Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
I read about 60 good new novels and novellas over 2024. Here's my top twenty and why. All first published in the 2020s. All great and warmly recommended. I made myself rank a top ten but the difference between them is small and could be different if I spent another week agonising over this.
0:00 Intro ramble and favourites excluded because they are in a series
2:28 Half the twenty, not ranked. Alphabetical by author surname
13:38 Top ten from book number 10 to 6
21:36 Top ten from number 5 to 2
28:00 My number one new novel read in 2024
Books mentioned in alphabetical order by author:
Not a River by Selva Almada translated by Annie McDermott
Mammoth by Eva Baltasar translated by Julia Sanches
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue translated by Natasha Wimmer
James by Percival Everett
Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
The Skull by Jon Klassen
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Still Born by Guadelupe Nettel translated by Rosalind Harvey
Ti Amo by Hanne Ørstavik translated by Martin Aitken
The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud
Time of the Flies by Claudia Piñeiro translated by Frances Riddle
Gliff by Ali Smith
Briefly, a Delicious Life by Nell Stevens
The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor
The Echoes by Evie Wyld
After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
I read about 60 good new novels and novellas over 2024. Here's my top twenty and why. All first published in the 2020s. All great and warmly recommended. I made myself rank a top ten but the difference between them is small and could be different if I spent another week agonising over this.
0:00 Intro ramble and favourites excluded because they are in a series
2:28 Half the twenty, not ranked. Alphabetical by author surname
13:38 Top ten from book number 10 to 6
21:36 Top ten from number 5 to 2
28:00 My number one new novel read in 2024
Books mentioned in alphabetical order by author:
Not a River by Selva Almada translated by Annie McDermott
Mammoth by Eva Baltasar translated by Julia Sanches
The Women of Troy by Pat Barker
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue translated by Natasha Wimmer
James by Percival Everett
Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad
The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy
Happiness Falls by Angie Kim
The Skull by Jon Klassen
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
Western Lane by Chetna Maroo
North Woods by Daniel Mason
The Land in Winter by Andrew Miller
Still Born by Guadelupe Nettel translated by Rosalind Harvey
Ti Amo by Hanne Ørstavik translated by Martin Aitken
The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud
Time of the Flies by Claudia Piñeiro translated by Frances Riddle
Gliff by Ali Smith
Briefly, a Delicious Life by Nell Stevens
The Night Alphabet by Joelle Taylor
The Echoes by Evie Wyld
After Sappho by Selby Wynn Schwartz
