It would be wrong to not start this article with a bit of hype for recent Loughborough graduate, Lottie Hazell, whose debut novel Piglet was released at the end of February. The novel looks at the eponym’s relationship with food in the lead up to her wedding day as her fiancé’s secrets start to come seeping through the cracks. Caught up in a publishing war with Penguin coming out on top, Piglet has been an eagerly awaited addition to the literary world.
Highly anticipated for me is the new Karen M McManus novel, Such Charming Liars, coming to bookshelves this summer. McManus is best known for her bestselling debut novel One of Us is Lying which made it through two seasons on Netflix before writers who evidently hadn’t read the second book were employed, resulting in the show being slammed in reviews and subsequently being cancelled (can you tell I have a gripe?). McManus is still a big name in the YA crime world, though, having sold over seven million copies of her books in several languages (I’m not afraid to admit that I have contributed greatly to that number) so her upcoming novel hopefully shouldn’t disappoint.
The third instalment of Sarah J Maas’s ‘Crescent City’ fantasy series entered book shops at the end of January. According to The Guardian, House of Flame and Shadow is the third fastest selling sci-fi and fantasy book since records began, shooting to the top of bestseller charts across the UK, and with a current 4.3/5 score on GoodReads it’s hardly surprising. Having initially started as a young adult author, Maas is now writing for an older audience with her new book being described as “action-packed and “sexy” on various review sites. So, if you’re looking for something with a little bit of spice, House of Flame and Shadow may be the book for you.
For fans of thrillers, Tasha Coryell’s debut Love Letters to a Serial Killer will certainly satiate your appetite. The novel follows Hannah, a young woman who moves in with a man recently acquitted of being a serial killer in order to continue an investigation into him. The book is expected on 20th June so it is something to look forward to if you’re into a bit of crime.
Retellings of Greek myths are having a big moment and Eilish Quin’s debut novel, Medea, certainly fits into this status quo. A feminist retelling of the heavily maligned sorceress, the novel follows her rise and fall, and her interactions with the popular names of Greek myth such as Jason and Theseus. Likened in style to Natalie Haynes’ Stone Blind and Madeline Miller’s Circe (I recommend both of these as additions to the TBR list if you haven’t already!), Medea will be entering a corpus of literature finally accentuating the female voice so often lost in mythology.
Any historical fiction fans out there? The Titanic Survivors’ Book Club tells a butterfly effect story of a Titanic librarian who was left at the dock as a superior took his place on the ill-fated ship. Asking questions of fate and consequence, the novel details a post-Titanic/pre-war era in the UK but in a modern light, crossing the joys of historical and queer fiction. Schaffert’s sixth book is expected in early April with critics already teasing a page-turner.
This is just a snapshot of the upcoming in the literary sphere so make sure you let us know what you’re looking forward to reading this year!
Edited by: Anna Shipman
