Next year may, at first glance, lack the dazzle of literary celebrity. That said, there are new books from two Nobel winners. First, in February, We Do Not Part (Hamish Hamilton) by Han Kang – a complex and unsettling novel about two white women in Korea wrestling with the weight of history. Then there’s Abdulrazak Gurnah in March with Theft (Bloomsbury), a characteristically poised and elegant story about three young people growing up in present-day Tanzania. One more big hitter: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Dream Count (4th Estate) is published in March – probably the major publication milestone of 2025. It’s embargoed, though, so I haven’t read it.
Of those I have read, what follows, month by month, are the books that stood out. As ever, I have left first novels to the Observer’s debut fiction feature.
