26 Adult Books to Read in 2026
13th January 2026
2025 was a good year for new books with many great reads that had us hooked and numerous new and brilliant authors discovered – can 2026 follow it? The answer is (of course!) a resounding YES! Whatever you enjoy reading there is something for you published this year and a number of books that we positively cannot wait for. Here is just a small selection (We had to stick to 26 for 2026 and it was tricky keeping to that number) of books we are most excited about in the coming year.
Fiction
If fiction is your thing, then 2026 is a PHENOMENAL year. With critics currently acclaiming the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s wonderful novel Hamnet fans of her beautiful writing will be thrilled to know that a new book, Land is published in June and is set in Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Hunger; inspired by O’Farrell’s own family history and featuring a wonderfully loyal dog this is set to be unmissable. There are novels from previous Booker Prize winners to look forward to as well with Julian Barnes (Departure(s)), Douglas Stuart (John of John) and Yann Martel (Son of Nobody) all spoiling us with new books this year. If crime books are your favourite then there are plenty of twisty mysteries to look forward to as well. Surely one of the most anticipated books of 2026 on social media and beyond is Hooked by Asako Yuzuki, the author of the huge bestseller Butter and fans of Japanese thrillers will also be eagerly anticipating Uketsu’s Strange Buildings. The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke has been garnering lots of attention with recommendations from both Stephen King and Val McDermid and for those who enjoy classic crime there will be a new Miss Marple novel – Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel – written by the brilliant Lucy Foley, arriving in the autumn. There are also some promising debuts to look out for this year including a book set during the Post Office scandal, Mr Sidhu’s Post Office and Wimmy Road Boyz by Sufiyaan Salam which won the new writing prize from Stormzy’s publishing imprint.
Non-Fiction
If you enjoy factual books, are looking to understand more about a subject or are interested in notable lives then 2026 has some really interesting books to grab your attention. Knowing how to work with and understand AI feels like an increasingly important skill so Jamie Bartlett’s How To Talk To AI will be required reading for many. If you are more fascinated with ancient history than modern developments then Mary Beard’s Talking Classics looks to be a fun and fascinating look at a topic that remains popular. Master of compelling and forensic narrative reporting Patrick Radden Keefe also has a new book this year – London Falling. For fans of biographies, 2026 has plenty to get excited about including Liza Minelli’s Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, comedian, broadcaster and Taskmaster star John Robin’s look at his relationship with alcohol Thirst and what promises to be a fresh look at the life, music and political times of the brilliant George Michael, Tonight the Music Seems So Loud by Sathnam Sanghera.
You can find more recommendations for what to read in 2026 here – Happy New Year and Happy Reading!
Kate, Content Selection Team
Fiction
Agrippa
Harris, Robert
Hardback
**PRE-ORDER NOW to secure the special Collector's Edition - available only while stock lasts and exclusive to the first print run**A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2026 IN THE NEW YORK TIMES, BBC CULTURE, THE MIRROR AND RADIO TIMESThe Sunday Times number one bestselling author returns to Ancient Rome in his latest thriller – coming August 2026. 'A master storyteller' OBSERVERJulius Caesar is dead, and the lives of two teenaged boys are about to be changed forever. One is Caesar’s 17-year-old nephew, Octavius, whom he has made his heir. The other is Octavius’s closest friend, Agrippa. To claim Octavius’s inheritance, they must fight the giant figures of the Roman Empire – and, against all odds, they win. Octavius becomes the Emperor Augustus. For twenty years, they rule the world together. Now Agrippa is fifty. Ailing and alone, betrayed by his wife’s infidelity, he takes refuge in his house on the Bay of Naples and begins to write his memoirs. Yet to stir up the past can be dangerous. From his earliest meetings with Julius Caesar, through the epic conflict with Mark Antony and Cleopatra, the great naval battle of Actium and the endless wars to expand the empire, he describes how one man has dominated his life: the cunning, ruthless, unknowable Octavius. When it comes to power, does friendship exist at all?'The king of the page-turning thriller' i PAPER'Harris's cleverness, judgment and eye for detail are second to none' SUNDAY TIMES'Harris writes with a skill and ingenuity that few other novelists can match' FINANCIAL TIMES'A master of historical fiction' TLS
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Departure(s)
Barnes, Julian
Hardback
Departure(s) is a work of fiction – but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. 'An elegant, thoughtful final book’ THE TIMES‘His “last book” … proves one of his best’ DAILY TELEGRAPH'Metafictional, moving, unmistakably Barnes' OBSERVERDeparture(s) is the story of a man called Stephen and a woman called Jean, who fall in love when they are young and again when they are old. It is the story of an elderly Jack Russell called Jimmy, enviably oblivious to his own mortality. It is also the story of how the body fails us, whether through age, illness, accident or intent. And it is the story of how experiences fade into anecdotes, and then into memory. Does it matter if what we remember really happened? Or does it just matter that it mattered enough to be remembered?It begins at the end of life – but it doesn’t end there. Ultimately, it’s about the only things that ever really mattered: how we find happiness in this life, and when it is time to say goodbye. 'One of our finest writers… Departure(s) can only polish his reputation’ DAILY EXPRESS'He has given his career a triumphant ending’ FINANCIAL TIMES'Moving, engaging… explores the effects of time on love’ INDEPENDENT
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Hooked
Yuzuki, Asako
Paperback / softback
‘Tender and thrilling it’s Yuzuki at her best’ ELLE ‘I couldn't stop reading’ COSTANZA CASATI ‘Unsettling, compelling, richly written’ JODIE HARSH ‘Dark, tender, unforgettable’ JANE CASEY The unmissable new novel of friendship and dangerous obsession from Asako Yuzuki, the award-winning author of the global bestselling sensation Butter. Eriko really wouldn't mind being savaged, if it was her best friend doing the savaging … Eriko's life appears perfect – devoted parents, pristine apartment and a high-flying job in the seafood division of one of Japan's largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious. But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness. Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Shoko. Shoko’s posts about eating convenience-store food and her untidy home are the opposite of the typical Japanese housewife’s manicured lifestyle. When Eriko tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant and befriends her, Shoko is at first charmed by her new companion. But soon Eriko's obsession with Shoko begins to spiral out of control, threatening her carefully laid plans. How far will she go to hold on to the best friend she’s ever had? Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is an unsettling story of the line between friendship and dangerous obsession, and a delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan. A most anticipated book of 2026 in Vogue, Guardian, New York Times, Forbes, The Times, Sunday Times Style, Elle, Stylist, BBC, Grazia, Bricks Magazine, Radio Times, LitHub, Oprah Daily and Daily Express. ‘The kind of book you press into your friends’ hands, desperate to dissect it’ ERIN KELLY, author of The House of Mirrors ‘An exciting new thriller that you won't be able to put down’ RADIO TIMES ‘Expect to see this distinctive pink cover everywhere’ GRAZIA ‘[A] razor-edged story about women, appetite and what we'll do to feel chosen … Safe to say, we're already hooked’ OPRAH DAILY ‘No one writes about the hidden depths and lurking monstrosities of womanhood quite like Asako Yuzuki’ ALICE SLATER, author of Let the Bad Times Roll ‘A thrilling and deliciously sharp examination of the extremes of female friendship. Achingly tender and wickedly funny’ EDEL COFFEY, author of In Glass Houses ‘Dark, spiny and slippery, this haunting tale of loneliness and longing in the modern age will leave you gasping’ TOBI COVENTRY, author of He’s the Devil
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John of John
Stuart, Douglas
Hardback
The stunning new novel from the Booker Prize-winning, Sunday Times-bestselling author of SHUGGIE BAIN and YOUNG MUNGO. 'This book is special' - Colm Tóibín'Passionate, liberating, and gorgeous' - Min Jin Lee 'Brilliant and rare' - Ann Patchett'A masterpiece' - Elaine Feeney'A fierce, glorious sting of a novel' - Lauren Groff'Mesmeric, transportive, vividly sensory' - Bernardine EvaristoOut of money and with little to show for his art school education, John-Calum Macleod takes the ferry home to the island of Harris to find that not much has changed except for him. In the windswept croft where he grew up, Cal resumes his old life, caught between the two poles of his childhood: his father John, a sheep farmer, weaver, and pillar of their local Presbyterian church, and his Glaswegian grandmother Ella, who has kept a faltering peace with her son-in-law for decades. While Cal wonders if any lonely men might be found on the barren hillsides of home, John is dismayed by his son’s long hair and how he seems unwilling to be Saved. As the seasons pass, everything is poised to change as the threads holding together the fragile community become increasingly entangled. John of John is the heartbreaking story of a young man’s return home and how the bonds of family life are torn by the weight of expectation. It confirms Douglas Stuart as one of the great British writers at work today.
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Kin
Jones, Tayari
Hardback
A Most Anticipated Book for 2026 according to the New York Times, New Statesman, NPR, Guardian, Independent, Financial Times, Daily Express, Mirror, Scotsman, Vulture, TIME and USA Today'Smart and funny and deftly profound. This is Tayari Jones's very best work.' Ann Patchett, author of Tom LakeA yearning for their missing mothers pulls Vernice and Annie apart. It will take a devastating tragedy to bring them back together, in the spellbinding new novel from award-winning author, Tayari JonesVernice and Annie are 'cradle friends', born days apart in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, both destined never to know their mothers. The girls are inseparable, bound by a friendship far deeper than sisterhood. But this is the American south in the 1950s. Black girls like Vernice and Annie have to fight for every opportunity they can, and neither one can build the future they hope for in Honeysuckle. Gradually, inevitably, the girls drift apart. Vernice pursues her education; Annie is lured by the promise of a heady first love affair and a growing obsession with finding her mother. But her search pulls her even further into a world of danger that soon leaves her oldest friend battling to save her. Tayari Jones returns with an exuberant, richly told story about mothers, daughters, and a lifelong friendship that is as dangerous as it is unbreakable.
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Land
O'Farrell, Maggie
Hardback
'You will never understand how the land remembers, how deep the roots grow'A spellbinding story of separation, longing, recovery and survival as a family makes a new home in the aftermath of tragedy. 'A heart-bursting story of resilience and love' Louise Kennedy'Haunting and elemental' Ferdia Lennon'Wondrous and magisterial' Kamila Shamsie'Breathtaking' Daniel Mason'A work of towering imagination and empathy' Roisín O'Donnell'As visceral as a novel can get' Yael van der Wouden On a windswept peninsula stretching out into the Atlantic, Tomás and his reluctant son, Liam, are working for the great Ordnance Survey project to map the whole of Ireland. The year is 1865, and in a country not long since ravaged and emptied by the Great Hunger, the task is not an easy one. Tomás, however, is determined that his maps will be a record of the disaster. The British soldiers in charge are due to arrive any day, expecting the work to be completed, but Tomás is sent off course by an unsettling encounter in a copse. His life, and those of his family, will never be the same again. Liam is terrified by the sudden change in his taciturn father. What was it that caused such cracks to open in Tomás and how is Liam, aged only ten, going to finish the mapping, and get them both home?Land is a story of buried treasure, overlapping lives, ancient woodland, persistent ghosts, a particularly loyal dog, and how, when it comes to both land and history, nothing ever goes away.
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Mr Sidhu's Post Office
Brar, Amman
Paperback
'[A] moving family drama ... If you don't fall in love with Mr Sidhu, as I did, then I can't help you!'BBC News, 12 Books to Read in 2026'I found Mr Sidhu's story - through all its twists and turns - utterly compelling ... a testament to the power of family, friendship, community, and love. It's an absolute treasure' Ruth Hogan, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things* * * *It's 2007, and Mr Sidhu is the sub-postmaster of the local post office in Richmond. He's grieving the passing of his wife and is preoccupied with honouring his final promise to her: to make sure his two grown-up children are settled and comfortable, which means helping Raju buy his own place and seeing to it that Meenu finally marries her long-term fiance, Craig. But Mr Sidhu is thrown off course when he begins developing feelings for his co-worker Rose, and everything starts to change, including his relationship with his children.And then Mr Sidhu's weekly accounts begin reporting a loss. He doesn't know what's happening or where that money has gone, but as the collective losses increases, Mr Sidhu has no way of paying it back. Will those in the community who Mr Sidhu has served so loyally rally around him before it's too late? Or could this be the end of Mr Sidhu's post office ... ?
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Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel
Foley, Lucy
Hardback
The brand new Miss Marple novel from Lucy Foley, the No.1 bestselling author of The Guest List and The Midnight Feast. AVAILABLE TO PRE-ORDER NOW *** High in the Swiss Alps, with glorious mountain views and exclusive access to powdery slopes, the Grand Alpine Hotel draws guests from far and wide. The notorious actress The high-flying politician The reserved political wife The reckless friend The shrewd doctor But when someone is found poisoned, it’s clear there’s a killer in their midst. As dark histories simmer, and old grudges emerge like cracks in the ice, someone watches on from the shadows. An unassuming woman with an extraordinary mind: Miss Marple. She suspects everyone in the hotel, and she’s right to. For it isn’t just a question of who has a motive, but who’s next… Arriving 50 years after Agatha Christie’s last MISS MARPLE novel was published, Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel is a landmark event.
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Son of Nobody
Martel, Yann
Hardback
The past is never done with: always the song continues Harlow Donne has devoted his life to the Classical world. When a chance comes up to study an obscure collection of papyrus fragments at Oxford University, he seizes it. Though it means leaving his daughter and fracturing marriage back home in Canada, this is the kind of career break he desperately needs. In the depths of the Bodleian Library, Harlow discovers a lost account of the Trojan War, a glimpse into the founding of Western civilization itself. He names the epic poem The Psoad, after its protagonist, a Greek commoner identified as Psoas of Midea but known to all as 'son of nobody'. As sole translator and interpreter of the Psoad, Harlow dedicates the poem and its footnotes to his daughter, Helen. Under his gaze, the text unlocks echoes of Ancient Greece into the present day, and a personal message to his beloved child appears. Despite the three-thousand-year gap between the two, a thread hasn't frayed: the universal song of homesickness and regret, of ambition and grief. In this masterpiece of myth and history, Son of Nobody explores how stories become facts, the price we pay to share them and how we live - then, now and always.
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Strange Buildings
Uketsu
Paperback / softback
The addictive mystery taking the world by storm, from the author of The Times Bestseller Strange Pictures Eleven strange buildings. One terrible secret. A lonely hut in the woods. A hidden chamber. A mysterious shrine. A home in flames. A nightmarish prison...
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The Ending Writes Itself
Clarke, Evelyn
Hardback
‘In the running for the best mystery of 2026’ Stephen King Evelyn Clarke is the pseudonym for Number One Sunday Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, and screenwriter and YA author Cat Clarke. SELECTED FOR 2026 ONES TO WATCH: Daily Express, Daily Mirror, Radio Times, BBC News Online, Stylist, Scotland on Sunday, The Herald Scotland, My Weekly, The Scotsman, Muddy Stilettos Berkshire ‘A cracking read' Val McDermid ‘Smart, original and completely addictive’ Karin Slaughter ‘And Then There Were None meets Yellowface’ Kate Mosse ‘The most fun I've had with a book in a very, very long time’ A. J. Finn, Number One Sunday Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window * * * * It’s the perfect plot. All it needs is a killer ending. Six authors. One private island. Seventy-two hours to write the ending. * * * * World-famous author Arthur Fletch is dead. His final novel, the most anticipated book in history, remains unfinished. But the ending won’t write itself. When six struggling authors are invited to Fletch's private Scottish island and presented with the opportunity of a lifetime, the plot thickens: whoever writes a worthy ending will receive a game-changing book deal and two million dollars. Why have they been chosen to attend? Who is behind the invitation? And just how far would they go to secure a place on the bestseller list? They have just seventy-two hours, a typewriter and a blank page. All they have to do is write… Starting is often the hardest part. But getting to the end could be murder. * * * * ‘Hugely entertaining and thrilling’ B A Paris ‘Full of twists and turns … A must-read for any mystery fan!’ G.T. Karber ‘Fiendishly clever and compulsively readable… An absolute must read’ Ellery Lloyd ‘Funny, razor sharp and scarily relatable’ Sarah Crossan ‘A wonderfully twisty mystery that plays with all the tropes we know so well. An absolute delight to read!’ Phoenicia Rogerson
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The Midnight Train
Haig, Matt
Hardback
When your life flashes before your eyes, what will matter most?For Wilbur it was his time with Maggie, the love of his life. Their honeymoon in Venice. Before he threw it all away. Years later, on the brink of his own death, a train arrives. It can take Wilbur back in time. To relive his most important moments. Soon he realises just how much he would have changed. An adventure through time, The Midnight Train is a story of love and second chances, from the world of The Midnight Library.
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The News from Dublin
Toibin, Colm
Hardback
In The News from Dublin, a beautiful collection of short stories from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibín delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves. A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia. 'Tóibín is the consummate cartographer of the private self, summoning with restrained acuity (and a delicious streak of sly humour) the thoughts his characters struggle to find words for' – Clare Clark, Guardian
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The Barbecue at No.9
Godfrey, Jennie
Hardback
'Godfrey's gentle, wryly humorous take makes for a breezily entertaining read.' THE TIMES'Uplifting and compassionately told' i PAPER'Jennie Godfrey is back with her second book - and it's just as good!' THE SUN'From the very first page I was in awe. I LOVED it.' MARIAN KEYES‘A beautiful story about secrets, lies and community.’ GRAHAM NORTON'A delicious and irresistible story. An utter treat.' RACHEL JOYCE'Gripping, suspenseful, moving, perfectly constructed.' SOPHIE HANNAHFROM THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS . . . It's the summer of 1985 and the residents of Delmont Close are preparing a neighbourhood barbecue to watch the biggest music event in history: Live Aid. A day like no other that will end having reached millions and changing the lives of all who attend. House-proud Lydia Gordon, whose idols are Princess Di and Delia Smith, is determined to put on a show that will impress everyone - with her posh garden and state-of-the-art television, and her sweet husband and two children, Hanna and David. But as the guests flood into number nine, so do all of the secrets that have been kept in the close. Rita, a new neighbour from Australia, is hoping for a fresh start but harbours a shocking event in her past; Steve, a young Falklands veteran, battles his own demons; and Mr Wilson is surely too good-looking to ever be trusted. But as the hours count down to the last performance of the night, it's Lydia who faces the heart-breaking truth that her immaculate home and flawless family might not be so perfect after all. And if each of their neighbours is guilty of hiding something, so are the Gordons at number nine ... Praise for The List of Suspicious Things'Gripping and moving' GUARDIAN'To read it is to feel that little bit better about life' ELIZABETH DAY'A beautiful mystery with heart' ROB RINDER'A heart-warming book' EMMA HEALEY'A wonderful story' FEARNE COTTON
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Yesteryear
Burke, Caro Claire
Hardback
'EVERYONE IS GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT THIS BOOK' BELLA MACKIE 'NIGHTMARISH, SHOCKING, BRILLIANT' STYLIST 'THE BOOK THAT WILL BE EVERYWHERE' INDEPENDENT 'INTELLIGENT, INCISIVE, INSANELY READABLE' JENNIE GODFREY 'BOLD, BITING. WILL LEAVE YOU GASPING' NITA PROSE ‘WICKEDLY FUNNY' ABIGAIL DEAN 'INVENTIVE, ADDICTIVE, A WILD RIDE' ASHLEY AUDRAIN 'SHOT THROUGH WITH HUMOUR, LACED WITH DARKNESS' CLARE MACKINTOSH 'THE STEPFORD WIVES MEETS THE HANDMAID'S TALE' HANNAH DEITCH 'My name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive…' Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle – and has the social media accounts to prove it. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What Natalie’s followers don’t know won’t hurt them. Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible. NOW BEING ADAPTED INTO A MAJOR FILM STARRING ANNE HATHAWAY
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The Palm House
Riley, Gwendoline
Hardback
From the Women’s Prize-shortlisted author of First Love 'I love this book' Sarah Perry 'Outstandingly brilliant' Claire-Louise BennettLaura Miller and Edmund Putnam have been friends for a long time. Theirs is a happy meeting of minds, with long evenings spent huddled in an ancient pub by the Thames, where they share office gossip, reflect on their teenage passions, and lament the state of the world. Recently, though, Putnam has been harder to reach: he has lost his father, and the magazine to which he has dedicated his life has been hijacked by an insufferable new editor, Simon ‘call me Shove’ Halfpenny. Laura has her own problems: with a prickly mother and a tricky past, and in a beautiful and indifferent city, her day-to-day life is precarious. But as Putnam starts to sink into despondency, she must try to bring him back. A novel of enduring friendships and small mercies, The Palm House offers us Gwendoline Riley’s trademark keen observation and wit, and leaves us - somehow - with a curious sense of possibility. PRAISE FOR GWENDOLINE RILEY‘Riley’s prose is so electric, so alive with humour and insight and passion, that by the end you will want to stand up and cheer’ - Paul Murray, author of The Bee Sting‘Gwendoline Riley is a genius’ - Evening Standard‘So painful, so funny and acutely observed’ - David Nicholls, author of You Are Here‘A writer of singular vision’ - The Guardian
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Fruit Fly
Silver, Josh
Hardback
'This is an incredible book ... tough and raw and merciless but funny and kind at the same time.' Russell T. Davies, writer of It's a SinA BBC must-read book of 2026 - 'Sharp, dark and humorous, it's a real nailbiter.'Anyone can write a bestseller. Here’s how. GO GAYIt’s been seven years since Mallory shot to fame as a literary sensation. But after years of struggling with writer’s block, she’s desperate to resurrect her career before it spirals into obscurity. She needs inspiration to strike – and fast. GO SADEnter Leo – a young struggling addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival. He’s vulnerable. He’s enigmatic. He’s exactly what Mallory has been looking for. GO DARKMallory needs Leo if she wants another bestseller. Authenticity sells, and there’s nothing more authentic than real life. She’s the perfect person to tell Leo’s story. Gay, sad, dark – just what the world needs right now. But as secrets threaten to unravel more than just her career, Mallory must decide: just how far will she go to pen the perfect story?'Absolutely unforgettable. A raw, visceral triumph that echoes modern classics like Trainspotting, Young Mungo and A Little Life, yet stands entirely on its own.' John Marrs
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How to Talk to AI
Bartlett, Jamie
Paperback / softback
A BBC ‘BOOK YOU NEED TO READ IN 2026’Discover how artificial intelligence thinks and reasons, and how we can make the most of their super-human abilities, in the must read new book from the prize-winning technology writer and author of The Dark Net and The People vs Tech. ‘[An] essential read’ Emma Saunders, BBC Culture ReporterKnowing how to speak to AI – and how not to – is a skill that everyone now needs. Hundreds of millions of people now talk to AI, such as ChatGPT, every day. They organise their finances and holidays, ask advice, seek therapy and find love – via machines. Almost overnight, chatbots are transforming society, politics and business. This is one of the biggest and fastest technological changes in history. However, most people still don't really understand how AI works, how to make the most of it – or what the dangers are. As some people use it to turbo-charge their productivity at work, others are falling into dangerous conspiracies, delusions and psychosis. In How to Talk to AI, award-winning technology writer Jamie Bartlett takes you inside the machine: showing how we can stay in control of our powerful new companions, even as they are changing the way we live, feel, and think. Written in his accessible style, How to Talk to AI is the essential and empowering guide to help you understand how to make the most of these incredible new technologies, without succumbing to new powers of manipulation and control. Praise for Jamie Bartlett:‘This book could not have come at a better moment’ Sunday Times‘One of the world’s leading experts on the digital revolution’ David Patrikarakos, Literary Review‘Eye-opening … Bartlett is an informal yet informed guide’ Times Literary Supplement‘Confident and well-informed’ New Scientist‘A hell of an achievement... Buy it and read it.’ The Times‘Fascinating… Jamie Bartlett is an expert guide’ Independent‘Highly readable’ Financial Times‘Smart, provoking reportage… Required reading for anyone’ Tom Chatfield, author of Wise Animals: How Technology Has Made Us What We Are
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London Falling
Keefe, Patrick Radden
Hardback
From the Baillie Gifford Prize-winning and Sunday Times bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing comes a riveting story of wealth, violence and deceit at the heart of a glittering city. 'A phenomenal book that will stay in your soul long after the last page . . . it captures how easily a life can go wrong in the shadows of a city bankrolled by billionaires' Emily Maitlis'More addictive than any boxset, this book will break your heart, instill you with cold rage, and make you see London in a completely new light' Sathnam SangheraIn 2019, a London teenager, Zac Brettler, fell to his death from a luxury apartment building on the banks of the Thames. On a desperate quest to understand how their son had died, his grieving parents made a terrible discovery: Zac had been leading a fantasy life, posing as the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. Patrick Radden Keefe follows Zac’s parents on a dark journey to find out what brought him to the balcony that night – and how a teenager’s life of make-believe drew him into the city’s terrifying underworld.
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Talking Classics
Beard, Professor Mary
Hardback
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF EMPEROR OF ROME AND SPQR'The rock star scholar of Ancient Rome' FINANCIAL TIMES 'The reigning Queen of Classics' SPECTATORWhat's exciting about a piece of bread 4,000 years old? Or some pots of paint abandoned in the eruption at Pompeii? Why should we be bothered with the distant past anyway? What's the point?The life, art and literature of ancient Greece and Rome have something to offer everyone. They are not the property of wealthy white men only. They make us wonder how to make sense of people who lived long ago (from angry landlords to giggling senators) - and to think harder about our own world, to look at it differently. In Talking Classics, Mary Beard points to the surprising connections between antiquity and the present. From revolutionaries to dictators, Bob Dylan to Beyoncé, she joins forces with the varied modern characters who have been transfixed by the ancient world. It's not compulsory, she argues, to be excited by antiquity, but it's a shame not to be. After half a century teaching and studying classics, she fills the book with lively stories, curious facts and some good gossip. Talking Classics explains why the deep past does really affect us all.
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The Book of Birds
Macfarlane, Robert
Hardback
From the creators of the internationally bestselling, award-winning, multi-adapted phenomenon The Lost Words: a dazzling celebration of birdlife in Britain, re-imagining the classic field guide for a new generation of nature loversA great thinning of the skies is underway. Around 50% of bird species are in decline worldwide. Our dawns and springs are quieter each year than the last. An almost unimaginable abundance has been lost. It does not have to be this way –– but we will not save what we do not love. The Book of Birds is a compendium of forty-nine bird species, from Avocet to Yellowhammer, all of which are declining or endangered in Britain. Inspired by the classic bird-books with which the authors grew up, this is a field guide with a difference. It asks not ‘What is that bird?’, but ‘Who is that bird?’ It shows its readers how to identify birds, but also how to identify with them. With lyrical precision and playfulness, Robert Macfarlane evokes each bird’s habits and habitats –– their patterns of flight and of song, how they hunt and gather, how they nest and raise their young, the stories and myths which attend them, the threats which shadow them, and how their wild lives intersect with our own. And on every page we encounter Jackie Morris’s exhilarating artwork, painted in watercolour and gold and animated by an extraordinary attention to detail and sense of life. Set among this dazzling flock of species are seven sections celebrating the 'Seven Wonders' that together make up the everyday miracle of 'Bird': Nest, Egg, Beak, Song, Feather, Flight and Migration. Seven years in the making, The Book of Birds is a love letter to the splendours and mysteries of birdlife, and a clarion call to halt the loss of birds from land, sea and sky. From Dipper to Dunnock and Kestrel to Kingfisher, from mountain to ocean and city to river, Jackie Morris and Robert Macfarlane conjure the unique spirit and lifeway of each species. This is a book to be treasured by bird-lovers of all ages, and a future classic work of reference.
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Rasputin
Beevor, Antony
Hardback
Rasputin: visionary, fraud or victim of history? 'THE GOLD STANDARD OF NARRATIVE HISTORY' DAN SNOW'ONE OF THE GREAT STORIES OF HISTORY, TOLD BY ONE OF OUR GREATEST HISTORIANS' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE'THIS EXTRAORDINARY STORY HAS NEVER BEEN BETTER TOLD' ANTHONY HOROWITZ'A STUNNING BANQUET OF A BOOK' ROSE TREMAINHow could a barely literate peasant from Siberia determine the fate of the world? Undoubtedly, the so-called 'mad monk' Rasputin bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. Yet their strange and scandalous relationship conceals a riddle , one that casts an intriguing light on the controversial 'great man' theory of history. Rasputin was a devoted monarchist, not a revolutionary. He had no official position, no forces at his command. Nevertheless, he contributed more to the fall of the Romanov dynasty than any other individual. So demoralised was the Tsarist officer corps by stories of corruption, to say nothing of the rumours of his debauchery with the Empress - and even her daughters - that when the February Revolution broke out, not a sword was raised in defence of the regime. Just as Rasputin cast a spell over the Romanovs, his legend has bewitched historians. More than a century later, we still fail to comprehend fully the collapse of the greatest autocracy on Earth. Was there any truth to the wild tales that brought down the empire? Or was his true legacy an unsettling lesson on the potency of myth? From the bestselling author of Stalingrad comes a fascinating and deeply insightful historical post-mortem
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A Hymn to Life
Pelicot, Gisele
Hardback
The sexual assault that rocked the world. A courageous woman’s rallying call for ‘shame to change sides’. For the very first time, Gisèle Pelicot tells her story. 'An emblem of resilience for women everywhere' VOGUE'The bravest woman in the world' DAILY MIRRORA BEST BOOK OF 2026 FOR THE OBSERVER, TELEGRAPH, GUARDIAN, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES, DAILY MIRROR, IRISH TIMES, GQ MAGAZINE, LIT HUB, BBC AND MOREOne November day, Gisèle Pelicot was called to a local police station and life as she knew it ended. Her husband of fifty years had been caught by a supermarket guard filming up women’s skirts. But on his computer was shattering evidence: for nearly a decade, he had been secretly drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of strangers into their home to abuse her. Four years later, he and fifty other men were put on trial and Gisèle’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity made global headlines. ‘Shame must change sides,’ she declared, giving voice and hope to millions. Her words became a rallying cry and her decision marked a turning point in public feeling about sexual violence. For the first time, and with unwavering honesty and grace, she describes a difficult childhood, first love, her career and motherhood. It is a life in determined search of happiness, both before and after her devastating discovery. She is an ordinary person who faces extraordinary catastrophe, whose example changes the world. Ultimately, Gisèle Pelicot emerges with a renewed passion and reverence for living, and for love. A Hymn to Life is an unforgettable testament and promise: that victims have no reason to feel ashamed; that even after unimaginable betrayal we can go on; and that colour will always return to life. 'This is quite something - a really brave, honest and heart-rending memoir' SARAH JESSICA PARKER'Extraordinary … inspires courage and compassion, but also, crucially, demands change' EMMA THOMPSON'A page-turning memoir that will move you to live more' GINA MARTIN
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Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!
Minnelli, Liza
Hardback
Fasten your seatbelts, darlings, it's been one helluva ride. Liza Minnelli is one of the most iconic and enduring figures in entertainment history. Now, in her first and only memoir, Liza tells her story in her own words - and what a story it is. Born into Hollywood royalty, Liza was the daughter of legendary director Vincente Minnelli and the incomparable Judy Garland - and yet her beloved 'Mama's' brilliance was matched by searing personal battles, making her mother both an inspiration and, at times, a source of fear. In this deeply candid memoir, Liza pulls back the curtain on her extraordinary life, from her meteoric rise to Broadway and Hollywood stardom to the whirlwind of high-profile marriages and relationships, as well as the private heartbreaks of multiple miscarriages and lifelong struggle with Substance Use Disorder. As told her her most beloved confidant, music icon Michael Feinstein, Liza relives the liberated nights at Studio 54, the activism and friendships that shaped her - including the likes of Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Halston, Mary J. Blige, Michael Jackson and Princess Diana - and the fearless way she defied conventions, embracing sexual fluidity and battling bigotry at a time of limited public understanding. But above all, as she turns 80 years old, Liza is reclaiming her truth, dispelling tabloid myths and setting the record straight with stories she's never shared before. Raw, strong, sexy, hilarious and unapologetically honest, this is a defiant celebration of self-belief, survival and humanity - proving once and for all why Liza remains one of the most captivating performers the world has ever known. Wilkommen to the world of Liza.
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Thirst
Robins, John
Hardback
John Robins is a critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, Taskmaster champion, and an award-winning broadcaster. He is also an alcoholic. But what does that mean? What is an alcoholic?In Thirst, John tells the story of his life through the lens of alcohol, the drinks that made him, and those that broke him. From his earliest drinking experiences – pretending to be drunk after a sip of champagne aged five, spraying aftershave into his mouth at the school play afterparty, and university nights spent downing red wine alone in his room – to his last drink in 2022 and the journey into sobriety that followed, John explores our relationship with alcohol through reflections on decades of his own drinking. From hazy memory to sudden clarity he sheds light on subjects from mental health to friendship, from creativity to the lies we tell ourselves, and answers questions such as: are alcoholics born or made? How can we make sense of youthful missteps? And can Buddhism provide relief when dealing with haemorrhoids? Filled with insights and epiphanies from the world of addiction and recovery, Thirst blends John’s trademark raw honesty and hilarious digressions with the collective wisdom of alcoholics and those around them to offer a compelling, powerful and morbidly funny narrative for anyone who has ever asked 'why do we drink?', 'why do I drink?' or 'do I drink too much?'.
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Tonight the Music Seems So Loud
Sanghera, Sathnam
Hardback
He wrote one of the biggest hits of our age in ‘about an hour’ in his childhood bedroom. He would go on to collaborate with some of the greatest musicians of all time, from Aretha Franklin to Stevie Wonder. He was a pop star who bleached his hair blonde, wore tiny shorts and, at the same time, critiqued his own image mercilessly. He lived through the AIDS crisis and one of the most homophobic periods of British history and yet when he finally came out, he did so boldly and unapologetically. Wham! were the first Western pop group to play in Communist China and he repeatedly broke boundaries in music too. Ten years after his death, George Michael is still everywhere: the annual success of ‘Last Christmas’, new covers of his songs, and endless memes on social media. Tonight the Music Seems So Loud is at once a kaleidoscopic portrait of one of Britain’s most beloved musicians and an account of a strange and turbulent period of British history. In his unconventional and enthralling book, bestselling author Sathnam Sanghera explores the connection between music and politics, exposes what secrecy does to the soul, and reveals how fame rots the sense of self. Throughout, Sanghera captures, joyfully and poignantly, one of Britain’s greatest artists in all his musical glory.
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