What to read in January 2026
Escape the winter chill by curling up with the best new books to warm the soul, ignite the passions and set the pulse racing.
Escape the winter chill by curling up with the best new books to warm the soul, ignite the passions and set the pulse racing.
RRP £16.99 (Cornerstone)
Son of the late Helen Dunmore, Charnley draws on his experience of cardiac arrest, coma and brain injury for this short, elegant, infinitely touching debut novel.
Twenty-year-old Jago is living a simple, contented life, attuned to the seasons, on his uncle Jacob’s Cornish coastal farm. All is right enough with their world – or it would be if it weren’t for rogue neighbour Bill Sligo, who demands to buy one of Jacob’s fields for nefarious purposes.
To what ends will the ruthless Sligo resort, and can Jago, with all his cognitive difficulties, stop him? The gentle pace hots up in a drama that is at moments (just figuratively) heart-stopping
RRP: £16.99 (Cornerstone)
When troubled Holly Campbell falls under a train at Glasgow Central, the British Transport Police quickly rule her death a suicide. However, tenacious Sergeant May Mackay, persuaded by Holly’s mother, suspects foul play and continues to look into the case.
A Death In Glasgow is a pacy, accomplished crime thriller from this former press photographer. Under her real name, Lynne McEwan, she is also the creator of the equally hairy Shona Oliver series.
RRP £16.99 (Scribner)
It is 1920 in an outpost of the British Empire. Soraya Matas has been engaged as maid to the monstrous, delusional widow Mrs Hattingh, in a decaying house full of spirits and shadows.
When Mrs Hattingh, believing her new maid to be illiterate, starts to write to Soraya’s fiancé on her behalf, we feel a mounting anger and unease.This won’t end well – but how it does end is as surprising as it is satisfying.
RRP £16.99 (Transworld)
News of another death by train – of a young guy in his car – drops like a bomb on Rocky (Rachel), Nick and their kids Jamie and Willa, even as Rocky confronts a health crisis.
The rumbustious family, last seen in Sandwich (2024), continue in their loving, kvetching, wise-ass way. I am in awe of Newman’s talent for finding humour in life’s disasters and indignities. Seriously funny.
RRP: £22 (Cornerstone)
If the aim of New Year’s resolutions is to make us fitter, healthier and happier, should we forget abstinence and indulge in the arts?
Professor Fancourt makes a persuasive, impassioned, evidence-based case for getting our ‘five a day’ of dance, concerts, theatre, gallery visits, poetry, painting, drawing.
More fun than intermittent fasting, and much more fulfilling than plant-forward keto, no?
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Jenni Murray is back behind the microphone as she chats to national treasures and household names.
The TV star chats about health, her love of sprouts and why she’s been proven right about the detox diet.
The singer-songwriter on being diagnosed with ADHD at 70 and how she’s ageing on her own terms.
The UK’s bestselling contemporary poet talks about finding huge success in later life and why Christmas is her lifeline.
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For the Bake Off judge, the funniest festive season was the one when the lunch went completely wrong.
The baking queen on celebrating her 90th birthday, her daily indulgence and why her husband Paul thinks “cooking is boring”.
