NEW YEAR, NEW READS: From the forgotten stories A.A. Milne wrote for adults to modern 広大な／多数の／重要なs such as Irvine Welsh and Rachel Cusk, our critics select the most enticing fiction to look out for in 2024
- READ MORE:??離婚d, beheaded, 生き残るd an アイルランド共和国軍 attack: Tony Rennell reviews the most 説得力のある history 調書をとる／予約するs of 2023
LITERARY FICTION?
CLAIRE ALLFREE
WILD HOUSES
(Jonathan Cape £16.99, January)
Another year, another 急ぐ of novels by hot Irish talent. Barrett has already produced two rapturously received short story collections. This, his debut novel, centres on the kidnapping of a teenage boy in a west Ireland town, before spooling outwards to 調査する its 衝撃 on those who know him.
His short stories 証明する Barrett knows how to （手先の）技術 a beautiful 宣告，判決 that simmers with 差し迫った 暴力／激しさ. This nastily slow-燃やす chiller is 形態／調整ing up to be one of the novels of the year.
DAY
by Michael Cunningham?
(Fourth 広い地所 £16.99, January)
Lockdown? So 2020. Yet the author of The Hours finds a 荒涼とした bitter-甘い comedy in parsing the 衝撃 of the pandemic on three 閉じ込める／刑務所d-up New Yorkers in this ruminative, elegiac and spikily funny novel which 借りがあるs a strong 負債 to Cunningham’s hero, Virginia Woolf.
THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES OF A. A. MILNE
I know nothing about this except that it 含む／封じ込めるs ― fascinatingly ― the Winnie the Pooh author’s stories and sketches for adults, collected together for the first time. Will there be hunny and heffalumps? One can only hope.
STEPHANIE CROSS
CALEDONIAN ROAD
(Faber £20, April)
The Mayflies author’s 最新の is 存在 spoken of as a British The 是正s ― and at more than 600 pages, it certainly has a Franzen-like heft. Another 落ちる-from-grace tale, this time 焦点（を合わせる）d on a celebrity 知識人 who becomes entangled with his student. TV 権利s have already been snapped up.
L-R:?CALEDONIAN ROAD by Andrew O’Hagan (Faber £20, April);?THE SPOILED HEART by Sunjeev Sahota (Harvill Secker £18.99, April)
THE SPOILED HEART
(Harvill Secker £18.99, April)
Although Sahota has been twice Booker-指名するd (for The Year Of The Runaways and 中国 Room), this ‘multi-層d account of one man’s inexorable 落ちる’ is 存在 法案d as his breakout. It’s sure to be something special.
THE SAFEKEEP
by Yael 先頭 der Wouden?
(Viking £16.99, May)
The 支配する of 猛烈な／残忍な bidding wars on both 味方するs of the 大西洋, this debut by lecturer 先頭 der Wouden 始める，決めるs its scene in a Dutch country house. It’s 1961 and when Isabel’s brother’s girlfriend comes to stay, things soon spiral out of 支配（する）／統制する. Think Sarah Waters 会合，会うs Atonement.
L-R:?THE SAFEKEEP by Yael 先頭 der Wouden (Viking £16.99, May);?HARD BY A GREAT FOREST by Leo Vardiashvili (Bloomsbury £16.99, January)
HARD BY A GREAT FOREST
(Bloomsbury £16.99, January)
One of the hottest tips for the big prizes, this debut 原因（となる）d a sensation の中で publishers in the UK and abroad. Three men from the same family return to the Georgia they fled two １０年間s 以前, where a sudden 見えなくなる 誘発するs a Kafka-esque 長期冒険旅行 of home, history and the 外傷／ショック of war.
ANTHONY CUMMINS
CHOICE
by Neel Mukherjee?
(大西洋 £18.99, April)
I loved Mukherjee’s 2017 novel A 明言する／公表する Of Freedom and his new novel comes 高度に 賞賛するd by A. M. Homes, Monica Ali and The Bee Sting author Paul Murray. The three-part story 伴う／関わるs an academic, a 田舎の Indian family and a publisher ‘at war with his 産業 and himself’.
PARADE
by Rachel Cusk?
(Faber £16.99, June)
The glacial aesthetic of Cusk’s 輪郭（を描く） Trilogy has 堅固に 影響（力）d English-language fiction these past ten years and a new 調書をとる／予約する from her always 約束s to be a game-changer. I’ll be keen to see this novel of ‘art, womanhood and 暴力／激しさ’, told in ‘a 発言する／表明する on the 国境 between fiction and reality’.
L-R:?CHOICE by Neel Mukherjee (大西洋 £18.99, April);?PARADE by Rachel Cusk (Faber £16.99, June);?RESOLUTION by Irvine Welsh (Cape £20, July)
RESOLUTION
(Cape £20, July)
The author of Trainspotting returns with a sequel to 2022’s The Long Knives, itself a follow-up to 2008’s 罪，犯罪, recently テレビ放送するd. It 約束s to be another 一時期／支部 in the life of 警官，（賞などを）獲得する Ray Lennox, no 疑問 caught up in adventures far too filthy to recount here.
DREAM COUNT
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
(Fourth 広い地所, autumn)
Has it really been 11 years since Adichie’s last novel Americanah? Her new 調書をとる／予約する is bound to be one of the year’s biggest 解放（する）s. All I know about it is that it’s four linked stories, each に引き続いて a different woman ‘努力する／競うing to love and to live on her own 条件’.
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS
CHRISTENA APPLEYARD
LEAVING?
by Roxana Robinson
(Magpie £16.99, February)
When two American former high school sweethearts, 60-year-old Sara and 過密な住居, bump into each other at the オペラ, they are propelled into a new world of psychologica l 拷問 as they calculate the 危険s of them 存在 together again.
Robinson’s smart, seductive 令状ing style creates a sense of 静かな menace that keeps the reader guessing until the 調書をとる／予約する’s 粉々にするing 結論.
THE FURY?
(Michael Joseph £18.99, February)
This is the third 調書をとる／予約する by the author of the bestselling The Silent 患者. A fading film 星／主役にする, Lana Farrar, 招待するs a group of friends to stay on a Greek island. One of them is a 殺害者. But 徐々に we learn that 絶対 nothing is as it appears. Michaelides is a master story teller with a unique トン that never fails to 配達する.
L-R:?LEAVING by Roxana Robinson (Magpie £16.99, February);?THE FURY by Alex Michaelides (Michael Joseph £18.99, February);?LISTEN FOR THE LIE by Amy Tintera (Bantam £14.99, March)
LISTEN FOR THE LIE
(Bantam £14.99, March)
Lucy Chase doesn’t remember 殺人ing her best friend, にもかかわらず 存在 設立する wandering the street covered in 血 (not a good look, she 収容する／認めるs). But she knows everyone thinks she is 有罪の. Her 追求（する），探索（する） for the truth 伴う／関わるs a tru e 罪，犯罪 podcast and crazy sense of humour. A brilliantly dark 破壊分子 romp.
POPULAR FICTION
WENDY HOLDEN
THE EXCITEMENTS
(Orion £18.99, January)
I’ll be reviewing this in glorious 詳細（に述べる） in January. But I can’t wait till then to let the world know of the wonderful Penny and Josephine, nonagenarian sisters, World War II ヘロインs, 時折の jewel thieves and general lifters of the spirit. I adored this novel.
MRS QUINN’S RISE TO FAME
(Penguin Michael Joseph £14.99, March)
Bake Off fans, don’t 行方不明になる this! When Jennifer Quinn’s love of baking 勝利，勝つs her a 位置／汚点／見つけ出す as a contestant on a primetime TV show, it’s only the second time ever she’s kept something from her husband. But as modest ambition leads to stardom, can Jennifer’s other secret stay hidden? Delectable food 令状ing and a 静かに loveable ヘロイン.
L-R:?THE EXCITEMENTS By C. J. Wray (Orion £18.99, January);?MRS QUINN’S RISE TO FAME by Olivia Ford (Penguin Michael Joseph £14.99, March)
THE BEACH HUT
by Leah Pitt
(Hodder, May)
Matilda is killed in a 悲劇の 事故 on the Dorset 激しく揺するs, leaving her best friend Sophie racked with 犯罪. １０年間s later, Sophie is 支援する for the first time, to sell her family’s old beach hut and bury the memories.
But on （疑いを）晴らすing out the hut, she finds 証拠 示唆するing Matilda’s death was no 事故. What really happened the night she die d? Find out in this 緊張した, gripping debut.
CONTEMPORARY
SARA LAWRENCE
PIGLET
(Transworld £16.99, January)
January also 配達するs this sharp, dark, must-read story about appetite, ambition, secrecy and shame. Called Piglet since she was a child, our protagonist sees getting married to fiance 道具 as the pinnacle of her reinvention. Days before the wedding an awful truth is 明らかにする／漏らすd, 脅すing to destroy Piglet’s carefully curated public image.
COME AND GET IT
(Bloomsbury £16.99, January)
Such A Fun Age was my 調書をとる／予約する of the year in 2020, so I’m thrilled about this second novel which comes out in January and is 始める，決める on a college campus. It’s a coming-of-age story featuring a group of women and, once again, Reid 向こうずねs fresh light on 問題／発行するs of class and race in America.
L-R:?PIGLET by Lottie Hazell (Transworld £16.99, January);?COME AND GET IT by Kiley Reid (Bloomsbury £16.99, January);?EXPIRATION DATES by Rebecca Serle (Qu ercus £14.99, March)
EXPIRATION DATES
by Rebecca Serle
(Quercus £14.99, March)
Serle excels at producing beautifully written rom-coms with plenty of 新たな展開s to keep us gripped. Every time protagonist Daphne 会合，会うs a new man, she receives a 公式文書，認める 含む／封じ込めるing his 指名する and the exact 量 of time they will spend together. When she receives only a 指名する, the wildest rollercoaster begins.
HISTORICAL
EITHNE FARRY
THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS
(Century £18.99, March)
推定する／予想する lyrically beautiful prose, a 勇敢に立ち向かう ヘロイン and a story 発射 through with the 不明瞭 of war, made more shadowy by a supernatural element that ups the eerie quotient from Arden as she unravels the 運命／宿命 of two enemy 兵士s and a 決定するd sister in this WWI story, told with a dark magical 新たな展開 from the author of The 耐える And The Nightingale.
THE HOUSEHOLD
by Stacey Halls
(Manilla 圧力（をかける） £16.99, April)
The winning combination of Charles Dickens, 損失d women, a 静かな country house in a secret 場所 (申し込む／申し出ing 避難 for 売春婦s and petty thieves), a millionairess benefactor and her dangerous stalker who’s just been 解放（する）d from 刑務所，拘置所, make for an excellent, atmospheric slice of historical fiction from the best-selling Halls.
L-R:?THE WARM HANDS OF GHOSTS by Katherine Arden (Century £18.99, March);?THE HOUSEHOLD by Stacey Halls (Manilla 圧力（をかける） £16.99, April);?THE PAINTER'S DAUGHTERS by Emily Howes (不死鳥／絶品 £20, February)
THE PAINTER'S DAUGHTERS
(不死鳥／絶品 £20, February)
Sibling 社債s, arts and artifice, mental illness and marriage twine together in a story that was 奮起させるd by Gainsborough’s portrait of his daughters, Peggy and Molly. 急落（する），激減（する）d into Bath polite society, their closeness is thrown into 混乱 as Peggy 落ちるs in love and Molly’s illness 脅すs incarceration in an 亡命.
CLASSIC CRIME
BARRY TURNER
BEFORE THE FACT
by Francis Iles
(British Library 罪，犯罪 Classics £9.99, June)
The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s movie 疑惑, this is a 冷気／寒がらせるing story of a woman who begins to 恐れる that her husband is a 殺害者. As her 有罪の判決 hardens so, too, does the 緊張 in this riveting tale.
MURDER IN TRANSIT by Edward Marston (Allison & Busby £19.99, January)
OTHER PATHS TO GLORY
(Penguin £9.99)
An 明らかに simple request to identify a fragment of 地図／計画する from the 広大な／多数の／重要な War 推進するs 軍の historian Paul Mitchell into スパイ. With his own life at 火刑／賭ける, he must discover why a 戦う／戦い of long ago 脅すs today’s peace. A thrill-a-page adventure.
MURDER IN TRANSIT
(Allison & Busby £19.99, January)
For the 最新の in the 鉄道 探偵，刑事 series, 探偵，刑事 視察官 Colbeck is o ff to the 小島 of Wight to solve a 事例／患者 of ゆすり，恐喝 and 殺人 before Queen Victoria arrives for her 年次の summer holiday.
CRIME AND THRILLERS?
GEOFFREY WANSELL
COVER THE BONES
(Wildfire £20, January)
This 最新の story from the gifted 大打撃を与える ― whose magnificent debut Scrublands has just landed on television ― returns to the Australian Outback and a （選挙などの）運動をする of terror 行うd against the 王朝s that own this piece of 楽園 on the 辛勝する／優位 of the wilderness. 猛烈な／残忍な, gripping and spine-冷気／寒がらせるing.
L-R:?COVER THE BONES by Chris 大打撃を与える (Wildfire £20, January);?WHAT WE DID IN THE STORM by Tina パン職人 (Viper £16.99, February)
WHAT WE DID IN THE STORM
by Tina パン職人
(Viper £16.99, February)
始める，決める in the 小島s of Scilly, this fourth novel from former 新聞記者／雑誌記者 パン職人 確認するs her 約束 as a teller of haunting, atmospheric stories. In the 中央 of a 嵐／襲撃する two women are attacked on Tresco and one goes 行方不明の. What secrets does this island community hide? Many it seems: not to be 行方不明になるd.
MURDER ON LAKE GARDA
(Century £16.99, January)
A locked room mystery 始める，決める against the background of a celebrity wedding held on a 私的な island in Lake Garda in Italy. The glamorous Heywood 一族／派閥 are gathered to see their son marry an Italian influencer when a 血-curdling 叫び声をあげる 停止（させる）s 訴訟／進行s. It 証明するs Hindle is one 相続人 to Christie.
L-R:?MURDER ON LAKE GARDA by Tom Hindle (Century £16.99, January);?MOSCOW X by David McCloskey (Swift 圧力（をかける） £18.99, January)
MOSCOW X
(Swift 圧力（をかける） £18.99, January)
This second 秘かに調査する novel from form er 中央情報局 officer McCloskey follows his brilliant debut Damascus 駅／配置する a year ago and を強調するs his talent. Two 中央情報局 officers 開始する，打ち上げる a 企て，努力，提案 to 新採用する Vladimir Putin’s moneyman, but will they 後継する? Packed with insider knowledge, it shimmers with 脅し.
THE HUNTER
(Viking £18.99, March)
Former Chicago 探偵，刑事 Cal Hooper has retired to Ireland looking for peace and finds it with a 地元の woman and a half-wild 十代の少年少女 called Trey. Then two men come looking for the girl and Hooper is 決定するd to 保護する her, even if she wants 復讐. This is the best-selling French at her best.
L-R:?THE HUNTER by Tana French (Viking £18.99, March);?FIVE BAD DEEDS by Caz Frear (Simon & Schuster £14.99, April);?CLICKBAIT by L.C. North (Bantam £14.99, April)
FIVE BAD DEEDS?
by Caz Frear
(Simon & Schuster £14.99, April)
From the author of the excellent 甘い Little Lies comes this dark story of a hard-working mother who suddenly finds herself 脅すd out of the blue. As she struggles to find out who is 始める，決める on destroying her life, the 匿名の／不明の 脅しs only 増加する. A fabulous standalone that moves the heart.
CLICKBAIT
(Bantam £14.99, April)
Told 排他的に through interviews, transcripts and diary 入ること／参加（者）s, this charts the 拒絶する／低下する of reality television 王族 ― the Lancasters ― after an old ビデオ 現れるs of one of their 伝説の parties and a 行方不明の 十代の少年少女. What happened? A look at the dark 味方する of fame, it’s a 21st-century morality tale.
DEBUTS
SARA LAWRENCE
GREEN DOT
(W&N £18.99, February)
This novel about the terrible allure of wanting something that 約束s nothing and the torturous 旅行 taken in deciding who we are has been あられ／賞賛するd as this year’s 悲しみ And Bliss. It’s a hilarious and heartbreaking story about a young woman’s 事件／事情／状勢 with an older 同僚.
HAGSTONE
by Sinead Gleeson
(Fourth 広い地所 £16.99, April)
The award-winning 非，不，無-fiction author’s first novel features artist Nell and the mysterious Inions, a commune of women who have travelled to a wild and 孤立するd island from all over the world. Nell is 招待するd into their community to produce a magnificent piece of art.
L-R:?GREEN DOT by Madeleine Gray (W&N £18.99, February);?HAGSTONE by Sinead Gleeson (Fourth 広い地所 £16.99, April)
GUILTY BY DEFINITION?
by Susie Dent
(Bonnier 調書をとる／予約するs £16.99, August)
From Dictionary Corner to debut fiction author, Countdown’s 居住（者） word genius 解放（する）s this 殺人-mystery in the summer. She’s 令状ing about what she knows, because it all starts when an 匿名の／不明の letter to lexicog raphers arrives at the offices of the Clarendon English Dictionary.
SCI FI & FANTASY
JAMIE BUXTON
THE CITY OF STARDUST
(Hodderscape £20, January)
There’s a young girl fighting an 古代の family 悪口を言う／悪態, a tremendously chilly villain, and the gothicky atmosphere of 回廊（地帯）s and libraries is invigorated by a 広範囲にわたる trans-大陸の narrative. Want more? How about monsters, 魔法, a 追求（する），探索（する） and a mystery? A hugely 約束ing debut; beautifully written 同様に.
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L-R:?THE CITY OF STARDUST by Georgia Summers (Hodderscape £20, January);?EMPIRE OF THE DAMNED by Jay Kristoff (Harper Voyager £22, February)
EMPIRE OF THE DAMNED?
(Harper Voyager £22, February)
If you were bitten by Empire Of The Vampire, you’ll know what to 推定する／予想する; if not, here’s another beautifully 建設するd, epic maelstrom of high-火刑／賭けるs 血の塊／突き刺す and adventure. The fight for the 宗教上の Grail is won, but now Gabriel must end the 悪口を言う／悪態 of Daysdeath and bring the light. Awesome.
SONG OF THE HUNTRESS?
(Tor £18.99, March)
Lucy Holland’s debut, Sistersong, gave us a beguiling blend of Dark Ages history, strong ヘロインs and 魔法. She’s gone and done it again, but even better . Two women 軍人s ― one a 悪口を言う／悪態d British immortal, the other a Saxon queen ― must find ありふれた ground to fight a growing evil. Captivating.
L-R:?SONG OF THE HUNTRESS by Lucy Holland (Tor £18.99, March);?SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON by Wole Talabi (Gollancz £14.99, February)
SHIGIDI AND THE BRASS HEAD OF OBALUFON
(Gollancz £14.99, February)
It starts with a succubus and retired nightmare god 存在 chased through London in a ghostly hansom cab ― and kicks on from there. To break 解放する／自由な from his oppressive, divine company board, Shigidi must 解除する an artefact from the British Museum. Pure 地位，任命する-植民地の 魔法 and 抱擁する, heisty fun.
SHORT STORIES
EITHNE FARRY?
A CAGE WENT IN SEARCH OF A BIRD?
June 2024 示すs the centenary of the death of Kafka. 奮起させるd by the master surrealist, ten international writers, 含むing Ali Smith, Tommy Orange and Helen Oyeyemi, take Kafka’s 主題s of existential angst and alienation and gives them a 21st-century 新たな展開 with tales of horrific flat 追跡（する）s, perplexing panic attacks and a futuristic society who 仕事 their AI servants to build a 巨大（な） tower to reach God.
L-R: A CAGE WENT IN SEARCH OF A BIRD (Abacus £18.99, June); THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS by Naomi 支持を得ようと努めるd (不死鳥／絶品 £16.99 April)
NEIGHBORS AND OTHER STORIES?
(Faber £9.99, February)
Diane Oliver was just 22 when she died in 1966, and this はっきりと 観察するd, 冷気／寒がらせるing collec tion 調査するs race and 人種差別主義 in 1950s and 1960s America, as her beleaguered characters ― who 範囲 from the 井戸／弁護士席-to-do to those living below the poverty line ― navigate the day-to-day horrors of trying to 生き残る in a prejudiced country. An unmissable collection from a lost 発言する／表明する.
THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS
(不死鳥／絶品 £16.99 April)
From the 勝利者 of the BBC Short Story Award comes a smart, skewering collection of tales on the 破壊分子 味方するs of womanhood. Failed sisterhood, the shadowy 味方する of modern love, perilous parenting classes and the dangers of 招待するing an ex-wife to a former husband’s wedding are 調査するd with gleeful aplomb.
