Best new books to read in 2026, from Jennette McCurdy to David Szalay

If your 2026 resolution is to read more, you’re in the right place. The last year of the best new book releases leaves you spoilt for choice, from romance books and historical fiction to cosy crime capers and fantasy novels.

In 2025, there was acclaimed fiction from esteemed authors, including Salman Rushdie’s short story collection The Eleventh Hour, Lily King’s tear-jerker decade-spanning romance Heart The Lover, Ian McEwan’s unsettling dystopian fiction What We Can Know, and David Szalay’s Booker-winning novel Flesh.

As for recent debuts, Florence Knapp’s The Names is a searing family drama that’s been talked about in countless book clubs, Alison Espach’s novel The Wedding People is a funny spin on the romcom genre, and Garrett Carr’s The Boy From the Sea is a tender story set in an Irish fishing village. Bold and thought-provoking in different ways, Vincent Delecroix’s Small Boat and Anne Tyler’s Three Days in June are both short reads that can occupy a rainy afternoon.

Beyond last year’s best tomes, there’s plenty to get excited about in 2026. This month, Jennette McCurdy is following up her bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died, with an equally provocative first novel, Half His Age, while Roxy Dunn’s second novel, Wants & Needs, is a page-turning exploration of polyamory. In February, Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs lands – a darkly comedic story about three sisters and their obsession with a corrupt billionaire (Lena Dunham has called the author “a voice like no other”).

Later in the year, Douglas Stuart’s third book, John of John, is sure to be a defining title in 2026, while Hamnet author Maggie O’Farrell is releasing her 10th novel, Land, in June. Meg Mason – who penned the 2020 international bestseller Sorrow & Bliss – is back with a new novel, Sophie, Standing There, and Eden McKenzie-Goddard’s Windrush novel Smallie is already getting early critical acclaim and Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear is sure to be seen everywhere in in May.

Read more: I’ve already read some of 2026’s biggest book releases – these are the 4 to look out for

The bookworms on the IndyBest team and I have read dozens of new releases over the past year, to bring you the best books to dive into this winter.

The best new books to read are:

• Best overall – The Names by Florence Knapp, published by Phoenix: £8.49, Amazon.co.uk
• Best romance – Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, published by Hutchinson Heinemann: £10, Amazon.co.uk
• Best dystopian – What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, published by Jonathan Cape, Amazon.co.uk
• Best memoir – When The Going Was Good by Graydon Carter, published by Grove Press, Amazon.co.uk