My Most Anticipated Books of 2026

As always, I have been keeping an eye on new books coming soon in 2026, despite already having so many other books on my TBR list…

In fiction, Departure(s) by Julian Barnes is said to be the Booker Prize-winning author’s final novel about memory and illness and will be published this month. A much talked-about debut novel due in February is Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash about a dysfunctional family. Hooked by Asako Yuzuki and translated from the Japanese by Polly Barton follows the phenomenal success of Butter with similar themes of food and loneliness in contemporary Japan and is due in March.

Later in the year, Land by Maggie O’Farrell is set in Ireland in the 1860s in the aftermath of the famine during the Ordnance Survey project to map the whole country and will be published in June, while the Festival of Britain in 1951 provides the backdrop of Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson which is due in September.

There are two intriguing true crime books coming in April. London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe is about the criminal underworld in London and how it led to a teenager falling to his death from a balcony. Murder in Paris ‘68 by Edward Chisholm is about the unsolved murder of Steven Markovic in post-war France. Due in August, The Castle by Jon Ronson will be the author’s first book in 11 years since So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed and is described as “a darkly comic true crime mystery set within the masculinity crisis”.

Three highly acclaimed authors have written memoirs about their parents. Leaving Home by Mark Haddon will be published in February and is a lavishly illustrated account of his 1970s childhood. On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love by Louise Doughty due in August is about the origins of her parents’ love affair in the 1950s. Translated from the French by John Lambert, Kolkhoze by Emmanuel Carrère is about the French writer’s difficult relationship with his mother and will be out in September.

Which books are you looking forward to reading in 2026?