Flick back through the finest
The best fiction of 2020
FICTION
The Thursday Murder Club
By Richard Osman
Viking, £ 14.99
The Pointless presenter wrote his debut novel in secret but, once it hit bookshop shelves, it became the fastest- selling crime debut since records began – and deservedly so.
Four residents of an upmarket retirement home join forces to solve a murder, but it’s not the whodunnit that keeps you turning the pages, it’s the heartwarming characters, the insightful and poignant observations, and the sparkling wit.
A joy from start to finish. CH
V For Victory
By Lissa Evans Doubleday, £ 14.99
Why isn’t Lissa Evans one of our most celebrated, bestselling authors? It’s one of life’s great mysteries.
Vee and her protegé Noel, now 15, return, dodging V2s during the death throes of the Second World War.
Then a figure from the past turns up on their doorstep with unexpected consequences for them both.
It’s a witty, perceptive novel and Evans’ characters, with all their quirks and foibles, leap off the page. CH
Miss Benson’s Beetle
By Rachel Joyce Doubleday, £ 16.99
It’s England, 1950, and prim teacher Margery Benson has walked out of her job and embarked on a mission to find a mysterious golden beetle in faraway New Caledonia.
Accompanied by the irrepressible Enid Pretty, the unlikely duo embark on an adventure which is as much about second chances and emotional courage as it is about trekking through dangerous terrain. EF
Small Pleasures
By Clare Chambers W& N, £ 14.99
Set in 1957, Chambers’ atmospheric tale of lonely journalist Jean and her last chance at love is compelling, beautifully written and will shatter your heart into smithereens. Unmissable. CH
Shuggie Bain By Douglas Stuart
Picador, £ 14.99
This year’s Booker Prize winner tells the story of lonely young Shuggie, sole carer to his alcoholic mother in poverty- stricken 1980s Glasgow.
A misfit in a macho world, Shuggie strives to survive amid chaos in this tale of love and addiction. EF
The Vanishing Half
By Brit Bennett
Dialogue Books, £ 14.99
Identical twins Desiree and Stella run away from home but, years later, Desiree returns to her roots while her estranged sister lives as a white woman with a husband and child who don’t know her secret.
This is an engrossing, provocative read exploring themes of family, relationships and race. EF
Hamnet
By Maggie O’farrell
Tinder Press, £ 20
Maggie O’farrell breathes life into Agnes Hathaway, wife of up- and- coming playwright William Shakespeare, who is blindsided by grief after her son Hamnet dies of the plague.
O’farrell won the Women’s Prize with her exquisitely written take on real- life events and her dissection of Hathaway’s grief lingers long in the memory. CH
The Weekend
By Charlotte Wood W& N, £ 14.99
Jude, Wendy and
Adele, all in their 70s, are lifelong friends of Sylvie, who recently died. And it falls to the trio to clear out her chaotic beachside home.
But without Sylvie to pour oil on troubled waters, tensions and buried secrets bubble to the surface. Wood captures the push and pull of friendship with her intriguing, complex characters – and it’s refreshing to see well- drawn older women take centre stage. CH
CRIME AND THRILLERS Eight Detectives
By Alex Pavesi
Michael Joseph, £ 14.99
A mathematician- turned- writer uses his calculating brain to plot ingenious detective stories – but is he responsible for a real- life murder too?
This debut novel, constructed with clockwork precision, has an understated creepiness that gets under your skin. JK
Three Hours By Rosamund Lupton
Penguin, £ 6.99
A school in Somerset is under siege from a group of gunmen with a grudge. This novel is not just insanely gripping, it also explores how we have created a society in which such atrocities happen. JK
Remain Silent By Susie Steiner
Borough, £ 14.99
The third of the DI Manon
Bradshaw novels sees her stumble upon the corpse of a Lithuanian immigrant, leading to the discovery of all manner of nasty ( and topical) goings- on. The wonderful Manon is one of the most convincing cops in fiction. JK
Your House Will Pay
By Steph Cha Faber, £ 12.99
Many years ago, a Korean- American shopkeeper shot dead a teenage African- American girl who she thought was a shoplifter.
Now the killer’s daughter wants to make belated amends while somebody else seeks revenge, in this blistering whodunnit based on real events. JK
We Begin At The End
By Chris Whitaker
Zaffre, £ 8.99
Duchess, 13, vows to keep her aunt’s killer away from her family when he returns to their hometown in California after 30 years in prison. In doing so, she sets off a chain of events that will threaten the whole community.
Heartbreaking and profound, this is my thriller of the year. JC
Dear Child
By Romy Hausmann
Quercus, £ 12.99
After being imprisoned in a windowless shack in the woods with the two children of her abductor, Lena escapes with one of them, thinking her ordeal is over. But when she receives letters urging her to “tell the truth”, she knows her captor is coming for her.
Nothing is quite what it seems in this mesmerising debut. JC
The Kingdom Jo Nesbo
Harvill Secker, £ 20
Carl returns to his family farm on a mountain in rural Norway to build an eco- hotel with his beguiling wife Shannon, but derails the peaceful life of his brother Roy as long- buried family secrets surface.
This is a truly stunning novel. JC