My Most Anticipated Books of 2022

My list of most anticipated books coming soon in 2022 is growing by the day, so here are some of the highlights. All publication dates where known apply to the United Kingdom only.

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara is out this month and spans an alternative version of New York in 1893, 1993 and 2093. I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews so far, even from those who didn’t get on with her second novel A Little Life. I expect it will appear on several predictions lists for the Booker Prize later this year, along with Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart which is out in April, after the Scottish author’s debut novel Shuggie Bain won the Prize in 2020.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali will be published in February (and also serves as a reminder that ‘Brick Lane’ has been on my TBR list for close to a decade…). Haven by Emma Donoghue is out in August and is set in Ireland in 600 AD when three monks land on the island Skellig Michael.

In translated fiction, The Anomaly by Herve le Tellier translated from the French by Adriana Hunter is due later this month and follows the passengers of a doomed flight from Paris to New York. It won the prestigious Prix Goncourt and sounds like an intriguing mix of sci-fi and thriller.

The sixth book in the Cormoran Strike series The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith is expected in the autumn. Elsewhere in crime fiction, Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka is out in February and tells the story of a serial killer on death row and the families of his victims.

Due in May, Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister is a memoir by the anonymous author of The Secret Barrister and Fake Law and will offer more stories of their career path to date. Unlawful Killings: Stories of Life and Death from the Old Bailey is also out in May and is written by an anonymous judge about six high-profile murder and manslaughter cases heard at London’s most famous court.

Continuing the crime theme, Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe is a collection of the journalist’s New Yorker articles and is out in June. I am also very keen to read his previous book ‘Empire of Pain’ which won the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction last year, and ‘Say Nothing’ about the Troubles in Northern Ireland.

When the Dust Settles by Lucy Easthope is out in March and is a memoir of her career as an expert in disaster recovery, from the 2004 tsunami to the fire at Grenfell Tower to the COVID-19 pandemic. I enjoy reading bibliomemoirs and No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy by Mark Hodkinson due in February is about being a voracious reader from a working-class background in the 1970s and 1980s.

In September, And Finally by Henry Marsh will see the neurosurgeon and author of Do No Harm and Admissions reflect on his diagnosis of advanced prostate cancer. Readers can also expect an as yet untitled book by Adam Kay following the enormous success of This is Going to Hurt detailing his experiences of being an NHS junior doctor.

Although the Wellcome Book Prize remains “paused” for the time being, some of its previous shortlisted authors have new books out this year. In March, The Instant by Amy Liptrot will follow her excellent memoir The Outrun with an account of her time living in Berlin. In June, The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris will delve into the history of the plastic surgeon Harold Gillies who treated soldiers injured in the First World War.

Which 2022 books are you looking forward to reading?