Eager to kickstart your Goodreads Reading Challenge 2023 on a high? Read on to find eight new books to add to your to-read list this January.
If you’re sitting at home wondering how on earth you’re going to get through your self-assigned reading list, we’ve got you covered with our edit of the best new book releases arriving this month. From gritty murder mysteries to the much-anticipated Prince Harry memoir, these are the new books to read next. More into your self-help? Try these empowering reads instead.
River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer
They say don’t just a book by its cover, but when it’s this beautifully illustrated, it’s hard not to want to take a peek inside. Eleanor Shearer’s deeply powerful new novel, River Sing Me Home, follows a mother’s longing search to be reunited with her children.
The year is 1834 and the law states that Rachel and her people are free from slavery. Inspired by women who went in search of their lost children following the law changes, this book is deeply moving, heartwrenching and important in so many ways.
Follow Rachel’s story as she looks for her five children, Mary Grace, Micah, Thomas Augustus, Cherry Jane and Mercy.
Release Date: 19.01.2023
Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo
Coming from the highly regarded Israeli-American writer, Leigh Bardugo, is a fantasy follow-up to Ninth House. This new book release follows on from the acclaimed story, taking a look at the unusual case of university tutors turning up dead rather too frequently…
Follow as Galaxy ‘Alex’ Stern tries her hardest to break free from Darlington, even if it means costing her future at Lethe and Yale. As faculty members begin to die off, she knows in order to survive she’ll have to get to the bottom of this monstrous mystery.
Release Date: 10.01.2023
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett
Janice Hallett’s brand new novel, The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, is centred around the shocking story of the Alperton Angels, the cult-esque group who were convinced one of the member’s babies was in fact the anti-Christ until the mother called the police. The rest of the group committed suicide instead of going to prison, and the baby was placed into care.
With the baby now turning 18, true-crime author Amanda Bailey is on a mission to get to the bottom of this mystery and help her career from unravelling before her. The truth might not be what the public is ready for.
Release Date: 19.01.2023
Things That We Lost by Jyoti Patel
Winner of the 2021 #MERKY Books New Writers’ Prize, Jyoti Patel returns to the writing table with an equally invigorating narrative centred around family, loss and protection.
The Things That We Lost follows Nik, a young man who goes in search of answers about the dad he never had. After his grandfather dies, Nik has the opportunity to unlock the secrets his mother has been holding onto his whole life. As the secrets come to the surface, cracks begin to erupt between him and his mother, and their relationship is left on the brink of separation for good.
Release Date: 12.01.2023
Spare by Prince Harry
If you’re looking for a brand new piece of the Harry and Meghan jigsaw puzzle, Prince Harry’s memoir Spare is set to be the answer you’ve been waiting for.
Set to arrive on bookshop shelves this January, Spare is set to offer a ‘raw, unflinching honesty’ surrounding Harry’s story.
Random House, who is set to publish the book, said: “As Diana, Prince of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling – and how their lives would play out. For Harry, this is his story at last.”
Release Date: 10.01.2023
We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman
For a book that’s guaranteed to have you crying, it’s got to be Catherine Newman’s heartwrenching story centred around two best friends and their forty years of unrequited friendship.
Edi and Ash have been best friends since they were children, following each other arm in arm through every life stage from the Madonna phase and REM concerts to unexpected wakes, marriages, children and infertility. When Edi is diagnosed with terminal cancer, their bond only strengthens with every moment meaning something special.
This is a story about holding on, the power of creating memories and, ultimately, letting go. Tissues at the ready.
Release Date: 12.01.2023
Fear and Lovely by Anjana Appachana
Love, longing, terror and healing all come into play in Anjana Appachana’s New Delhi set novel, Fear and Lovely. It follows Mallika, a young woman who suffered a trauma aged nineteen.
She has lost three days of her memory and has since spiralled into a deep depression. Set from the perspectives of Mallika and seven of her closest friends and family, she’s determined to find a way out of this without revealing her true illness to her community.
Release Date: 17.01.2023
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
Three unlikely counterparts become connected with a crime but it’s left to the narrative voice to determine what really happened.
Follow Deepti Kapoor’s intoxicating narrative centred around gangsters, lovers, blood-thirsty wealth, unreliable friendships, unjust romances and the consequences when a servant is set up for failure.
Out now
