If your 2026 resolution is to read more, you’ve come to the right place. The best new book releases from the past year leave you spoilt for choice, from romance books and historical fiction to cosy crime capers and fantasy novels.
So far, Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age – the follow-up to the author’s bestselling memoir – is the provocative story of an age-gap affair. Meanwhile, Roxy Dunn’s second novel, Wants & Needs, is a page-turning exploration of polyamory, while Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs is a darkly comedic story about three sisters and their obsession with a corrupt billionaire (writer Lena Dunham has called the author “a voice like no other”).
February and March fiction highlights, Madeleine Dunnigan’s debut, Jean, is a queer coming-of-age story set in a boy’s boarding school in the 1970s, while Asako Yuziki – who went viral in 2024 with her novel Butter – returns with Hooked, a similarly dark story that blur the lines between friendship and obsession.
When it comes to non-fiction, Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers is an internationally bestselling eulogy of her marriage and its breakdown, following her husband’s affair. Later in the year, Douglas Stuart’s third book, John of John, is sure to be a defining title in 2026, while Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell is releasing her 10th novel, Land, in June. Meg Mason – who penned the 2020 international bestseller Sorrow & Bliss – is back with a new novel, Sophie, Standing There; while Eden McKenzie-Goddard’s Windrush novel Smallie is already getting early critical acclaim, and Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear is sure to be seen everywhere in May.
If you’ve yet to catch up with the past year’s reading material, there was acclaimed fiction from esteemed authors, including Salman Rushdie’s short story collection The Eleventh Hour, Lily King’s tear-jerker decade-spanning romance Heart The Lover, Ian McEwan’s unsettling dystopian fiction What We Can Know, and David Szalay’s Booker-winning novel Flesh.
As for debuts, Florence Knapp’s The Names is a searing family drama that’s still topping book charts, Alison Espach’s novel The Wedding People is a funny spin on the romcom genre, and Garrett Carr’s The Boy From the Sea is a tender story set in an Irish fishing village. Bold and thought-provoking in different ways, Vincent Delecroix’s Small Boat and Anne Tyler’s Three Days in June are both short reads that can occupy a rainy afternoon.
I, along with the other bookworms on the IndyBest team, have read dozens of new releases over the past year to bring you the best books to dive into this winter. Keep scrolling for all the details.
Some of my favourite reads from the past year (Daisy Lester)
The best new books to read are:
- Best overall – The Names by Florence Knapp, published by Phoenix: £8.49, Amazon.co.uk
- Best daring debut – Half My Age by Jennette McCurdy, published by Fourth Estate: £13.99, Amazon.co.uk
- Best historical fiction – ‘The Shock of The Light’ by Lori Inglis Hall, published by The Borough Press: £13, Amazon.co.uk
- Best family saga – ‘Lost Lambs’ by Madeline Cash, published by Doubleday: £16, Amazon.co.uk
Read more: I’ve already read some of 2026’s biggest book releases – these are the four to look out for
