare of others, particularly the most vulnerable.

The last pandemic to strike the world with such force was the Spanish flu, which started in 1918, primarily afflicting not the old but the young. Tens of millions around the planet died in what the editor of the new Oxford University Press collection “Pandemic Re-Awakenings” says “may have been the most lethal catastrophe in human history.” Many who died were makers of modern consciousness—Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele in Austria, Max Weber in Germany, Guillaume Apollinaire in France. (Joe Hall, a Montreal Canadiens defenseman and Hall of Famer who died during the 1919 Stanley Cup Finals, causing it to be cancelled for the only time in its history, was perhaps not a maker of modern consciousness, but he was a maker of modern hockey.) In the new anthology, a series of historians offer focussed views on what happened then, but the fundamental question they pose is about the oddity of our amnesia: Given the scale of what occurred, why is there so little collective memory of it?

The answer is, in part, that the Spanish-flu pandemic was so braided together with the end of the First World War, which accelerated its spread (most brutally on troopships headed home), that one calamity was buried under another, more photogenic one. The culture of memory of the Great War and its fallen soldiers, which for a time dominated so many public squares and public buildings, drowned out the cries of those who died, equally horribly, from the influenza. We have room for only one story at a time, the historians argue, and in a competition for memorial space—at times a literal one—a military conflict among nations takes political priority over a medical conflict between germs and humanity. An idea of heroism sticks, however grotesquely, to the story of war as it does not stick to the story of infection.

Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever

Link copied

One sees this in Ernest Hemingway’s First World War novel, “A Farewell to Arms,” the tale of a wounded soldier, Frederic, and his love for a nurse, Catherine. Though mentioned in passing in the Oxford anthology, the actual story of Hemingway’s intertwining of war and influenza is complicated and revealing. Having raced to Europe as an ambulance driver, he got word in the mail that his family back home, outside Chicago, had been hit hard by the flu. (It had taken hold at a nearby Navy training station, on Lake Michigan.) His favorite sister, who had fallen ill, wrote to him poignantly, “Dad just called me in his office and looked at my throat and said I had the flu. Oh, bird. My head is beginning to ache, so I think I better go to bed. So good night but tell all the Austrians and Germans you can that I would like to get a good chance at them and see what they would look like when I got through.”

As it happened, the real-life model for Catherine, Agnes von Kurowsky, wasn’t wrested away from Hemingway by a fatal pregnancy; she was simply reposted to a hospital for men suffering from the flu. (She also found another fellow.) Eliding this truth, Hemingway remade this story of the entanglement of epidemic and vocation into a simpler and more romantic story of war and love—an easier tale to grasp. (He wrote a candid short story inspired by von Kurowsky, in which the soldier, at one moment, refuses to kiss the nurse for fear that she might infect him, but it was never published in his lifetime.)

The same process that made all the monuments about the fighting made all the books and poems about the fighting, too. Hemingway did write at length about the flu, dwelling on its ignominy: “The only natural death I’ve ever seen, outside of loss of blood, which isn’t bad, was death from Spanish influenza. In this you drown in mucus, choking, and how you know the patient’s dead is: at the end he shits the bed full.” In “A Farewell to Arms,” Frederic goes back to the war, and the nurse gives him a St. Anthony medal to keep. In real life, Hemingway gave the nurse a St. Anthony medal as she went off bravely to help the influenza patients. Through such details do writers revenge themselves on life. Once again, in literature as in public memorials, there is a figure-ground reversal between war and contagion.

It is perhaps a larger truth that epidemics, being an insult to human agency, are always removed to the background as quickly as we can find a figure to put in front of them. Something similar is happening with the history of the Covid pandemic, whose literature typically makes the medical story secondary to some other story, one with a plainer moral point. Like Hemingway with the nurse, we seek to make what happened less about pathogens and infection and more about passions and infatuation—in our case, often, political passions and party infatuations. Right-wingers were quick to decry the medical establishment for stepping away from its own public-health strictures when the George Floyd marches happened. (The protests took place out-of-doors, which provided at least a medical fig leaf for the rearrangement.) Still, such exchanges happened in all directions—as with the manic libertarian rhetoric that accompanied the resistance to vaccination. We search for some significant figure to place against the motivelessly malignant ground.

And how can we not look for larger social meanings? What if the pandemic, rather than knocking us all sideways and leaving us briefly unrecognizable to ourselves, showed us who we really are? In Eric Klinenberg’s excellent “2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed” (Knopf), we are given both micro-incident—closely reported scenes from the lives of representative New Yorkers struggling through the plague year—and macro-comment: cross-cultural, overarching chapters assess broader social forces. We meet, among others, an elementary-school principal and a Staten Island bar owner who exemplify the local experience of the pandemic; we’re also told of the history, complicated medical evaluation, and cultural consequences of such things as social distancing and masking.

The book is broad in scope, within certain limits; Manhattan north of Chinatown is left unwitnessed. (As the liberal-democratic coalition has become increasingly weighted with highly educated voters, it has become reluctant to make too much of their lives in its chroniclings, perhaps wary of the fact that it is the educated élite who control the chronicle.) Still, we meet many people who make convincing case studies because of the very contradictions of their experience. Sophia Zayas, a community organizer in the Bronx who worked “like a soldier on the front lines,” was nonetheless resistant to getting vaccinated, a decision that caused her, and her family, considerable suffering when both she and her grandmother contracted covid . Klinenberg sorts through her surprising mix of motives with a delicate feeling for the way that community folk wisdom—can the vaccines be trusted?—clashed with her trained public-service sensibility. Throughout, Klinenberg’s mixture of closeup witness and broad-view sociology is engrossing, and reminds this reader of the late Howard S. Becker’s insistence that the best sociology is always, in the first instance, wide-angle reporting. As we flow effortlessly from big picture to small, we learn from both. To be sure, Klinenberg takes a platoon-in-a-forties-movie approach to casting: we feel that we are given one of every New York type, and that all can be redeemed. The Staten Island bar owner, who insisted on reopening his place early despite the rules against doing so and thereby became a kind of Trumpite champion to local libertarians, is treated sympathetically, as a confused working-class hero betrayed by unfeeling élites whose balky rules hindered his enterprise. Yet even if the interdiction on restaurants was, in retrospect, excessive, no one could have known that then. Part of being a good citizen is accepting restrictions on our own freedom for the sake of strangers. We do things like obey speed limits and put on seat belts, even if we are alone, because we recognize that these are rules that benefit everyone.

Klinenberg’s own figure on the pandemic ground is that America’s exceptionally poor handling of the crisis exposed the country’s structural selfishness: our political culture and institutional habits tell people that they’re on their own. Other countries, he writes, “experienced a spike in generalized anxiety when the pandemic started. Their lockdowns were extensive. Their social gatherings were restricted. Their borders were sealed. Their offices were closed. Yet no other society experienced a record increase in homicides. None saw a surge in fatal car accidents. And of course, none had skyrocketing gun sales, either.”

And so, he tells us elsewhere, “we need a social autopsy . . . to identify the underlying conditions and acute shocks that shaped these patterns.” The pandemic exposed the geological faults in American society, which now threaten to split the earth and plunge us inside.

Anyone who is sympathetic to Klinenberg’s concerns—who recognizes how increased crime disfigures politics, or who hates the gun culture that disfigures American life—is bound, at first, to nod at these injunctions. And, indeed, in 2020, many of us were inclined to see societies with greater degrees of social trust—one had to look no farther than the northern border—as superior models in their handling of the pandemic. Even the conservative writer David Frum wrote admiringly about the efficiency and diligence with which the authorities of his homeland—he was born in Toronto—tracked contacts and monitored risks in Canada, in contrast with the anarchic American pattern.

And yet, over the course of 2020, Quebec, which took notably stringent measures, ended up with roughly the same cumulative mortality rate as Florida, Georgia, or Michigan. Although over-all Canadian mortality was meaningfully lower than our own, the social history of unhappy lockdowns and lockdown resistance was similar—the path of the pandemic was not recorded in medical data alone. A truckers’ convoy in Ottawa brought anti-vaccine hysteria to the usually milder Canadian political climate. Fox News may have contributed, from the south, but there was no ducking the same spiral of pandemic-fuelled delusion.

Indeed, to survey the planet through the pandemic years is to see how societies with fundamentally different ways of ordering their citizens’ lives could end up with comparable consequences. Britain, with its creaking but deeply lodged National Health Service, had case rates and death rates similar to those of the U.S., with our laissez-faire entrepreneurial medical system; it also shared the same fury about lockdowns—and saw the same political crises born of the seeming hypocrisy of the overseeing health authorities. The outrage over lockdowns on the part of conservative Britain parallels the outrage over mask mandates in red-state America. Sweden, an improbable libertarian outpost given its social-democratic history, was the least restrictive country in Western Europe. But the rate of all-cause excess mortality does not suggest that Sweden fared worse than its neighbors. About the only indicator on the global dial that clearly shows a better outcome is crudely geographic: it helped to be an island, like New Zealand or Singapore. For most of the world, the virus went its way, mutating cleverly, with the weird mimic intelligence of microorganisms. And so virtue regularly went unrewarded; a Lancet study from last year found that covid death rates in Florida, adjusted for age, compared favorably to those of California. The broader American sickness that Klinenberg rightly deplores—shooting deaths, traffic deaths, violence generally—was entrenched before the specific sickness of Covid arose, and was only marginally slowed or accelerated by it. If anything, the pandemic seemed to act as a brake on populist politics, helping to end both the Trump and the Boris Johnson governments. The pathogen, finally, is an agent without agency—a bug trying to make more bugs, heedless of motives or morals.

A final non-crazy case can be made that human existence is inherently crazy—that is, chaotic and not easily explicable by a single rule. A pandemic that affects billions of people will have billions of specific effects, and they will be grouped into various bunches; even a marginal phenomenon will involve an enormous number of people. It’s in the midst of such numbers that we turn to fiction and poetry, for their specification of experience. What makes Camus’s “The Plague” so memorable—and what made it so popular during the pandemic, despite the fact that it was an allegory of the German Occupation of France—is that in his plague people are so particular. It is a seductive mistake to say that the pandemic X-rays their souls. What happens in “The Plague” mostly happens through happenstance: strong people die, weak people cope, the average become exceptional.

“Oh yeah If you love apple juice so much why dont you marry it divorce it twelve years later and then run into it at...

In the pursuit of that kind of pandemic particularization, we now have “Fourteen Days” (Harper), a round-robin novel written by many illustrious hands—including Dave Eggers, John Grisham, Erica Jong, Celeste Ng, Ishmael Reed, and Meg Wolitzer—all left cozily anonymous in the linked storytelling. (You must turn to the back to see who did what.) With a wink at Boccaccio’s Florentine narrators, filling their time with stories as a plague rages, these modern storytellers do their thing on the roof of a somewhat improbably run-down building on the Lower East Side, where they meet by evening to share tales and memories.

Each storyteller is identified by a single signifier—Eurovision, the Lady with the Rings—and the stories that the speakers unwind (in a way properly reminiscent of the Decameron itself) leap wildly off topic, with the morals of their tales and the pandemic itself almost invisible. An apron sewn in a suburban home-economics class becomes the subject of one narrative. Another storyteller recalls an art appraiser’s trip to the country and a scarring revelation about the wealthy collectors he is visiting: they keep the lid of their dead son’s coffin visible as a memento of their pain. (“At every meal it had been there, hidden, present. It was the only object in the house that was truly theirs.”) A comedian with dated tastes and old-fashioned sex jokes suddenly appears, talks about his act, then vanishes. The others wonder whether he has jumped off the roof. But nobody is eager to go down to the street to see.

The evasion of the central subject, the turn to subtext over text, the backward blessing of being “off the news”—all this rings true to the time. Symbolic experience overlays all the other kinds. At one point in Klinenberg’s book, we get a chapter, written with cautious delicacy, about the mask wars, making the point that, although the medical value of masking is still undecided, the practice quickly devolved into a battle of symbols: wearing a mask meant one, lefty kind of thing; not wearing a mask meant another, righty one.

One wonders, though, if the symbolic level of communication isn’t exactly the place where humans meet one another to contest the truth. Saying that something is a symbol does not rob it of rational significance. The swastika is a symbol, and the peace sign is a symbol. What they symbolize is still worth an argument. People who wore masks and people who did not weren’t simply members of different clans: the ones with masks were making a gesture toward social solidarity and signalling a reluctance to infect their neighbors; the ones without were affirming selfishness as a principle of conduct. Back then, one might not have known for certain what a mask would do while still being certain that it was better to signal community than self.

Did 2020 change everything? Perhaps those big, epoch-marking years are tourist traps of a kind. The year 2001 may, in historical retrospect, be remarkable first as the year when, at last, more American homes had Internet access than did not. A terrorist attack came and went, was grieved and then memorialized, but big terrorist attacks will happen every generation or so. On the other hand, a life spent online is a permanent feature of our modernity. Those few who proposed that the wisest thing to do after 9/11 was to mourn and move on were excoriated, but they may have been better guides than those who insisted that a new age of militance and counter-militance had arrived, and that a global war on terror had to be unleashed. There is nothing to do with a day except to live it, a great poet wrote, and there may be nothing to do with an epochal year except to remember it.

Of course, this is the sort of view that, taken to its logical end, can annihilate the meaning of any event. Did the First World War require updating our beliefs and values, given that ordinary life went on afterward? It’s true that we should be hesitant to leap too soon into a new world view because of a dramatic outlier event; it’s also true that updating our beliefs about the nature of the world is what science routinely demands of us.

Irony was dead, we were told after 9/11, but the largest irony of the past couple of decades is that the vaccine project called Operation Warp Speed, which may be the only decent thing Trump has ever done, or at least did not keep from happening, is also the one thing that has weighed against him with his own base. (The story of 2020 may be many-voiced, and full of choral counterpoint, yet its resolution, post-vaccines, whistles one plain, familiar tune. Science saves lives.)

We can’t help, it seems, placing a human figure before the ground of inexplicable nature and its contagions—and most often that figure is pointing, accusingly, right back at us. You did this , we insist to ourselves, through some failure of belief or behavior or ethical tenet. Yet a disaster that happens so similarly to so many seems a hard case for too much moralizing, since at its heart is the one thing that always escapes moralizing, and that is our own mortality. As the rituals of the pandemic recede, we might recognize that some of them, like the beating of bells and pans for essential workers at 7 p.m. , were good in themselves, not because they made anything else happen or protected us from harm. W. H. Auden, writing in yet another candidate for an epochal year, 1939, insisted that we must love one another or die—and then withdrew the remark, recognizing that we are all going to die no matter what we do. He decided that we ought to love one another anyway, or try to, year in and year out. ♦

New Yorker Favorites

A reporter’s relationship with Kurt Cobain , before and after the singer’s death.

Who owns London’s most mysterious mansion ?

The politics behind the creation of “ Harriet the Spy .”

The aesthetic splendor of “ The Simpsons .”

Fiction by Alice Munro: “ Passion .”

Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker .

new fiction books 2020

Books & Fiction

By signing up, you agree to our User Agreement and Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Can Ukraine Still Win?

By Keith Gessen

Jewish Identity with and Without Zionism

By Gideon Lewis-Kraus

Can Slowing Down Save the Planet?

By E. Tammy Kim

The U.S. Confronts Middle Eastern Militias but Not Iran’s Long Game

By Robin Wright

The Best (and Most Anticipated) Nonfiction Books of 2024, So Far

Here’s what memoirs, histories, and essay collections we’re indulging in this spring.

the covers of the best and most anticipated nonfiction books of 2024

Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

Truth-swallowing can too often taste of forced medicine. Where the most successful nonfiction triumphs is in its ability to instruct, encourage, and demand without spoon-feeding. Getting to read and reward this year’s best nonfiction, then, is as much a treat as a lesson. I can’t pretend to be as intelligent, empathetic, self-knowledgeable, or even as well-read as many of the authors on this list. But appreciating the results of their labors is a more-than-sufficient consolation.

Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture by Kyle Chayka

There’s a lot to ponder in the latest project from New Yorker writer Kyle Chayka, who elegantly argues that algorithms have eroded—if not erased—the essential development of personal taste. As Chayka puts forth in Filterworld , the age of flawed-but-fulfilling human cultural curation has given way to the sanitization of Spotify’s so-called “Discover” playlists, or of Netflix’s Emily in Paris, or of subway tile and shiplap . There’s perhaps an old-school sanctimony to this criticism that some readers might chafe against. But there’s also a very real and alarming truth to Chayka’s insights, assembled alongside interviews and examples that span decades, mediums, and genres under the giant umbrella we call “culture.” Filterworld is the kind of book worth wrestling with, critiquing, and absorbing deeply—the antithesis of mindless consumption.

American Girls: One Woman's Journey Into the Islamic State and Her Sister's Fight to Bring Her Home by Jessica Roy

In 2019, former ELLE digital director Jessica Roy published a story about the Sally sisters , two American women who grew up in the same Jehovah’s Witness family and married a pair of brothers—but only one of those sisters ended up in Syria, her husband fighting on behalf of ISIS. American Girls , Roy’s nonfiction debut, expands upon that story of sibling love, sibling rivalry, abuse and extremism, adding reams of reporting to create a riveting tale that treats its subjects with true empathy while never flinching from the reality of their choices.

Leonor: The Story of a Lost Childhood by Paula Delgado-Kling

In this small but gutting work of memoir-meets-biography, Colombian journalist Paula Delgado-King chronicles two lives that intersect in violence: hers, and that of Leonor, a Colombian child solider who was beckoned into the guerilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) only to endure years of death and abuse. Over the course of 19 years, Delgago-King followed Leonor through her recruitment into FARC; her sexual slavery to a man decades her senior; her eventual escape; and her rehabilitation. The author’s resulting account is visceral, a clear-eyed account of the utterly human impact wrought by war.

Madness: Race and Insanity in a Jim Crow Asylum by Antonia Hylton

A meticulous work of research and commitment, Antonia Hylton’s Madness takes readers deep inside the nearly century-old history of Maryland’s Crownsville State Hospital, one of the only segregated mental asylums with records—and a campus—that remain to this day. Featuring interviews with both former Crownsville staff and family members of those who lived there, Madness is a radically complex work of historical study, etching the intersections of race, mental health, criminal justice, public health, memory, and the essential quest for human dignity.

Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections by Emily Nagoski

Out January 30.

Emily Nagoski’s bestselling Come As You Are opened up a generations-wide conversation about women and their relationship with sex: why some love it, why some hate it, and why it can feel so impossible to find help or answers in either camp. In Come Together , Nagoski returns to the subject with a renewed focus on pleasure—and why it is ultimately so much more pivotal for long-term sexual relationships than spontaneity or frequency. This is not only an accessible, gentle-hearted guide to a still-taboo topic; it’s a fascinating exploration of how our most intimate connections can not just endure but thrive.

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer

A remarkable volume—its 500-page length itself underscoring the author’s commitment to the complexity of the problem—Jonathan Blitzer’s Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here tracks the history of the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border through the intimate accounts of those who’ve lived it. In painstaking detail, Blitzer compiles the history of the U.S.’s involvement in Central America, and illustrates how foreign and immigration policies have irrevocably altered human lives—as well as tying them to one another. “Immigrants have a way of changing two places at once: their new homes and their old ones,” Blitzer writes. “Rather than cleaving apart the worlds of the U.S., El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the Americans were irrevocably binding them together.”

How to Live Free in a Dangerous World: A Decolonial Memoir by Shayla Lawson

Out February 6.

“I used to say taking a trip was just a coping mechanism,” writes Shayla Lawson in their travel-memoir-in-essays How to Live Free in a Dangerous World . “I know better now; it’s my way of mapping the Earth, so I know there’s something to come back to.” In stream-of-consciousness prose, the This Is Major author guides the reader through an enthralling journey across Zimbabwe, Japan, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Bermuda, and beyond, using each location as the touchstone for their essays exploring how (and why) race, gender, grief, sexuality, beauty, and autonomy impact their experience of a land and its people. There’s a real courage and generosity to Lawson’s work; readers will find much here to embolden their own self-exploration.

Get the Picture: A Mind-Bending Journey Among the Inspired Artists and Obsessive Art Fiends Who Taught Me How to See by Bianca Bosker

There’s no end to the arguments for “why art matters,” but in our era of ephemeral imagery and mass-produced decor, there is enormous wisdom to be gleaned from Get the Picture , Bianca Bosker’s insider account of art-world infatuation. In this new work of nonfiction, readers have the pleasure of following the Cork Dork author as she embeds herself amongst the gallerists, collectors, painters, critics, and performers who fill today’s contemporary scene. There, they teach her (and us) what makes art art— and why that question’s worth asking in an increasingly fractured world.

Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti

A profoundly unusual, experimental, yet engrossing work of not-quite-memoir, Sheila Heti’s Alphabetical Diaries is exactly what its title promises: The book comprises a decade of the author’s personal diaries, the sentences copied and pasted into alphabetical order. Each chapter begins with a new letter, all the accumulated sentences starting with “A”, then “B,” and so forth. The resulting effect is all but certain to repel some readers who crave a more linear storyline, but for those who can understand her ambition beyond the form, settling into the rhythm of Heti’s poetic observations gives way to a rich narrative reward.

Slow Noodles: A Cambodian Memoir of Love, Loss, and Family Recipes by Chantha Nguon

Out February 20.

“Even now, I can taste my own history,” writes Chantha Nguon in her gorgeous Slow Noodles . “One occupying force tried to erase it all.” In this deeply personal memoir, Nguon guides us through her life as a Cambodian refugee from the Khmer Rouge; her escapes to Vietnam and Thailand; the loss of all those she loved and held dear; and the foods that kept her heritage—and her story—ultimately intact. Interwoven with recipes and lists of ingredients, Nguon’s heart-rending writing reinforces the joy and agony of her core thesis: “The past never goes away.”

Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison

The first time I stumbled upon a Leslie Jamison essay on (the platform formerly known as) Twitter, I was transfixed; I stayed in bed late into the morning as I clicked through her work, swallowing paragraphs like Skittles. But, of course, Jamison’s work is so much more satisfying than candy, and her new memoir, Splinters , is Jamison operating at the height of her talents. A tale of Jamison’s early motherhood and the end of her marriage, the book is unshrinking, nuanced, radiant, and so wondrously honest—a referendum on the splintered identities that complicate and comprise the artist, the wife, the mother, the woman.

The Great Wave: The Era of Radical Disruption and the Rise of the Outsider by Michiko Kakutani

The former chief book critic of the New York Times , Michiko Kakutani is not only an invaluable literary denizen, but also a brilliant observer of how politics and culture disrupt the mechanics of power and influence. In The Great Wave , she turns our attention toward global instability as epitomized by figures such as Donald Trump and watershed moments such as the creation of AI. In the midst of these numerous case studies, she argues for how our deeply interconnected world might better weather the competing crises that threaten to submerge us, should we not choose to better understand them.

Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection by Charles Duhigg

From the author of the now-ubiquitous The Power of Habit arrives Supercommunicators , a head-first study of the tools that make conversations actually work . Charles Duhigg makes the case that every chat is really about one of three inquiries (“What’s this about?” “How do we feel?” or “Who are we?”) and knowing one from another is the key to real connection. Executives and professional-speaker types are sure to glom on to this sort of work, but my hope is that other, less business-oriented motives might be satisfied by the logic this volume imbues.

Whiskey Tender by Deborah Jackson Taffa

Out February 27.

“Tell me your favorite childhood memory, and I’ll tell you who you are,” or so writes Deborah Jackson Taffa in Whiskey Tender , her memoir of assimilation and separation as a mixed-tribe Native woman raised in the shadow of a specific portrait of the American Dream. As a descendant of the Quechan (Yuma) Nation and Laguna Pueblo tribe, Taffa illustrates her childhood in New Mexico while threading through the histories of her parents and grandparents, themselves forever altered by Indian boarding schools, government relocation, prison systems, and the “erasure of [our] own people.” Taffa’s is a story of immense and reverent heart, told with precise and pure skill.

Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley

With its chapters organized by their position in the infamous five stages of grief, Sloane Crosley’s Grief is For People is at times bracingly funny, then abruptly sober. The effect is less like whiplash than recognition; anyone who has lost or grieved understands the way these emotions crash into each other without warning. Crosley makes excellent use of this reality in Grief is For People , as she weaves between two wrenching losses in her own life: the death of her dear friend Russell Perreault, and the robbery of her apartment. Crosley’s resulting story—short but powerful—is as difficult and precious and singular as grief itself.

American Negra by Natasha S. Alford

In American Negra , theGrio and CNN journalist Natasha S. Alford turns toward her own story, tracing the contours of her childhood in Syracuse, New York, as she came to understand the ways her Afro-Latino background built her—and set her apart. As the memoir follows Alford’s coming-of-age from Syracuse to Harvard University, then abroad and, later, across the U.S., the author highlights how she learned to embrace the cornerstones of intersectionality, in spite of her country’s many efforts to encourage the opposite.

The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul

Out March 5.

A raw and assured account by one of the most famous queer icons of our era, RuPaul’s memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings , promises readers arms-wide-open access to the drag queen before Drag Race . Detailing his childhood in California, his come-up in the drag scene, his own intimate love story, and his quest for living proudly in the face of unceasing condemnation, The House of Hidden Meanings is easily one of the most intriguing celebrity projects of the year.

Here After by Amy Lin

Here After reads like poetry: Its tiny, mere-sentences-long chapters only serve to strengthen its elegiac, ferocious impact. I was sobbing within minutes of opening this book. But I implore readers not to avoid the heavy subject matter; they will find in Amy Lin’s memoir such a profound and complex gift: the truth of her devotion to her husband, Kurtis, and the reality of her pain when he died suddenly, with neither platitudes nor hyperbole. This book is a little wonder—a clear, utterly courageous act of love.

Thunder Song by Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe

Red Paint author and poet Sasha taqʷšəblu LaPointe returns this spring with a rhythmic memoir-in-essays called Thunder Song , following the beats of her upbringing as a queer Coast Salish woman entrenched in communities—the punk and music scenes, in particular—that did not always reflect or respect her. Blending beautiful family history with her own personal memories, LaPointe’s writing is a ballad against amnesia, and a call to action for healing, for decolonization, for hope.

Lessons for Survival: Mothering Against "The Apocalypse" by Emily Raboteau

Out March 12.

In Emily Raboteau’s Lessons For Survival , the author (and novelist, essayist, professor, and street photographer) tells us her framework for the book is modeled loosely after one of her mother’s quilts: “pieced together out of love by a parent who wants her children to inherit a world where life is sustainable.” The essays that follow are meditations and reports on motherhood in the midst of compounding crises, whether climate change or war or racism or mental health. Through stories and photographs drawn from her own life and her studies abroad, Raboteau grounds the audience in the beauty—and resilience—of nature.

preview for Watch Our Newest Videos

What to Read in 2023

a collage of clasped hands, a close up of an eye, and the words 'today i'

Shelf Life: Kelly Link

the covers of a selection of the best and most anticipated romance books of 2024

The Best Romance Books of 2024, So Far

tia williams

Shelf Life: Tia Williams

calendar

How Lucy Sante’s Transition Lifted the Veil

dolly alderton

Dolly Alderton Discusses Good Material

ayesha rascoe

My HBCU Taught Me What Authority Sounds Like

text

Kiley Reid Wants to Talk About Money

the author danzy senna alongside images of los angeles and the hollywood sign

Danzy Senna Reveals the 'Colored Television' Cover

eve portrait session

An Ode to Eve’s Singular Style

a body of water with trees and mountains in the background

Manjula Martin on The Last Fire Season

a boy is shown consoling a crying girl with illustrations of hearts and teardrops around them

Read an Excerpt of 'Funny Story' by Emily Henry

New Scientist

The best new science fiction books of January 2024

By Alison Flood

New science fiction isn’t thick on the ground this January, but there are some gems to look forward to – including a new novel from sci-fi supremo Alastair Reynolds, who wrote our fab New Scientist Christmas short story this year, Lottie and the River . I am also really looking forward to Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson’s debut novel, which is a space opera with grand ambitions, and to Alice McIlroy’s creepy psychological thriller The Glass Woman , in which a scientist is implanted with tech that has resulted in the loss of her memories. And if I’m feeling brave enough, I’ll be reading Tlotlo Tsamaase’s Womb City. If that isn’t enough and you’re looking for more suggestions for the year ahead, do check out our sci-fi columnist Sally Adee’s tips for 2024 reading .

The 22 best non-fiction and popular science books of 2023

Machine Vendetta by Alastair Reynolds . I’ll always snap up a new Alastair Reynolds. This latest is in his Prefect Dreyfus series, and sees Dreyfus investigating the death of Invar Tench, a police officer who worked to maintain democracy among the 10,000 city-states orbiting the planet Yellowstone.

The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson . This space opera is the first novel from Jikiemi-Pearson and it sounds amazing, moving from 6066 on the planet Garahan, where humans are indentured labourers for the emperor’s war machine, to London in 1812 and the time-travelling Obi, who meets a girl from another time in the British Museum. We are told it’s for fans of Becky Chambers, V.E. Schwab and N. K. Jemisin – all must-reads for me. It sounds like the perfect antidote to any January blues.

The Glass Woman by Alice McIlroy . This is a psychological thriller pitched as “B lack Mirror meets Before I Go to Sleep by way of Severance ":­ it follows a scientist, Iris, who volunteers to be the test subject for an experimental therapy that will see tech inserted into her brain. But she now no longer has her memories, so doesn’t know why she volunteered for the treatment in the first place – or even what it is. This sounds creepily brilliant, and I’ll be whiling away January commutes and evenings with it for sure.

Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase . The Handmaid’s Tale meets Get Out ? That’s quite a tall order, but this Africanfuturist horror novel sounds like it will be enjoyably terrifying. It takes place in a cruel surveillance state, where Nelah is trapped in a loveless marriage in which her every move is monitored by her police officer husband, via microchip. When she buries a body following a car accident, the ghost of her victim starts hunting down the people she loves. Our sci-fi columnist Sally Adee has tipped it as one to watch out for.

Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf . This sounds like a lot of fun. It’s set in the near future, where celebrities can make clones of themselves (known as “Portraits”) to take on their various duties. We are following the story of the 13 th copy of the actor Lulabelle Rock, who is out to eliminate her predecessors.

Ava Anna Ada by Ali Millar . Set in the near future, when the heat is spiralling, this novel takes place over a week when Anna and Ava become caught up in their own world and find themselves reckoning with who they really are. Ian Rankin, no less, describes it as “[Philip K.] Dick's They meets early Iain Banks or Ian McEwan in this novel of a near-future family meltdown”, which is every bit “as gripping as it is horrifying”.

The best new science fiction books of December 2023

Klova by Karen Langston . A decade after the death of his partner Neav, Ink wakes to find he has no concept of the past, and can only think of her in the present tense. He appears to be part of a new “amnesia crisis”. But could this be down to a corruption in the code of the artificial language, Klova, that enables everyone to think and speak?

Necropolis Alpha by Chris M. Arnone . This slice of cyberpunk sci-fi is Arnone’s follow-up to his novel The Hermes Protocol and follows an “Intel Operative” with cybernetic enhancements as she tries to steal data from the offices of an evangelical preacher.

Alastair Reynolds and Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson are two of the authors setting their novels in space this January. Alamy Stock Photo

Advertisement

Supported by

Historical Fiction

New Historical Fiction That Immerses You in Far-Flung Places

From England and France to the deepest Arctic and northern China, these stories will transport you.

  • Share full article

This illustration shows a man peering into an old-fashioned camera at silhouettes of five people standing outside on a snowy night. The drawing is done in shades of blue and red.

By Alida Becker

Alida Becker was an editor at the Book Review for 30 years. She was the first winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for excellence in reviewing.

Anne Michaels has served as Toronto’s poet laureate, so it’s no surprise that her latest novel, HELD (Knopf, 240 pp., $27), turns a multigenerational family saga into a lyrical jigsaw of images and observations, a trigger to “the long fuse of memory, always alight.” It begins in the trenches of World War I with a soldier’s impressions of what’s essentially a “450-mile grave” and ends in the near future as one of his descendants walks the streets of a city on the Gulf of Finland.

In between, Michaels’s narrative glides gracefully back and forth in time, from North Yorkshire in the 1920s to rural Suffolk in the 1980s, then all the way to 1908 Paris. John, the soldier we first meet in 1917, returns from the war to his wife, Helena, and his photography studio. Haunted by what he has seen (or not seen), he leaves a legacy that will send his daughter and granddaughter to other front lines, this time working in field hospitals and refugee camps, “the most dangerous places.”

Each brief chapter is filled with deftly sketched characters: a war correspondent tasked with writing “what no one could bear to read”; a widow encountering an unexpectedly kindred spirit as she trudges across a snowy landscape; even Marie Curie, whose courage is recalled by one of her closest friends. Throughout, these stories spark both poignant connections and provocative divergences. Those whose lives follow John’s must find their own way to survive in this “new world, with new degrees of grief, many more degrees in the scale of blessedness and torment.”

Survival — and how far a person will go to achieve it — is at the heart of Ally Wilkes’s WHERE THE DEAD WAIT (Emily Bestler Books/Atria, 388 pp., $27.99), which her publisher aptly describes as “an eerie, atmospheric Polar Gothic.” William Day was a lowly young fourth lieutenant when the deaths of his superior officers gave him command of a ship stranded in the Arctic ice. He made it back to civilization, but emerged with the cannibalistic moniker “Eat-Em-Fresh Day.” Thirteen years later, his former second-in-command, a dashing American named Jesse Stevens, has gone missing in the very same region. Now, in the winter of 1882, the Admiralty orders Day to go find him.

Complications abound, both logistical and psychological. Day’s relationship with Stevens was intense, to say the very least. And as the new expedition becomes trapped in the Far North, Day is haunted by the earlier group’s travails, presented in alternating chapters. Eating human flesh may not have been the only horrific act committed back then, and new crimes could be uncovered in Stevens’s wake. Even the lost adventurer’s domineering wife, a spirit medium who travels with a “pet skull,” begins to doubt the wisdom of joining this ill-fated mission.

The ice has “swung shut behind them like a cemetery gate,” leading Day’s crew toward a possible mutiny. Haunting visions and ominous clues leave no one’s sanity untested. What is the significance of a hideous mask made from the hide of a killer whale? Of unearthing the figurehead of a ship that was supposed to have sunk hundreds of miles away? True to the novel’s title, there are plenty of dead men waiting to be found. And it’s not just the light that “plays tricks out here.”

One of the shape-shifting tricksters from Chinese folklore is the unlikely yet convincing narrator of Yangsze Choo’s witty and suspenseful THE FOX WIFE (Holt, 400 pp., $27.99). Calling herself Snow, she makes her way through northern Manchuria and Japan in 1908 in female guises, intent on hunting down the man responsible for the death of her cub. In the process, she illuminates the realities of a hidebound society on the brink of change: “If there ever was a time for ghosts and foxes to appear, it’s now,” when the last imperial dynasty is failing and uncertainty is everywhere.

For most of the novel, Snow’s pursuit of a Manchurian named Bektu Nikan runs parallel to another quest featuring Bao, a former teacher who has earned a reputation as an amateur detective. His attempt to investigate the death of a courtesan will eventually lead him to Snow — and the solution of a mystery from his youth, when he and his childhood sweetheart left offerings for the fox god at an improvised altar.

Following various clues, Snow and Bao take the reader into the households of aristocrats and peasants, urban centers and rural villages. Their inquiries will soon enmesh them in the dramas of a merchant family convinced that a curse has doomed their son. Young men dabbling in revolutionary politics and a photographer with a bent for blackmail add complexity to the plot, as do a pair of foxes who masquerade as attractive gentlemen. Shiro is the less savory of the two, fond of romancing rich, bored women. Kuro, a novelist, is more honorable, albeit more enigmatic. But this is Snow’s story, and although she relishes being able to live either as a fox or as a woman, she is aware that “neither are safe forms in a world run by men.”

Explore More in Books

Want to know about the best books to read and the latest news start here..

In Lucy Sante’s new memoir, “I Heard Her Call My Name,” the author reflects on her life and embarking on a gender transition  in her late 60s.

For people of all ages in Pasadena, Calif., Vroman’s Bookstore, founded in 1894, has been a mainstay in a world of rapid change. Now, its longtime owner says he’s ready to turn over the reins .

The graphic novel series “Aya” explores the pains and pleasures of everyday life in a working-class neighborhood  in West Africa with a modern African woman hero.

Like many Nigerians, the novelist Stephen Buoro has been deeply influenced by the exquisite bedlam of Lagos, a megacity of extremes. Here, he defines the books that make sense of the chaos .

Do you want to be a better reader?   Here’s some helpful advice to show you how to get the most out of your literary endeavor .

Each week, top authors and critics join the Book Review’s podcast to talk about the latest news in the literary world. Listen here .

IMAGES

  1. 20 Best Fiction Books of 2020

    new fiction books 2020

  2. 24 Best 2020 Fiction Books by Women

    new fiction books 2020

  3. 20 Best Mystery Novels & Thrillers of 2020

    new fiction books 2020

  4. The Best Fiction Books Of 2020

    new fiction books 2020

  5. Best Fiction Books of 2020

    new fiction books 2020

  6. Best books 2020 fiction

    new fiction books 2020

VIDEO

  1. New fiction releases from Knox Co. Library

  2. New Fiction Story book Publication by Harish Rao

  3. Top 10 Favorites Fiction books📚

  4. Every Book I Read in 2022

  5. Belated Non Fiction Book Haul

  6. My Fiction Reads in October

COMMENTS

  1. Best Fiction 2020

    Best Fiction 2020 — Goodreads Choice Awards Mystery & Thriller Best Fiction New to Goodreads? Get great book recommendations! Start Now Want to Read Rate it: WINNER 72,828 votes The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Goodreads Author) This year's Goodreads Choice Award for Fiction was the closest contest in the history of the awards.

  2. The 10 Best Books of 2020

    The 10 Best Books of 2020 The editors of The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year. 532 Nov. 23, 2020 Artwork by Luis Mazon FICTION A Children's Bible...

  3. Best Fiction Books of 2020

    R eading fiction in 2020 was an act of defiance—of turning our attention away from the catastrophes playing out around us to engage in a quiet, imaginative act. And the year's best fiction...

  4. Best Sellers

    3 weeks on the list DAYLIGHT by David Baldacci The F.B.I. agent Atlee Pine's search for her twin sister overlaps with a military investigator's hunt for someone involved in a global conspiracy. Buy...

  5. 20 Best Fiction Books of 2020

    1 Kiley Reid Such a Fun Age Now 47% Off $14 at Amazon Credit: G.P. Putnam's Sons Emira Tucker is just babysitting for business owner Alix Chamberlain while she figures out what to do with her life,...

  6. 58 Best Books of 2020

    2020 came and went fast, but fortunately, the publishing industry kept pace with the passage of time with a slew of the year's most anticipated titles. Here, take a look back at the best new...

  7. 100 Notable Books of 2020

    Riverhead. $29.95. Drawn + Quarterly. $26.00. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $27.00. Farrar, Straus & Giroux. By Natasha Trethewey. Translated by Yardenne Greenspan. $20.00. Restless Books. This...

  8. The Best Books We Read in 2020

    " Stranger Faces ," by Namwali Serpell In an age of totalizing theories, it's nice to watch someone expertly pull a single idea through a needle's eye. "Stranger Faces," by Namwali Serpell, is one...

  9. Best fiction of 2020

    Composite: PR Best books of 2020 Best books of the year This article is more than 3 years old Best fiction of 2020 Hilary Mantel, Ali Smith and Tsitsi Dangarembga completed landmark series,...

  10. Must-reads of 2020: the best new books of the year

    Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara (30 Jan) In one of the 2020's most promising debuts novels, award-winning journalist Deepa Anappara draws on her experience reporting from her native Kerala in southern India to tell the story of nine-year-old Jai, who decides to use his crime-solving skills - picked up from episodes of Police ...

  11. 100+ Best New 2020 Books

    Marie Claire's picks for the best new books of 2020. These books poised to be bestsellers span fiction, memoir, poetry, nonfiction, and more.

  12. 47 Best Books of 2020 (So Far)

    Graywolf Press Just Us: An American Conversation, by Claudia Rankine. Now 55% Off. $13 at Amazon. The visionary writer of Citizen returns with Just Us, a lyric arrangement of poems, essays, and ...

  13. List of The New York Times number-one books of 2020

    List of The New York Times number-one books of 2020 The American daily newspaper The New York Times publishes multiple weekly lists ranking the best-selling books in the United States. The lists are split in three genres—fiction, nonfiction and children's books. Both the fiction and nonfiction lists are further split into multiple lists. Fiction

  14. The Best New Fiction Books in Spring 2020—Fiction Releases ...

    Looking for the best new fiction books released in spring 2020? Here are the best new fiction releases, from Emily Giffin's The Lies That Bind to The Herd by Andrea Bartz.

  15. The New York Times Fiction Bestseller List 2020

    Here are all the New York Times fiction bestsellers from 2020. Instead of just the current best seller list, which you can find all over the place, I've compiled a list of every book that has appeared on the New York Times Fiction Best Sellers list in 2020 for Hardcover Fiction. Note: The week count in this list stops on the last week of 2020.

  16. The Best Fiction Books Of 2020

    Credit: Amazon. From the author of How Stella Got Her Groove Back comes this new novel about 68-year-old Loretha, who thinks she still has it all together until life throws her an unexpected ...

  17. What To Read

    New Fiction - Jan-2020. Search over 60,000 author book lists. Browse series, pseudonyms, synopses, and sub-genres.

  18. 24 Best 2020 Fiction Books by Women

    Initially published in Australia back in 2018, The Majesties came out in the U.S. in early 2020. This utterly compelling novel pulls you in from the beginning; Gwendolyn, the protagonist, lies in ...

  19. Top New Science Fiction Books in 2020

    Top New Science Fiction Books in 2020 By Megan Crouse | January 7, 2021 | | 0 Looking for space opera or alternate Earths? Here are some of the science fiction books that came out in 2020...

  20. Best Nonfiction Books of 2020

    Also read TIME's lists of the 10 best fiction books of 2020, the 100 must-read books of the year and the 10 best video games of the year. 10. Just Us, Claudia Rankine Author and poet...

  21. 20 New Works of Fiction to Read This Season

    20 New Works of Fiction to Read This Season. New novels from Jonathan Franzen and Anthony Doerr, a political thriller by Hillary Clinton and Louise Penny, a Korean murder mystery — and more. 112 ...

  22. Did the Year 2020 Change Us Forever?

    Adam Gopnik reviews "2020: One City, Seven People, and the Year Everything Changed," by Eric Klinenberg, and "Fourteen Days," a collaborative novel written by many hands, including Dave ...

  23. The 29 Best and Most Anticipated Nonfiction Books of 2024

    As with ELLE.com's other "best of 2024" books lists (including literary fiction; fantasy and sci-fi; romance; and mystery and thrillers), we'll be updating this list each quarter ...

  24. The best new science fiction books of January 2024

    Machine Vendetta by Alastair Reynolds.I'll always snap up a new Alastair Reynolds. This latest is in his Prefect Dreyfus series, and sees Dreyfus investigating the death of Invar Tench, a police ...

  25. Best Sellers

    3 weeks on the list A PROMISED LAND by Barack Obama Crown In the first volume of his presidential memoirs, Barack Obama offers personal reflections on his formative years and pivotal moments...

  26. New Historical Fiction Books

    New Historical Fiction That Immerses You in Far-Flung Places. ... (Emily Bestler Books/Atria, 388 pp., $27.99), which her publisher aptly describes as "an eerie, atmospheric Polar Gothic ...