Whether your summer plans involve lazy days in the park, road trips to the coast, or a beach holiday abroad, a page-turning tome is a must-have. From romance and historical fiction to fantasy and engrossing non-fiction, here are the best new books to dive into in 2026.
Jennette McCurdy’s Half His Age – the follow-up to her bestselling memoir – is a provocative story of an age-gap affair, while Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs is a darkly comedic tale of three sisters obsessed with a corrupt billionaire. Further fiction highlights include Madeleine Dunnigan’s debut, Jean, a queer coming-of-age story set in a 1970s boys’ boarding school, and Asako Yuzuki’s Hooked, a dark story blurring friendship and obsession.
In non-fiction, Belle Burden’s memoir Strangers is an internationally bestselling eulogy of her marriage and its breakdown after her husband’s affair. Patrick Radden Keefe, acclaimed author of Empire of Pain, returns with London Falling, a forensic investigation into the mysterious death of a 19-year-old boy in London. Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear is a gripping look at the trad wife lifestyle, while Booker Prize winner Douglas Stuart’s third book, John of John, is set to dominate bestseller charts.
Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell releases her 10th novel, Land, in June, and Meg Mason – author of the 2020 bestseller Sorrow & Bliss – returns with Sophie, Standing There in July. If you’ve yet to catch up, acclaimed fiction from the past year includes Lily King’s Heart The Lover, Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know, and David Szalay’s Booker-winning Flesh. Florence Knapp’s debut The Names is a searing family drama still topping charts.
Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear has already had movie rights snapped up in an 11-way bidding war, won by Anne Hathaway, who will star. The zeitgeisty story tackles online influencer culture, trad wives, conservative religion and feminism. It follows “trad wife” influencer Natalie, whose life mirrors real-life @ballerinafarm, but her reality is far from simple – hidden nannies and assistants cover for her hapless husband. One day, she wakes up transported back to 1805, forced to live the simple life she curated online. Burke’s time-travelling twist keeps you gripped and thought-provoked.
Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for the Truth starts with the mysterious death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler after a fall from a luxury London apartment. What follows is a deep dive into a sinister world, typical of Keefe’s forensic storytelling.
