Fiction

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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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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I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal

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I Served the King of England

A compelling Czech modern classic

A 1971 Czech gem from the distinctive Vintage Classics list, I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal gives us the tumultuous life story of Ditie, hotel waiter, entrepreneur and lover. Hung up on his stature (both physically and socially), but with the loftiest of ambitions, Ditie chronicles his life, a rise from impoverished beginnings in pre-war Prague to self-made millionaire, before losing it all again. In Hrabal’s humorous, often bawdy, philosophical tale, the events in Ditie’s life are inextricably linked to the years encompassing the Nazi annexation and Soviet communist occupation of his homeland. His journey from wily youth to chastened reflection is a remarkable one.

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The Correspondent by Virgina Evans

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The Correspondent

The lost art of letter writing

Just in time for summer, Women’s Prize for Fiction has picked The Correspondent by Viriginia Evans as their 2026 winner. A perfect beach read, both light-hearted and serious, the novel is a series of letters, sent and received by the septuagenarian Sybil Van Antwerp. Sybil beautifully masters the art of letter writing and makes us all yearn for the days we wrote and received them ourselves. Through 11 years of correspondence with family, friends and a selection of random people, we get to learn about the ups and downs of Sybil’s life. A lovely, moving and melancholic book.

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Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

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Villa Coco

A zest for life

Happily destined for the Summer Reads bestseller lists, Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer seems at first glance to follow the well-worn literary path of an American innocent abroad. It tells the story of an initially unnamed young man, a recently graduated archivist, hired to catalogue the artefacts and treasures of a grand Tuscan Villa. Upon arrival, however, he is plunged into a world of bizarre characters and strange events orchestrated by his employer, 92-year-old Coco, the Baronessa. Coco instantly nicknames him ‘Giovedì’, and along with her kooky companions, lights his way to a life well lived in Greer’s luminous tale of friendship, abiding secrets and sheer zest for life.

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Dead Lucky by Connor Hutchinson

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Dead Lucky

Inspired debut novel of addiction and confession

The most original debut we’ve read this year, Dead Lucky by Connor Hutchinson tells the story of twenty-something Jamie, a funeral embalmer leading a chaotic double life in a Manchester suburb. Although dedicated to his job and in love with his fabulous girlfriend, Rebecca, Jamie is harbouring a secret which threatens to capsize his life. Addicted to gambling, on the edge of financial ruin and under pressure from Rebecca to purchase their first home together, Jamie needs to pull off a major win. By turns darkly funny and affecting, Dead Lucky invites us into the mind of a young man, who unable to share his troubles with those who love him, tells them to the corpses on his embalming table instead.

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