From a darkly comic tale of revenge to a beautiful contemplation on friendship, here are the year's most acclaimed works of fiction so far.
Caro Claire Burke's debut novel Yesteryear is a satirical thriller in which tradwife influencer Natalie inexplicably wakes up in 1855 on a crumbling homestead. Described by Vogue as 'daring, deranged, cleverly written', the book offers a bitingly funny twist on the Instagram-versus-reality story. Anne Hathaway is set to produce and star in the film adaptation.
In Transcription, an unnamed writer travels to interview a 90-year-old mentor, only to break his phone just before the meeting. The Guardian calls the novel 'intricate, uncanny, sometimes breathtakingly realistic', while The New Yorker notes that 'nothing in this exquisite, shape-shifting novel is what it seems'.
John Lanchester's Look What You Made Me Do is a black comedy of betrayal and revenge, centring on affluent boomer Kate and younger screenwriter Phoebe. The Times describes it as 'gleefully nasty', and the Literary Review praises its 'gleamingly accomplished' skewering of female animosity.
Tana French's The Keeper concludes her trilogy starring retired Chicago cop Cal Hooper, now entangled in the mysteries of an Irish village. The Guardian calls it 'dense, compelling and superbly atmospheric'. Julian Barnes's Departure(s), his self-declared swansong, blends memoir and fiction to explore memory and love, with The Atlantic calling it a 'valedictory flourish'.
Karen Tei Yamashita's Questions 27 and 28 examines the internment of Japanese immigrants during World War Two, blending real and fictional events. The New Yorker praises how 'we feel the weight of the past' in her layered narrative. Daniyal Mueenuddin returns with a novel exploring power and class in Pakistan, while other acclaimed titles include works by Yiyun Li, Percival Everett, and Claire Keegan.
