Looking for a really great read among novels published in 2024? Here (in no particular order) are my top 10 favourites. Covering a range of fiction genres — literary, speculative, historical, crime and fantasy — they are all guaranteed great reads!
The Best Way to Bury Your Husband (Alexia Casale) is, surprisingly, a very moving AND uplifting AND very funny book about domestic abuse and violence. Really!
The Husbands (Holly Gramazio) – What if you could choose from an unending list of husbands (and lifestyles)? An imaginative, funny, philosophical fantasy novel.
The Ministry of Time – (Kaliane Bradley) – Secret government mission involving a myopic civil servant, time travellers and a plot to save our future. Gripping and beautifully written.
What Doesn’t Kill Us (Ajay Close) is a beautifully written, gripping and immersive, and still very relevant historical novel about misogyny and activism.
Briefly Very Beautiful (Roz Dineen) conveys an aching sadness for a lost world, and the exhaustion of daily struggling in a hostile environment.
Toxxic (Jane Hennigan) – A matriarchal world damaged by and struggling to move on from its patriarchal, violent past. A moving novel and a painful read.
When We Were Silent (Fiona McPhillips) is a raging, screaming #MeToo. It’s also very well written: well constructed and vivid, with strong characters and plot.
The Book of Secrets (Anna Mazzola) Dive into 17th century Rome, where women strive to survive in a patriarchal world perhaps not so very different from our own.
The Women Behind the Door (Roddy Doyle) – An ex-alcoholic mother and a traumatised daughter during lockdown. Superb, understated writing.
The Hunter (Tana French) American ex-cop Cal Hooper in rural Ireland (Book 3). Intelligent, insightful and well written. Not your cosy rural idyll.
For more good reads, check out: Top 10 novels of 2023
And here’s an index of all my reviews.