Support Us Login

Books

Best new books: 2020 reads

By Lucy Brooks on 13/1/2020

From literary greats to bright new talents, we round up the 20 best new books 2020 has in store. Some are out soon, others not until autumn, but you can pre-order now to ensure a whole year of riveting reading.

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

The incadescent debut explores class barriers, racial tensions and generational divides in a shrewd and vibrant story of a nanny and a mother. Alix is a glossy mother of two with a viral mission to empower women. Emira is a directionless 20-something who finds an unlikely kindred spirit in the toddler she nannies. The two women’s lives become increasingly, and surprisingly entwined, in a story that’s fresh, funny and sure to be a sensation.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 7 January

The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel

The Mirror & the Light by Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel has kept us waiting for the final novel in her double Booker-winning Thomas Cromwell trilogy. The Mirror & the Light captures Cromwell’s fall from grace, the final novel begins with him masterminding Anne Boleyn’s execution in 1536 and ends with his own beheading in 1540. 'We walk the last miles of Cromwell’s life, ascending to unprecedented riches and honour and abruptly descending to the scaffold at Tower Hill,’ Mantel promises.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 5 March

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

American Dirt is the first book to explore crossing the border from Mexico into Trump's America. There’s so much hype, it’s already being hailed as a new American classic and this generation’s Grapes of Wrath. The story of a mother and son escaping a drug cartel feels piercingly timely, and Cummins’ prose cuts deep and stays with you long after the final page.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 21 January

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell

David Mitchell's first new book in five years tells the riotous story of a forgotten British band, spanning the psychedelia of the late 60s to the sex, drugs, love and violence that pave the way to fame. The Cloud Atlas author turns his inventive prose to the magic of music in what promises to be one of the big hits of the summer.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 2 June

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

This debut novel is already galvanising reviewers and dominating our Insta feeds – and it's not even out until the end March. In a sharp and knotty take on the Me Too era, it follows a 32-year-old woman who discovers that the teacher she had sex with at the age of 15 has just been accused of sexual abuse by another student. Forced to re-visit her past, she has to decide whether her own sexual awakening was actually rape.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 31 March

Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth

Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth

The author of cult ‘girls behaving badly’ story Animals returns to examine the pressures and pitfalls of the mid-30s. Adults broaches self-interrogation, unflitered emotions, overly filtered Instagram feeds and existential crises with such archly observed accuracy, you can’t help cringing. But Unsworth offsets the satirical home truths with tenderness and warmth.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 30 January

The Death of Jesus by JM Coetzee

The Death of Jesus by JM Coetzee

JM Coetzee's enigmatic Jesus trilogy ends with delicate darkness, as the child at the heart of the story experiences a strange illness. Intricate symbolism, existential themes and artful puzzles make for a triumphant finale to this ambitious trilogy.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 2 January

Actress by Anne Enright

Actress by Anne Enright

Booker-winner Anne Enright delivers plenty of drama with a story of a woman reflecting on the life of her theatre star mother. It’s a poignant meditation on the fickle nature of stardom, along with an intimate look at the mother-daughter bond.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 20 February

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

Ghosts by Dolly Alderton

Dolly Alderton has a loyal legion of millennial fans thanks to best-selling memoir Everything I Know About Love and chart-topping podcast The High Low Show. Now the journalist turns her talent to fiction with a timely story about the perils of online dating, the ticking of the biological clock and the complexity of family and friendships as you enter your 30s.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 15 October

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo, translated by Jamie Chang

Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo, translated by Jamie Chang

This million-selling South Korean sensation is finally coming to the UK. Unravelling gender discrimination on a personal and universal level, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 follows a young women whose life is utterly ordinary, yet unsettlingly nightmarish. The litany of injustices Kim Jiyoung faces has already galvanised Korean readers, and is set to be equally provocative for British readers.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 20 February

Just Like You by Nick Hornby

Just Like You by Nick Hornby

Is an ideal partner just like you, or the polar opposite? Nick Hornby investigates in this new book about opposites attracting. The About A Boy author brings warmth, wit and plenty of fresh comedy to an age-old debate around dating.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 17 September

The 24-Hour Café by Libby Page

The 24-Hour Café by Libby Page

The Lido was the surprise feel-good read of summer 2018, and now Libby Page is back to warm hearts with another story about the local community coming together. With a keen sense of London's eccentric characters, The 24-Hour Café follows waitresses Hannah and Mona as they work up the courage to follow their dreams.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 23 January

Death in her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

Death in her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh

The writer behind cult hit My Year of Rest and Relaxation returns with ‘a novel of haunting metaphysical suspense’. Unreliable narration, a macabre mystery and a sinister secret unravel in this tricksy story about an elderly woman who finds a strange handwritten note hidden in the woods.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 21 April

Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh

Blue Ticket by Sophie Mackintosh

Sophie Mackintosh follows the feminist dystopia of her Man Booker nominated debut The Water Cure with an equally surreal story about motherhood, patriarchal oppression and free will. Blue Ticket takes us to a world where women are arbitrarily sorted into mothers or childless.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 7 May

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante, translated by Ann Goldstein

Elena Ferrante, the reclusive author behind the My Brilliant Friend series, takes us back to Naples in her long-awaited new book, The Lying Life of Adults. It follows Giovanna from pretty child to gawky teenager, charting the betrayals and disappointments of growing up in a divided city.

Click here to order online

WHEN

English translation published on 9 June

Come Again by Robert Webb

Come Again by Robert Webb

Peep Show star Robert Webb proved his literary chops with surprise sensation How to be a Boy. Now he turns his talents to fiction with a novel about a widow who gets the chance to re-live her life, fall in love with her husband all over again and maybe even save his life this time around.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 23 April

The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver

The Motion of the Body Through Space by Lionel Shriver

Lionel Shriver satirises the contemporary cult of exercise in this playful and insightful story of a sedentary 60-year-old man's sudden obsession with extreme sport. Shriver delights in skewering the fads we are all familiar with, as fitness breeds narcissism and healthy pursuits become dangerous.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 7 May

Looking for Eliza by Leaf Arbuthnot

Looking for Eliza by Leaf Arbuthnot

When lonely widow Ada advertises herself as ‘Rent a Granny’ she ends up meeting a young student called Eliza. This piquant story of an unlikely bond across different generations is the debut novel from journalist and cartoonist Leaf Arbuthnot.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 14 May

Here We Are by Graham Swift

Here We Are by Graham Swift

Prolific, prize-winning author Graham Swift takes to 1959, where the theatre at the end of Brighton Pier is hosting a dazzling summer season. Following the dramas on stage and off, this short but stunning story melds together magic and showbiz to explore what it means to be human.

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 27 February

Olive by Emma Gannon

Olive by Emma Gannon

Pioneer of the multi-hyphenate working method and mouthpiece for millennial women Emma Gannon ventures into fiction with debut novel Olive. Tackling life’s expectations, obstacles and milestones, it follows a strong-minded woman who becomes increasingly isolated as her friends all drift towards marriage and motherhood. Olive is sure she doesn’t want children, but is she missing out on too much?

Click here to order online

WHEN

Published on 11 June

Books 2020

2020 read

You may also like:

Hilary Mantel The Mirror and the Light talk, Southbank Centre

What is Elena Ferrante's new book about?

Books to inspire you to save the planet

Circe TV series, HBO

Best travel coffee table books

How to listen to the best audiobooks