Story, boy?! Great new books to look out for in 2024...

WITH various elections due in Ireland, the UK and U.S this year, politics will take centre stage in many book releases.

“There will be a lot of books which are examining the state of things at the moment,” says Caroline Sanderson, associate editor of trade publication The Bookseller.

Notable UK political autobiographies include MP Nadhim Zahawi’s The Boy From Baghdad (HarperCollins, March 14), charting his journey from boyhood in Baghdad to Chancellor of the Exchequer, she predicts.

In other genres, celebrity memoirs featuring everyone from RuPaul to George the Poet, Jill Halfpenny, Earl Spencer and Tom Selleck will hit book shops, while new offerings from big name novelists including David Nicholls, Alex Michaelides, Marian Keyes, David Baldacci and Peter James should be flying off the shelves

Here are just some of the titles which may create a buzz in 2024.

Romance

Top choice: You Are Here, by David Nicholls (Sceptre, April 23)

“For fiction, this is our biggest title at the moment, and very much along the same lines as his bestseller One Day,” says Bea Carvalho, Waterstones’ UK head of books.

It’s a love story which develops on the Coast to Coast footpath in the north of England, in which two single people who are introduced by mutual friends find themselves together on the most epic of walks.

Ones to watch: Irish author Colm Toibin, with Long Island, his long-awaited sequel to Brooklyn (Picador, May 23); TikTok star and best-selling novelist Emily Henry’s joyful new novel, Funny Story (Viking, April 25), about a pair of opposites with the wrong things in common.

Thriller

Top choice: The Fury, by Alex Michaelides (Michael Joseph, Feb 1)

The best-selling author of The Silent Patient brings readers a locked room-style mystery set on a Greek island, featuring an unreliable narrator and a tale full of twists and turns. It’s out in February, but Waterstones is predicting it’s also going to be a real staple of summer reading.

Ones to watch: All The Colours Of The Dark by Chris Whitaker (Orion, July 16), which is part missing persons mystery, serial killer thriller - and part powerful love story; Anthony Horowitz’s new novel, Close To Death (Century, April 11), which sees an unpopular resident shot dead with a crossbow, while all his neighbours have the motive to kill him.

Historical

Top choice for fiction: Clear, by Carys Davies (Granta, March 7)

Set against the rugged backdrop of Shetland, this short, powerful, historical novel set in 1843 during the final stages of the Scottish Clearances, sees a minister dispatched to a remote Scottish island to “clear” the last remaining inhabitant, who has no intention of leaving. It’s an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope, from the award-winning writer.

Top choice for non-fiction: Empireworld, by Sathnam Sanghera (Viking, January 25)

Following on from his bestselling Empireland, the award-winning author and journalist extends his examination of British imperial legacies beyond Britain. Travelling the globe to trace its international legacies - from Barbados and Mauritius to India and Nigeria and beyond - he demonstrates how deeply British imperialism is baked into our world.

D-Day 80th anniversary

Top choice: Sword Beach, by Stephen Fisher (Bantam, May 23)

This book from the marine historian focuses on the untold stories of D-Day’s forgotten battle, providing fresh insight into one of the least well-known of the D-Day landings. Often overshadowed by the more famous American landing at Omaha, Fisher now shines a light on the capture of Sword Beach, which was crucial in securing the Normandy Landings, he says.

Fantasy

Top choice: House Of Flame And Shadow, by Sarah J Maas (Bloomsbury, January 30)

The third book in the Crescent City series, which has been described as “Game Of Thrones meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, from the New York Times bestselling author. “She’s a leading voice in the genre, our sales of that series are absolutely extraordinary and pre orders are enormous,” says Carvalho.

One to watch: Jasper Fforde’s Red Side Story (Hodder & Stoughton, February 6) is set in a world where your social status depends on which colours you can see.

Politics

Top choice: Head North, by Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram (February 22)

For the first time, the Mayors of Greater Manchester and the Liverpool City Region, Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, speak out about their experiences of modern British politics, and the fight for Northern voices to be heard. They offer a new vision for Britain which centres a Northern perspective and reimagines our country beyond the Westminster bubble.

Ones to watch: Keir Starmer: The Biography by Tom Baldwin (William Collins, February 15), taken from more than 100 hours of interviews with the man himself.

Debut

Top choice: The Cautious Traveller’s Guide To The Wastelands, by Sarah Brooks (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £16.99, June 20)

This intriguing fictional tale tells the story of a curious cast of characters on board the Great Trans-Siberian Express in the 19th century as they cross the Wastelands, a vast terrain that lies between Russia and China.

The Great Trans-Siberian Express, an impenetrable train built to carry precious cargo across continents, now also transports anyone willing to cross the irresistible Wastelands. It is thought to be completely safe... except something happened on the last journey.

Ones to watch: The Kellerby Code, by screenwriter Jonny Sweet (Faber & Faber, March 21), a manor house mystery and part-spin on the classic golden age thrillers with a mixture of crime and comedy and a nod to P.G. Wodehouse; The Fellowship Of Puzzlemakers by Samuel Burr (Orion, May 9), an uplifting and joyful debut about a bright young man finding his place in the world.

Real life

Top choice: Knife, by Salman Rushdie (Jonathan Cape, £20, April 16)

The bestselling author details for the first time the dramatic, traumatic events of August 12, 2022, when he was stabbed multiple times as he was about to give a public lecture in New York.

He uses the power of words to make sense of the unthinkable, in a gripping, personal and life-affirming meditation on life, loss, love, art - and finding the strength to stand up again.