OPENING A BOOK ON THE END OF 2020
In Part Two of our brilliantly page- turning round- up, some of Britain’s biggest authors and stars share their favourite reads of 2020 with MATT NIXSON
● VAL McDERMID, whose latest collection Christmas Is Murder ( Sphere) is out now, says: “Scottish crime writer Doug Johnstone has given fans a double treat this year – the first two instalments featuring three generations of women who have inherited a funeral home AND a PI agency. In A Dark Matter and The Big Chill ( Orenda Books), murder, mystery and mayhem invade their lives. Vivid Edinburgh settings and memorable characters add up to top reading. My favourite debut was The Man On The Street by Trevor Wood ( Quercus). A homeless man on the streets of Newcastle as detective is no gimmick; gripping, engaging with real heart.”
● Broadcaster STEPH McGOVERN of Channel 4’ s Packed Lunch says: “I love a good psychological thriller and Imperfect Women by Araminta Hall ( Orion) is definitely that. Three friends with unrealistic expectations holding on to deadly secrets. Ann Cleeves has written another cracking Vera book with The Darkest Evening ( Macmillan). The Northern charm and solid investigating by DCI Vera Stanhope just gets better and better. Plus, you don’t need to have read the others to love this.”
● IAN RANKIN, KIN, whose latest est Inspector Rebus bestseller is A Song For The Dark Times ( Orion), says: “The Last Crossing by Brian McGilloway ( Dome Press) is a poignant, poetic novel of The Troubles. Ex- lovers ers must locate the body of a traitor they executed 30 years ago. But why was he killed and who can they trust? Pine by Francine Toon ( Doubleday) is set in rural Scotland where pagan beliefs persist. Strange things keep happening around the troubled young heroine and, when another girl goes missing, events turn creepier still.”
● VICTORIA HISLOP, whose sequel to The Island, One August Night ( Headline) is out now, says: “I adored Redhead By The Side Of The Road by Anne Tyler ( Chatto & Windus). It is so subtle, and so brilliant as are all Tyler’s novels. It’s about a fastidious but ordinary man who runs a small computer business offering on- call technical services. Witty and warm, its only fault was that I wanted it to be twice as long! Cook, Eat, Repeat by Nigella Lawson ( Chatto & Windus) is such a gloriously comforting book I curled up and read it on the sofa. There are amazing recipes, and I will certainly get round to trying them, but the best parts of the book are simply when Nigella describes how and why food is so important and life- enhancing.”
● SAS Who Dares Wins star OLLIE OLLERTON, whose debut thriller Scar Tissue ( Blink) is out now, says: “I tend to read more non- fiction to bolster the wider mental health and positivity work I do. But the most recent novel I read was James Deegan’s The Angry Sea ( HQ) which was really gripping.”
● ADRIAN McKINTY, whose thriller The Chain ( Orion) was the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year 2020, says: “The best non- fiction book I read this year was Erik Larson’s The Splendid And The Vile: A Saga Of Churchill, Family And Defiance During The Blitz ( William Collins). This is the story of Winston Churchill’s first year in office and historical reportage at its finest; Larson gives us the day- to- day existence of Churchill and his family. The best fiction I read was This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El Mohtar and Max Gladstone ( Jo Fletcher Books), an epistolary novel about two time travellers battling one another for control of the future who fall in love.”
● Broadcaster and author IAIN DALE, whose book The Prime Ministers ( Hodder & Stoughton) is out now, says: “You might not think reading about a failed political career as a Change UK candidate would be very entertaining but you’d be wrong. My LBC colleague Rachel Johnson has written a very insightful and amusing account in Rake’s Progress ( Simon & Schuster). Fern Britton’s Daughters Of Cornwall ( Harper-Collins) is a highly readable novel tracing a family’s sometimes dark history through the years since the First World War. Her depictions of her native Cornwall never fail to delight.”
● BEN SCHOTT, author of Jeeves And The Leap Of Faith ( Hutchinson), says: “The oddity of 2020 was reflected in my eclectic reading. I devoured Iris Origo’s The Merchant of Prato ( Penguin Classics) – a time- traveling biography of Italian merchant Francesco di Marco Datini; drank deep from Alexander Larman’s countdown to the abdication The Crown In Crisis ( W& N); and delighted in Susanna Clarke’s novel Piranesi ( Bloomsbury) which more than justified the long wait.”
● Psychologist DR PETER LOVATT, author of The Dance Cure ( Short Books), says: “Lemn Sissay tells his extraordinary life story in My Name Is Why ( Canongate). It made me cry out with outrage and cheer triumphantly. It is the most beautiful, inspirational and heart- breaking story. I loved The Magic Hour by Charlotte Moore ( Short Books). Charlotte has brought together a wonderful collection of classic poetry. This book of rhythm made me move.”
● HEATHER MARTIN, author of The Reacher Guy ( Constable), says: “Inspired by my biographical subject Lee Child, I have been reading the Booker longlist, and loved two that didn’t make the final cut: Anne Tyler’s Redhead By The Side Of The Road ( Chatto & Windus), for its tender and beautifully paced portrayal of a man ‘ most people never bother with’ and Kiley Reid’s Such A Fun Age ( Bloomsbury) for its twisty plot, vibrant prose, and nostalgia- inducing evocation of Manhattan.”
● Great British Bake Off 2019 winner DAVID ATHERTON, author of My First Cook Book ( Walker Books), says: “Reading, like baking, has been a real life- saver in 2020. I have a friend whose highlight of the year is to read the Booker shortlist, and this year she implored me to try Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart ( Picador). This leapfrogged straight into my top 10 and I’m not surprised it went on to win the top prize. Ottolenghi Flavour by Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage ( Ebury) was my most anticipated cook book for 2020. Ottolenghi is my food hero and the latest volume of his wonderful writing has made lockdown taste a lot better.”
● Historian DAMIEN LEWIS, author of SAS Band Of Brothers ( Quercus), says: “Don’t be put off by the doorstop- like bulk of Erik Larsen’s The Splendid And The Vile ( William Collins). It’s gripping, visceral and unputdownable; Churchill wandering the blasted streets of London in tears. And Robert Harris’s V2 ( Hutchinson) delivers one hell of a punch for those fascinated about the Nazi’s super- advanced rocketry and wartime technology.”
● Thriller writer GERALD SEYMOUR, whose new book The Crocodile Hunter ( Hodder & Stoughton) is out in February, says: “The Walls Have Ears by Helen Fry ( Yale) quite brilliantly tells of the intelligence bonanza gained from bugging the rooms where captured Nazi generals were held as they let their tongues wag. The Skripal Files by Mark Urban ( Macmillan) took me far down the road into understanding the motivation of a spy, and the lengths to which the Kremlin would go in silencing him.”
● Historian DAN JONES, whose latest book In The Reign Of King John ( Head of Zeus) is out now, said: “Years ago I started my book The Plantagenets with a big set- piece: the sinking of The White Ship in 1120. Now this ‘ medieval Titanic’ has a brilliant full- length study, in Charles Spencer’s The White Ship ( William Collins). I also loved Metropolis by Ben Wilson ( Doubleday Books), a supremely wide- ranging study of the world’s great cities. Neil Price’s new Viking history The Children Of Ash And Elm ( Allen Lane) was eye opening and revelatory. Away from history, I enjoyed Mark Lanegan’s grunge- and- heroin chronicle Sing Backwards And Weep ( White Rabbit).”
● LESLEY- ANN JONES, author of Who Killed John Lennon? ( John Blake), says: “When an old college classmate makes allegations of sexual misconduct against Vanessa’s former high school English teacher in My Dark Vanessa by Kate te Elizabeth Russell ( Fourth Estate), she is forced to question whether the man was her 15- year- old self’s first love or a dangerous paedophile. We grew up on David ‘ Kid’ Jensen’s cool Canadian accent and enthusiasm on Radio 1. Two years ago he revealed he was battling an incurable illness. Now he has written For The Record ( Little Wing), a beautiful, brave and life- affirming book to raise both awareness and money for Parkinson’s UK.”
● Author and columnist TONY PARSONS, whose new book Your Neighbour’s Wife ( Century) is out next month, mo says: “Rebecca by Daphne Daph du Maurier ( Virago) was published pub in 1938 but it’s by far the most mos gripping book I read all year. It is a love story, a murder story, it has incredible characters and a wonderful sense of place. Notes From An Apocalypse by Mark O’Connell ( Granta) is a masterpiece of investigative reporting about people around the world who are preparing for the end of everything – economic collapse, deadly plague, climate change. I read it in the middle of the first lockdown, when it was all too possible to imagine the end of days.”
● Historian JAMES HOLLAND, whose latest book is Sicily ‘ 43 ( Bantam), says: “I’ve read a number of cracking books this year but two I especially enjoyed were my pal Al Murray’s brilliantly funny – and perceptive – romp through the 20th century, The Last Hundred Years And All That ( Quercus). It is frequently hilarious but the history is spot on: informative but entertaining too. I also really enjoyed Rowland White’s Harrier 809: Britain’s Legendary Jump Jet And The Untold Story Of The Falklands War ( Bantam), about the air battle for the Falklands in 1982. I know an embarrassingly small amount about it. Rowland’s book put me right, underlining the vital importance of the amazing Harrier force.”
● KATIE FFORDE, whose new book A Wedding In The Country ( Century) is published in February, said: “The Heatwave by Kate Riordan ( Penguin) is a compelling, beautifully written psychological thriller. If you want a trip to the South of France but can’t travel, read this. Tall Bones by Anna Bailey ( Doubleday) is set in the Bible belt. It’s Bailey’s first novel and is a tour de force. A girl goes missing and the whole community searches for her. Claustrophobic and unputdownable.”
● TRACY BORMAN, whose historical novel The Fallen Angel ( Hodder & Stoughton) is out now, says: “Alison Weir’s Queens Of The Crusades ( Jonathan Cape) tells the story of five very different but equally equ fascinating royal women. From crusaders cru and rebels to seductresses se and intellectuals, i they were all forces to be reckoned with. The Mirror And The Light ( Fourth Estate) is the final instalment of the Wolf Hall trilogy. Knowing Kn from the outset outs that the protagonist will wi die would doom most book books to failure, but Hilary Mantel ramps up the tension to almost unbearable levels.”
● All these titles and many more can be ordered from The Express Bookshop on 01872 562310 or via www. expressbookshop.co.uk Delivery 14 to 21 days and free UK P& P for orders over £ 12.99