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Sarah Hall Helm Faber, 28th August, £20, HB, 9780571397310
Howling through this exhilaratingly brilliant novel from the two-time winner of the BBC National Short Story Award and Booker Prize shortlistee is Helm, a ferocious, mischievous wind – the only named wind in the UK – a subject of folklore and awe that humans over the ages have tried to placate, banish and capture. Now, Selima Sutar, surrounded by measuring instruments in her observation hut, fears human pollution is killing it. This towering achievement deserves to be on all the prize lists.
Lily King Heart the Lover Canongate Books, 23rd October, £16.99, HB, 9781837265497
In her senior year of college, the narrator of Lily King’s singular new novel is drawn into a triangle of complex friendship, desire and the intimations of first love with friends Sam and Yash. Decades later, and a successful writer with a husband and children, a surprise visit brings the past into the present, forcing her to confront the decisions and deceptions of her youth. Deeply moving and bursting with love, this is truly one of the best novels I have read all year.
Claire Lynch A Family Matter Chatto & Windus, 15th, £16.99, HB, 9781784745837
I was blown away within pages of A Family Matter,
the powerful debut novel from the author of the memoir Small: On Motherhoods. Inspired by an injustice lesbian mothers in the 1980s faced, it is about “the chance of being born at the ‘right’ time”, says Lynch, and is a portrait of people doing things out of their best intentions. This slim, dual-timeline novel shines a light on a shockingly recent historical injustice and asks how we might heal and learn from the wounds of the past.
Olga Ravn, Martin Aitken (trans) The Wax Child Viking, 6th, £14.99, HB, 9780241752746
This strange masterpiece about witchcraft blends the inventive, poetic brilliance of Anne Carson with the nightmarish folklore of Midsommar. Set in 1620 and based on the true story of an infamous Danish witch trial, it is told from the perspective of a wax doll crafted by a noblewoman who is later accused, among others, of witchcraft. With eyes and ears that cannot open and by turns buried in the soil or carried in the crook of an arm, the doll listens and observes. Prepare for goosebumps.
David Szalay Flesh Jonathan Cape, 6th, £18.99, HB, 9780224099783
Following Hungarian teenager István from a clandestine relationship with a married, older woman, then into the army and then among London’s super rich, in Flesh, Szalay – who describes it as “a story collection hiding inside a novel” – paints a portrait of a man unravelled by events beyond his control and asking what drives a life, what makes it worth living and what breaks it. Hypnotic, propulsive and profoundly affecting, I was overjoyed to see this phenomenal work on the 2025 Booker Prize longlist.
Nussaibah Younis Fundamentally W&N, 25th February, £16.99, HB, 9781399623926
I was laughing within pages of starting this fearless dark comedy. When
Nadia accepts a UN job in Iraq rehabilitating ISIS women, she meets Londoner Sara, who joined ISIS at 15, and is struck by their similarities. The UN scheme is chaotic, and the pair embark on a journey neither can come back from. The novel, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize 2025, channels Younis’ experience as a peacebuilding practitioner to offer a fresh and daring insight into a complex topic.
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