Original history of twentieth century Albania. The author combines a traditional historical investigation into her family, visiting archives and explaining the circumstances surrounding WW2 & beyond, with imagined ‘dramatisations’ of the conversations and life events of real people. #books 💙📚💡

This is the book I’m most excited about being published in April (9th). I’m utterly obsessed with Solvej Balle’s excellent series, and this latest instalment did not disappoint! Tara is now joined by more people who are also trapped in November 18th. Can they create a new way to exist? #books 💙📚🖋️

I loved the dark, cynical tone of this novel set in the tech industry, which tries to do a lot! Girlie is an online moderator, recruited to a new virtual reality platform. Will she find romance with the creative exec, while the corporation exploits labour and consumers alike? Compelling. #books 💙📚🖋️

If you’re in East Bristol, this is a lovely little shop for a treat! www.bristol247.com/lifestyle/sh...

Fast-paced techno-thriller set in near future Europe and Russia. Governments are run by AI. But the system parameters were set by humans, so it’s a highly efficient replication of oppression with ubiquitous surveillance. Brilliant scientist Lilia flees… Engaging; interesting ideas. #books 💙📚🪐

World War Two spy romp. Ida and Merry are brilliant Oxford philosophers, but when they try to contribute to the war effort with intelligence work, they aren’t taken seriously - because they are women. But they were right all along! A quick and fun read with philosophical interludes. #books 💙📚

I’ve read two of these so far - Arundhati Roy and Ece Temelkuran. I’ve just ordered Lyse Doucet from my local independent bookshop - it’s been on my list for a while. It’s a shame Sarah Perry didn’t make the shortlist. #books 💙📚💡

Set in a Black Christian community in Mississippi and told from the perspectives of two women. Priscilla is the long-suffering wife of the pastor and mother of 5 boys; Diamond is the teenage girlfriend of her son. The writing is outstanding - vivid & beautiful. #WomensPrize longlist #books 💙📚🖋️

Well this act of censorship might have the Streisand Effect. I had not heard about this art exhibition before, but now I want to go to see it. Does Bristol, home to arms and financial services companies, have a denial problem? www.bristol247.com/culture/art/...

I enjoyed the haunting new crime thriller by @sarahhilary.bsky.social set in the Peak District. The two main detectives are interesting, substantial characters, the sense of place works really well, and the story is thoroughly gripping. Can’t wait for more in this series! UK 16/4/26 #books 💙📚⚡️

An original and intimate coming-of-age memoir by a queer hijabi Muslim who immigrates to the US, via a childhood in the Middle East. She intersperses her personal experiences with reflections on stories from the Quran. Simultaneously highly specific and universally relatable. Super! #books 💙📚💡📚🌈

I really like the look of this list! I’ve already read three: Endling, Hum and Dusk, which are very different from each other, but excellent in their own way. Endling is probably my favourite - but I’d like to read the other three too! 📚💙

My proudest achievement is building a book family that powers this prize In 10 years, Jhalak Prize has grown from a single prize to a portfolio of 3 awards: 1. Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize, 2. Jhalak Poetry Prize 3. Jhalak Prose Prize BEHOLD THIS EXCELLENCE! #jhalakprizeat10

Interesting debut novel with such an original protagonist. Gloria is a young woman with a learning disability, living in London at the turn of the millennium. Lonely, she’s befriended by Jack (he’s bad news). I appreciated experiencing her perspective in descriptive, rhythmic prose. #books 💙📚🖋️

Beautiful, profound & tender reflections on the death of her father-in-law. This really good novelist uses her skills to let us in to a deeply personal experience. Feels truthful & meaningful; I’m sure I will remember it when I’m faced with similar circumstances. Refreshing insight. #books 💙📚💡

I enjoyed this readable and thought-provoking speculative fiction by @ldlapinski.bsky.social Abigail is a bot, a replacement wife for David. But as Emancipation approaches, she must find a new life for herself. Themes of gender, power, sexuality, human-ness. Gripping story. Recommend! #books 💙📚🪐

In the Afterlife, Edi works in Arrivals, processing the newly dead. The queues are getting longer, and she’s under pressure from HR. I love the premise of this forthcoming novel by Jenni Fagan, and the ambitious scale. UK publication 19th March. #books 💙📚🖋️

Powerful, compelling, emotional & intelligent novel set in near-future Kolkata. As a family prepares to leave their home because of climate crisis, they are beset with difficulties both practical and moral. The best book I’ve read this year! Longlisted for the #WomensPrize for fiction. #books 💙📚🖋️

Clever & witty literary novel set mainly in the academic milieu of 1980s Melbourne. The novel form and the ill-advised love affair of the young woman protagonist are both subject to deconstruction. Themes of desire & jealousy, truth & reliability. I enjoyed this Stella Prize winner. #books 💙📚🖋️

This list is exciting and intriguing! There are loads that I haven’t read yet, I’m going to have a lot of fun over the next couple of months! My favourite so far is Flashlight by Susan Choi. But that may well change as I discover new favourites. (I much prefer this to the Booker list.) 💙📚🖋️

Politics, and the public sphere, feel weird and wrong at the moment. Protest, spectacle, culture wars, individualism and the ‘end of history’ - what’s up with all that? Here’s some analysis. Too much attention is paid to Houellebecq for my liking. #books 💙📚💡

Terrific crime fantasy thriller, set in an alternate modern London. The island of Britain is split into 3 territories - Saxon, Celtic and Nordic. When a diplomat is found murdered on the eve of a summit, 2 cops from different tribes must work together. Great humour, world-building &plot #books 💙📚⚡️

A compelling speculative fiction debut by @tommason.bsky.social In the near future UK, Solomon is mourning his wife, with the assistance of an AI therapist avatar who resembles her. Elsewhere, a nightmarish realm of digital afterlives exists. Grief, tech-life, and, ultimately, hope. #books 💙📚🪐

A delightful and heartfelt collection of linked stories about three Palestinian families who have found new lives in the USA. I loved spending time with these characters and following the various struggles and successes of the different generations. A great choice for book club chat! #books 💙📚🖋️

A classic thriller, reissued in 2017 for its 50th anniversary. Set in the world of art dealers in 1960s London. Ned Balfour investigates the suspicious “suicide” of his best friend, Dachau survivor Sam Weiss. Had he uncovered something dodgy about the (WW2) provenance of certain items? #books 💙📚⚡️

A moving, beautiful story about grief and friendship. In 2004 teenage Marissa loves life in Thailand with her best friend. After the devastation of the tsunami, she moves to New York. In 2012, Hurricane Sandy approaches. A brilliant study of environmental and human loss. UK: 12/3/26 #books 💙📚🖋️

In a series of letters to an imagined stranger, Ece Temelkuran contemplates what it means and how it feels to be without a home - an exile, a refugee, an unhoused person. Poetic, political and relevant. A timely warning about fascism. Longlisted for the #WomensPrize for nonfiction #books 💙📚💡

Ambitious literary novel, considering social justice and the impact of war on women’s lives in the 1970s. 3 main characters: fictional midwestern housewife Phyllis, and real feminist activist Andrea Dworkin and poet Muriel Rukeyser. Their stories are separate, eventually intersecting. #books 💙📚🖋️

Well-written literary fiction set in rural Tasmania in the past (C19th?). Twins Iris and Floyd are itinerant outcasts; hearing of a bounty for a dangerous puma, Dusk, they join an untrustworthy stranger to hunt her. The prose is stark yet evocative of both characters and landscape. #books 💙📚🖋️

A warm-hearted Japanese story with fantasy and fairytale elements. Seven separate teenagers find their mirrors lead to a magical castle. There they learn about friendship, empathy and human connection. With themes of bullying, anxiety and emotional resilience. Charming and touching. #books 💙📚🪐

Here’s an enjoyable and readable time-travel mystery by @ellygriffiths.bsky.social. Ali Dawson is a police officer working on cold cases in London. She travels to 1850 to investigate the murders of women. And gets stuck there for a while… Suspend your disbelief and enjoy the ride! #books💙📚⚡️

In her critique/history of twentieth and twenty-first century psychiatry, @mariekebigg.bsky.social considers the social model of mental health and illness. Can mental distress be explained by biology?(no, not really). How can the mental health system ensure help over harm? #books 💙📚💡

Just home from a brilliant event with the fantastic author Ali Smith. She’s so great! I love her books, but I’d never seen her in person before (she signed a book for me 😊). She spoke about her most recent novels, Gliff and Glyph, which I strongly recommend to everyone who loves stories. 💙📚🖋️

The Brooke family, owners of 1000 acres of English countryside, gather to bury their father. I enjoyed this thoughtful, engaging and readable novel; themes of class, family relationships, suppressed emotions, and our responsibilities towards the environment, history and the future. #books 💙📚🖋️

The Climate Fiction Prize 2026 longlist is here! 🤩📚 This longlist shows the limitless scope of climate fiction, from gripping thrillers to experimental literary works, folklore and reimagined myths to science fiction and generational family saga. Full list here: climatefictionprize.co.uk

The characters in this moving and poetic novel will stay with me for a long time. From the 1860s to the present day, generations of Native Americans survive displacement and institutional oppression, at a cost, by holding on to culture and care. Heartbreaking, epic, tender, & truthful. #books 💙📚🖋️

I was expecting a well-plotted, atmospheric thriller from @sarahhilary.bsky.social, and wasn’t disappointed. But I was thrilled to encounter an actually believable, authentic, and relatable autistic character in Agnes, the young woman at the heart of this novel. Insightful and tense. #books 💙📚⚡️

A fascinating memoir originally published in 1938. The author leaves her comfortable life in Central Europe to spend a year on the arctic island of Spitsbergen with her husband. They survive in a basic hut. The writing is vivid, connecting deeply with the harsh reality of nature. #books 💙📚💡

An engaging story about love, family, & destiny, set in Nigeria. The lives of Eniiyi, her dead aunt Monife whom she resembles, and other family women are interwoven to consider fate, heartbreak, autonomy and intergenerational pain. Are they doomed to repeat past patterns? Captivating. #books 💙📚🖋️

The most striking thing about this forthcoming book by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social is the preponderance of hope. “Ideas have power”, she reminds us, with clear-eyed analysis and encouragement to connect. “Liberation is contagious” - even in this time of monsters. Brilliant & vital. UK 26/3/26 💙📚💡

A spicy new murder mystery novel by @alessandraranelli.bsky.social set in modern-day Vienna, with a timeless, golden-age feel. Sterling is the concierge at an infamous love hotel, facilitating anonymous liaisons. When two guests are found dead, can she find the killer? UK publ. 30/4/26 #books 💙📚⚡️

Here’s a great review of Glyph, the new novel by Ali Smith which is brilliant and should be read by everyone! I’m so excited about seeing her in Bristol on 11th February. Tickets available here: www.thesmallcitybookshop.co.uk/event-detail... 💙📚🖋️

I absolutely loved this brilliant new speculative eco-fiction. People are turning into trees. They pick a spot, stand still, and gradually take root. Bren & Caelyn, leading unsatisfying late-capitalist lives in Australia, investigate the phenomenon. Sharp writing; resonant & profound. #books 💙📚🪐

The intertwining stories of three generations of gay men in modern India. Vivaan, an out and very online teenager; Mambro, his uncle, who struggles with persecution in the ‘90s/‘00s; and his grand uncle Sukumar, forced to live a life of secrecy. Vivid writing with lots of detail. #books 💙📚🖋️ 🌈📚

Really interesting and insightful reportage on the trial in Australia of Erin Patterson, who poisoned her relatives. These three accomplished writers interrogate our attitudes to women who kill and the “True Crime” genre, with mature and compassionate reflections. Enlightening. #books 💙📚💡

I couldn’t put down this debut psychological thriller by @leodora.bsky.social Natalie has a secret - but does she really know what happened to her exes? And can her new husband be trusted? Very suspenseful; unfolds across several timelines, with great characters & many twists. 12/2/26 #books 💙📚⚡️

A classic tale of forbidden love, set in 1970s Cyprus and 2010s London. Greek Kostas and Turkish Dafne know that their teenage love is risky; they meet in secret at the Happy Fig tavern. Years later their daughter Ada is curious about her background. Beautiful, moving, enchanting. #books 💙📚🖋️

Well this was delightful! In near-future San Francisco a found family of characterful robots open a noodle shop. The war between California and America is over, but the struggle to build up from the ruins can be tough - when the robophobes are messing with your star rating… #books #booksky 💙📚🪐

Well this was delightful! In near-future San Francisco a found family of characterful robots open a noodle shop. The war between California and America is over, but the struggle to build up from the ruins can be tough - when the robophobes are messing with your star rating… #books #booksky 💙📚🪐

Sometimes it’s good to read a book even if the style, approach and central thesis are not to your preference. Perhaps it is a concern that the human race might go extinct, so should get going to space. Personally, I would favour sharing resources and caring for this planet. #books 💙📚💡