• Search Results

The books we loved in 2021

Here, the Penguin.co.uk editors wax effusive about the very best books we read this year, from life-altering guides to how to spend our time on Earth to epic American novels to young adult tales from 1937 Japan.

A collage of book covers against a royal blue background.

As editors for Penguin, a huge number of books cross our desks each year, some great, some just fine, and a rare few that remind us exactly why we read: they whisk us somewhere incredible at a time we need it most, or they show us how we might live better, becoming a crucial part of the fabric of our lives.

In 2021, as ever, we were treated to another handful of those spectacular kinds of books. Below, the editors of Penguin.co.uk reveal the reads that moved them this year.

What did you think of this article? Email  [email protected]  and let us know.

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

Culture | Books

Best fiction 2021: The best new books to read this year, from Damon Galgut to Sally Rooney

The Evening Standard's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

best rated books 2021 uk

So many books , so little time.

There’s an abundance of brilliant new novels arriving in bookshops this year, including a wave of exciting debuts. We’ve put together our edit of the most unmissable fiction hitting shelves in 2021, from Meg Mason’s Sorrow and Bliss to Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half, to help you curate your reading list.

The Promise by Damon Galgut

best rated books 2021 uk

Third time’s the charm: Damon Galgut has scooped this year’s Booker Prize , after previously being shortlisted twice before. Already described as a masterpiece in a ream of ecstatic reviews, his latest novel explores the fallout when a white South African family break a promise to a black woman who works for them.

Buy it here

Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney

best rated books 2021 uk

The long-awaited third novel from Sally Rooney is finally here. Featuring a young, prodigious and phenomenally successful novelist who hates fame (sounds familiar), it’s been met by a mixed reaction. Some, including our reviewer Claire Allfree , noted that Rooney’s writing feels newly self-conscious, seemingly disillusioned by the novel form. That, of course, won’t stop it flying off the shelves; the book received one of the biggest publication day launches since Harry Potter.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro

best rated books 2021 uk

Hypnotic, mysterious and melancholy: all the hallmarks of a Kazuo Ishiguro novel are here in his latest , even if it is a book about creepy AI robots moving into our houses. It’s narrated by Klara, an ‘artificial friend’ to frail Josie, with dashes of The Remains of the Day in its study of service, and Never Let Me Go in the questions it grapples with regarding science and the soul.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

best rated books 2021 uk

In poet Patricia Lockwood’s Booker shortlisted first novel , a woman becomes famous because she once tweeted ‘can a dog have twins’. It begins as a razor-sharp satire of the surreal vortex of the internet and social media - described in the novel as ‘the portal’ - before being disrupted by a life-changing offline event.

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

best rated books 2021 uk

The most recommended book of the summer, and with good reason. Meg Mason’s novel about mental health, marriage and sisterhood is told in a singular voice of wry wit and blackly comic frankness. One of those ‘read it in one sitting and tell all your friends’ kind of books.

Luster by Raven Leilani

best rated books 2021 uk

Zadie Smith used to be her teacher, but now Raven Leilani is thrilling readers with her own debut novel . Told in dry, direct prose, it follows Edie, a young black artist who becomes involved with an older white couple, and was named winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize earlier this year.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

best rated books 2021 uk

Brit Bennett’s gripping second novel is the frontrunner to pick up this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. Telling the story of the divergent paths of two black twins, one of whom passes for white, it is both a compulsive pageturner and a book with important things to say about race and identity. HBO has already snapped up the screen rights for a reported seven-figure sum.

Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny

best rated books 2021 uk

A new book by Katherine Heiny is a very happy occasion, and her latest explores love and relationships in a small town. Like Elizabeth Strout after three shots of tequila.

Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart

best rated books 2021 uk

Bloomsbury boss hails ‘publishing phenomenon’ Sarah J Maas as shares hit record high

10 of the best books about heartbreak

10 of the best books about heartbreak

Best French novels of all time for a window into the Gallic soul

Best French novels of all time for a window into the Gallic soul

First look at exceptional new London properties for sale in 2024

First look at exceptional new London properties for sale in 2024

The 2020 Booker Prize winner has been something of a crowd-pleaser, generally agreed to be a Very Good Book by critics and readers alike. Set in 1980’s Glasgow, it’s about a young boy coming to terms with his sexuality and trying to support his alcoholic mother. Bleak but brilliant.

Summerwater by Sarah Moss

best rated books 2021 uk

Sarah Moss’s slim novel about a set of holidaymakers stuck inside because it won’t stop raining reads like a set of immaculate, interconnected short stories. From the frazzled mum who feels lost when given the gift of an hour to herself, to a young couple setting themselves lofty sexual goals, it builds up to a picture of a confused, fragmented community.

Three Rooms by Jo Hamya

best rated books 2021 uk

Resigned to renting forever and feeling guilt every time you buy a cup of coffee? You’ll want to read Jo Hamya’s urgent and intelligent debut, about a woman despairing at the nomadic life forced on her by an unstable jobs market and a broken housing system. She’s desperate to put down roots - and also mildly embarrassed about that. A vital look at the precarity felt by many millennials.

Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee

best rated books 2021 uk

In this dystopian vision of the near-future, sea levels are rising, temperatures are rocketing, and everyone else is moving inland. Except for families given government grants to move to Margate. This story of a teenager’s seaside self-discovery set against the backdrop of collapse has been described as both a great coming-of-age story, and a warning.

The Lock In by Phoebe Luckhurst

best rated books 2021 uk

This hilarious debut from the Evening Standard’s Features Editor will give you all the lols you need this summer. A highly relatable comedy about flatmates, hangovers and terrible landlords, it’s already been described as the most original rom-com of the year.

Other People’s Clothes by Calla Henkel

best rated books 2021 uk

It’s 2009, and two art students arrive in Berlin from New York - one is consumed by grief for a murdered friend, the other is fascinated by Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and the ruthless world of fame. They find themselves renting an apartment from an oddball crime writer and seemingly becoming the inspiration for her next book. We’re sold already.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

best rated books 2021 uk

A white family arrive at a luxurious, remote holiday home for a week of glorious disconnection, and disconnection is very much what they get. Within hours, their idyllic break is disrupted by a black couple knocking on the door with news of a power outage. They say the home is theirs and are looking for shelter; suspicion and panic begins to fester. You’ll race through this uneasy read.

Mrs March by Virginia Feito

best rated books 2021 uk

This noir-ish debut is part Mad Men, part Shirley Jackson, and features one of the most beguiling narrators you’ll have read in ages. Mrs March’s immaculate life starts to fragment when someone assumes her husband’s latest novel - about a prostitute - is inspired by her. Elisabeth Moss is a fan, and is already set to produce a big screen adaptation in which she’ll play Mrs March herself.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

best rated books 2021 uk

Torrey Peters ’ writing feels like a raucous gossip sesh with your cleverest and most quick-witted friend. With lightning pace and miles of wit, her Women’s Prize long-listed novel follows a trans woman’s search for motherhood, and ends up re-imagining what a family can be.

The Manningtree Witches by AK Blakemore

best rated books 2021 uk

This year’s Desmond Elliott Prize winner has been described as the best historical novel since Wolf Hall - lofty praise indeed. It’s the debut novel from poet AK Blakemore, and takes readers back to the Essex Witch Trials of the mid-1600s, exploring historic misogyny and abuses of power.

Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson

best rated books 2021 uk

“Sally Rooney meets Michaela Coel meets Teju Cole,” said the New York Times of this debut novel from 25-year-old writer and photographer Caleb Azumah Nelson, which tells the story of two Black British creatives falling in love.

Learning to Swim by Clare Chambers

best rated books 2021 uk

If you loved Small Pleasures, last summer’s word-of-mouth hit, there’s good news: two of Clare Chambers’ previous novels have been reissued with gorgeous new covers. Fans of escapist family sagas will love Learning to Swim, about a bohemian family who end up in suburbia.

Jane is Trying by Isy Suttie

best rated books 2021 uk

The first novel by comedian Isy Suttie, best known for playing Dobby in Peep Show, is about a thirty something woman with a lot on her plate, including but not limited to trying for a baby and understanding why everything makes her anxious. Difficult subjects are tackled with tenderness and Suttie’s characteristic funny knack for observation.

Heatwave by Victor Jestin

best rated books 2021 uk

At just over 100 pages, this prize-winning French novel is a short, sharp shock of a read. An awkward seventeen-year-old boy on a camping holiday leaves his tent and is faced by something horrific - and then does nothing. Translated by Sam Taylor, who brought Leila Slimani’s debut Lullaby to English readers, Jestin has been described as the modern day successor to Françoise Sagan.

True Story by Kate Reed Petty

best rated books 2021 uk

Stephen King, but make it feminist: this audaciously ambitious page-turner straddles genres to try and navigate memories of a traumatic sexual assault. Deserves to be read by many more people.

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder

best rated books 2021 uk

Rachel Yoder’s debut, about a young mother who seems to be turning into a dog, is getting critics excited. The spiritual successor to Angela Carter?

Everyone is Still Alive by Cathy Rentzenbrink

best rated books 2021 uk

In her acclaimed memoir, The Last Act of Love, Cathy Rentzenbrink wrote about losing her brother after a tragic accident. Her first foray into fiction is marked by loss, too:  protagonist Juliet and her family move into her late mother’s home after she dies.

The Echo Chamber by John Boyne

best rated books 2021 uk

The latest novel from the author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas focuses on one family who find themselves at the mercy of a social media storm. Inspired by Boyne’s own experience of an online backlash to his recent YA novel, My Brother’s Name is Jessica, it might be cathartic reading for anyone who is starting to get stressed out by Twitter.

The Listeners by Jordan Tannahill

best rated books 2021 uk

This novel from Canadian playwright Jordan Tannahill starts with a woman who can hear a low hum that causes her nosebleeds. Her husband can’t hear it, but she starts to find a community of others who can, and a story unfolds that grapples with conspiracy theory culture in modern America.

The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

best rated books 2021 uk

There’s been a lot of praise for this book about a group of septuagenarian life-long female friends, who get together to clear out the home of Sylvie, who has recently died. A perceptive look at ageing and what keeps us connected with one another.

Men in My Situation by Per Petterson

best rated books 2021 uk

Women are dominating the literary fiction market at the moment, but this latest novel from Norwegian writer Per Petterson offers a rare insight into male vulnerability, focusing on a man who finds himself increasingly isolated after a series of losses.

You Will Never Be Forgotten by Mary South

best rated books 2021 uk

These highly contemporary short stories explore how we use technology to avoid our own feelings (put the Instagram feed down). South is one to watch - her stories have been featured in the New Yorker, and The Atlantic has described this collection as “deft parables about the false protection of machines.”

The Making of Mrs Petrakis by Mary Karras

best rated books 2021 uk

A woman flees war-torn Cyprus in the 1970s to begin a new life in London, opening a bakery that ends up becoming a hub for the Greek Cypriot community. An evocative mix of history, food and storytelling.

TUI Discount Code

The 100 Must-Read Books of 2021

The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that shifted our perspectives, uncovered essential truths and encouraged us forward Annabel Gutterman, Cady Lang, Arianna Rebolini and Lucas Wittmann

best rated books 2021 uk

1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows

Acts of desperation, afterparties, aftershocks, all that she carried, all the frequent troubles of our days, america on fire, beautiful world, where are you, the book of form and emptiness, call us what we carry, the chosen and the beautiful, chronicles from the land of the happiest people on earth, cloud cuckoo land, the code breaker, the committed, the copenhagen trilogy, covered with night, crying in h mart, dear senthuran, detransition, baby, empire of pain, everyone knows your mother is a witch, the family roe, the final girl support group, finding the mother tree, four thousand weeks, the free world, great circle, harlem shuffle, hell of a book, how the word is passed, invisible child, the kissing bug, klara and the sun, the life of the mind, the lincoln highway, a little devil in america, the loneliest americans, the love songs of w.e.b. du bois, malibu rising, the man who lived underground, mike nichols: a life, milk blood heat, my darling from the lions, my monticello, my year abroad, no one is talking about this, oh william, on juneteenth, one friday in april, one last stop, orwell's roses, the other black girl, our country friends, a passage north, pilgrim bell, poet warrior, the promise, the prophets, razorblade tears, real estate, the removed, remote control, the rib king, second place, seeing ghosts, somebody's daughter, something new under the sun, the sum of us, the sunflower cast a spell to save us from the void, the sweetness of water, a swim in a pond in the rain, tastes like war, there’s no such thing as an easy job, under a white sky, until proven safe, while we were dating, white magic, who is maud dixon, who they was, who will pay reparations on my soul, you got anything stronger, you're history.

best rated books 2021 uk

by Ai Weiwei

best rated books 2021 uk

by Megan Nolan

best rated books 2021 uk

by Anthony Veasna So

best rated books 2021 uk

by Nadia Owusu

best rated books 2021 uk

by Tiya Miles

best rated books 2021 uk

by Rebecca Donner

best rated books 2021 uk

by Elizabeth Hinton

best rated books 2021 uk

by Sally Rooney

best rated books 2021 uk

by Ruth Ozeki

best rated books 2021 uk

by Amanda Gorman

best rated books 2021 uk

by Sunjeev Sahota

best rated books 2021 uk

by Wole Soyinka

best rated books 2021 uk

by Anthony Doerr

best rated books 2021 uk

by Walter Isaacson

best rated books 2021 uk

by Viet Thanh Nguyen

best rated books 2021 uk

by Tove Ditlevsen

best rated books 2021 uk

by Nicole Eustace

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jonathan Franzen

best rated books 2021 uk

by Michelle Zauner

best rated books 2021 uk

by Akwaeke Emezi

best rated books 2021 uk

by Torrey Peters

best rated books 2021 uk

by Patrick Radden Keefe

best rated books 2021 uk

by Rivka Galchen

best rated books 2021 uk

by Joshua Prager

best rated books 2021 uk

by Grady Hendrix

best rated books 2021 uk

by Suzanne Simard

best rated books 2021 uk

by Oliver Burkeman

best rated books 2021 uk

by Louis Menand

best rated books 2021 uk

by Melissa Febos

best rated books 2021 uk

by Maggie Shipstead

best rated books 2021 uk

by Colson Whitehead

best rated books 2021 uk

by Mieko Kawakami

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jason Mott

best rated books 2021 uk

by Clint Smith

best rated books 2021 uk

by Katie Kitamura

best rated books 2021 uk

by Andrea Elliott

best rated books 2021 uk

by Daisy Hernández

best rated books 2021 uk

by Kazuo Ishiguro

best rated books 2021 uk

by Kaitlyn Greenidge

best rated books 2021 uk

by Christine Smallwood

best rated books 2021 uk

by Amor Towles

best rated books 2021 uk

by Hanif Abdurraqib

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jay Caspian Kang

best rated books 2021 uk

by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

best rated books 2021 uk

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

best rated books 2021 uk

by Richard Wright

best rated books 2021 uk

by Lauren Groff

best rated books 2021 uk

by Mark Harris

best rated books 2021 uk

by Dantiel W. Moniz

best rated books 2021 uk

by Melissa Broder

best rated books 2021 uk

by Rachel Long

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jocelyn Nicole Johnson

best rated books 2021 uk

by Chang-rae Lee

best rated books 2021 uk

by Patricia Lockwood

best rated books 2021 uk

by Elizabeth Strout

best rated books 2021 uk

by Annette Gordon-Reed

best rated books 2021 uk

by Donald Antrim

best rated books 2021 uk

by Casey McQuiston

best rated books 2021 uk

by Caleb Azumah Nelson

best rated books 2021 uk

by Rebecca Solnit

best rated books 2021 uk

by Zakiya Dalila Harris

best rated books 2021 uk

by Gary Shteyngart

best rated books 2021 uk

by Anuk Arudpragasam

best rated books 2021 uk

by Kaveh Akbar

best rated books 2021 uk

by Joy Harjo

best rated books 2021 uk

by Larissa Pham

best rated books 2021 uk

by Damon Galgut

best rated books 2021 uk

by Robert Jones, Jr.

best rated books 2021 uk

by S.A. Cosby

best rated books 2021 uk

by Deborah Levy

best rated books 2021 uk

by Brandon Hobson

best rated books 2021 uk

by Nnedi Okorafor

best rated books 2021 uk

by Ladee Hubbard

best rated books 2021 uk

by Chibundu Onuzo

best rated books 2021 uk

by Rachel Cusk

best rated books 2021 uk

by Kat Chow

best rated books 2021 uk

by Kristen Radtke

best rated books 2021 uk

by John le Carré

best rated books 2021 uk

by Sarah Ruhl

best rated books 2021 uk

by Ashley C. Ford

best rated books 2021 uk

by Alexandra Kleeman

best rated books 2021 uk

by Rivers Solomon

best rated books 2021 uk

by Heather McGhee

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jackie Wang

best rated books 2021 uk

by Nathan Harris

best rated books 2021 uk

by George Saunders

best rated books 2021 uk

by Grace M. Cho

best rated books 2021 uk

by Percival Everett

best rated books 2021 uk

by Kikuko Tsumura

best rated books 2021 uk

by Tarana Burke

best rated books 2021 uk

by Elizabeth Kolbert

best rated books 2021 uk

by Geoff Manaugh and Nicola Twilley

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jasmine Guillory

best rated books 2021 uk

by Elissa Washuta

best rated books 2021 uk

by Alexandra Andrews

best rated books 2021 uk

by Gabriel Krauze

best rated books 2021 uk

by Jesse McCarthy

best rated books 2021 uk

by Gabrielle Union

best rated books 2021 uk

by Lesley Chow

This project is led by Lucy Feldman and Annabel Gutterman, with writing, reporting and additional editing by Eliza Berman, Kelly Conniff, Mariah Espada, Lori Fradkin, Laurin-Whitney Gottbrath, Cady Lang, Nik Popli, Arianna Rebolini, Lucas Wittmann and Julia Zorthian; art and photography editing by Whitney Matewe and Jennifer Prandato; and production by Paulina Cachero and Nadia Suleman.

Advertisement

Supported by

The 10 Best Books of 2021

Editors at The Times Book Review choose the best fiction and nonfiction titles this year.

  • Share full article

How Beautiful We Were

By imbolo mbue.

best rated books 2021 uk

Following her 2016 debut, “ Behold the Dreamers ,” Mbue’s sweeping and quietly devastating second novel begins in 1980 in the fictional African village of Kosawa, where representatives from an American oil company have come to meet with the locals, whose children are dying because of the environmental havoc (fallow fields, poisoned water) wreaked by its drilling and pipelines. This decades-spanning fable of power and corruption turns out to be something much less clear-cut than the familiar David-and-Goliath tale of a sociopathic corporation and the lives it steamrolls. Through the eyes of Kosawa’s citizens young and old, Mbue constructs a nuanced exploration of self-interest, of what it means to want in the age of capitalism and colonialism — these machines of malicious, insatiable wanting.

Random House. $28. | Read our review | Read our profile of Mbue | Listen to Mbue on the podcast

By Katie Kitamura

In Kitamura’s fourth novel, an unnamed court translator in The Hague is tasked with intimately vanishing into the voices and stories of war criminals whom she alone can communicate with; falling meanwhile into a tumultuous entanglement with a man whose marriage may or may not be over for good. Kitamura’s sleek and spare prose elegantly breaks grammatical convention, mirroring the book’s concern with the bleeding lines between intimacies — especially between the sincere and the coercive. Like her previous novel, “A Separation,” “Intimacies” scrutinizes the knowability of those around us, not as an end in itself but as a lens on grand social issues from gentrification to colonialism to feminism. The path a life cuts through the world, this book seems to say, has its greatest significance in the effect it has on others.

Riverhead Books. $26. | Read our review | Read our profile of Kitamura

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois

By honorée fanonne jeffers.

“The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois,” the first novel by Jeffers, a celebrated poet, is many things at once: a moving coming-of-age saga, an examination of race and an excavation of American history. It cuts back and forth between the tale of Ailey Pearl Garfield, a Black girl growing up at the end of the 20th century, and the “songs” of her ancestors, Native Americans and enslaved African Americans who lived through the formation of the United States. As their stories converge, “Love Songs” creates an unforgettable portrait of Black life that reveals how the past still reverberates today.

Harper/HarperCollins. $28.99. | Read our review | Listen to Jeffers on the podcast

No One Is Talking About This

By patricia lockwood.

Lockwood first found acclaim as a poet on the internet, with gloriously inventive and ribald verse — sexts elevated to virtuosity. In “ Priestdaddy ,” her indelible 2017 memoir about growing up in rectories across the Midwest presided over by her gun-loving, guitar-playing father, a Catholic priest, she called tweeting “an art form, like sculpture, or honking the national anthem under your armpit.” Here, in her first novel, she distills the pleasures and deprivations of life split between online and flesh-and-blood interactions, transfiguring the dissonance into art. The result is a book that reads like a prose poem, at once sublime, profane, intimate, philosophical, hilarious and, eventually, deeply moving.

Riverhead Books. $25. | Read our review | Read our profile of Lockwood

When We Cease to Understand the World

By benjamín labatut. translated by adrian nathan west..

Labatut expertly stitches together the stories of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers to explore both the ecstasy and agony of scientific breakthroughs: their immense gains for society as well as their steep human costs. His journey to the outermost edges of knowledge — guided by the mathematician Alexander Grothendieck , the physicist Werner Heisenberg and the chemist Fritz Haber , among others — offers glimpses of a universe with limitless potential underlying the observable world, a “dark nucleus at the heart of things” that some of its witnesses decide is better left alone. This extraordinary hybrid of fiction and nonfiction also provokes the frisson of an extended true-or-false test: The further we read, the blurrier the line gets between fact and fabulism.

New York Review Books. Paper, $17.95. | Read our review

The Copenhagen Trilogy: Childhood; Youth; Dependency

By tove ditlevsen. translated by tiina nunnally and michael favala goldman..

Ditlevsen’s gorgeous memoirs, first published in Denmark in the 1960s and ’70s and collected here in a single volume, detail her hardscrabble upbringing, career path and merciless addictions: a powerful account of the struggle to reconcile art and life. She joined the working ranks at 14, became a renowned poet by her early 20s, and found herself, after two failed marriages, wedded to a psychopathic doctor and hopelessly dependent on opioids by her 30s. Yet for all the dramatic twists of her life, these books together project a stunning clarity, humor and candidness, casting light not just on the world’s harsh realities but on the inexplicable impulses of our secret selves.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux. $30. | Read our review

How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America

By clint smith.

For this timely and thought-provoking book, Smith, a poet and journalist, toured sites key to the history of slavery and its present-day legacy, including Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello; Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary; and a Confederate cemetery. Interspersing interviews with the tourists, guides, activists and local historians he meets along the way with close readings of scholarship and poignant personal reflection, Smith holds up a mirror to America’s fraught relationship with its past, capturing a potent mixture of good intentions, earnest corrective, willful ignorance and blatant distortion.

Little, Brown & Company. $29. | Read our review | Listen to Smith on the podcast

Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival and Hope in an American City

By andrea elliott.

To expand on her acclaimed 2013 series for The Times about Dasani Coates, a homeless New York schoolgirl, and her family, Elliott spent years following her subjects in their daily lives, through shelters, schools, courtrooms and welfare offices. The book she has produced — intimately reported, elegantly written and suffused with the fierce love and savvy observations of Dasani and her mother — is a searing account of one family’s struggle with poverty, homelessness and addiction in a city and country that have failed to address these issues with efficacy or compassion.

Random House. $30. | Read our review | Listen to Elliott on the podcast

On Juneteenth

By annette gordon-reed.

This book weaves together history and memoir into a short volume that is insightful, touching and courageous. Exploring the racial and social complexities of Texas, her home state, Gordon-Reed asks readers to step back from the current heated debates and take a more nuanced look at history and the surprises it can offer. Such a perspective comes easy to her because she was a part of history — the first Black child to integrate her East Texas school. On several occasions, she found herself shunned by whites and Blacks alike, learning at an early age that breaking the color line can be threatening to both races.

Liveright Publishing. $15.95. | Read our review | Listen to Gordon-Reed on the podcast

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath

By heather clark.

It’s daring to undertake a new biography of Plath, whose life, and death by suicide at 30 in 1963, have been thoroughly picked over by scholars. Yet this meticulously researched and, at more than 1,000 pages, unexpectedly riveting portrait is a monumental achievement. Determined to rescue the poet from posthumous caricature as a doomed madwoman and “reposition her as one of the most important American writers of the 20th century,” Clark, a professor of poetry in England, delivers a transporting account of a rare literary talent and the familial and intellectual milieu that both thwarted and encouraged her, enlivened throughout by quotations from Plath’s letters, diaries, poetry and prose.

Alfred A. Knopf. $40. | Read our review

Follow New York Times Books on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram , sign up for our newsletter or our literary calendar . And listen to us on the Book Review podcast .

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 .

UK Edition Change

  • UK Politics
  • News Videos
  • Paris 2024 Olympics
  • Rugby Union
  • Sport Videos
  • John Rentoul
  • Mary Dejevsky
  • Andrew Grice
  • Sean O’Grady
  • Photography
  • Theatre & Dance
  • Culture Videos
  • Food & Drink
  • Health & Families
  • Royal Family
  • Electric Vehicles
  • Lifestyle Videos
  • UK Hotel Reviews
  • News & Advice
  • Simon Calder
  • Australia & New Zealand
  • South America
  • C. America & Caribbean
  • Middle East
  • Politics Explained
  • News Analysis
  • Today’s Edition
  • Home & Garden
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Travel & Outdoors
  • Sports & Fitness
  • Sustainable Living
  • Climate Videos
  • Behind The Headlines
  • On The Ground
  • Decomplicated
  • You Ask The Questions
  • Binge Watch
  • Travel Smart
  • Watch on your TV
  • Crosswords & Puzzles
  • Most Commented
  • Newsletters
  • Ask Me Anything
  • Virtual Events
  • Betting Sites
  • Online Casinos
  • Wine Offers

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in Please refresh your browser to be logged in

The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Why trust us?

18 best new books to read in 2024, from historical fiction to romance novels

Discover debut novelists and immersive page-turners from acclaimed authors this season, article bookmarked.

Find your bookmarks in your Independent Premium section, under my profile

You won’t want to put down these tomes

Waterstones

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for insider tips and product reviews from our shopping experts

Sign up for our free indybest email, thanks for signing up to the indybest email.

The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to refresh your reading pile. Whether you have a penchant for a crime caper or love reading a romantic romp, there’s no better way to cure any January blues than with a good book (or two).

While we eagerly await stretching out on a sun lounger with a book in the summer, the colder months offer ample opportunity to cosy up and dive into a new tome. From immersive historical epics to novels that transport you to warmer climes, the main criteria for a good winter book is simple: you won’t want to put it down.

Luckily, last year’s titles and this year’s early releases leave you spoiled for choice. From romance novels to Booker Prize-nominated tomes and laugh-out-loud stories, the mix is as eclectic as ever.

This year’s reading pile sees plenty of acclaimed debuts from the likes of Yomi Adegoke, Maud Ventura and Alice Winn, as well as eagerly anticipated titles from acclaimed authors such as Kiley Reid, Paul Murray, Dolly Alderton, Zadie Smith , Colson Whitehead and Jen Beagin.

The varied authorship is reflected in the diverse themes addressed, ranging from an Irish family in turmoil and love in the trenches of the First World War to slavery in the Caribbean, and dating across the political spectrum and dark domestic dramas.

Related stories

How we tested.

To narrow down our list of the best books to read this winter, we looked for original page-turners with superb quality prose and a captivating story that stayed with us after we’d reached the end. From books for history-lovers to romance novels, witty romantic comedies and acclaimed prize-winners, there’s something for every type of reader.

The best new books to read in winter 2024 are:

  • Best new release – The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, published by Hamish Hamilton: £17.49, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best literary thriller – Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang, published by The Borough Press: £13.39, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best war novel – In Memoriam by Alice Winn, published by Viking: £11.72, Amazon.co.uk 
  • Best buzzy book – The List by Yomi Adegoke, published by Fourth Estate: £8, Amazon.co.uk
  • Best subversive romance novel – Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess: £12.99, Amazon.co.uk

Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

‘The Bee Sting’ by Paul Murray, published by Hamish Hamilton

bee sting .jpg

  • Best : Overall new release
  • Genre : Comedy drama
  • Release date : 8 June 2023

Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is a tour de force of fiction. The Barnes, a once-well-off Irish family, are in the midst of emotional and financial strain. Set during turbulent months in their claustrophobic town (think floods, droughts and the aftermath of recession), Murray expertly gives us each family member’s perspective of the same events – with flashbacks unravelling an intricate story of betrayal, crime and lust.

Profound on the human condition, utterly gripping and peppered with comedy, Murray’s novel is a must-read this year.

  • Apple Books: £9.99, Apple.com
  • Kindle: £9.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Audible: £14.87, Amazon.co.uk

‘Good Material’ by Dolly Alderton, published by Fig Tree

good material .jpg

  • Best : Comedy novel
  • Genre : Comedy
  • Release date : 9 November 2023

Some writers suffer from second-novel syndrome, but not Dolly Alderton. The author and columinist’s second book Good Material is a cliché-avoiding break-up novel, in the vein of Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity .

Told through the eyes of recently dumped Andy, we follow him as he grapples with single life after his girlfriend realised she wanted to be alone. This in itself is a powerful narrative, with Alderton making a case for the happy and single 30-something woman.

Genuinely laugh-out-loud funny – with characters straight out of a Richard Curtis film (the elderly lodger who’s prepping for doomsday is a highlight) – whipsmart dialogue and relatable millennial themes (Alderton’s forte) mean there’s never a dull moment. Despite it being a pleasingly easy read (we tore through it in a single day), Good Material still manages to be thought-provoking and wise.

  • Audible: £11.37, Amazon.co.uk

‘Yellowface’ by Rebecca F Kuang, published by The Borough Press

yellowface .jpg

  • Best : Literary thriller
  • Genre : Thriller
  • Release date : 25 May 2023

A satire of the publishing industry and brazen exploration of cancel culture, Rebecca F Kuang’s literary heist Yellowface is one the most gripping books of the year. It begins with the freak accident death of young, famed writer Athena Liu (she chokes on pancake mixture, setting the preposterous tone for the rest of the book), witnessed by her sometimes-friend and aspiring (currently failing) novelist June Hayward.

After June steals Athena’s unfinished manuscript and publishes it under her own name to acclaim, she is thrown into the fame, money and relevance she’s always desired. But when her secret threatens to become known, June must decide how far she will go to maintain her reputation. Addictive and uncomfortable, with plenty of savagely funny moments, Kuang’s novel is a must-read this autumn.

  • Apple Books: £4.99, Apple.com
  • Kindle: £7.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Audible: £11.38, Amazon.co.uk

‘In Memoriam’ by Alice Winn, published by Viking

in memoriam .jpg

  • Best : War novel
  • Genre : Historical fiction
  • Release date : 9 March 2023

Beginning in a private boarding school for boys, before taking us to the horror of the trenches during World War One, Alice Winn’s blistering debut is an unforgettable read. We’re first introduced to the book’s central figures – Gaunt and Ellwood – in 1914, when both schoolboys are secretly in love with each other. When half-German Gaunt is pressured by his mother to enlist in the British army, he is relieved to run away from his forbidden feelings for his best friend. But when the true terror of the war is revealed to him, he is soon devastated when Ellwood and other classmates follow him to the Western Front.

A love story set against the tragedies of war, Winn’s rousing writing transports you to the trenches, where an entire generation of lost men are brought to vivid life – the characters will stick with you, long after the final page.

  • Apple Books: £7.99, Apple.com

‘The Fraud’ by Zadie Smith, published by Hamish Hamilton

the fraud .jpg

  • Best : Novel about real people
  • Genre : Historical
  • Release date : 7 September 2023

Zadie Smith’s first foray into historical fiction, The Fraud is based on true events and juxtaposes a portrait of Victorian life and slavery in the Caribbean. The titular fraud in question is the Tichborne Claimant – a butcher who claimed to be an aristocratic heir in an 1873 trial that gripped the country. Real-life cousin and housekeeper to the largely forgotten novelist William Ainsworth, Smith reimagines Eliza Touchet’s mostly unknown life and her fascination with the case and its prime witness, an ageing Black man named Andrew Bogle.

The author’s version of Bogle’s backstory provides most of the second half of the book, beginning with his father’s abduction in the 1770s to the Hope Plantation in Jamaica. Affecting and devastating, it’s in stark contrast to the humdrum domestic middle-class Victorian life also explored. In typical Zadie style, the narrative structure and decade leaping require you to pay attention – but you’re heavily rewarded with the sheer breadth of the novel and its vividly painted characters.

‘The List’ by Yomi Adegoke, published by Fourth Estate

the list .jpg

  • Best : Buzzy summer book
  • Genre : Relationships, social media
  • Release date : 20 July 2023

The book that everyone’s talking about, Slay In Your Lane writerYomi Adegoke’s debut novel is so buzzy that an HBO TV adaptation is already in the works. Podcaster Michael and journalist Ola are a young couple on the cusp of marriage when their world is blown apart by allegations of abuse made against Michael online in “The List”.

Having made a career of exposing such men, Ola is torn between believing Michael’s innocence or supporting the women who anonymously submitted their stories to the list. Thought-provoking and topical in its exploration of life both online and offline, and the fallout of cancel culture, it’s written with sharp insight and is impossible to put down. The hype is real.

  • Kindle: £4.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Apple Books: £11.99, Apple.com

‘Big Swiss’ by Jen Beagin

big swiss .jpg

  • Best : Sex comedy
  • Genre : Dark comedy
  • Release date : 18 May 2023

A sex comedy with darkness at its centre, Jen Beagin’s latest novel is narrated by Greta, a 45-year-old who lives in a decrepit Dutch farmhouse and transcribes for a sex therapist. Knowing everyone’s secrets in the small town of Hudson is no problem when you’re a relative recluse – that is until she bumps into Flavia, aka Big Swiss, her nickname for the 28-year-old married Swiss woman who suffered a terrible beating that she regularly transcribes (and is infatuated with).

Their dog park meeting leads to a passionate relationship with both women trying to escape their own traumas. Greta’s mother committed suicide when she was 13 years old while Flavia’s attacker has just been released from prison. An off-kilter romance with lashings of psychological thriller, darker moments are balanced with Beagin’s witty writing, idiosyncratic characters and laugh-out-loud passages. Naturally, there’s already an HBO adaptation starring Jodie Comer in the works.

  • Apple Books: £8.99, Apple.com

‘Everything’s Fine’ by Cecilia Rabess, published by Simon & Schuster

everythings fine .jpg

  • Best : Subversive romance novel
  • Genre : Romance

A subversive love story set against the political polarisation of America, Cecilia Rabess’s Everything’s Fine is a funny and punchy debut. Jess – Black and liberal – immediately dislikes her Ivy League college classmate Josh – white and conservative – but when they find themselves working in the same company after graduating, a cantankerous friendship turns into a passionate relationship.

Set against the backdrop of Trump’s presidential campaign, the novel explores if ideological opposites can be together – with its most heated moments taking place over arguments about Maga hats, wealth inequality and wokeism. Commenting perceptively on politics and economics, Rabess’s writing is just as enthralling on lust and sex. Concluding on the eve of the 2016 election, the novel questions whether love really can conquer all. We tore through it in two sittings.

  • Apple Books: £0.99, Apple.com

‘Crook Manifesto’ by Colson Whitehead, published by Fleet

colson whitehead .jpg

  • Best : Best crime novel
  • Genre : Crime, historical
  • Release date : 18 July 2023

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Colson Whitehead is back with the second instalment to his New York crime trilogy. First introduced in 2021’s Harlem Shuffle , furniture salesman and ex-fence Ray Carney returns to the criminal underbelly of the city in Crook Manifesto , in a bid to secure Jackson 5 tickets (which were like gold dust in 1971) for his daughter.

Jumping through the years up to 1976, Whitehead casts a satirical eye on New York during the tumultuous decade, touching on everything from police corruption and the Black Liberation Army to Blaxploitation. Blending family drama with history and culture, the sequel has the feel of a Quentin Tarantino movie and we were hooked.

‘Romantic Comedy' by Curtis Sittenfeld, published by Doubleday

romantic comedy .jpg

  • Best : Rom-com
  • Genre : Romantic comedy
  • Release date : 6 April 2023

Having previously given voice to President’s wives in the acclaimed American Wife and Rodham , Curtis Sittenfeld has set her sights on the comedy world in her latest novel – aptly named Romantic Comedy . Protagonist Sally is a successful writer at a Saturday Night Live -inspired sketch show, and has, thus far, been unlucky in love. When she meets pop idol Noah Brewster on the show in 2018, she develops a school-girl crush that challenges her cynicism about love.

Picking up the story two years later, in 2020, during the pandemic, the two reconnect over email (this section is stellar) and meet up in LA.

Sittenfeld explores the world of celebrity, modern dating, lockdown and Covid-19 with wit, humour and often profundity. A light-hearted page-turner that’s funny, romantic and heartwarming.

  • Kindle: £8.99, Amazon.co.uk
  • Apple Books:  £7.99,  Apple.com
  • Audible:  £11,37,  Amazon.co.uk

‘Ordinary Human Failings’ by Megan Nolan, published by Vintage

ordinary human failings.jpg

  • Best : Best family drama
  • Genre : Crime
  • Release date : 13 July 2023

Megan Nolan’s Acts of Desperation was one of our favourite reads last year and we loved the writer’s second novel just as much. A unique take on the crime genre, Ordinary Human Failings marks a dramatic departure from the tone and plot in Nolan’s debut. Set in the 1990s in London, tabloid journalist Tom Hargreaves believes he’s stumbled upon a career-making scoop when a child is murdered on a housing estate.

As fingers start pointing towards a family of Irish immigrants, the Greens family, Tom hunkers down with them to drive into their history. At the centre of the family is Carmel, a beautiful yet mysterious young mother, who is forced to reckon with how her 10-year-old daughter is implicated in a murder investigation. Tom’s probing soon reveals the regrets, secrets and silences that have trapped the Greens for decades. Intriguing and vast in scope, it’s an old-fashioned page-turner.

‘The Happy Couple’ by Naoise Dolan, published by Orion Publishing

happy couple .jpg

  • Best : Anti-romance novel
  • Genre : Comedy/satire

Naoise Dolan’s follow-up to 2020’s Exciting Times, this book is infused with the same biting social commentary and humour. A satirical spin on the marriage genre, it follows late-20-somethings Luke and Celine – both of whom think the other is out of love with them – on the cusp of their wedding day. Whether they’ll make it to the end of the aisle or not forms the tension of the novel.

Switching perspectives between their nearest and dearest, from best man Archie (Luke’s ex and sometimes-lover) to Celine’s sister (suspicious of Luke’s frequent disappearances), Dolan explores the anxieties of modern love. A wedding novel permeated by emotional turmoil rather than romance, its self-aware characters and comedic-timing cement Dolan as one of the sharpest writers around.

‘Penance’ by Eliza Clark, published by Faber & Faber

penance .jpg

  • Best : Fictional non-fiction book
  • Release date : 6 July 2023

A fictional story told in the manner of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Eliza Clark’s Penance delves into the grisly torture and murder of 16-year-old Joan Wilson on the eve of the Brexit referendum in the seaside town of Crow. Three years after the murder, obsession with true crime is at an all-time high and an American podcast draws awareness to the case.

Ex-tabloid hack Alec Z Carelli sets out to write the “definitive account” of the murder – which was committed by three school girls – through eyewitness accounts, interviews and correspondence. Living in the town, exploring its history and its people, Carelli recounts the lives of the teenage murderers and the sinister world of online true-crime fandoms. As well as questioning Carelli’s morality in exploiting a horrific murder for his own career, Clark questions society’s preoccupation with gruesome true crime. Unnerving, superbly written and engrossing, the ending is pitch perfect.

  • Apple Books: £12.99, Apple.com

‘The Only One Left’ by Riley Sager, published by Hodder & Stoughton

The Only One Left by Riley Sager best new books 2023

  • Best : Gothic thriller
  • Genre : Crime, mystery
  • Release date : 4 July 2023

In 1929, three members of the Hope family were murdered in their clifftop mansion. Decades later, the book’s protagonist Kit McDeere takes on a job caring for Lenora Hope who has been in the house ever since and is the only remaining member of the Hope family. She also happens to be the one accused of carrying out the murders.

This book is breathtakingly twisty and while the mystery unravels, the claustrophobia becomes almost unbearable as the Hope’s End mansion itself begins succumbing to the sea and crumbling like the cliffs. We found ourselves literally gasping out loud as secrets were revealed. The Only One Left is a Gothic thriller, with horror elements and is perfect for cosying up with as autumn turns to winter.

  • Apple Books:  £4.99,  Apple.com
  • Kindle:  £4.99,  Amazon.co.uk
  • Apple Books:  £9.99,  Apple.com
  • Audible:  £11.37,  Amazon.co.uk

‘My Husband’ by Maud Ventura, published by Hutchinson Heinemann

My Husband by Maud Ventura best new books 2023

  • Best : Domestic thriller
  • Genre : Domestic noir, thriller
  • Release date : 27 July 2023

Obsessed with her husband, the main character of this dark domestic drama spends her days over-analysing her husband’s words, agonising over perceived slights and fantasising about imagined scenarios that send her swirling into flights of jealousy and passion. Her deep obsession eclipses everything else in her life including her relationship with her children, her work and her friendships.

Her roller-coaster of emotions and unhinged antics are fascinating to follow and we found ourselves devouring this darkly humorous work in less than two days. This fresh and easy-to-read book is translated from French by Emma Ramadan.

‘Kala’ by Colin Walsh, published by Atlantic Books

  • Best : Coming of age thriller
  • Genre : Drama, crime

A group of six friends living in a small Irish seaside town are inseparable until one day, Kala goes missing. Fifteen years later, three of the friends are back in Kinlough and human remains are found in the woods nearby, bringing the past screaming back.

Jumping between the time when the group was in secondary school and the present day, the mystery slowly unravels as we explore the heavy family traumas and broken friendships from the past. A complicated small-town community is the claustrophobic backdrop to the story which creates a refreshing mixture of family drama and crime thriller.

The story is told from the point of view of three of Kala’s friends who come back together and delve into the past to try and make sense of Kala’s death. There’s the loyal Mush who has always been in Kinlough, working in his mother’s cafe, hiding his mysterious facial scars from the world. Helen is the hard-headed former best friend of Kala who is now a journalist and is in town for her father’s impending wedding. And Joe, who is now a world-famous musician, has a hometown residency in a local bar, and is trying to reconnect to his old friends.

The use of three distinct narrative voices is well executed with clues cleverly revealed via the three protagonists and concludes with a major twist that you won’t see coming.

  • Apple Books: £5.99, Apple.com
  • Kindle: £4.68, Amazon.co.uk
  • Audible: £15.74, Amazon.co.uk

‘The Guest’ by Emma Cline, published by Vintage Publishing

emma cline .jpg

  • Best : Stylish novel
  • Release date : 18 May 2013

A follow-up to the critically acclaimed The Girls , Emma Cline’s The Guest follows 22-year-old escort Alex as she drifts from pool to beach during a chaotic week in sun-drenched Long Island. Cast out by the older man she was staying with, instead of returning to the city, she stays on the island and adapts to survive – believing they can be romantically reunited five days later at his Labor Day party.

In each encounter with individuals, groups at parties or old acquaintances, she leaves disaster in her wake. Though the story is a simple premise, each page is loaded with tension and risk, thanks to Cline’s stylistic writing. The poetic form and metaphorical use of water (swimming is survival) adds to the novel’s hazy feel. The Guest is also a deft exploration of social mobility, as Alex navigates the class system of Long Island.

‘Come and Get It’ by Kiley Reid, published by Bloomsbury publishing

kiley reid .jpg

  • Best : Society satire
  • Release date : 30 January 2024

Kiley Reid’s debut Such a Fun Age was a runaway success in 2020. Now she’s back with Come and Get It , a page-turning take on money and power dynamics. Desperate to get on the property ladder, graduate and land a good job, Millie is working as a student advisor and living in dorms. Meanwhile, visiting professor and writer Agatha is doing research for a new book and wants to interview some of the students in Millie’s dorm.

Jumping at the chance to increase her income, Millie agrees, and the two women become embroiled in a world of student angst, pranks, and theatrics. Despite the story rarely leaving campus grounds, the novel has a gripping wide scope that explores society’s obsession with money, desire, and consumption.

Pre-order this new book now, ahead of its 30 January release date.

  • Apple Books: £10.99, Apple.com
  • Kindle: £7.97, Amazon.co.uk

The verdict: Best novels to read 2024

Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting is storytelling at its best. Moving, witty and funny, the fast-paced tome will keep you gripped until the very last page. Zeitgeist-y and engrossing, Rebecca K Kuang’s Yellowface is the perfect literary thriller for cosying up with this autumn, while the topical and thought-provoking The List by Yomi Adegoke deserves the hype.

For a funny yet wise novel, pick up Dolly Alderton’s Good Material , while historical tome In Memoriam by Alice Winn will linger long in your mind, thanks to its emotional heft.

Discover more great authors and books you’ll love in our fiction review section

Voucher Codes

New to The Independent?

Or if you would prefer:

Want an ad-free experience?

Hi {{indy.fullName}}

  • My Independent Premium
  • Account details
  • Help centre

The 24 most popular books of 2021 so far, according to Goodreads members

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

  • Goodreads is a platform where users rate and review books.
  • We rounded up the most popular fiction and nonfiction books published in 2021, based on Goodreads.
  • Want more books? Check out the best books of the year, according to Amazon's book editors.

Insider Today

Goodreads is the world's largest platform for readers to rate and review books. You can track the books you want to read, participate in challenges, and get personalized recommendations. Each year, Goodreads also hosts its Readers' Choice Awards in 17 categories — which is currently open for voting . 

In the meantime, we've rounded up the 24 most popular fiction and nonfiction books amongst Goodreads reviewers so far this year, chosen for how often they've been added to readers' " Want to Read " shelves. Goodreads eliminated any book below a 3.5-star rating, and each one had to be published in 2021 to be considered.

Whether you're looking for a new release from an adored author or a timely nonfiction read, these books are the 24 most popular amongst Goodreads members in 2021. 

The 24 most popular books of 2021, according to Goodreads

"people we meet on vacation" by emily henry.

best rated books 2021 uk

"People We Meet on Vacation" by Emily Henry, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $9.98

From the author of the 2020 hit "Beach Read" comes another summer favorite of two unlikely friends that vacation together every summer. Alex and Poppy couldn't be more opposite: Alex, a quiet boy with hometown charm, and Poppy, a wanderlust-fueled wild child. After sharing a ride home in college, the two form a friendship, sharing a vacation together every summer for a decade, until two years ago when they ruined everything. Now, Poppy and Alex come together for one more trip to see if they can mend their friendship or if there's really something more between them. 

"Malibu Rising" by Taylor Jenkins Reid

best rated books 2021 uk

"Malibu Rising" by Taylor Jenkins Reid, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.80

Taylor Jenkins Reid novels are known for being absolute page-turners, and "Malibu Rising" is no different. This book bounces between an epic, life-changing party over 24 hours and the family history of four famous siblings. Together, they're a fascination to the world, children of the legendary rockstar Mick Riva. They're all looking forward to their annual party for different reasons except Nina, recently abandoned by her husband and resentful of the spotlight. By morning, the house will be up in flames, but before that the party will become completely out of control and the secrets of the family will rise to the surface. 

"The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Four Winds" by Kristin Hannah, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14

Kristin Hannah is known for her heartbreaking and exciting historical fiction novels. "The Four Winds" takes place in Texas in 1934 during the Great Depression and an insufferable drought. Elsa must make a choice to stay and fight for the success of her land, her home, and her community or take a chance and head to California in the hopes of a better life. This is a story of the search for the American Dream, one of a painful and shocking journey that is likely to pull tears from many readers. This book was also voted the best book of 2021 by Book of the Month's subscribers.

"The Last Thing He Told Me" by Laura Dave

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Last Thing He Told Me" by Laura Dave, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14

Before Owen Michael disappears, he leaves his new wife, Hannah, an ominous note reading "protect her," clearly referring to his teenage daughter, Bailey. As Hannah and Bailey wait for his return, the FBI arrests Owen's boss and shows up to their home, sending the two women on a mission to piece together Owen's past and find out the real reason he disappeared. You can read an interview with the author, Laura Dave, here .

"The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Lincoln Highway" by Amor Towles, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $18.99

In June of 1954, Emmett Watson is 18 and newly released from his one-year service on a work farm, time served for involuntary manslaughter. With his parents gone and their property foreclosed by the bank, Emmett plans to take his eight-year-old brother west for a fresh start, until he discovers that two friends from the work farm in the car that brought him home have very different plans for Emmett's future. This book was also named the best book of 2021 according to Amazon's book editors.

"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir

best rated books 2021 uk

"Project Hail Mary" by Andy Weir, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.49

In this fascinating science fiction mystery novel, Ryland Grace wakes up with no memory on a ship deep in space, with two dead crewmates and an impossible mission ahead of him. The sole survivor of a desperate suicide mission, Ryland must conquer an extinction-level threat to Earth in the hopes of saving all of humanity.

"Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro

best rated books 2021 uk

"Klara and the Sun" by Kazuo Ishiguro, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.09

In 2017, Kazuo Ishiguro won the Nobel Prize in Literature — this is his first novel since the award. Set in the near future, "Klara and the Sun" explores the human condition through Klara,  an Artificial Friend. Klara is AI, keenly observational and eerily understanding the depth of human emotion as she watches out the store window and waits for a customer to one day choose her. This book is sweet, gripping, and subtly beautiful, exploring connection, loss, and love in this speculative science fiction read. 

"The Push" by Ashley Audrain

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Push" by Ashley Audrain, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17

"The Push" is a thriller that demands to be read in a single sitting. Blythe was determined to be the mother she never had — but struggles when her daughter starts to behave differently, possessing a vaguely sinister quality that no one else notices except Blythe. When Blythe's son is born, she has the blissful motherly connection for which she always hoped, until the life she imagined changes in an instant. 

"Beautiful World, Where Are You" by Sally Rooney

best rated books 2021 uk

"Beautiful World, Where Are You" by Sally Rooney, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.80

This contemporary story about love, sex, and relationships follows four friends — Alice, Felix, Eileen, and Simon — who navigate all three topics through philosophical conversations and often-awkward interactions. With its flawed protagonists and complicated relationships, this Sally Rooney novel is a fascinating new release from an author rapidly growing in popularity.

"Apples Never Fall" by Laine Moriarty

best rated books 2021 uk

"Apples Never Fall" by Laine Moriarty, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17.39

The Delaneys are an upstanding family in their community, known for their parent's famed tennis academy and the four children with tennis star potential. When their mother, Joy, goes missing after the family's interaction with a stranger, two siblings believe their father must be guilty while the other two plead his innocence. As more and more secrets are uncovered, the siblings begin to see their family history in a much different light.

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr

best rated books 2021 uk

"Cloud Cuckoo Land" by Anthony Doerr, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $18.57

This novel spans centuries, from a library in an ancient city to a futuristic interstellar ship, as multiple stories center around one ancient book: "Cloud Cuckoo Land." As each character discovers the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so he can find a utopia in the skies, it changes their lives — and their own stories. 

"Under the Whispering Door" by T.J. Klune

best rated books 2021 uk

"Under the Whispering Door" by T.J. Klune, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $23.99

Wallace Prince finally believes he might actually be dead when a reaper collects him from his own funeral and brings him to a quaint coffee shop in the mountains where he meets the owner, Hugo. Realizing he isn't ready to let go of his life, Wallace and Hugo set out to live a lifetime in seven days, before Hugo must help him cross over to the afterlife.

"Crying in H Mart: A Memoir" by Michelle Zauner

best rated books 2021 uk

"Crying in H Mart: A Memoir" by Michelle Zauner, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.16

 Michelle Zauner explores growing up Korean American, feeling the high expectations of her mother, and bonding with her grandmother over late-night food in Seoul. As she grows into adulthood, she feels more and more distant from her Korean heritage — until her mother is diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer. Forced to reconnect with her identity, Zauner offers the truest look at her most difficult days, portraying every bit of grief and conflict mixed with stunning food descriptions. 

"Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know" by Adam Grant

best rated books 2021 uk

"Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know" by Adam Grant, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.75

Adam Grant is an organizational psychologist who studies how people find motivation and meaning. In this book, Grant encourages people to not only learn from being wrong, but explore how it makes us feel. He examines why we're uncomfortable "thinking again," how we can develop greater introspection, and how we can teach others to think again in a way that is often more productive than getting everything right the first time. This book encourages readers to overcome overconfidence and embrace not knowing everything.

"Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted" by Suleika Jaquad

best rated books 2021 uk

"Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted" by Suleika Jaquad, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $19.73

In a transformative story that grips readers from the first pages, we meet Suleika Jaquad in the summer after graduating from college with a world of opportunities ahead of her. After a swarm of strange itches, inescapable exhaustion, and a flurry of tests, Suleika is diagnosed with leukemia just before her 23rd birthday. After four years in a hospital bed, Suleika finally beats cancer to find a new set of challenges ahead of her: How to live rather than survive. Full of emotional truths, this is a story of heartbreak and triumph from a survivor with a chance to begin again. 

"The Anthropocene Reviewed" by John Green

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Anthropocene Reviewed" by John Green, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $16.80

Though John Green is known for his bestselling and heart-breaking young adult novels, this is his first ever nonfiction work: A collection of personal essays. Adapted and expanded from his podcast, these essays are observations and examinations of the human experience in the current geological age.

"How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need" by Bill Gates

best rated books 2021 uk

"How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need" by Bill Gates, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15.99

Backed by ten years of research, Bill Gates uses this book to explain why and how we must work towards a goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions. Split into three main parts, Gates describes the environmental fate we currently face, the ways in which technology can function to help us reduce or eliminate our greenhouse gas emissions, and an accessible, well-defined plan by which all individuals, corporations, and governments can abide to reach this goal. This read is urgent and practical, an ambitious plan but one that is optimistic about the future of our environment. 

"What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing" by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey

best rated books 2021 uk

"What Happened To You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing" by Bruce D. Perry and Oprah Winfrey, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $17.38

" What Happened To You? " is a psychological self-help read where Oprah Winfrey and brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry explore the early experiences that shape our behavioral patterns later in life. Rather than asking "what's wrong with you?," they use personal anecdotes to encourage readers to ask "what happened to you?" and examine our pasts to overcome our personal challenges today.

"Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty" by Patrick Radden Keefe

best rated books 2021 uk

"Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty" by Patrick Radden Keefe, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $19.50

The Sackler family is one of the richest families in the world, known for their large donations to arts and sciences, with their names engraved on historic institutions from Harvard to the Louvre. The source of the family's fortune was generally a mystery, until one day it was discovered they were responsible for the creation and distribution of OxyContin. Chronicling three generations of the Sackler family, this nonfiction read explores how this infamous family became involved in starting the opioid epidemic.

"The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together" by Heather McGhee

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together" by Heather McGhee, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $21.80

Heather McGhee is an economist who explains how racism and white supremacy have negative social and economic effects on white people, too. She uses the concept of "zero-sum" (the idea that progress for some comes at the expense of others) to introduce her own new concept: The Solidarity Dividend, an idea that progress is felt amongst all when people come together across race and achieve what cannot be done alone. Heather uses historical examples and individual stories to explain how racism against minorities has had negative consequences for everyone, and to offer real solutions for a better future. 

"The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race" by Walter Isaacson

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race" by Walter Isaacson, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $21.49

Inspired by a book her father gave her in the sixth grade about DNA coding, Jennifer Doudna set out to become a scientist and ultimately created CRISPR, a tool that can edit DNA. Now involved in a series of moral challenges and debates, the CRISPR has the potential to change the human race forever with evolution hacking that includes making humans less susceptible to viruses and mental illness, or potentially editing DNA to enhance future humans.

"Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019" edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

best rated books 2021 uk

"Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019" edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $12.71

This is a chronological account of 400 years of previously silenced Black history in America. Curated by two historians, this book begins with the arrival of 20 enslaved Ndongo people in 1619 and continues to tell stories of slavery, segregation, and oppression over 80 chapters. There are also celebrations of African art and music, a life-changing collection that concludes with an essay from Alicia Garza on the Black Lives Matter movement.

"Facing the Mountain" by Daniel James Brown

best rated books 2021 uk

"Facing the Mountain" by Daniel James Brown, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $15

Based on countless hours of interviews and research, " Facing the Mountain " follows four Japanese American families whose sons volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team during World War II as their families faced internment camps and brutal bigotry as American citizens. This story follows both the sons' impossible deployment mission and the trials on US soil as Japanese American immigrants fought against the government for their right to freedom.

"The Light of Days" by Judy Batalion

best rated books 2021 uk

"The Light of Days" by Judy Batalion, available at Amazon and Bookshop , from $14.73

This nonfiction read highlights the little-known heroism of Jewish women in Poland who transformed Jewish youth groups into resistance forces to fight the Nazi in a variety of covert ways. From building underground bunkers to smuggling weapons, this story of the "ghetto girls" is one of immense bravery during World War II.

best rated books 2021 uk

  • Main content

Accessibility Links

sundaytimes logo

14 best thriller books 2021

John dugdale and james owen’s thriller picks range from the master of the genre, stephen king, to an unlikely debut writer — none other than hillary clinton.

best rated books 2021 uk

Are your bookshelves missing a little thrill? Let our thriller picks transport you to Cold War Moscow or an alt-history Nazi Britain. Or go for something closer to home, with Hillary Clinton’s debut and its oddly familiar politicians . . .

best rated books 2021 uk

Initially the story of a weary hitman doing “one last job”, Stephen King’s best novel for years is transformed once Billy has earned his fee. Knowing his clients’ goons will try to kill him too, he goes into hiding and switches to unpaid vigilante missions — rescuing a rape victim, invading the lairs of the paymasters who wanted him dead — while writing a memoir of his scarring childhood and battlefield experiences. Adventurously shape-shifting yet always disciplined, it’s a dazzling return to form. JD

Related articles

24 best fiction books of 2021

These Are the 55 Best New Books to Read in 2021

Add these to your reading pile right now.

best books of 2021

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.

So what should you read next ? This year, there are lots of exciting new releases from some of our favorite authors, as well as stunning debut books from a diverse group of newcomers in just about every genre you can think of. For 2021, many of our top book picks offer us critiques on our society today, a peek into complicated family dynamics, steamy romance novels that will remind you that love isn't dead after all, spooky thriller books that will send shivers up your spine, historical books that dip back into the past and creepy ghost stories that will keep you up past your bedtime.

And while some of these books may not be on shelves quite yet (or may be delayed due to supply chain issues), you should hit that preorder button anyway. Ordering books in advance not only gives you mail to look forward to that isn't a bill, but it helps support authors too. If you think we've missed something that should be included on our list, let us know in the comments — we always love discovering new books. Sound off about what you thought if you've read one of our favorites, too!

Ashley Audrain The Push: A Novel

The Push: A Novel

Fans of psychological thrillers, crack open this one about the relationship between mothers and daughters. Before Blythe's daughter is born, she wants to create the deep bond she never had with her own mom. But when Violet arrives, she's convinced something's wrong with her little girl. The tragic events that follow will make you question her sanity and the story she's telling us.  

RELATED:  The 35 Best Psychological Thriller Books to Scare Yourself Silly

Una Mannion A Crooked Tree: A Novel

A Crooked Tree: A Novel

One fateful night, 15-year-old Libby's harried single mom orders her sister Ellen, 12, to get out and walk home after their bickering gets to be too much. What follows not only shatters the girls' innocence, but sets off a chain of events that reveals the darkness in their sleepy town. This novel drives home how one moment can change everything. 

Joan Didion Let Me Tell You What I Mean

Let Me Tell You What I Mean

Joan Didion needs no introduction, and neither does this incisive collection of works, mostly drawn from early in her career. Topics include Martha Stewart, a Gamblers Anonymous meeting, writing itself and her own doubts about it all. Didion fans shouldn't sleep this one, and neither should anyone else. 

Rachel Hawkins The Wife Upstairs: A Novel

The Wife Upstairs: A Novel

The plot might feel familiar in this feminist twist on a classic gothic romance. Broke dog walker Jane has her sights on the wealthy Eddie Rochester. Eddie's got a past, but then again, so does she. Read to find out whether either of them can ever escape their secrets, or if their forbidden tryst is doomed to failure.

Sarah Moss Summerwater: A Novel

Summerwater: A Novel

A creeping aura of disquiet pervades this quietly unsettling novel set in a cluster of cottages in rural Scotland. Lacking cell service, the families spend their days watching each other's movements through the blinds, learning perhaps a little too much about the others. It's a slow burn, but the payoff at the end will leave you breathless. 

Cherie Jones How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House: A Novel

How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps Her House: A Novel

This transporting novel set in Barbados reveals the way even the most disparate lives are interconnected. It delves into wealth and class, love and crime — and the emotional turmoil that roils in a rapidly gentrifying area and the people who live there.  

RELATED: 25 Books By Black Authors to Add to Your Reading List

Caitlin Horrocks Life Among the Terranauts

Life Among the Terranauts

In a series of vivid, immersive short stories, we meet characters living in ever-so-slightly fanciful realities and others navigating deeply human experiences that could be ripped from our own lives. Whether you enjoy sci-fi, realistic fiction or bite-sized escapes from the real world, you'll find something to love here. 

Brandon Hobson The Removed: A Novel

The Removed: A Novel

The Echota family is never the same after their son Ray-Ray is killed in a police shooting. His mother Maria struggles with her husband Edgar's worsening dementia, while their daughter Sonja leads a solitary life and her brother Edgar battles drug addiction. As the anniversary of Ray-Ray's passing approaches, Maria and Edgar take in a foster son whose arrival just might be the change the family needs. 

Abigail Dean Girl A: A Novel

Girl A: A Novel

After Lex escapes from an abusive childhood, she does her best to put it all behind her. But when her mother dies in prison and leaves their family home to her and her siblings, the woman formerly known as "Girl A" has to reconnect with the only people who really know what happened to them. This gripping story about family dynamics and the nature of human psychology will hold you tight all the way through. 

Nancy Johnson The Kindest Lie: A Novel

The Kindest Lie: A Novel

When Ruth gets pregnant as a teenager, she gives up her son for adoption and leaves town for an Ivy League education, hoping they're both on a path toward better things. But she never really gets over him, so when her husband wants to start a family years later, she's drawn back home to find out what happened to her baby. What follows is a heart-wrenching story of family, racism, poverty and love. 

RELATED:  The 20 Best Feminist Books to Put on Your Reading List This Year

Chang Rae-Lee My Year Abroad: A Novel

My Year Abroad: A Novel

This wildly original novel carries us across the world as Tiller, a mediocre college kid, gets tied up with Pong, an international businessman who takes him on the trip of a lifetime. We bounce between those adventures and the life Tiller finds afterward with Val, a single mom in witness protection, as he tries to figure out what it all means. It's by turns dark, humorous and almost sneakily insightful. 

Leesa Cross-Smith This Close to Okay: A Novel

This Close to Okay: A Novel

We all carry our past with us, and that's never clearer than in this powerful story about two strangers who come together when they both need someone the most. Recently divorced therapist Tallie Clark pulls over when she sees Emmett about to jump from a bridge. She coaxes him to safety, and over the course of the emotional weekend that follows, we learn that Emmett's not the only one who needed saving. 

Jennifer Ryan The Kitchen Front: A Novel

The Kitchen Front: A Novel

You'll feel like you stepped back in time with this historical fiction set in WWII Britain. Four women from very different walks of life compete in a cooking competition to become a presenter on the BBC, and learn a lot about themselves — and each other — along the way. It's uplifting, a little scandalous and even includes recipes so you can cook along with them.  

Patricia Lockwood No One Is Talking About This: A Novel

No One Is Talking About This: A Novel

This fragmented, genre-bending story about a woman who earns social media fame and wonders about what "the portal" is doing to society, her brain and the people who use it, feels both strange and intimately familiar. It's bizarre, oddly funny, at times piercing and absolutely a must-read for all of us social media users.

Emily Layden All Girls: A Novel

All Girls: A Novel

When scandal strikes a prestigious New England Prep School, all of the students handle the fallout a bit differently. This striking debut follows nine young women as they navigate their own coming-of-age in the shadow of a controversy that feels all too familiar. 

Kazuo Ishiguro Klara and the Sun: A novel

Klara and the Sun: A novel

The hotly-anticipated latest novel from Nobel Prize in Literature-winner Kazuo Ishiguro deals with themes both personal and universal, familiar and futuristic. The 2017 Nobel committee described Ishiguro's books as "novels of great emotional force" that "uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world." Read this one and you'll understand why. 

Sarah Penner The Lost Apothecary: A Novel

The Lost Apothecary: A Novel

If you've ever wanted to really get back at someone, have we got a book for you. In 18th century England, a secret apothecary sells disguised poison to the victims of oppressive men. That is, until a client makes a horrible mistake. Meanwhile, in modern-day England, an aspiring historian stumbles onto the story with potentially devastating results. 

courtesy of Kaitlyn Greenidge Libertie: A Novel

Libertie: A Novel

Growing up in Brooklyn during the Reconstruction, Libertie knows her physician mother wants Libertie to follow a similar path. But instead, Libertie accepts the proposal of a Haitian man to pursue a new life, only to discover she's still not his equal on the island. Inspired by the story of one of the first Black female physicians in the U.S., this is a gorgeous meditation on what freedom means.

Sharon Stone The Beauty of Living Twice

The Beauty of Living Twice

In a gorgeous memoir that talks about how she put her life back together after a massive medical event, actress and humanitarian Sharon Stone lets us all in to her world. Whether you've followed her work or not, this slice of life makes a great read. 

Morgan Jerkins Caul Baby: A Novel

Caul Baby: A Novel

The Harlem Melancons are powerful and prosperous, thanks to their magical caul that has healing properties. When neighbor Leila turns to them to save her baby and the deal falls through, it sets off a chain of events that will reverberate through the Melancon clan and Harlem itself. This engrossing story is rich with mystery, page-turning tension and the powerful ways family can hold us even in toxic circumstances. 

preview for Good Housekeeping US Section: Life

@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);}} Entertainment

the good doctor season 7 cast freddie highmore trailer instagram

'Station 19' Fans Are Upset Amid Season 7 Trailer

london, england june 03 meghan, duchess of sussex and prince harry, duke of sussex attend the national service of thanksgiving at st pauls cathedral on june 03, 2022 in london, england the platinum jubilee of elizabeth ii is being celebrated from june 2 to june 5, 2022, in the uk and commonwealth to mark the 70th anniversary of the accession of queen elizabeth ii on 6 february 1952 photo by karwai tangwireimage

Can Royal Family Members Have Dual Citizenship?

blue bloods donnie wahlberg

BTS of the Blue Bloods Season 14 Premiere

fire country season 2 cast max thieriot update news

Max Thieriot Teases 'Fire Country' Season 2 Update

shemar moore girlfriend jesiree dizon kids

Who Is Shemar Moore's Girlfriend, Jesiree Dizon?

a woman with blonde hair

LeAnn Rimes Announces Major Career News for 2024

mark consuelos live kelly ripa jane krakowski tiktok reaction

See Why Mark Consuelos Walked off ‘Live’ Mid-Show

law and order svu mariska hargitay tonight show jumpsuit instagram

See Mariska Hargitay Shut Down 'The Tonight Show'

'grey's anatomy' season 20 release date, cast, episodes, news

All Your 'Grey's Anatomy' Season 20 Qs, Answered

logo, commercial building, signage, company, stairs, retail,

Costco's Food Court Is Getting A New Sandwich

today show al roker snow day tiktok reaction

Al Roker's Emotional Plea Sparks Fan Conversation

  • International edition
  • Australia edition
  • Europe edition

Richard Osman.

UK book sales in 2021 highest in a decade

Booming appetites for crime, sci-fi and romance drive fiction sales 20% higher than in 2019, with Richard Osman the year’s bestselling author

Book sales continued to climb last year despite lockdowns, with more than 212m print books sold in 2021 – the highest figure of the last decade.

Driven by booming appetites for crime novels, sci-fi, fantasy, romance and personal development titles, sales last year showed an increase of 5% on 2020. The sales were worth £1.82bn – a 3% increase on 2020, and the first year on record that sales have topped £1.8bn. The figures were released on Tuesday by Nielsen BookScan, which was forced to fill in lockdown data gaps with estimates based on its monthly consumer surveys, which collect data from around 3,000 book buyers each month. Bookshops across the UK were shut for over three months at the start of 2021.

Fiction was up 20% compared with 2019, said Nielsen, propelled by 19% volume growth for the crime and thriller genre, 23% for science fiction and fantasy, and 49% for romance. Chart-topping sales for Richard Osman’s first two novels drove crime’s strong performance: The Thursday Murder Club was the year’s bestselling title, while The Man Who Died Twice was the fourth bestselling title of the year. In non-fiction, the mind, body, spirit category saw the biggest growth, up by 50% to hit a lifetime high of £18.7m.

Charlie Mackesy’s “book of hope”, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse , continued to be a source of inspiration for readers as the year’s second bestselling title, revealed Nielsen, followed by Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library , an uplifting novel in which heroine Nora struggles with depression. Other strong performers include the Women’s prize winner Hamnet, by Maggie O’Farrell, and the Booker prize winner Shuggie Bain, by Douglas Stuart, with adult fiction taking nine spots in the Top 20, its highest total since 2012. Adam Silvera’s young adult novel They Both Die at the End, a favourite on TikTok, just made it into the Top 20, the first YA title to do so since 2015.

“Overall, the year’s bestsellers show book buyers seeking out comfort, laughter, escapism, familiarity and maybe a sense of community, given the continued impact of social media in bringing in new authors with existing platforms and creating conversations around new and old books,” said Nielsen’s Jackie Swope. “The start of 2022 is unfortunately looking a lot like 2021, with a new variant, a rush to vaccinate and widespread uncertainty. But one thing we can be certain about: books are most definitely not a pandemic fad and have proved their lasting power time and again.”

Kiera O’Brien, charts editor at The Bookseller, welcomes the growth. “It really does seem to be a re-discovered/newfound love of reading driving sales across the board. Fiction rising 20% against 2019 (for the non-lockdown weeks of 2021) is really incredible, given how sluggish fiction sales have been previously,” she said. “Of course, Osman brought in nearly £12m in the non-lockdown weeks alone, but both Hamnet and Shuggie Bain hitting the year’s top 20 bestseller list shows literary fiction is rising (and perhaps the nation’s desire to support their local indie too). “

The Top 10 bestselling books of 2021

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Penguin £8.99)

The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (Ebury £16.99)

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Canongate £8.99)

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman (Penguin £18.99)

Pinch of Nom: Quick and Easy by Kay Featherstone and Kate Allinson (Pan Macmillan £20)

Guinness World Records 2022 (Guinness World Records £20)

And Away … by Bob Mortimer (Simon & Schuster £20)

Megamonster by David Walliams (HarperCollins £14.99)

Windswept and Interesting by Billy Connolly (John Murray Press £25)

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Little, Brown £8.99)

Figures provided by Nielsen BookScan.

  • Booksellers
  • Richard Osman
  • Retail industry

Most viewed

108 New Romance Recommendations for (Nearly) Every Kind of Reader

  • Discussions
  • Reading Challenge
  • Kindle Notes & Highlights
  • Favorite genres
  • Friends’ recommendations
  • Account settings

Facebook

Best Books of 2021

A book’s total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book.

People Who Voted On This List (1546)

best rated books 2021 uk

Post a comment » Comments Showing 1-17 of 17 (17 new)

lethe

Featured News & Interviews

108 New Romance Recommendations for (Nearly) Every Kind of Reader

  • Create New List
  • Lists I Created
  • Lists I've Voted On
  • Lists I've Liked

Anyone can add books to this list.

Saving My Votes

Friends votes, how to vote.

To vote on existing books from the list, beside each book there is a link vote for this book clicking it will add that book to your votes.

To vote on books not in the list or books you couldn't find in the list, you can click on the tab add books to this list and then choose from your books, or simply search.

Welcome back. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account.

best rated books 2021 uk

IMAGES

  1. The 10 Best Books of 2021

    best rated books 2021 uk

  2. 40 Best Books of 2021

    best rated books 2021 uk

  3. The Best Books of 2021

    best rated books 2021 uk

  4. The Best Historical Fiction Books for 2021 (New & Anticipated)

    best rated books 2021 uk

  5. 25 Best Books of 2021 (New and Upcoming)

    best rated books 2021 uk

  6. The Best Thriller Books of 2021 (Anticipated)

    best rated books 2021 uk

VIDEO

  1. reading the lowest and highest rated book on my shelf

  2. Last, Now, Next

  3. Top 10 BEST books of 2023! (so far...)

  4. How Are NoteBooks Prints? A Look Inside a Commercial Print Shop

COMMENTS

  1. The best books of the year 2021

    Penguin Random House (Credit: Penguin Random House) The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed The novel The Fortune Men explores a real-life case of a seaman, Mahmood Mattan, from British Somaliland -...

  2. The best books of 2021

    The Observer's best books of 2021, chosen by guest authors Wed 8 Dec 2021 07.00 EST Fiction Best fiction of 2021. Composite: PR Handout / Maïté Franchi Sally Rooney's much-anticipated third...

  3. Best fiction of 2021

    When is love not enough? The summer's word-of-mouth hit was Meg Mason's Sorrow and Bliss (W&N), a wisecracking black comedy of mental anguish and eccentric family life focused on a woman who should...

  4. The Best Books of 2021: Fiction

    Klara and the Sun (Hardback) Kazuo Ishiguro £20.00 Hardback Out of stock A luminous new novel from the Nobel Prize-winning author of Never Let Me Go and The Remains of the Day, Klara and the Sun explores the uncharted implications of AI to human relationships and the abiding question of what it means to love. This product is currently unavailable.

  5. Best books of 2021

    10:00 AM The best science books of 2021 7:00 AM Best sport books of 2021 4:00 AM 6 December 2021 The best children's and YA books of 2021 From magical picture books and...

  6. The 75 best books of 2021 to read this winter

    The Telegraph's regular book reviewers - as well as writing specialist guides to 2021's best history, fiction, biographies, crime and other genres - have each put forward their own ranked...

  7. The 33 best books of 2021

    Israel-Hamas war

  8. The books we loved in 2021

    Penguin.co.uk editors 26 November 2021. As editors for Penguin, a huge number of books cross our desks each year, some great, some just fine, and a rare few that remind us exactly why we read: they whisk us somewhere incredible at a time we need it most, or they show us how we might live better, becoming a crucial part of the fabric of our lives.

  9. Best fiction 2021: The best new books to read this year, from Damon

    We've put together our edit of the most unmissable fiction hitting shelves in 2021, from Meg Mason's Sorrow and Bliss to Brit Bennett's The Vanishing Half, to help you curate your reading list....

  10. The 50 best books of the year 2022

    Bloomsbury (Credit: Bloomsbury) Liberation Day by George Saunders Known as a modern master of the form, this is George Saunders' first short story collection since 2013's Tenth of December, which...

  11. The 60 bestselling books of 2021 so far

    Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Viking £14.99) Four friends in a retirement village team up to solve a murder on their doorstep. Sponsored. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber ...

  12. The 100 Must-Read Books of 2021

    The 100 Must-Read Books of 2021 The fiction, nonfiction and poetry that shifted our perspectives, uncovered essential truths and encouraged us forward Annabel Gutterman, Cady Lang, Arianna...

  13. The Best Books of 2021

    By Honorée Fanonne Jeffers "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois," the first novel by Jeffers, a celebrated poet, is many things at once: a moving coming-of-age saga, an examination of race and an...

  14. Best new books 2024: What to read this winter

    The best new books to read in winter 2024 are: Best new release - The Bee Sting by Paul Murray, published by Hamish Hamilton: £17.49, Amazon.co.uk. Best literary thriller - Yellowface by ...

  15. The best books of 2021, chosen by our guest authors

    From piercing studies of colonialism to powerful domestic sagas, our panel of writers, all of whom had books published this year, share their favourite titles of 2021 Sun 5 Dec 2021 04.29 EST Last ...

  16. The 24 Most Popular Books of 2021, According to Goodreads Members

    Whether you're looking for a new release from an adored author or a timely nonfiction read, these books are the 24 most popular amongst Goodreads members in 2021. The 24 most popular books of...

  17. 14 best thriller books 2021

    24 best fiction books of 2021. November 27 2021, 12.01am. Claire Allfree | Patricia Nicol. BOOKS ROUND-UP. 16 best crime books of 2021. November 27 2021, 12.01am. Mark Sanderson | Joan Smith.

  18. Best selling books

    The Last Devil… Richard Osman In stock online £22.00 £16.99 Hardback ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Add to Basket Click & Collect Heartstopper… Alice Oseman In stock online £12.99 £10.99 Paperback ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Add to Basket Click & Collect The Wager David Grann In stock online £10.99 £8.99 Paperback ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Add to Basket Click & Collect Politics On the…

  19. Most popular books published in 2021

    From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes an epic novel of love and heroism and hope, set against the backdrop of one of America's most defining eras—the Great Depression. Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9781250178602. Show more.

  20. 55 Best Books of 2021

    For 2021, many of our top book picks offer us critiques on our society today, a peek into complicated family dynamics, steamy romance novels that will remind you that love isn't dead after all,...

  21. UK book sales in 2021 highest in a decade

    Charlie Mackesy's "book of hope", The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, continued to be a source of inspiration for readers as the year's second bestselling title, revealed Nielsen, followed...

  22. Best books 2021

    These are the best books being published in 2021 - including new titles from Munroe Bergdorf, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Lisa Taddeo, and Raven Leilani. ... ©2024 Hearst UK is the trading name of the ...

  23. Best Books of 2021 (1336 books)

    Rate this book. Clear rating. 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars. 4. A Court of Silver Flames (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #4) by. Sarah J. Maas (Goodreads Author) 4.47 avg rating — 948,319 ratings. score: 14,015 , and 142 people voted.

  24. Best Online Sports Betting Sites

    Best Online Sports Betting Sites - February 2024. Select Region. United States ... Fanatics and Bet365 are top picks for beginners because of their first-time user bonuses and highly-rated user ...