Magpie Lane by Lucy Atkins

This is such a superb psychological thriller; set in Oxford and centring around an apparently successful but highly dysfunctional family with nods to gothic fiction and a wonderfully tricksy potentially unreliable narrator, it’s an utterly fabulous read. A child has disappeared, and her nanny Dee is being questioned by the police; she seems like a sympathetic character but we’re seeing everything through her eyes regarding the family’s behaviour: how far can we trust her, plausible as she seems? Lucy Atkins’ writing is just so good; she has a brilliant eye for character, and she also evokes a great sense of Oxford as a city full of ghosts and often at odds with itself.

The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

This powerful novel is based on the true events of 1617 when the village of Vardo in northern Norway was hit by a sudden storm which drowned nearly all of the male population. Kiran Millwood Hargrave sensitively examines the lives of the women left behind through her central characters: fisherman’s daughter Maren and the new church commissioner’s wife, Ursa. Their relationship develops in the claustrophobic crucible of village life, as the growing agency of Vardo’s women comes into increasing conflict with the dictates of the church, bringing the prospect of danger ever closer. This important, moving story is wonderfully served by the austere beauty of the author’s prose.

Wanderers by Kerri Andrews

Kerri Andrews has curated a super collection of mini biographies of ten women for whom walking has formed an imperative part of their being. There are wonderful glimpses of social history by hearing these women’s voices through their diaries and letters. It’s fascinating the different ways walking offered freedom; not only escapism, exploration, and understanding of the landscape but also the opportunity for headspace to develop their thoughts and creativity. The author’s accounts of her own expeditions to retrace the routes these women roamed and hiked, offer powerful insights into changing social mores. Reading this has altered my own connections with the landscape, it has rooted me in my boots, focused the mind on the experiences of those who walked the path before me and emphasised the connection between physicality and creativity.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet

Effortlessly compelling, The Vanishing Half charts the lives of twins Stella and Desiree, who grow up in a small southern black community until they run away at sixteen. As their paths diverge, Desiree and her black daughter find themselves back in her home town, whilst Stella cuts all ties to begin a new life, passing as white. But when their daughters’ lives collide, Stella’s careful subterfuge begins to erode… With a delicate touch, Bennett explores the complexities of racial prejudice and gender identity whilst weaving an intricate plot which kept me spellbound. Tender, incisive and thought-provoking, The Vanishing Half is a book you will be thinking about long after you put it down. 

Midnight at Malabar House by Vaseem Khan

This enthralling piece of crime fiction introduces us to one of my favourite new characters: Persis Wadia, India’s first female detective. Set in Bombay in newly independent India, we’re in a country alive with febrile tension; the new way ahead not yet clear and the scars of imperial suppression very much in evidence. Vaseem Khan skilfully weaves the story of a high-profile murder case, the roots of which are buried deep in complex political history, with Persis’s own personal family life and her burgeoning professional relationship with Scotland Yard criminologist Archie Blackfinch whose caution and deference are a perfect foil to her own pugnacious dynamism. The novel is supremely eloquent and convincing in its tackling of misogyny, corruption, and the toxic legacy of empire.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

This is a wonderfully bold piece of imaginative storytelling. A novel which plunges the reader into the unforgettable world of its central character; where tides cause waves to crash through a house of infinite and strange spaces, all revealed to the reader in poignant detail as we try to work out just who and where Piranesi actually is. There’s a mystery to solve but the truth is as obscure to the novel’s central character as it is to the reader, with the curtain only slowly and tantalising being drawn aside by this supremely talented author. Clarke’s book is a subtle and beautiful look at humanity’s constant questing for something beyond ourselves, into obsessive investigation and the consequences thereof. Stunning, moving and delicately memorable.

The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber

Intensely involving, beautifully paced and offering a fascinating perspective on the little-known religious persecution of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in 1880s Utah; this book is immediately immersive. Deborah’s life in the small settlement of Junction is proving particularly difficult; Samuel, her wheelwright husband, hasn’t returned home from a journey as expected and a strange man has appeared at her door demanding sanctuary. Who is he and why doesn’t his appearance shock Deborah? As we learn more about her life and the challenges she faces, the novel builds into an incredibly suspenseful struggle between her deeply held religious beliefs and her own conscience.

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold

This fascinating book reveals the disparate lives of five women, better known for the circumstances of their deaths. Although we may recognise their names, they have long been overshadowed by the cult of their killer, alias Jack The Ripper. Diminished in the face of sensationalism, dismissed as prostitutes and objectified as victims, I love the way that Hallie Rubenhold has reclaimed these women’s stories. Compelling, compassionate and immaculately researched, The Five resets the skewed perspective of history. Essential reading!

The Forager’s Calendar by John Wright

I know less than I would like to about wild plants and fungi – certainly not enough to eat anything more adventurous than the odd blackberry. So, I expected to find The Forager’s Calendar useful and informative, which it absolutely is, with clear descriptions and excellent colour photographs. Not only a superb practical handbook, it is also full of thought-provoking insights and sparkles with John Wright’s humour. Equally fascinating on conservation, nutrition and the relationship between foraging and the law, Wright will prove the best of companions on your forays into finding food for free.

The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths

I just loved this witty, literary take on a Gothic thriller, combined with pacey, contemporary police procedural. It’s a bold move on Elly Griffiths’ part but she most definitely pulls it off. The set-up is just perfect; an English teacher, Clare Cassidy is researching a Victorian writer, RM Holland whose ghost story The Stranger is the subject of one of her classes. However, real life intrudes in horrific fashion when bodies begin to turn up, murdered in identical ways to the victims in Holland’s story. So just how is Clare connected to the murders? DS Harbinder Kaur is assigned to investigate and immediately gets under Clare’s skin. Alternating between Harbinder, Clare and Georgia’s (Clare’s daughter) perspectives, Elly Griffiths creates a deepening mystery, with plenty of satisfying nods to the Gothic tradition, but which is also full of rather wonderfully sympathetic characters and a great line in warm, wise cracking humour. It’s an absolute delight.

Norwegian by Night by Derek B Miller

This is an incredibly gripping debut novel by an American writer who works for the UN and currently lives in Norway with his family. The idea of uprooting oneself and trying to assimilate into another culture is a prominent theme in this interesting book.

The novel, set in Oslo, has the plot and pace of a thriller with the central character rescuing a young boy after his mother has been murdered in his apartment block. However, its overriding concern seems to be with the effect of and attitude towards conflict at individual, family and national level. The main character Sheldon Horowitz is a veteran of the Korean War, and a large part of the novel concerns his seeking what he sees as atonement for the death of his own son in the Vietnam War. Meanwhile other characters have been involved both as aggressors and victims of the more recent conflict in the Balkans. By turns moving and comic this is that quite rare thing – a genuinely thought provoking thriller.

The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker

A reimagining of the last days of the Trojan war may seem unfamiliar territory for Pat Barker, yet in this outstanding novel her towering abilities as a writer are deployed with breath taking skill. Briseis, queen of Lyrnessus, has been captured and enslaved by Achilles; forced to survive as best she can in the Greek camp. This was the fate of a great many women in Homer’s Iliad, but we know this about them and little more. Here Pat Barker conjures in brutal, harrowing detail what such a life could have been: the lack of agency and equality cruelly distorting all relationships. One of Pat Barker’s great strengths is her ability to portray the physical sensations of her characters’ experiences and this she does to brilliant effect here; we feel Briseis’ terror, anger and confusion coupled with an emerging steeliness which enables her to survive.

The Salt Path by Raynor Winn

This was a real highlight of all the books that I read last year. Suffering financial misfortunes and bad health, Raynor Winn and her husband come up with what most people would probably think of as a crazy idea. With no home and only a handful of coins in their pockets, this courageous pair, literally put one foot in front of the other and walk the South West Coastal Path - in their way and at their pace. For me, it was this pace that makes The Salt Path such an exceptional read. The rhythm of the writing has a constant, gentle pace and much like the action of walking, enables you to leave things behind, Raynor explains how they move forward on this desperate part of life’s journey. This is an incredibly brave and honest account of the hardship they faced, how fragile our lives can be and the inspiring strength and determination we can find both within ourselves and from the natural world around us.

The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O’Connell

This historical crime novel is an absolute favourite, beautifully written with a knowing eye cast toward its antecedents, it still manages to bring a wonderful freshness to the genre. Set in Victorian London, it strikes an almost perfect lyrical yet strange tone right from the outset, as we witness the very peculiar death of a young seamstress. The narrative then drives us on as we’re introduced separately to the various characters who will be key to unravelling the cause of her demise. I felt as if they would genuinely be at home in a novel by Wilkie Collins yet with subtly different shades to their personalities which render them so relatable. A bluff yet insightful CID inspector, an ambitious newspaper columnist and a young man adrift searching for his lost uncle; all in their very different ways, provide huge quantities of both heart and humour.

Salt Creek by Lucy Treloar

This beautifully written novel is a subtle examination of the effects of Victorian imperial ambition on both the lives of the indigenous people of South Australia and on those seeking to subjugate them. The novel follows one English family, the Finches, telling their story through the eyes of the eldest daughter Hester. It chronicles her initial feelings of duty and responsibility towards her family which are gradually undermined by the growing conflict she witnesses between the beliefs they claim to espouse and the way in which they behave. This is thrown into sharp relief when a boy from the Ngarrindjeri tribe becomes a part of their lives. Wonderful characters people this book, where the personal seamlessly unveils the political, against the backdrop of the stunning yet often brutal Australian landscape. This book was a huge success with our Cogito Fiction Book Group earlier this year.

​The Unseen by Roy Jacobsen

This book contains many of the key elements I love about Scandinavian fiction: an isolated and harshly beautiful setting, a spare yet moving prose style and characters who appear to be living simply yet are unconsciously addressing some of life’s most fundamental concerns. In telling the story of Hans Barroy and his family, Roy Jacobsen shows us at close quarters what it means to live when life has to be built daily, with the characters’ bare hands and the support of their small familial community.

​Tin Man by Sarah Winman

I very much enjoyed Sarah Winman’s first two books, particularly When God was a Rabbit but Tin Man really stands out and demonstrates the strength and humanity of her writing. This is an emotionally engaging story about the friendship between two boys, Ellis and Michael and the way in which the world around them shapes their bond. Sarah’s writing is warm and tender in its understanding of life’s challenges, the intimacy of our emotions and the behaviour of human nature. As a reader, you are drawn into Ellis and Michael’s world, sharing their journeys to the extent that you put your own life on hold – I read it in two days.