FROM ROMANCE TO REAL LIFE, ‘CLI-FI’ AND EVEN ORIGAMI, HANNAH STEPHENSON

LOOKS AT 2023’s BOOK TRENDS

you’re getting next year’s reading list sorted, there are plenty of good books to choose from.

But which authors are going to rise to the top of the bestseller list?

Of course, the Duke of Sussex’s memoir Spare (Bantam, Jan 10) is likely to smash January sales, but there’s a buzz around many other page-turners over the year, both in fiction and non-fiction.

“It’s looking like it’s going to be a really good year as we have tons of great books in every area,” says Bea Carvalho, head fiction buyer at Waterstones.

Richard Osman’s fourth book in The Thursday Murder Club series (as yet untitled, Penguin, September) will no doubt be another cosy crime runaway success, while booksellers are anticipating a lot of interest in Victory City (Jonathan Cape, Feb 9), Sir Salman Rushdie’s forthcoming novel, written before he was attacked in New York.

“There’s been a real influence of BookTok (a community within TikTok, in which people give each other recommendations) which has had a hugely positive impact on the book trade.

“Certain genres have really benefited from it, including romance, which is booming,” says Bea. There will also be a continuing push for diversity and recognition of authors of colour, she adds.

People with a substantial online following may be making their mark in 2023, predicts Caroline Sanderson, associate editor of trade publication The Bookseller. “Increasingly, TikTok is a big influence on what’s published.” Mental health, lifestyle and thrift guides will be prevalent rather than the raft of traditional diet and exercise books which come out in the New Year,” she concludes.

Here are just some of the books experts are predicting could be big in 2023.

ROMANCE Happy Place by Emily Henry (Viking, Apr 27)

One of the current stars of romantic fiction brings us a tale about a couple who have gone to their cottage every year to soak up the sea air with their friends. But this year they are lying through their teeth, as they broke up six months ago and haven’t told anyone.

Can they fake it for a week without their friends finding out?

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld (Doubleday, April 6)

From the international bestselling author of American Wife and Rodham comes this tale about a successful scriptwriter for a legendary TV comedy show and her long abandoned search for love, as she falls for a pop idol.

SHORT STORIES Old Babes In The Wood by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, March 7)

The award-winning author of The Handmaid’s Tale offers this collection of 15 short stories, ranging from two best friends who disagree about their past, to the right way to stop someone choking.

LIFESTYLE Thrifty Kitchen by Jack Monroe (Bluebird, Jan 5)

Caroline anticipates this book with money-saving recipes and home hacks will be big. “She’s a big campaigner to highlight food poverty and the plight of people on the lowest incomes.”

THRILLERS The Shards

by Bret Easton Ellis (Swift Press, Jan 27)

In his first novel in 13 years, the bestIF selling author of American Psycho offers this chilling tale, set in 1981, which tracks a group of privileged Los Angeles high school friends as a serial killer strikes across the city.

The Year Of The Locust by Terry Hayes (Bantam, Jun 8)

From the bestselling author of I Am Pilgrim comes Hayes’ second novel. His hero Kane travels to the badlands where the borders of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan meet, to extract a man with vital information for the safety of the West. But instead he meets an adversary who could bring about planetary extinction.

MEMOIRS Pageboy by Elliot Page (Doubleday, Jun 6)

The Oscar-nominated actor, the first openly trans man to appear on the cover of Time magazine after coming out as transgender in 2020, charts his life in a memoir full of behind the scenes details and intimate interrogations on sex, love, trauma, and Hollywood.

A Pebble In The Throat by Aasmah Mir (Headline, May 18)

Fascinating memoir from the television and radio broadcaster who recalls her story as a young girl of Pakistani heritage growing up in her native Glasgow, in parallel to that of her mother, who was sent abroad to Scotland after marrying a man she barely knew.

‘CLI-FI’ (CLIMATE FICTION) Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Granta, Mar 2)

The author of The Luminaries brings us a new psychological thriller about a guerrilla group farming the land in unclaimed spaces such as abandoned parks and the sides of the road, who come up against a man who has bought the land and made a bunker to protect himself from forthcoming apocalypses.

Go As A River by Shelley Read (Doubleday, Apr 6)

One of Doubleday’s key 2023 titles, this soaring, compassionate tale of female resilience is set against a breath-taking picture of our natural world – its trees and mountains and light.

CLIMATE TOPICAL Breathe by Sadiq Khan (Hutchinson Heinemann, May 25)

The London Mayor was diagnosed with adult-onset asthma when training for the

2014 London Marathon and became passionate about climate change. This seven-step guide aims to win support on tough action on this issue.

FANTASY Godkiller by Hannah Kaner (HarperCollins, Jan 23)

Pre-orders are doing well for this tale about a world in which gods are projected from the beliefs of the inhabitants – and not always forces for good. The protagonist is out to get them.

AWARD WINNER Small Worlds by Caleb Azumah Nelson (Viking Penguin, May 11)

From the bestselling, award-winning author of Open Water comes his expansive new novel about fathers and sons, faith and friendship, set over the course of three summers in the life of a young British-Ghanaian musician from south-east London.

NOVEL FUN The Making Of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece

by Tom Hanks (Hutchinson

Heinemann, May 9)

The Oscar-winning actor is surely well-placed to pen this debut novel which charts the story of how a colossal, star-studded superhero action film is made, spanning 80 years.

It features a colourful cast of characters including a pompous film star and an eccentric director. The novel follows Hanks’ bestselling short story collection.

HOBBIES

Fold It Calm: Simple Origami To Quieten Your Mind by Li Kim Goh (Ebury, Mar 2) “We’ve had colouring books to calm yourself, but we’re turning to origami. “According to the publishers, origami is the tenth most desired skill on YouTube, and this author has more than two million TikTok followers so it may do well,” says Caroline.