The Plot Against America by Philip Roth

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The Plot Against America

Why have I not read this book before?

The Plot Against America by Philip Roth has been around since 2004, been made into a TV series, is widely considered to be a modern American classic and has lingered on my TBR list for a while. Perhaps reading it now, against the backdrop of current American politics, is even more impactful (it’s certainly more frightening). Roth imagines an alternative political reality with the aviation hero and Nazi sympathiser Charles Lindbergh defeating Roosevelt in the 1940 Presidential election. Under the motto ‘America First’, (sounds familiar?), the country takes a sharp anti-semitic turn, threatening democracy and the Jewish Roth family’s peaceful existence.

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Booker Prize longlist 2026

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Which of these will be on the Booker Prize shortlist on Tuesday?

On Tuesday 22nd, we’ll know which books survived the second round of sifting by the Booker Prize judging panel. We’ve read a few of them and below is more about what we thought. As much as we loved Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart (which won in 2020), sadly, we found his latest Booker Prize longlisted book, John of John, to be a disappointment. Can’t wait to find out who the winner will be on the 9th of November.

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The Renovation by Kenan Orhan

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The Renovation

Memory and motherland

Dilara is a Turkish exile, living in Italy with her husband and her ailing father, a blacklisted political academic who is gradually succumbing to dementia. Having fled President Erdoğan’s oppressive regime, the three of them have led a comfortably uneventful life for some years. When Dilara hires some builders for a renovation, she is astonished to discover that in place of the expected swish new bathroom, they have installed a Turkish prison cell, a sesame-scented portal to their much missed homeland. A wonderful exploration of memory, captivity and exile. The Renovation by Kenan Orhan is yet another gem on this year’s excellent Booker Longlist.

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The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada

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The Queens of Sarmiento Park

Fearless Argentinian tale of exclusion and chosen family

The continuing boom in Latin American literature (LatAm), has introduced us to some amazing writers (we’ve loved recent works by Mariana Enriquez and Dahlia de la Cerda). In common with these and other LatAm writers, in The Queens of Sarmiento Park by Camila Sosa Villada, the author brings us an impassioned and lyrical tale that blends the political and subcultural with a dash of magical realism. Hers is the story of  ‘the queerest boarding house in the world’, the sex workers who live there with the matriarchal Auntie Encarna, and what happens when Auntie finds an abandoned baby and decides to raise him as one of their own.

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The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley

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The Palm House

What it feels like

Laura Miller, the protagonist of Booker Prize long-listed The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley, has an unfortunate tendency to become trapped in awkward, sometimes dangerous situations. Be it with her cold, bossy mother; her flaky landlord; and, most devastatingly, with a celebrity comedian who sexually abuses her. In her pared-down style, Riley captures these moments with chilling clarity. We feel what Laura feels. Add some outstanding dialogue, and you have a novel well worth reading.

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The Underground Man by Mick Jackson

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The Underground Man

Inspired and poignant tale of a lonely aristocrat

We’re fast approaching Booker Prize season and it feels like a great opportunity to share our favourite bygone Booker-tipped titles. One of the most memorable and marvellous is The Underground Man by Mick Jackson, shortlisted way back in 1997. Set in Victorian England and inspired by the real-life eccentricities of the fifth Duke of Portland, this is a fictionalised account of that gentleman’s life (although the truth is eye-popping enough, if like us, you feel compelled to do a bit of research after the final page). The story of a haunted soul who builds a network of tunnels beneath his ancestral home and descends into lonely madness, it’s a moving, funny and spellbinding read.

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The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis

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The Shadow of the Object

Wonderful Booker-longlisted novel of perception and awakening

This year’s Booker Prize is shaping up to be one of the best contested in years and singing to us from the 2026 longlist is The Shadow of the Object by Chloe Aridjis. This atmospheric tale of perception and awakening is told by Flora, a Mexican woman with a rich interior life, leading a somewhat sedate life in London. Whilst visiting her mother in Mexico City, Flora is badly bitten by the family dog and hospitalised. Here she meets Wilhelmina, elderly toy collector and magic lantern performer. Their strange affinity will come to challenge Flora’s notions of life, longing and loss.

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It Will Come Back to You by Sigrid Nunez

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It Will Come Back to You

A joy to read

It Will Come Back to You by Sigrid Nunez has been one of this summer’s many highlights. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you have something to look forward to. Nunez’s National Book Award-winning novel The Friend still lingers in my mind. It Will Come Back to You is a collection of short stories written throughout her 30-year career. Her writing is deceptively simple, perceptive and very funny, with themes ranging from puberty to dementia, via mother-daughter relationships, an airport nightmare and a couple of dark sexual obsessions, one of which ends in murder. As The New York Times writes, these are “stories that remind us why Sigrid Nunez is one of our best writers”. True indeed.

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Exhibition by Alex Hyde

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Exhibition

Chasing the muse

Inspired by the intoxicating 1990’s world of the Young British Artists movement, Exhibition by Alex Hyde tells the story of an intense decades long relationship between two women: photographer Rabble Stone, and an unnamed and now dead celebrity artist. In an absorbing tale that encompasses the Cool Britannia era, female friendship, the concept of muse, sacrifice, and things left unspoken, Rabble addresses her friend directly, recalling the twists and turns in their relationship, from a student house share in Brixton to the heights of YBA stardom in London and New York.

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Jean by Madeleine Dunnigan

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Jean

Impressive debut outsider novel

A sultry debut novel for our sizzling summer, Jean by Madeleine Dunnigan is an absorbing story of alienation, longing and the search for self. Set in England, during the famously long, hot summer of 1976, it tells of Jean, a 17-year-old scholarship boy at a bohemian boarding school for challenging boys. An angry and solitary soul, Jean feels ill at ease and unwelcome in this monied environment. As exams loom and Jean trembles on the brink of an uncertain future, Dunnigan takes us into his mind, past and present, and his growing attraction to a boy named Tom, sportsman, temptation and catalyst.

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