Looking Ahead: 2025 Book Releases Part 1

January-March book releases I love the sound of and think you might too...

Dec 31, 2024

One of the exciting things about a new year is the prospect of all the new books heading out into the world. I’m always interested to see which titles other people have their eye on so I thought I’d put together a little list of my own both for my benefit and, hopefully, for yours, too.

I generally don’t pay much that attention to publication dates when deciding what I want to read but the books I’m sharing here are the ones I’ll be watching most closely. Some will be pre-orders/ near-immediate purchases while others might just wait until the right moment. Ideally, I’ll manage to read the ones I do pick up quite promptly and keep you posted on my thoughts as I go.

If books that offer a unique perspective on the world (the good and the bad of it), translated works, and independently published literature is your kind of thing as much as it is mine, you’ll want to keep reading.

And if you enjoy reading these posts and you’d ever like to support in some way, you can ‘buy me a coffee’ here. It’s always much appreciated.

I also decided to include books that were published in hardback in 2024 but, for one reason or another, did not get added to my shelf. This might be because with hardbacks costing somewhere around £20, buying every book I want to read (but might not actually get to) is unsustainable, or because the paperback was just more appealing, or because I was just waiting to be convinced that it might be worth my time.

This letter would be far too long if I included every 2025 title I’ve got my eye on so the plan is to share these posts quarterly, with April-June titles heading your way in some time in March.

You can find a link to most of the books mentioned at the very end of this post.

January (a quiet month…)

Sand-Catcher by Omar Khalifah (translated by Barbara Romaine)

16/01 (Coffee House Press)

Four young, Palestinian journalists at a Jordanian newspaper are tasked, on account of their heritage, with profiling one of the last living witnesses of the Nakba, the violent expulsion of native Palestinians by the nascent state of Israel in 1948. Confident that the old man will be all too happy to go on record, the reporters are nonplussed when they are repeatedly, and obscenely, rebuffed. This living witness to history, this secular saint, has no desire to be interviewed, no desire for his memories to be preserved, no desire to serve as an inspiration for the youth of tomorrow. What he wants is to be left alone.

As threats from the team's editor-in-chief put more and more pressure on the journalists, they must decide just how far they're willing to go to get the old man on the record. After all, what possible weight can one stubborn demand for privacy have when balanced against the imperative to bear witness?

A Spring That Did Not Blossom: Palestinian Short Stories by Nejmeh Khalil Habib (translated by Samar Habib)

23/01 (Interlink Publishing Group)

‘Drawing on cultural and oral history, Nejmeh Khalil Habib’s collection of five powerful short stories delves into the lives of ordinary Palestinians trying to find their way through relentless circumstances. Introducing us to characters loosely interconnected by time and place, the stories begin in 1975 with a family living in the Dbayeh refugee camp and end with the Israeli siege of West Beirut in 1982.
From Mariam, a mother devoted to her only child, to Nu’man, the soon-to-be-martyred young man who is ashamed of unwanted thoughts that mar his heroism, to Randa, the revolutionary, who is torn between glorifying her father’s sacrifices and denouncing them, to Amer who is spread thin between his familial obligations and aspirations, Habib accompanies each of her characters nimbly in language at times simple and embedded in popular vernacular, at others lyrical and poetic.’

January Paperback Releases

My Friends by Hisham Matar

09/01 (Viking)

“Khaled and Mustafa meet at university in Edinburgh: two Libyan eighteen-year-olds expecting to return home after their studies. In a moment of recklessness and courage, they travel to London to join a demonstration in front of the Libyan embassy. When government officials open fire on protestors in broad daylight, both friends are wounded, and their lives forever changed.

Over the years that follow, Khaled, Mustafa and their friend Hosam, a writer, are bound together by their shared history. If friendship is a space to inhabit, theirs becomes small and inhospitable when a revolution in Libya forces them to choose between the lives they have created in London and the lives they left behind.”

This one sounds right up my street and has received high praise from many whose opinions I trust so I’m very excited to get to it. It was also longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize and, by all accounts, it’s a damn shame it wasn’t shortlisted so I’m even more intrigued…

February (the most highly anticipated month…)

Casualties of Truth by Lauren Francis-Sharma

03/02/25 (Grove Press)

“Prudence Wright seems to have it all: a loving husband, Davis; a spacious home in Washington, D.C.; and the former glories of a successful career at McKinsey, which now enables her to dedicate her days to her autistic son, Roland. When she and Davis head out for dinner with one of Davis's new colleagues on a stormy summer evening filled with startling and unwelcome interruptions, Prudence has little reason to think that certain details of her history might arise sometime between cocktails and the appetizer course.

Yet when Davis's colleague turns out to be Matshediso, a man from Prudence's past, she is transported back to the formative months she spent as a law student in South Africa in 1996. As an intern at a Johannesburg law firm, Prudence attended sessions of the Truth and Reconciliation hearings that uncovered the many horrors and human rights abuses of the Apartheid state, and which fundamentally shaped her sense of righteousness and justice. Prudence experienced personal horrors in South Africa as well, long hidden and now at risk of coming to light. When Matshediso finally reveals the real reason behind his sudden reappearance, he will force Prudence to examine her most deeply held beliefs and to excavate inner reserves of resilience and strength.”

I loved Francis-Sharma’s earlier novels, ‘Til the Well Runs Dry’ (2014) and ‘Book of the Little Axe’ (2020) so this one is a must-read. Neither have a UK publisher, which might explain why I don’t see them spoken about as much as I think they deserve but I would recommend both and I’m excited to read her latest offering.

The Dissenters by Youssef Rakha

04/02/25 (Graywolf Press)

“Amna, Nimo, Mouna--these are all names for a single Egyptian woman whose life has mirrored that of her country. After her death in 2015, her son, Nour, ascends to the attic of their house where he glimpses her in a series of ever more immersive visions: Amna as a young woman forced into an arranged marriage in the 1950s, a coquettish student of French known to her confidants as Nimo, a self-made divorcee and a lover, a "pious mama" donning her hijab, and, finally, a feminist activist during the Arab Spring. Charged and renewed by these visions of a woman he has always known as Mouna, Nour begins a series of fevered letters to his sister--who has been estranged from Mouna and from Egypt for many years--in an attempt to reconcile what both siblings know about this mercurial woman, their country, and the possibility for true revolution after so much has failed.”

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates

UK publication date: 06/02 (Penguin Hamish Hamilton)

‘Ta-Nehisi Coates originally set out to write a book about writing, but soon found himself grappling with deeper questions about the destructive myths that shape our world.
First we join Coates on his inaugural trip to Africa – a journey to Dakar, where he finds himself in two places at once: a modern city in Senegal and the ghost-haunted country of his imagination.
He then takes readers to Columbia, South Carolina, where he reports on the banning of his own work and the deep roots of a false and fiercely protected American mythology – visibly on display in its segregationist statues.
Finally in Palestine, Coates sees with devastating clarity the tragedy that grows in the clash between the stories we tell and reality on the ground.’

I’ve yet to hear a bad word about this book and, unfortunately, its message remains timely and wholly relevant. It’s one I hope to read very soon.

We Do Not Part by Han Kang (translated by E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris)

06/02 (Hamish Hamilton)

“Beginning one morning in December, We Do Not Part traces the path of Kyungha as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to the home of her old friend Inseon. Hospitalized following an accident, Inseon has begged Kyungha to hasten there to feed her beloved pet bird, who will otherwise die.
Kyungha takes the first plane to Jeju, but a snowstorm hits the island the moment she arrives, plunging her into a world of white. Beset by icy wind and snow squalls, she wonders if she will arrive in time to save the bird – or even survive the terrible cold which envelops her with every step. As night falls, she struggles her way to Inseon’s house, unaware as yet of the descent into darkness which awaits her.
There, the long-buried story of Inseon’s family surges into light, in dreams and memories passed from mother to daughter, and in a painstakingly assembled archive documenting a terrible massacre on the island seventy years before.
We Do Not Part is a hymn to friendship, a eulogy to the imagination and above all an indictment against forgetting.”

Code Noir: Fictions by Canisia Lubrin

12/02 (Soft Skull)

“Canisia Lubrin's debut fiction is that rare work of art--a brilliant, startlingly original book that combines immense literary and political force. Its structure, deceptively simple, is based on the infamous Code Noir, a set of real historical decrees originally passed in 1685 by King Louis XIV of France defining the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire. The original code had fifty-nine articles; Code Noir has fifty-nine linked fictions--vivid, unforgettable, multilayered fragments filled with globe-wise characters who desire to live beyond the ruins of the past.

Accompanied by black-and-white drawings--one at the start of each fiction--by acclaimed visual artist Torkwase Dyson, and with a foreword by Christina Sharpe, Code Noir ranges in style from contemporary realism to dystopian literature, from futuristic fantasy to historical fiction. This inventive, shape-shifting braid of narratives exists far beyond the boundaries of an official decree.”

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad

13/02/25 (Canongate Books)

“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This is an urgent and necessary reckoning about what it means to live in the West today. As an immigrant, Omar El Akkad believed the West offered freedom and justice for all. Over the past twenty years he reported on the various Wars on Terror, Ferguson, climate change, Black Lives Matter protests, and more. He won awards for his journalism and his fiction. But now, watching the unmitigated slaughter in Gaza, he comes to the conclusion that much of what the West promises is a lie.
This powerful book is a chronicle of Omar's painful realisation, a moral grappling with what it means - as a citizen, as a father - to carve out some sense of possibility during these devastating times. This is a book for those that have tired of moral emptiness. This is a book for everyone who wants something better.”

I’ve loved Omar El-Akkad’s fiction and this book sounds not only timely but incredibly powerful. If I had to choose my most-anticipated release of the month, this one might be it.

On the Greenwich Line by Shady Lewis (translated by Katharine Halls)

18/02/25 (Peirene Press)

“In a run-down East London housing office, migrants and frustrated local government employees cross paths and try to work out what the latest policy means for them. As a favour to a friend, one man finds himself roped into organizing the funeral of Ghiyath, a young Syrian refugee. It is not until his life collides with Ghiyath's death that he realises just how much he has in common with those who've fallen through the cracks. Told with a wry cynicism and deadpan wit, On the Greenwich Line traces the absurdities of racism, austerity, and bureaucracy in contemporary England. This is a story about systemic failure and human courage, and about London and its many lost souls, full of insight, humour and profound humanity.”

I hadn’t heard of this one until Ola (AKA slowreadingola ) shared it and I was immediately sold. If the blurb alone hasn’t convinced you, you can find her review of it here.

February Paperback Releases

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

06/02 (Picador)

‘Cyrus Shams has always been lost. He’s grown up tangled in the mysteries of his past – an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields, a haunting work of art by an exiled painter, and his mother, whose plane was shot down over the Persian Gulf when he was just a baby. Now, newly sober and maybe in love, he’s headed for an encounter that will transform everything he thought he knew. Can a final revelation change the truth of Cyrus's life?’

Mongrel by Hanako Footman

06/02 (Footnote Press)

‘Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran.
Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher.
Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo's nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city's sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light . . .
Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.’

Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes

13/02 (Pushkin Press)

“Alessandra has always wanted more than life offered her. Growing up in a crowded apartment block in 1930s Rome, she watches as her mother’s dreams of becoming a concert pianist are stifled by marriage. When her father’s traditional family try to make Alessandra marry at a young age, she rebels against the future they imagine for her.

Soon she falls passionately in love with Francesco, an anti-fascist professor, and a new world seems to open up. Working for the underground resistance, she tastes the independence that she has yearned for. What will it take for her to break free from society’s expectations, and live on her own terms?”

I read The Forbidden Notebook this year (find my thoughts on it here) and thought it was excellent but the hardback of Her Side of the Story is so hefty that I just couldn’t bring myself to get it so I’ve been patiently waiting for the paperback. I’m also aware that Pushkin Press are publishing Alba de Céspedes’ novel, There’s No Turning Back in hardback on the 13th February but that might just have to wait...

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami

04/03/25

“Sara is returning home from a conference abroad when agents from the Risk Assessment Administration pull her aside at the airport and inform her that she will commit a crime. Using data from her dreams, their algorithm has determined that she presents an imminent risk to the person she loves most, and must now be transferred to a retention centre for twenty-one days to lower her 'risk score'.
But when Sara arrives at Madison to be observed alongside other dangerous dreamers, it soon becomes clear that getting home to her family is going to cost more than just three weeks of good behaviour. And as every minor misdemeanour, every slight deviation from the rules, adds time to her stay, she begins to wonder if there might be more here than first meets the eye.
Then, one day, a new resident arrives, disrupting the order of the facility and setting off a chain of events that lead Sara on a collision course with the companies that have deprived her of her freedom.”

The Possibility of Tenderness: A Jamaican Memoir of Plants and Dreams by Jacob Allen Paissant

20/03 (Penguin Hutchinson Heinemann)

“The Possibility of Tenderness is a personal history narrated through the lens of the ‘grung’ and plants. It’s also a people’s history of the land, a family saga, an archival detective story through time. It’s the migration tale of a young scholar who arrives in Britain from rural Jamaica to study at Oxford to achieve ‘upward social mobility’ and who now lives in Roundhay Leeds. Suddenly, amidst his journey of dreams and class aspiration, the plants and people of his native district, Coffee Grove, begin to offer different ways of living, alternative dreams, and the possibility of tenderness and the permission to roam England.

Marrying the local and the familial with global history and unfolding as a timely and immersive tale of land, environment, and the world of plants, The Possibility of Tenderness reveals how the history of a tiny rural village in a mountainous region of Jamaica is interlinked with that of modern Britain. And, also what that rural village can teach us about leisure, land ownership and reclamation today.”

Tragic Magic by Wesley Brown

13/03 (Daunt Publishing)

“Meet Melvin Ellington, a.k.a. Mouth – a Black twenty-something, ex-college radical who has just been released from a five-year prison stretch having been a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War.

It’s his first day on the outside, back in New York. Hungry for freedom, desperate for female companionship and reunited with concerned parents, Mouth finds himself haunted by his past…

Through a filmic series of flashbacks, we are exposed to Mouth’s time in prison, his college days and, finally, his earliest high school days. Each street corner, subway ride and run-in with an old flame brings with it the echo of his previous life.

Rhythm, blues and jazz is baked into each page, with the sounds of the city – barbershop talk, lively gossip, overheard conversations – imprinted in every word. Wesley Brown boldly explores magnetic but dangerous avatars of Black masculinity in crisis, with a style that’s even more provoking than its subject.”

On the Clock by Claire Baglin (translated from the French by Jordan Stump)

27/03 (Daunt Publishing)

“In one strand, a young family bumps and scrapes through life. The hapless father balances demanding factory shiftwork, while the mother constantly prioritises the needs of others over her own. But there is also happiness: a trip to the seaside; sibling squabbles, games and laughter; tenderness and support. In another strand, a young woman describes her days working in a burger chain. It is exhausting, repetitive labour, too often peopled by tricky customers and even trickier managers. Hours pass. Days, weeks, years. It is an existence that marks the body and mind and governs a life.”

Now, if you’ve been around for a while and you’re wondering where the poetry titles are, I think I’ll do a separate post on those. If you know of any forthcoming titles I might like the sound of, please do share!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear if you have your eye on any of the books mentioned, or any other 2025 titles you’re hoping to read.

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