The Best of 2020
The Sentinel
Lee Child and Andrew Child
" The collaboration here produces vintage Reacher, " The Financial Times.
Shuggie Bain
Douglas Stuart
Winner of the 2020 Man Booker Prize. A superlative triumph.
A Song for the Dark Times
Ian Rankin
"Only great novels capture the spirit of the age. This is one of them," The Times.
The Midnight Library
Matt Haig
"An uplifting, poignant novel about regret, hope and second chances" David Nicholls
Troy
Stephen Fry
"A romp through the lives of ancient Greek gods. Fry is at his story-telling best . . . the gods will be pleased, " The Times.
Hamnet
Maggie O'Farrell
"The novel of her career... everyone I know who has managed to get hold of a copy is absolutely in love with it," The Observer.
I Wanna Be Yours
John Cooper Clarke
"I Wanna Be Yours is fantastically entertaining . . . Every sentence he writes, you read in his voice," The Times.
Olive, Mabel & Me
Andrew Cotter
Beautifully written, touching and laugh-out-loud funny, Olive, Mabel & Me is a treat for dog lovers everywhere.
BOX 88
Charles Cumming
"An ambitious fusion of coming-of-age novel and gripping espionage thriller," The Financial Times.
Word Perfect
Susie Dent
Word Perfect is a brilliant linguistic almanac full of unforgettable stories. You'll never be lost for words again.
My Garden World
Monty Don
This is Monty Don's personal journey through the natural year, observed from the immediate world around him.
A Life on Our Planet
David Attenborough
David Attenborough shares his vision for the future and offers hope for a better world.
Women Don't Owe You Pretty
Florence Given
Women Don't Owe You Pretty is the ultimate book for anyone who wants to challenge the patriarchy.
Feline Philosophy
John Gray
"Feline Philosophy is a wonderful mixture of flippancy and profundity, astringency and tenderness, wit and lament, " The Telegraph.
V2
Robert Harris
"Astonishingly precise... V2 will keep you pinned on a compelling trajectory," The Sunday Times.
Cook, Eat, Repeat
Nigella Lawson
"Lawson's latest book is the one I've been waiting for her to write," Diana Henry.
The Mirror and the Light
Hilary Mantel
"Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall novels make 99 per cent of contemporary literary fiction feel utterly pale and bloodless by comparison." The Times.
Diary of a Young Naturalist
Dara McAnulty
Winner of the 2020 Wainwright Prize, an utterly beautiful piece of nature writing.
Christmas is Murder
Val McDermid
These evocative, atmospheric tales will shock and delight.The perfect book to curl up with on a winter night.
Fast Forward
Stephen Morris
Iconic drummer Stephen Morris presses play once more to the tune of the long-awaited second volume of memoirs . . .
Kiss Myself Goodbye
Ferdinand Mount
"Kiss Myself Goodbye is a witty, moving and beautifully crafted account of one woman's determination to live to the full," The Telegraph.
Really Saying Something
Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward
Really Saying Something is a celebration of determination and a lifelong friendship, with an unbeatable soundtrack.
A Promised Land
Barack Obama
"It is nearly always pleasurable to read, sentence by sentence, the prose gorgeous in places, the detail granular and vivid," Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Ottolenghi FLAVOUR
Yotam Ottolenghi and Ixta Belfrage
Yotam and co-writer Ixta Belfrage offer innovative vegetable dishes that deliver brand-new ingredient combinations to excite and inspire.
One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time
Craig Brown
A superbly-written, award-winning biographical mosaic of the Beatles. A joy to read.
Let's Do It: The Authorised Biography of Victoria Wood
Jasper Rees
"She kept us happy for years herself. I am thankful, for her and for this good biography." Libby Purves.
Entangled Life
Merlin Sheldrake
"A dazzling, vibrant, vision-changing book. I ended it wonderstruck at the fungal world. A remarkable work by a remarkable writer," Robert Macfarlane.