Title

Author

Genre

Date

Notes

A Gentleman in Moscow

Amor   Towles

MF

2016

1922. Aristocrat under house arrest in Moscow.

A Gun For Sale

Graham Greene

MF

1936

Hit man on the run

Echoes from the Dead

Johan Tehorin

C

2008

Impressive scandi noir thriller

Everybody Brave is Forgiven

Chris Cleave

MF

2016

Sparky and tragic novel, set in WW2 in London and Malta.

Expo 58

Jonathan Coe

MF

2013

Set at the World’s Fair in Brussels, 1958

Exposure

Helen Dunmore

MF

2016

Cold War, 1960. (Read anything by Helen Dunmore!)

Fragrant Harbour

John Lanchester

MF

2002

Set in Hong Kong

Girl, Woman, Other

Bernadine Evaristo

MF

2019

12 black British women and their lives. Booker winner

How late it was, how late

James Kelman

MF

1994

Stream of consciousness, set in Glasgow

In Our Mad and Furious City

Guy Gunaratne

MF

2018

Teenagers in North London. Hard-hitting.

Invisible Women

Caroline Criado Perez

NF

2019

‘Exposing data bias in a world designed for men.’

Lincoln in the Bardo

George Saunders

MF

2017

Multiple voices. Fascinating but tricky. Won Booker Prize.

Middle England

Jonathan Coe

MF

2018

‘The first great Brexit novel’. Perhaps read ‘The Rotters Club’ first.

Never Let Me Go

Kazuo Ishiguro

FSF

2005

Dystopian world of cloning

Old Filth

Jane Gardam

MF

2014

Man looking back on his life

Pietr the Latvian

Georges Simenon

C

1931

The first Maigret novel. Very atmospheric.

Prisoners of Geography

Tim Marshall

NF

2015

The realities of geo-politics

Safe House

Chris Ewan

C

2013

Pacy, violent thriller set on Isle of Man

Sapiens

Yuval Noah Harari

NF

2015

History of humankind

Sarah Jane

James Sallis

C

2019

Woman with past becomes a cop

Spinning Silver

Naomi Novik

FSF

2018

Bothers Grimm meet ‘Game of Thrones’.

The Dark Circle

Linda Grant

MF

2016

Set in post WW2 tuberculosis hospital

The Dutch House

Ann Patchett

MF

2019

Family saga (and more)

The Gods of Gotham

Lindsay Faye

C

2012

New York City forms its first police force of copper stars.

The House of the Spirits

Isabel Allende

MF

1982

South American country undergoing huge changes/

The Man in the Red Coat

Julian Barnes

NF

2019

Exploration of a late 19^th century gynaecologist

The Man Who Fell to Earth

Walter Tevis

FSF

1963

Extra-terrestrial trying to help earth people. Also a film.

The Midnight Library

Matt Haig

MF

2020

Possibilities of living alternate lives

The Nickel Boys

Colson Whitehead

MF

2019

Set in a US reform School.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Neil Gaiman

FSF

2013

‘A stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable’.

The Places in Between

Rory Stewart

NF

2006

Author walks across Afghanistan.

The Psychopath Test

Jon Ronson

NF

2011

Exploration of mental health

The Queen’s Gambit

Walter Tevis

MF

1983

Life of female chess prodigy

The Rotters Club

Jonathan Coe

MF

2001

Growing up in South Birmingham in the 1970’s.

The Teardrop Island

Cherry Briggs

NF

2013

Unpretentious account of teacher’s explorations in Sri Lanka

The Undercover Economist

Tim Harford

NF

2005

Exposé of economic principles behind daily events

The Woman in the Window

A J Finn

C

2018

Psychological thriller.

The Year of Living Danishly

Helen Russell

NF

2015

Journalist experiences Danish way of living.

Time and Time Again

Ben Elton

MF

2014

Suppose you could stop the assassination in Sarajevo, 1914.

Villa America

Liza Klausman

MF

2015

Based on real lives of Sara and Gerard Murphy. Echoes of ‘Gatsby’

Where the Crawdads Sing

Delia Owens

MF

2018

Murder mystery but also a coming of age novel.

Who Owns England?

Guy Shrubsole

NF

2019

Who is really in charge of this country?