MORE MUST-READS OUT IN 2020

1. Agency by William Gibson (Viking, approx €19.99, out January 23) This is a “sequel and a prequel” to Gibson’s previous novel, The Peripheral, reusing the time travel technology from the novel to explore an alternative 2017, where Hillary Clinton won the 2016 presidential election. We meet Verity Jane, “the app-whisperer”, hired by a start-up to evaluate Eunice, a digital AI assistant, who could go rogue. Meanwhile, in post-apocalyptic London a century later, the past – Verity’s past – could soon become non-existent.

2. A Ghost in the Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Tramp Press, approx €15.99, out April 16)

This is a highly anticipated debut in which two stories are weaved together. In the 1700s, an Irish noblewoman, discovering her husband has been murdered, drinks handfuls of his blood and composes an extraordinary poem. In the present day, a young mother encounters the poem and becomes obsessed with finding out the rest of the story.

3. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell (HarperCollins, approx €15.99, out March 31)

In the year 2000, Vanessa Wye is a lonely sophomore at Maine’s Browick boarding school. The academically gifted 15-year-old is noticed by her 42-year-old English teacher, and before she realises what’s happening, a sexual relationship begins. It’s not until years later, when her teacher is publicly accused of inappropriate behaviour towards other underage students, that she is forced to see things differently. Lolita for the #MeToo era, this is an absolute must-read.

4. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende (Bloomsbury, approx €18.99, out January 21) This epic novel spans decades, from 1938 to 1994, and crosses continents, following two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a new place to call home. We meet Victor Dalmau, a 23-year-old medical student fighting in the war. He searches packed refugee camps for Roser, who is pregnant with his brother Guillem’s child. Guillem died in battle, so the two flee to try to rebuild their lives.

5. Strange Hotel by Eimear McBride (Faber & Faber, approx €12.99, out February 4) From the critically acclaimed author of The Lesser Bohemians comes a new story. A nameless woman enters a nondescript hotel room that she’s been in once before, many years ago. As she occupies a series of hotel rooms around the world – each of which reflects back some aspect of herself – we discover what has or might transpire in these rooms, and all the memories she hopes to forget.

6. Handiwork by Sara Baume (Tramp Press, approx €12.99, out March 26) In Baume’s non-fiction debut, she charts the daily process of making and writing, exploring what it is to create and to live as an artist interspersed with

reflections on the birds she sees (and doesn’t see) in the environment around her. It’s as versatile a work as we’ve come to expect from the acclaimed writer.

7. Seven Lies by Elizabeth Kay (Sphere, approx €14.99,

out April 16) Jane and Marnie have been inseparable since they were eleven years old. Our two narrators remain friends, but Jane told a lie that changed everything. This is her chance. Here, Jane narrates hers and Marnie’s shared history and attempts to unpick all the lies – if you can believe any of them. A compelling take on the obsession that can come with female friendship.