From literary fiction and espionage thrillers to memoirs and cultural criticism, 2026 has brought a varied selection of books to the shelves. This year’s releases include established authors returning to familiar subjects, alongside debut novelists examining relationships, ambition and contemporary life from different perspectives.
Whether you’re looking for a compelling story, a revealing personal account or something that challenges familiar ideas, these ten books are worth adding to your reading list.
Kin by Tayari Jones
Tayari Jones returns with Kin, a novel about the enduring friendship between two women whose lives take different directions after a shared childhood in Louisiana.
Annie and Vernice grow up in Honeysuckle, both affected by the absence of their mothers. As adults, Vernice pursues education and a more privileged life, while Annie searches for the mother who left her. Their contrasting experiences test a relationship formed long before either woman understood the circumstances shaping her future.
Following An American Marriage, Jones again examines the complicated connections between family, loyalty and personal identity. The friendship at the centre of Kin gives the novel its emotional weight as the characters confront the distance between the lives they imagined and those they have built.
The Cormorant Hunt by Michael Idov
Michael Idov returns to espionage fiction with The Cormorant Hunt, the follow-up to his debut thriller The Collaborators.
Intelligence officer Ari Falk is operating undercover in Tbilisi when the murder of a media figure in Prague draws attention to a conspiracy within the CIA. As other intelligence officers become involved, the investigation moves across Europe, exposing competing loyalties and the possibility of a traitor operating at a senior level.
Idov’s background in journalism and screenwriting informs a fast-moving story built around political intrigue, shifting alliances and dry humour. The novel combines the conventions of international spy fiction with contemporary concerns about information, influence and political instability.
The Keeper by Tana French
Tana French concludes her Cal Hooper trilogy with The Keeper, returning to the fictional Irish village of Ardnakelty.
When a young woman is found dead, the investigation unsettles a community already shaped by private disputes and longstanding loyalties. Former Chicago detective Cal Hooper, who has established a new life in the village, becomes drawn into events that threaten the relationships he has built.
French’s crime fiction is particularly attentive to the social dynamics surrounding a mystery. Here, the investigation unfolds against a backdrop of suspicion, personal history and competing versions of the truth. Readers familiar with The Searcher and The Hunter will recognise the importance of place and character to the series.
The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray
In The Make-Believe, actress Hannah Murray recounts her involvement with an international wellness group and the serious consequences that followed.
Known for playing Cassie in Skins and Gilly in Game of Thrones, Murray describes how an initial energy-healing session developed into a deeper connection with the organisation. Her account also addresses a period of psychiatric illness and the circumstances surrounding her recovery.
The memoir considers the appeal of communities that promise personal transformation, particularly during periods of vulnerability. Murray’s willingness to examine her own experiences gives the book a perspective that extends beyond her career in television.
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
Josh Silver’s Fruit Fly centres on Mallory, a novelist whose early success has been followed by seven years of writer’s block.
Searching for material that might revive her career, Mallory creates a Grindr profile using a photograph of her husband. Through the app, she meets Leo, a young homeless man whose life she begins to see as the basis for her next novel.
The increasingly uncomfortable relationship between the two characters drives Silver’s darkly comic examination of literary ambition and exploitation. Mallory’s willingness to use another person’s circumstances for professional gain raises questions about the ownership of stories and the ethical compromises made in pursuit of success.
I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder
Jem Calder’s I Want You to Be Happy follows a relationship between two Londoners whose circumstances and expectations are markedly different.
Chuck is a 35-year-old advertising copywriter, while Joey is a 23-year-old barista living from one pay cheque to the next. Their relationship develops against the backdrop of contemporary London, where differences in age, income and experience complicate their attempts to understand one another.
Calder examines the smaller details of modern relationships, from financial insecurity to the language people use to express their feelings. The novel’s attention to everyday conversations and social habits gives its portrait of contemporary dating a recognisable setting.
This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Daniyal Mueenuddin’s first novel, This Is Where the Serpent Lives, presents an expansive portrait of contemporary Pakistan through the lives of people connected to a rural estate.
Landowners, workers and families occupy different positions within a social structure where wealth and inherited power determine much of everyday life. Their relationships reveal how affection, obligation and personal ambition become entangled with questions of class and survival.
Mueenuddin previously received critical recognition for his short-story collection In Other Rooms, Other Wonders. His novel develops that interest in the relationships between individuals and the wider economic and social systems that shape their lives.
The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste by Ione Gamble and Contributors
Edited by Ione Gamble, The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste brings together essays that challenge conventional ideas about cultural sophistication.
Contributors including Tavi Gevinson, Angela Hui and Yomi Adegoke examine popular entertainment, consumer culture and the pleasures often dismissed as embarrassing or lacking artistic value. Subjects range from mainstream television to everyday shopping habits.
The collection questions who gets to define good taste and why certain cultural interests attract judgement. Its varied perspectives make it particularly relevant to conversations about social media, personal identity and the influence of cultural gatekeepers.
Strangers by Belle Burden
Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers examines the unexpected collapse of her marriage after more than two decades together.
Following her husband’s decision to leave, Burden begins reconsidering the relationship she believed she understood. The memoir moves between memories of their life together and the uncertainty that followed their separation, exploring the difficulty of reconciling an apparently stable marriage with its abrupt ending.
Burden previously wrote about the experience in her widely read New York Times Modern Love essay. In Strangers, she expands that account into an examination of trust, intimacy and the unsettling possibility of never fully knowing another person.
The Project by Annie Lord
Annie Lord’s debut novel, The Project, follows Daisy, a 26-year-old Londoner, and her friend Maya as they attempt to rethink the rules of modern dating.
Frustrated by their experiences with relationships, the two women decide to transform one of their male friends into their idea of an ideal romantic partner. Their experiment soon exposes the difference between what people claim to want from a relationship and how they behave when confronted with real emotions.
Known for her writing about relationships and her earlier book Notes on Heartbreak, Lord approaches romantic comedy through friendship, contemporary expectations and the contradictions of dating culture. The novel combines an accessible premise with observations about the pressures of finding a partner.
For more reading inspiration, explore STORY’s earlier selection of books to read in 2026.
