This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin – set to be a standout novel of 2026
From an acclaimed short-story writer, this epic of power and class across generations in Pakistan is brutal, funny and brilliantly told
The Cat by Georges Simenon review – Maigret author’s tale of a toxic marriage
The Belgian author’s genius comes to the fore in a dark domestic drama
Books to look out for in 2026 – fiction
Maggie O’Farrell, Yann Martel and Julian Barnes are among the authors publishing new novels this year
Michael Slater obituary
Scholar of Charles Dickens who wrote a definitive biography and shone a light on the writer’s more neglected works
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy; Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan; The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace by RWR McDonald; Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino; Your Every Move by Sam Blake
‘Like Kafka by way of Pedro Almodóvar’: 10 debut novels to look out for in 2026
A Pulitzer finalist is among the first-time novelists, in tales of love, a surreal prison, teen murder and a tradwife
Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell audiobook review – the life and loss of the woman behind the Bard
The wife of William Shakespeare takes centre stage in a rich, sensitive examination of parental grief, sensitively narrated by Jessie Buckley
How the French fell in love with family-driven memoirs and autofiction
Matriarchs, absent fathers and troubled childhoods: 2025 was the year French literature focused on family, says writer Anne-Laure Pineau
Ice by Jacek Dukaj review – a dazzling journey to an alternate Siberia
The 1908 Tunguska comet changes the direction of history and gives rise to a weird new reality in this acclaimed epic from the Polish author
Truth in fantasy: what Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials taught us over its 30-year run
The ‘religious atheist’ author held a reputation as CS Lewis’s opposite. But his two trilogies – which came to a close this year – were a celebration of humanity and imagination
Bad Bad Girl by Gish Jen review – why was my mother so cruel to me?
The American author uses fiction to explore the life of her Chinese mother as she seeks to understand the violence that marked their relationship
John Updike’s best books – Ranked!
Following the publication of the novelist’s letters, we count down the best of his books, from the dark magic of The Witches of Eastwick to the misadventures of Rabbit Angstrom
Palaver by Bryan Washington review – a remix of the author’s greatest hits
From exile to family dysfunction, street food to sex, this stylish novel about a mother visiting her estranged gay son in Tokyo explores familiar themes
Veronica Gosling obituary
Other lives: Novelist and artist who was drawn to found objects for their shapes, textures and hidden histories
There’s a new space race – will the billionaires win?
The commercialisation of the cosmos is already underway, and our current laws aren’t fit for purpose