12 Books We're Excited For In 2025

A whole host of new books are set to battle for our attention this year. Starting a new book is a time commitment, and so, to help give your reading list some direction, we’ve developed a list of 12 new books we’re excited about releasing this year to help you hit your reading goal. From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s first novel in over 10 years to a deep dive into Spotify, here are the reads to look out for in 2025…

Fiction

We Do Not Part

Han Kang is having a big few years – in 2016, she became the first ever Korean-language winner of the Booker Prize for her novel The Vegetarian, and then last year she won the Nobel Prize for literature. Her first novel since winning, We Do Not Part has a lot to live up to.

It follows a young woman, Kyungha, as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to the home of her old friend Inseon. Kyungha is on a mission to feed Inseon’s pet bird but finds herself beset by a snowstorm on the island, and a long-buried secret past waiting to be uncovered.

Han Kang is having a big few years, winning the Booker and Nobel prizes

Publish Date: February 6th
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The City Changes Its Face

Eimear McBride had one of the biggest debuts of recent times, the 2013 novel A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing, now considered a modern classic. So any new release from them is worth paying attention to.

The City Changes Its Face tells the story of a couple picking their way through the ruin of their relationship on a rainy Camden night in December 1996, trying to figure out where it all went wrong. Maybe it was the twenty-year age gap. Maybe it was because one of them is a famous actor, and one is still a student. Maybe it was a little bit of everything, but maybe none of it actually matters.

Any new release from them is worth paying attention to.

Publish Date: February 13th
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Dream Count

Probably the most hyped release of 2025 – unless Sally Rooney has a surprise in store – and with good reason. Dream Count is Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie‘s first novel since Americanah way back in 2013. Since then, she has been busy publishing a children’s book, the essay collection We Should All Be Feminists and a memoir, but we’re excited to see her back in the adult fictional world.

Telling the interconnected story of four women’s lives across Nigeria and America, expect beautiful writing and a singular insight into humans and how we connect with each other.

Probably the most hyped release of 2025 – unless Sally Rooney has a surprise in store – and with good reason.

Publish Date: march 4th
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Twist

Colum McCann has a knack for an intriguing set-up – whether it’s Phillipe Petit’s daring highwire walk across the Twin Towers in Let The Great World Spin or his new novel Twist, a maritime thriller.

It follows writer Anthony Fennell, who heads to Cape Town in search of a story buried at the bottom of the sea. He boards a cable repair vessel captained by the mysterious John Conway, and when Conway disappears, Fennell must set out to find him.

Colum McCann has a knack for an intriguing set-up.

Publish date: March 6th
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Sister Europe

Nell Zink has built a career writing social satires about a range of groups, and we’re excited to see her turn her lens towards the European elite.

In Berlin, a diverse group of people have gathered – by promise or blackmail – at the Hotel Interconti for a lavish celebration of an elderly author’s esteemed career. However, as the night drags, the group makes a bid for freedom in the city and ends up on an odyssey through its underbelly.

We’re excited to see Zink turn her lens towards the European elite.

Publish date: April 24th
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Ripeness

Sarah Moss has already written two of the best books of recent times – Summerwater, about a Scottish holiday village with a dark heart, and Ghost Wall, about a creepy undergraduate archaeological dig.

Ripeness looks to be a continuation of this form – it follows two sisters across two different timelines. In the 60s, Edith finishes school and is sent by her mother to Italy to help her older sister Lydia through the final week of her pregnancy. Decades later, Edith lives a life of comfort in Ireland, which is upturned when her best friend receives a call from a man in America claiming to be her brother.

Sarah Moss has already written two of the best books of recent times.

publish date: 22nd May
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The Benefactors

Wendy Erskine has released two acclaimed short story collections – Sweet Home and Dance Move – and, in her debut novel, explores the intersection between violence and privilege.

A timely, unnerving novel about male violence, The Benefactors follows Frankie, Miriam and Bronagh – very different women but all mothers to 18-year-old boys and from wealthy backgrounds. They are brought together when each of their sons is accused of sexual assault and face a choice of whether to leverage the power of their position to protect their children.

A timely, unnerving novel about male violence and privilege

Publish date: June 19th
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Katabasis

R.F. Kuang is back with a follow-up to Yellowface, one of the buzziest – and most contentious novels of the past few years. Katabasis takes on the challenge of subverting a classic Greek myth, following two rival Cambridge academics who must join forces on a rescue mission to hell itself to rescue their supervisor’s soul.

People are either going to love it or hate it, but one thing is for certain – it’s going to be talked about.

People are either going to love it or hate it, but one things for certain – it’s going to be talked about

publish date: 26th August
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Non-Fiction

Y2K

It’s the early 2000s, and there’s a mix of flip phones, fringes, cybercore and catastrophic geopolitics. It’s a time some want to forget, and others can’t fathom, but writer Colette Shade has sought to make sense of the period – and explore why it never quite panned out as it was meant to.

Expect essays featuring close readings of Y2K artifacts like the Hummer H2, Smash Mouth’s All Star, body glitter, AOL chatrooms, Total Request Live, and early internet porn, in this affectionate yet searing critique of a decade that started with a boom and ended with a crash.

An affectionate yet searing critique of a decade that started with a boom and ended with a crash.

Publish Date: February 27th
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Mood Machine

Spotify has reached the level of ubiquity also achieved by Google, Apple and Nike – so it’s about time somebody wrote a book to tell us how it all works.

Liz Pelly has delivered a deep dive into the machinery behind the company reshaping streaming for listeners and artists alike. Drawing on over one hundred interviews with industry insiders, former Spotify employees, and musicians, Mood Machine takes a look at the inner workings of today’s highly consolidated record business.

Mood Machine takes a look the inner workings of today’s highly consolidated record business.

publish date: March 13th
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John & Paul

You might think everything to say about The Beatles has been said, but this book breathes new life into one of the most famous relationships of all time. Through their music, Ian Leslie charts the rivalry, friendship, inspiration and jealousy that defined Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Beginning in 1957 when they first met as teenagers in Liverpool, it follows their relationship right up until Lennon’s death and everything in between.

This book breathes new life into one of the most famous relationships of all time.

publish date: March 27th
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Is A River Alive?

We love a book that asks a question in its title, and Robert MacFarlane’s new release asks an intriguing one. Taking the reader on a journey from the cloud forests of Ecuador and the lagoons of Southern India to the wild river of north-eastern Quebec, the book seeks to explore a simple idea: that rivers are not merely for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law.

Blending the personal and political, this is sure to challenge your preconceptions about rivers and deepen your understanding of our relationship with nature.