2020’s BIGGEST BOOKS SECOND-BOOK SUCCESS

It’s time to get your pre-order on: these are the page-turners everyone will be raving about in the coming year…

GHOSTS Dolly Alderton

Her memoir, Everything I Know About Love, was an ode to friendship, but The High Low podcast co-host says she “got bored of writing about myself”, so she’s penned her first novel. Ghosts sees Nina Dean, 32, attempt to navigate the weirdness of online dating, family and friendship, and promises to be both wickedly funny and painfully relatable. (Out October)

THE GIRL WITH THE LOUDING VOICE Abi Daré

In this story of 14-year-old Adunni’s struggle to find freedom (AKA her “louding voice”) in modern-day Nigeria, she finds herself sold for the price of four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens and a TV. But can she escape her fate? Daré’s book had publishers fighting over it after she won 2018’s Bath Novel Award. A true original, this will open your eyes. (Out February)

MY DARK VANESSA Kate Elizabeth Russell

Now in her thirties, Vanessa is forced to look back on a relationship she had with a teacher during her teens. For years she’d convinced herself that she had pursued him, and that he was her first love, but as abuse allegations come out against him – and other powerful men – she has to confront the reality of her past. This is an uncomfortable read at times, but has been praised by everyone from Stephen King to Elizabeth Day, and leaves you thinking long after the last page. (Out January)

THE 24-HOUR CAFÉ Libby Page

Page’s debut, The Lido, was the uplifting literary treasure 2018 needed, and now she’s back with another story of friendship and community, told this time through the eyes of best friends Hannah and Mona. The pair waitress at an all-night café, but have big ambitions. If you feel a quarter-life crisis on the horizon (us too), this book is for you. (Out January)

THE FOUNDLING Stacey Halls

Halls penned 2019’s biggestselling fiction debut, The Familiars, and this is another historical treat about the intricate lives of women. In 1754, Bess Bright returns to a foundling hospital to collect the illegitimate daughter she left there years earlier. When she learns her daughter has already been retrieved – by her – she sets out to find the truth. If you enjoy Mindhunter levels of suspense, you’ll love it. (Out February)

THE SWITCH Beth O’Leary

A runner-up in our Big Book awards, O’Leary’s first novel, The Flatshare, followed the romance between housemates who shared a bed… but never saw each other. The Switch also features two people’s interconnecting worlds: Eileen, 79, and twentysomething Leena, who swap lives for a couple of months. Full of warm good vibes. (Out April)

THE MIRROR & THE LIGHT Hilary Mantel

Could the queen of historical fiction be in line for a third Booker Prize for this, the final instalment of her Tudor trilogy? Following Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, it sees Anne Boleyn beheaded, Thomas Cromwell on the ascent, and ultimate f*ckboi King Henry VIII move on to domestic bliss (or not) with his third wife, Jane. Expect more drama than Love Island (this is real history, after all). (Out March)

GROWN UPS Marian Keyes

We’ve heard whispers that this could be the much-loved author’s best novel yet. For the Casey family, everything seems perfect – they have dream marriages, pots of cash and spend every waking moment together. But when a shop sign falls on one of them, concussing her, secrets start spilling out… (Out February)

HAMNET Maggie O’Farrell

Inspired by the tragic death of Shakespeare’s only son, O’Farrell returns to fiction (her last book was a memoir,

I Am, I Am, I Am, about her 17 brushes with death) in blisteringly brilliant form. You’ll lap up this intricately told story of grief, love and the bond between twins. (Out March)

HOW TO BREAK UP WITH FAST FASHION Lauren Bravo

Ditching shopping sounds like zero fun, but if anyone can make it LOLs, it’s comedy writer Bravo. We know why we should (an estimated 300,000 tonnes of used clothing goes to landfill every year), but it’s easier said than done. Bravo will help you learn to love what you have, browse charity shops like a pro, and repair, recycle and reuse better than Greta. (Out January)

JOY AT WORK Marie Kondo

First she Kondo-ed our knicker drawer, now she’s sparking career joy. Kondo’s debut, The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying, was so successful it turned her surname into a verb (and sparked a sock-rolling revolution), so if she can transform our working lives too, we’re here for it. (Written with Scott Sonenshein, out April)

MEMOIR

Manning was working for the US Army as an intelligence analyst when she released more than 700,000 sensitive documents to Wikileaks and was sentenced to 35 years in military prison. Post-conviction, she declared her gender identity as female and began to transition. Then, in 2017, Barack Obama reduced her sentence and she was released. It sounds like a far-fetched movie plot, but it’s all true. (Title TBC, out March)

THE MATCHMAKER Catriona Innes

Ed’s note: “I have forced our very own features director, Catriona Innes, to include her debut novel, about a matchmaker whose perfect life isn’t all it seems, because I am a Kris Jenner-level momager. A bittersweet story about the lengths we go to for love, it will make you snort-laugh and cry.” – Claire (Out now)