25 novels for 2025: From Hilary Mantel to Richard Osman and Kazuo Ishiguro, the best

Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001)

In 1935, 13-year-old Briony catches her sister with a lover and tells a lie that will haunt her for ever. This metafictional masterpiece has become a classic – as has the green dress from the film (anyone found one yet?). CD

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (2003)

Don’t be afraid of the snobs, this is a thrilling mystery that attempts to uncover the buried truth at the heart of the Holy Grail. You won’t be able to turn the pages fast enough. KS

Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by JK Rowling (2003)

Harry, Ron and Hermione return to Hogwarts in Rowling’s fourth book. It should be a quiet year, but when Harry is forced to compete in the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort’s return seems inevitable. Even more magical than the last. KS

The Line Of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (2004)

After Nick moves in with his charming university friend’s family, the fragility of family ties, homosexuality and classism is laid bare. Hollinghurst’s book is a nuanced portrayal of life as a gay man in the elitist world of Thatcher’s Britain. KS

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005)

Sacrifice, love and what it means to be normal are among the themes in a dystopian novel in which clones turn out to have very human emotions, hopes and desires. SP

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (2007)

Hosseini’s second novel is even more gripping than his first, The Kite Runner. Mariam and Leila are married to the same cruel man and form an unbreakable bond in a searing story of sacrifice and sisterhood. CD

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (2008)

Strout’s understanding of small-town America is unparalleled, subtly exposing the vulnerabilities of those who live there. Seemingly disparate stories are all linked by the omnipresence of our titular character. KS

One Day by David Nicholls (2009)

On the same date every year for 20 years we are privy to the ‘will they, won’t they’ romance of Emma and Dexter. Nicholls somehow breathes new life into the age old trope. You’ll laugh and you’ll cry. KS

Drive your Plow Over The Bones Of The Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (2009)

An eccentric old woman, astrology and eco-crime are just some of the bizarre elements that Tokarczuk stitches together to create one of the most enjoyable books of the 21st century. JC

Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel (2012)

Mantel’s skill reaches its zenith in the fall of Anne Boleyn and the rise of Cromwell – told so vividly it almost seems the author was herself a witness. JC

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015)

This book will rip out hearts and make blood run cold, but will also make you smile when you least expect it. It is a masterpiece. Through the lives of four friends, Yanagihara unfurls a harrowing story of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. KS

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (2016)

Originally a metaphor for a network which helped American slaves escape to the North, Whitehead reimagines the Underground Railroad as tracks and tunnels as Cora flees her plantation. Beautiful prose meets heart-in-your mouth action. CD

A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles (2016)

Imprisoned by the Soviets in the Hotel Metropole Moscow, Count Rostov watches the USSR change the face of Russia through the windows of his luxurious cell. His refusal to compromise his lifestyle allows him to hold on to optimism throughout. A joyous read. JC

The Overstory by Richard Powers (2018)

What will survive of us is love, wrote Larkin. But what will survive even longer are trees, which communicate, look after each other and are the ultimate heroes of the nine interlinking human stories in this monumental novel. SP

Ducks Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann (2019)

The unbroken (literally – no full stops) stream of consciousness of an American housewife as she bakes, looks after her kids and ponders everything from climate change to films to marriage. It’s hefty, so save it for a holiday. A tour de force – and easier to read than it sounds. SP

Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (2019)

The stories of 12 characters, mostly black women, are powerfully woven in a patchwork portrait of modern Britain. CD

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (2020)

Since this 2020 debut, TV presenter Osman has smashed more records than Usain Bolt with his eccentric cast of crime-solving geriatrics and their uproarious musings on everything from Strictly to serial killers. CD

Daddy by Emma Cline (2020)

Cline’s beautifully written vignette-like short stories regularly take us into the ageing father’s mind. A fascinating look at how far-reaching and long-lasting the impact of a patriarch can be. KS

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (2020)

A moving imagining of how the untimely death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, inspired one of his greatest plays. Tissues at the ready. CD

China Room by Sunjeev Sahota (2021)

A 15-year-old girl enters an arranged marriage but falls in love with another man, with devastating consequences. Half a century later, a teenage boy recovering from drug addiction finds his story is intertwined with hers. SP

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2022)

Kingsolver lifts Dickens’ beloved David Copperfield out of 1850s London and drops him in the trailer parks and tobacco plantations of modern-day Virginia. A fabulous and timely book showing that, for many, little has changed since the 1800s. JC

Orbital by Samantha Harvey (2023)

This year’s Booker winner is a work of stunning originality. Six astronauts on an orbiting space station come to a profound appreciation of Earth and everyone on it – as does the reader. SP

The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella (2023)

The meaning of life, served up in a delicious rom-com with a surfing theme and an unforgettable message: the ride is it. SP

Clear by Carys Davies (2024)

Set during the Highland Clearances, this tale chronicles the unlikely bond between two men in Shetland. In 160 pages, Davies delivers a poignant story of friendship across the divide of language and culture. JC

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner (2024)

The wealthy Fletchers live a seemingly charmed life until father Carl is mysteriously kidnapped. That’s no spoiler – it happens in the first chapter – but the plot doesn’t let up as the trauma defines the family for decades. CD