Katie Hall, Marketing Director
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy
Flake
Matthew Dooley
At the moment I’m reading Anna Karenina and it might end up being my autumn, winter and spring reading, but what an absolute joy. I’m also recommending Flake by Matthew Dooley, which has been one of my highlights this year.
Boy Parts
Eliza Clark
Just Us
Claudia Rankine
Next on my reading list are Boy Parts by Eliza Clark, which I’ve only heard good things about, and the new Claudia Rankine book.
Stephen Page, CEO
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Ocean Vuong
I’m recommending the searingly beautiful, distressing and uplifting On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong.
The Snow Ball
Brigid Brophy
I’m looking forward to reading The Snow Ball by Brigid Brophy. I’ve not read her before but Bidisha’s description of it as a ‘poignant last waltz of the beautiful people’ sounds like an evening by the fire well spent this autumn.
Kate Brook, Sales Assistant
The Little Stranger
Sarah Waters
I love Sarah Waters so much I have to ration her books very meanly or I’ll gobble them all up one after the other. My most recent discovery was The Little Stranger, a deliciously creepy, crumbling-country-house horror story with one of Waters’s trademark twists at the end. Easily gripping enough to read in one weekend, and perfect for a Halloween spent on the sofa.
Black River
Will Dean
Quite frankly my reading life is a constant quest to find books that grip me like Sarah Waters’s do. I have high hopes of Black River by Will Dean – a dose of Scandi-crime to bring a thrill to some long, dark evenings.
Libby Marshall, Assistant Editor
The Only Good Indians
Stephen Graham
I’m not normally one for horror fiction, but I somehow convinced myself this wouldn’t be too scary . . . I was wrong. It’s terrifying. It follows a group of guys who grew up together on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in North Western Montana (coincidentally, my home state), who are haunted by a terrible mistake they made in their youth. It’s spooky – perfect for autumn! – but also incredibly moving. I’m so glad I tricked myself into reading this book.
The Dutch House
Ann Patchett
Several people have told me, completely independently of each other, that they’ve read this book and thought of me. What does that mean? I’m excited to find out!
Emmie Francis, Editor
The Lying Life of Adults
Elena Ferrante
The new novel from Elena Ferrante did not disappoint, despite the huge anticipation due to those four other novels she wrote (I would say The Days of Abandonment is still my most treasured read of her backlist). It’s a superb stand-alone novel replete with all the realist observational delicacies that Ferrante is good for, but in a dream-like world and, as ever, beautifully translated by Ann Goldstein.
The Corona Crash
Grace Blakely
I’ve followed Blakely’s effortlessly incisive commentary on politics and the economy – and what seems to be a completely unfazed attitude to her detractors – for about a year now. As Covid-19 continues to crash down on us in myriad ways, her pamphlet on radical change (The Corona Crash from Verso) looks to be reassuringly instructive.
Phoebe Williams, Marketing & Website Assistant
On Connection
Kae Tempest
On Connection is non-fiction on another level. Kae Tempest’s lyrical and honest writing in this small but mighty book highlights the importance of staying connected to ourselves and each other. I highly recommend it to all.
The Nickel Boys
Colson Whitehead
I finally picked up a copy of The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. My copy of The Underground Railroad is one of my most well-worn hardbacks after lending it to so many people, so I can’t wait to dive into his latest.
Rachel Darling, Trade Marketing Coordinator
A Ghost in the Throat
Doireann Ní Ghríofa
This interwoven narrative of a young mother’s obsession with an eighteenth-century female poet ticks so many boxes for me.
Long Live the Post Horn!
Vigdis Hjorth
I loved Will and Testament and am beyond excited for this new novel about a media consultant who, having lost both her colleague and sense of self, takes an assignment for the Norwegian Postal Workers Union.
Lucy Houghton, Sales Assistant
After You’d Gone
Maggie O’Farrell
After seeing a nameless, horrendous thing, Alice Raikes steps out into oncoming traffic, leaving her in a coma. What follows is the multi-generational retelling of events in the life of Alice and her family, all leading to this moment. The perfect layered literary mystery to get hooked into this autumn.
Ruth Janette Ruck
It’s a bit of a dream of mine to own a llama or two. I don’t have a Welsh hill farm to house them on, so I’m looking forward to living vicariously through this memoir of the chaos and fun that ensues when a baby llama joins the family.
