Is there anything worse for a bibliophile than a reading rut? Quite possibly not. But there is an easy cure. From twisty thrillers and darkly funny novels to propulsive histories and memoirs, we have selected an excellent range of reads that will jolt you out of a slump within their first few pages…
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy
This terrific, immersive read is set on a remote island near Antarctica, Dominic Salt and his three children guard a vital seed bank as rising seas close in. Then a woman named Rowan washes ashore, bringing secrets of her own into a family already hiding theirs.
Canongate, £9.99
The Names by Florence Knapp
In 1987, Cora must decide what to name her newborn son. Knapp follows three versions of the next 35 years – one for each possible name – turning a single choice into an absorbing exploration of family and fate.
Phoenix, £10.99
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
Podcaster Alix Summer meets her birthday twin, Josie Fair, and agrees to make a series about her strange life. But as Josie edges into Alix’s home and family, things grow increasingly sinister in a twisty, just-one-more-chapter thriller.
Penguin, £9.99
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Phoebe arrives alone at a grand Rhode Island hotel, at rock bottom and inadvertently the only guest there not staying for a wedding. Bittersweet and unexpectedly tender, it is the sort of novel you fall into completely.
Phoenix, £10.99
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
Seven years into writer’s block, once-successful novelist Mallory Maddox meets Leo, a homeless young man struggling with addiction, and decides writing about his life could revive her career. A darkly funny, queasy satire about ambition and appropriation follows.
Magpie, £16.99
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
Edi and Ash have been best friends for more than 40 years. When Edi, dying of ovarian cancer, enters a hospice near Ash, their final weeks together become funny, messy and devastating. An unforgettable 200-page read to be read in one gulp.
Penguin, £9.99
In the Woods by Tana French
At 12, Rob Ryan was the only one of three children to emerge from woods near Dublin, with no memory of what happened. Twenty years later, now a detective, he investigates a girl’s murder on the same site in an utterly gripping mystery.
Hodder, £10.99
May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry
A present-day curator dressing rooms in historic houses becomes fascinated by a forgotten medieval king who never wanted to rule. Written in crisp and immediate prose, and unfolding in vignette-like chapters, the story of his reign proves hard to put down.
Granta, £14.99
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
In 1975, 13-year-old Barbara Van Laar disappears from a summer camp owned by her wealthy family. Fourteen years earlier, her brother vanished nearby too, setting off a layered, engrossing mystery that steadily draws past and present together.
The Borough Press, £10.99
The Artist by Lucy Steeds
In 1920s Provence, aspiring journalist Joseph arrives to interview reclusive painter Edouard Tartuffe, only to become fascinated by the artist’s enigmatic niece, Ettie. Over one sweltering summer, buried secrets begin to surface.
John Murray, £10.99
Fundamentally by Nussaibah Younis
After heartbreak and a family rupture, academic Nadia takes a UN job in Iraq rehabilitating women who joined ISIS. There she bonds with Sara, a sweary East Londoner recruited at 15, in this widely funny and fearless novel that keeps wrong-footing expectations.
W&N, £9.99
Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe
Behind the rise of OxyContin lies the extraordinary story of the Sackler dynasty, whose fortune was built in pharmaceuticals. Keefe turns decades of reporting into a propulsive family saga of ambition, wealth, influence and the opioid crisis.
Picador, £12.99
Killing Thatcher by Rory Carroll
In 1984, an IRA bomb tore through Brighton’s Grand Hotel during the Conservative Party conference, narrowly missing Margaret Thatcher. From the meticulous planning to the manhunt that followed, Carroll makes political history read with the tension of a thriller.
Mudlark, £10.99
Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams
Few workplace memoirs could be quite so jaw-dropping. Drawing on her years at Facebook, Wynn-Williams describes meetings with world leaders, corporate absurdities and the increasingly consequential decisions being made behind closed doors.
Pan, £10.99