Make some space for these top new titles
FROM D-DAY ANNIVERSARY TOMES TO VEGAN COOKBOOKS AND MORE MEDICAL MEMOIRS, HANNAH STEPHENSON FINDS OUT THE NEW TITLES SET TO CREATE A BUZZ
SO, what’s going to be hot on the reading lists of book clubs, literary fans and kiss-and-tell aficionados this year?
We quizzed some industry insiders on the books set to make a mark over the coming 12 months...
ANNIVERSARIES
SEVERAL big anniversaries, including the 75th anniversary of D-Day in June and the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing, should spawn a raft of books to mark the occasion, predicts Caroline Sanderson, associate editor of The Bookseller.
The big-hitters for the war anniversary may include D-Day UK by Simon Forty, published in May by Historic England, which focuses on the first survey of UK places associated with D-Day – readers can go on their own pilgrimages, if they wish.
Other likely sellers include D-Day & Normandy: A Visual History by Anthony Richards, published by the Imperial War Museum in June, which is likely to produce as official a history as it gets, and D-Day: The Soldiers’ Story by Giles Milton (John Murray), already out in hardback, and available in paperback in May.
MOON LANDING
SHOOT For The Moon by Richard Wiseman (Quercus, £20, January 24) is a study of the ‘Apollo mindset’ which took humanity to the Moon, and how we can harness it to achieve the extraordinary in our own lives. “The author is a professor of psychology, and it features what it is about the Apollo mindset which meant everybody had got this massive ambition to get to the Moon,” says Caroline.
CELEBRITY MEMOIRS
THE front-runners of celebrity memoirs and self-help mantras should include Love Island queen Dani Dyer (What Would Dani Do?, Ebury, £16.99, April 4) and Status Quo frontman Francis Rossi (I Talk Too Much, Constable, £20, March 14). Radio 2 presenter Sara Cox (Till The Cows Come Home, Coronet, £18.99, March 7) also has a book coming about her Lancashire childhood, while the as-yet untitled and much under-wraps autobiography of Sir Elton John (Pan Macmillan) is scheduled for the autumn.
REAL-LIFE STORIES
CAROLINE is also predicting an emerging trend in real-life stories among those in a variety of professions, following on from the success of books such as This Is Going To Hurt by former junior doctor Adam Kay and The Language Of Kindness: A nurse’s Story by Christie Watson.
“We’ve seen a lot of books recently about people’s ‘ordinary’ jobs. We’ve had books about being a doctor and being a nurse. The Secret Barrister did really well last year, winning awards,” Caroline observes. “The equivalent for this year is The Secret Civil Servant (Headline, £20, March 7), which promises to dish the dirt on what’s going on in Westminster, notably on the Brexit shambles.
“Continuing the doctors and nurses trend, there’s a really remarkable book called War Doctor: Surgery On The Front Line by David Nott (Picador, £18.99, February 21), a memoir by a vascular surgeon who has volunteered for over 20 years to work in war zones. There are several books from midwives as well.”
VEGANISM SPREADS
VEGANISM is likely to be big, spawning a plethora of associated books. “Veganism will continue to be massive, following the Bosh! book by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, which was a massive bestseller. Another Bosh! book called Bish Bash Bosh! (HQ, £20, April 4) looks set to continue to trend, while Joe Wicks has just brought out Veggie Lean In 15, which has a lot of vegan in it.”
AND FOR NON-VEGANS
CAROLINE believes Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone will hit new heights with Pinch Of Nom (Bluebird, £20, March 21), taken from their food blog which has 1.5 million users, filled with recipes to help people manage their weight. Huge pre-order figures indicate this one will be big.
FEMINIST WRITING
CAROLINE says Caroline Criado Perez’ Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias In A World Designed For Men (Chatto, £16.99, March 7), is one to watch. “Caroline Criado Perez campaigned for women to be on the £20 note, and her new book deals with discrimination against women.”
ESCAPE TO NATURE
NATURE writing is still strong, along with the environment, Caroline adds, with titles including Still Water: The Deep Life Of The Pond from prizewinning author John Lewis-Stempel (Doubleday, £14.99, March 14) and Where The Hornbeam Grows by Beth Lynch (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, £16.99, April 18), in which she recalls how she learned to set down roots and garden in a more natural way after moving to Switzerland.
LONG-AWAITED SEQUELS
BEA Carvalho, general fiction buyer at Waterstones, says: “For us, the biggest one will be the Margaret Atwood sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, called The Testaments (Chatto & Windus, £20, September 10). Pre-orders are already fairly astonishing.” The story is set 15 years after Offred’s final scene in the 1985 book.
Other upcoming novels include Ali Smith’s Spring (Hamish Hamilton, £16.99, March 28), the third novel in her Seasonal Quartet.
Marlon James has another novel coming out this year too, Black Leopard Red Wolf (Hamish Hamilton, £20, February 28), the first in the Dark Star trilogy, which follows the mystery of a lost child and murder. His publisher is billing it as ‘an ancient African Game Of Thrones’. “Expectations are high following the success of his Man Booker prizewinning A Brief History Of Seven Killings,” says Bea.
“We’re also excited about Max Porter’s new novel Lanny (Faber & Faber, £12.99, March 7), the followup to his award-winning debut Grief Is The Thing With Feathers.”
BIG NAMES
AS the year progresses, there is likely to be a buzz around big names including David Nicholls, author of One Day, whose new novel Sweet Sorrow (Hodder & Stoughton, £20, July 11) recounts the story of one life-changing summer for 16-year-old Charlie Lewis.
Zadie Smith’s new short story collection, Grand Union (Hamish Hamilton, £20, October 3) is also attracting attention, while thriller writer Tana French’s new book The Wych Elm (Viking, £14.99, February 21), is her first stand-alone novel.
“It’s an amazing book about a boy growing up in Ireland with his two cousins in a seemingly idyllic childhood. In the aftermath of an attack in his late 20s, he returns there – and all is not quite as it seems”.
DEBUT TO WATCH
WATERSTONES also has on its radar a debut novel called The Binding by YA author Bridget Collins (The Borough Press, £12.99, January 10), which was snapped up after an eight-way auction and is billed as a ‘fusion of history and magic’.
It’s “about a boy who gets an apprenticeship with a bookbinder and it becomes apparent that the books that he’s binding are trapping people’s best-kept secrets.
“Then he discovers one of the books has his name on it.”