LITERARY EDITOR Sarra Manning ROUNDS UP HER FAVOURITE READS OF 2022 The year’s BEST BOOKS

The Whalebone Theatre by Joanna Quinn

(Fig Tree, £14.99) My book of the year, this immersive story follows the complicated Cristabel and her siblings, who put on amateur theatricals in their big, crumbling house by the sea until the Second World War shatters everything.

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

(Michael Joseph, £20) The long-awaited sequel to the iconic Rachel’s Holiday. It was a delight to catch up with Rachel, who’s doing fine until ‘ridey’ Luke Costello re-enters her life. As ever, Keyes’s writing is like a 600-page hug.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali

(Virago, £18.99)

In this wise and witty read, Yasmin gets engaged to her dashing colleague

Joe, bringing her traditional Indian immigrant parents into the orbit of

Joe’s mother, an outspoken feminist.

At The Table by Claire Powell

(Fleet, £14.99) When Linda and Gerry Maguire split up, their grown-up children are at a loss. We follow each of them over a year of lunches and dinners, as they find a new way to be a family.

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian Mcallister

(Michael Joseph, £14.99) The best thriller

I’ve read in years. When Jen witnesses her teenage son kill a stranger, her life is destroyed. Every day she wakes up further back in time, so she can find a way to stop the awful chain of events unfolding.

People Person by Candice Carty-williams

(Trapeze, £12.99) Hapless Dimple Pennington is an aspiring social media influencer who calls on the four half-siblings she barely knows when she suddenly needs help hiding a body. They are all then forced to reconnect with the father who is a virtual stranger to them. Fiercely funny.

Holding Tight, Letting Go by Sarah Hughes

(Blink, £16.99) Brilliantly written essays by the late, great journalist Sarah Hughes and her friends. A darkly funny and brave account of her cancer diagnosis sits alongside her ode to the ‘bonkbuster’ novels she devoured. Standout.

These Impossible Things by Salma El-wardany

(Trapeze, £14.99) Jenna, Kees and Malak have been best pals since school, but when their friendship fractures one night, they each become something less. It’s hard to believe that this incredibly moving and gorgeously written novel is a debut.

Shrines Of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

(Doubleday, £20)

One of our greatest novelists takes us on a tour of louche 1920s Soho, where the notorious Nellie Coker rules her nightclubs – and her six children – with an iron fist. An array of deftly drawn characters make this a delicious read that’s begging for a TV adaptation.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

(Penguin, £8.99) I devoured this very rom, very com novel, which pokes gentle fun at the usual romcom tropes. Smart and sassy, it sees sparks fly between Nora, an acerbic literary agent, and Charlie, her sneering arch-nemesis editor.