26 Books To Read In 2026

Another new year is here, and we’re all asking the same question: what books should I read in 2026? I’ve rounded up some of the new books coming in 2026 that have caught my eye, plus a few backlist titles that we should all plan to revisit this year for one reason or another.

New Books To Read in 2026

Chosen Family by Madeleine Gray

Publication Date: 27 October 2025

Blurb: “Set in Sydney over eighteen years, Chosen Familyfollows Nell and Eve as they grow into themselves, as they both love and destroy each other. From school, to university, to careers, to motherhood, Nell’s and Eve’s is a relationship that is a life-raft that is also a poison apple that is also a Medusan stare, frozen in time. Together, Nell and Eve are a double helix. Love, guilt, shame, joy – these emotions twist and turn between them. Can the wounds of adolescent betrayal ever really heal? Can we ever really understand what is going on in someone else’s head? And what’s love got to do, got to do with it?” Read my review of Chosen Family here.

A Sociopath’s Guide To A Successful Marriage by M. K. Oliver

Publication Date: 30 December 2025

Blurb: “A Sociopath’s Guide To A Successful Marriage is a whip-smart and darkly funny crime novel—perfect for fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Maid—that follows a wife and mother with a deadly secret that she must suppress if she wants to maintain her picture-perfect façade. Lalla has a past she’d rather keep hidden—and the sudden appearance of the police means that avoiding them will be yet another task to cross off her to-do list. Funny, calculating, hypercompetent, and ambitious, Lalla is your next favorite antiheroine. Just don’t mention it to her mother-in-law.”

American Reich by Eric Lichtblau

Publication Date: 6 January 2026

Blurb: “One night in early 2018, while he was home from college, an Ivy League student named Blaze Bernstein snuck out of his parents’ house in Orange County. Waiting for him in a car outside was an old high-school classmate: Sam Woodward, someone who Blaze mostly remembered as a brooding, bigoted loner. But that night, after months of flirtatious messaging, Sam had succeeded in coaxing Blaze—a gay, Jewish sophomore at UPenn—out for a rendezvous. No one would ever see him alive again. In American Reich, veteran investigative journalist Eric Lichtblau uses the story of Blaze’s life and death to shine a light on the epidemic of hate in Southern California and, increasingly, the nation as a whole.”

Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy

Publication Date: 20 January 2026

Blurb: “She doesn’t know why she wants him. Is it his passion? His life experience? The fact that he knows books and films and things that she doesn’t? Or is it purer than that, rooted in their unlikely connection, their kindred spirits, the similar filter with which they each take in the world around them? Or, perhaps, it’s just enough that he sees her when no one else does. Startlingly perceptive, mordantly funny, and keenly poignant, Half His Age is a rich character study of a yearning seventeen-year-old who disregards all obstacles—or attempts to overcome them—in her effort to be seen, to be desired, to be loved.”

Anatomy Of An Alibi by Ashley Elston

Publication Date: 20 January 2026

Blurb: “Camille Bayliss suspects her husband Ben hides a dark secret. But as he tracks her every move, she cannot prove it. Aubrey Price believes lawyer Ben Bayliss knows the truth about the night that wrecked her life a decade ago. But she needs a way in. When Camille and Aubrey meet, they hatch a plan. For twelve hours, Aubrey will take Camille’s place. Ben will track the wrong woman, Camille can spy on Ben, and both women will get their answers. Except the next morning, Ben is found murdered. Two women need an airtight alibi, but only one of them has it.” Read my full review of Anatomy Of An Alibi here.

Escape! by Stephen Fishbach

Publication Date: 27 January 2026

Blurb: “Escape! is a propulsive debut novel following a has-been reality TV star and a disgraced producer who get one last shot at redemption. Kent Duvall just wants another chance at glory—to find his way out of his depressing life and back to his highlight reel. When a scandal is captured on camera at a charity event, he gets his shot, on a new jungle survival show with seven other contestants. The contestants’ goals seem simple—survive the wild, build a raft, win treasure. But Beck Bermann, a reality producer who suffered her own public shaming, sees them as characters in her redemption arc.”

Soft Serve by George Kemp

Publication Date: 3 February 2026

Blurb: “Stuck in a regional McDonald’s, as bushfires close in, three twenty-somethings and their dead friend’s mum all face a reckoning. Fern longs for Ethan, Ethan longs for Jacob, and Jacob struggles to long for anything. Meanwhile, Pat just wants her grief to ease up. Soft Serve proves that small-town lives are huge, and that anyone can get stuck in limbo between their past and their hoped-for future.”

And Now, Back To You by B.K. Borison

Publication Date: 10 February 2026

Blurb: “Jackson Clark likes life neat, predictable, and preferably viewed from the comfort of his radio booth. Delilah Stewart prefers hers wild, spontaneous, and preferably in the eye of the storm, out in the field. Eager to be taken seriously as a journalist, Delilah offers Jackson a deal. If he can help her ace an assignment, she’ll help him rediscover his long-lost fun side. With an undiscovered chemistry burning beneath their clashes, the unlikely partnership quickly tumbles into an easy and surprising friendship. Two competing meteorologists are forced to find common ground in And Now, Back To You, an opposites attract, When Harry Met Sally-inspired romance.”

Hell’s Heart by Alexis Hall

Publication Date: 17 March 2026

Blurb: “Hell’s Heart is a queer speculative fiction retelling of Herman Melville’s classic story Moby Dick. Finding herself with no money and little to occupy her groundside, the narrator (“I”) takes a commission aboard the hunter-barque Pequod as it sets out in pursuit of these Leviathans. However, once aboard, she finds herself pulled inexorably into the orbit of the barque’s captain, a charismatic but fanatically driven woman who the narrator names only as ‘A’. The only thing that might keep her grounded is the bond she develops with Q, a woman from the wreck of Old Earth, whose skin is marked with holographic light and who remembers things others have lost.”

Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester

Publication Date: 17 March 2026

Blurb: “Every successful marriage has its own private language. So it is for baby-boomer Kate and her architect husband, Jack, decades into their comfortable metropolitan life together, and for millennial television writer Phoebe and her charming loafer of a partner, Tony. But everything changes when a steamy Netflix show called Cheating becomes the much-talked-about megahit of the moment—and somehow seems to include intimate details of their marriage that only Kate and Jack could ever have known. Who has cheated whom? Who has stolen whose story—and why? A black comedy of love, trust, entitlement, and revenge, Look What You Made Me Do is a suspenseful story of two very different women and two very different generations, and a battle only one of them can win.”

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Publication Date: 7 April 2026

Blurb: “A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister. A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.” Read my full review of Yesteryear here.

London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe

Publication Date: 14 April 2026

Blurb: “In a bravura feat of reporting and writing, Patrick Radden Keefe peels back layers of mystery and exposes the seedy truths behind the glamorous London of posh mansions and private nightclubs, a city in which everything is for sale, and aspirational fantasies are underwritten by dirty money and corruption. London Falling is a mesmerizing investigation of an inexplicable death and a powerful narrative driven by suspense and staggering revelations. But it is also an intimate and deeply poignant inquiry into the nature of parental love and the challenges of being a parent today, a portrait of a family trying to solve the riddle not just of how their son died, but of who he really was in life.” Read my review of London Falling here.

Five by Ilona Bannister

Publication Date: 5 May 2026

Blurb: “An incredibly original novel that breaks the fourth wall and asks the reader to be judge, jury, and executioner, Five looks at some of the most complicated issues of contemporary life: motherhood, disability, addiction. Every stranger has a story. And in Ilona Bannister’s skillful hands, five people’s stories come together to create an unforgettable novel.”

Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly

Publication Date: 7 May 2026

Blurb: “Derry is already abuzz with news that famous American actor, Monica Logue, has flown to the city and will be starring in a new series set during the Troubles. And then she goes missing… All eyes are on Diarmuid, the flaky scriptwriter who was the last to see Monica alive. From budding young actors hoping for a role to grieving parent whose story forms the backbone of the narrative; newspaper editors covering the mystery to taxi drivers hearing all the news from their clients, Prestige Drama follows the city’s cast as they all try to locate themselves in Monica’s disappearance.”

Call Me Ishmaelle by Xiaolu Guo

Publication Date: 30 June 2026

Blurb: “Ishmaelle boards the Nimrod, a whaling ship led by the obsessive Captain Seneca, a Black free man of heroic stature who is haunted by a tragic past. Here, she finds protectors amidst the bloody male violence of whaling and discovers a mysterious bond between herself and the white whale who claimed Seneca’s leg. Built on the bones of Melville’s classic, Call Me Ishmaelle is a dynamic new tale, imbued with an eclectic crew—from a Polynesian harpooner to a Taoist Monk—and a powerful exploration of human nature, gender, man’s place among the animals, and the nature of home.”

White Pines And Stone by Dylan McDermott and Christopher Whitcomb

Publication Date: 6 October 2026

Blurb: “In White Pines And Stone, former FBI Special Agent Christopher Whitcomb and FBI: Most Wanted’s Dylan McDermott draw on their own deeply personal connections to this case—as well as files only previously seen by law enforcement officers—to reveal the chilling details, the suspects who have interested authorities over the years, and the newly discovered investigative breakthroughs they hope will lead them to the women’s bodies in what they believe to be a forest of “white pines and stone.” Together, they will shed new light on an infamous case that has captured the public’s attention like few others.”

Backlist Books To Read in 2026

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

10th anniversary

Blurb: “At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade’s worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi’s transformation from a naïve medical student “possessed,” as he wrote, “by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life” into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality.” Read my full review of When Breath Becomes Air here.

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

10th anniversary

Blurb: “Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale’s Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl. Written with all the propulsive tension that made Room a huge bestseller, The Wonder works beautifully on many levels – a tale of two strangers who transform each other’s lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.” Read my review of The Wonder here.

Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Film release date: 20 November 2026

Blurb: “As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves. When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight.”

An Offer From A Gentleman by Julia Quinn

New season on Netflix: 29 January 2026

Blurb: “Sophie Beckett never dreamed she’d be able to sneak into Lady Bridgerton’s famed masquerade ball—or that she would be spinning in the arms of her “Prince Charming”—the debonair and devastatingly handsome Benedict Bridgerton. But when the clock strikes midnight, Sophie’s enchanting evening ends. Since that night Benedict has been able to think of nothing but the bewitching young woman, and he’s sworn to find and wed his mystery miss. Yet will another unexpectedly steal his heart—and his chance for a fairy tale love?”

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

Film release date: 12 February 2026

Blurb: “Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a wild, passionate story of the intense and almost demonic love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, a foundling adopted by Catherine’s father. After Mr Earnshaw’s death, Heathcliff is bullied and humiliated by Catherine’s brother Hindley and wrongly believing that his love for Catherine is not reciprocated, leaves Wuthering Heights, only to return years later as a wealthy and polished man. He proceeds to exact a terrible revenge for his former miseries.” Read my full review of Wuthering Heights here.

Sense And Sensibility by Jane Austen

Film release date: 11 September 2026

Blurb: “Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby, she ignores her sister Elinor’s warning that her impulsive behavior leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love – and its threatened loss – the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.” Read my full review of Sense And Sensibility here.

The Odyssey trans. by Emily Wilson

Film release date: 17 July 2026

Blurb: “Composed at the rosy-fingered dawn of world literature almost three millennia ago, The Odyssey is a poem about violence and the aftermath of war; about wealth, poverty, and power; about marriage and family; about travelers, hospitality, and the yearning for home. This fresh, authoritative translation captures the beauty of this ancient poem as well as the drama of its narrative. Its characters are unforgettable, none more so than the “complicated” hero himself, a man of many disguises, many tricks, and many moods, who emerges in this version as a more fully rounded human being than ever before.”

Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Goodreads Best Romance award winner 2025

Blurb: “When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication. The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing. The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story – just like the tale Margaret’s spinning – could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad… depending on who’s telling it.” Read my full review of Great Big Beautiful Life here.

Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Sequel publication date: 2 June 2026

Blurb: “Luc O’Donnell is tangentially-and reluctantly-famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.”

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Enters public domain in 2026

Blurb: “As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner is a powerful modernist classic that follows the Bundren family’s arduous journey across rural Mississippi to fulfill the dying wish of Addie Bundren—to be buried in her hometown. Told through a groundbreaking stream-of-consciousness technique using multiple narrators, the novel reveals the inner lives, conflicts, and contradictions of its characters with stark honesty and dark humor.” Read my full review of As I Lay Dying here.