Browns Best New Books for January 2025
1st January 2025
Every month we carefully select our favourites from the fabulous new titles on offer. Happy New Year! Winter festivities have come and gone and we hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating. January can feel like a long month for some with cold, dark evenings and all the fun of December feeling like a distant memory. There can be lots to love about January however, not least reading some of the brilliant books you may have received as gifts and looking forward to all the fantastic new books that will be published in the coming months (and 2025 really does have some great titles to get excited about!). To start the year here are some of the new books for January we are enjoying the most.
Check back next month for our picks of the new books February has to offer.
Adult Non-Fiction
Empireworld
Sanghera, Sathnam
Paperback / softback
Sathnam Sanghera’s bestselling Empireland explored the lasting and often hidden effects that the British Empire had on modern Britain and was an enlightening look at a subject that can still be both a source of shame and glorification. In this fascinating follow up Sanghera looks at the legacies of the British Empire around the world. Globally 2.6 billion people are inhabitants of former British colonies, and at one time the empire had influence over a quarter of the planet. From the spread of Christianity via missionaries to nearly 1 in 3 driving on the left-hand side of the road, the lasting impact of the empire is still very much felt today although Britain’s idea of its history and the world’s experience of it can be very different.
This is another brilliantly researched and nuanced look at the legacy of the British Empire. Traveling across the globe from Barbados to India to Mauritius, Sathnam Sanghera shows how deeply ingrained British imperialism is in the world and the effects it still has today. A fascinating, entertaining and important read that examines not only history but politics, economics and law and helps us to understand the complexities and issues that have arisen through colonialism. A book that not only informs but hopefully helps us to understand mistakes of the past and the long effects they have had so that we can forge a positive future.
More DetailsAdult Fiction
Onyx Storm
Yarros, Rebecca
Hardback
After eighteen months at Basgaith War College, the time for learning is over for Violet Sorrengail. The battle has truly begun and with enemies closing in from both outside and within their ranks nobody can know who to trust. Violet must seek alliances in strange lands to stand with the Navaree. They need power, an army and magic to save the things that Violet loves the most, her family, her dragons and him…
It's only January but Onyx Storm has to be one of the most hotly anticipated books of 2025. This is the third in Rebecca Yarros’s wildly popular The Empyrean series (after Fourth Wing and Iron Flame) and excitement about this book has been building and building throughout last year. With wildly gripping plots, fantastic fantasy world-building, characters to root for and fabulous dragons these books are loved by legions of fans for good reason. If you have yet to discover this series then this would make a great new year’s treat; the perfect Romantasy read for the start of 2025 and one that will delight fans old and new.
More DetailsChildren’s Non-Fiction
The House on the Canal: The Story of the House that Hid Anne Frank
Harding, Thomas
Hardback
In the middle of Amsterdam is a house with a green door. For four hundred years the house has quietly witnessed lives, hopes, desperation and history. Sometimes the door of the house was open and welcoming and other times it was closed against cold or plague. The house’s last occupant was a young girl hiding from wartime persecution whose diary would become one of the most well-known books in history.
Covering four hundred years of the history of one house, this is the extraordinary true story of the Anne Frank House. The lyrical and layered text reveals the changing face and fortune of the house over the years whilst striking mixed-media collages by Britta Teckentrup perfectly capture a sense of time and circumstance. Beautifully researched and with archival imagery (including a map) this is a beautiful new way to look at the varied history of a building and the lives of those who lived and worked within its walls over the centuries, including the amazing young girl who once wrote of “the old house on the canal”. A moving and special book that would be a perfect addition to Primary classrooms.
More DetailsChildren’s Fiction
Hunt for the Golden Scarab
Leonard, M. G.
Paperback / softback
Sim and his mum have never stayed in one place for long. One night mysterious strangers appear and Sim discovers his mum has been keeping a big secret – she has the power to open doors in time! Now Sim and his friends are running for their lives, trying to outwit the sinister Council of Keys and be the first to find Nefertiti’s lost tomb and a door to Ancient Egypt. Can they solve the ancient clues and solve the mystery of the golden heart scarab before the Council catch up with them…
A new series from the brilliant M.G Leonard, author of the fantastic Beetle Boy, Adventures on Trains and The Twitchers series, is definitely a cause for celebration. This new series has it all- time travel, fascinating history, puzzles and peril. As with all M.G Leonard’s books this new book features authentic and relatable characters, a page-turning plot and lots of fun. With a touch of Doctor Who, a dash of Indiana Jones and black and white illustrations that help bring the story further to life this is the perfect new adventure series and we are already looking forward to the next instalment.
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