Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough
HISTORY BOOKS
Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough
⭐ Shortlisted for the 2025 Wolfson History Prize
“She uses material culture, the archaeology of individual objects, and goes into the individual lives reflected in those objects, but then comes out to revisit the big picture. It’s very cleverly done. It’s beautifully written.”—Helen King, historian and Wolfson judge
Flashlight: A Novel by Susan Choi
FICTION
Flashlight by Susan Choi
⭐ Shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize
“Flashlight opens with the mysterious disappearance of a young academic from a beach…It is a sweeping and profound novel, rendered with exquisite attention to detail”—Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, Booker judge
The Melancholy of Untold History by Minsoo Kang
FANTASY
The Melancholy of Untold History by Minsoo Kang
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Mythoepic Fantasy Award
“Kang is a historian who teaches a course called ‘Historical Myth’…This is a really intelligent novel – as well as being a lot of fun.”—Sylvia Bishop fantasy editor, Five Books
A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
THE FUNNIEST BOOK OF 2025
A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction
“The sensibility is very Chaucerian. There’s low humour, bawdiness, slapstick, and it is all set within this world where people want to believe in miracles”—Stephanie Merritt, judge, Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction
The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge
HISTORY BOOKS
The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge
⭐ Shortlisted for the 2025 Wolfson History Prize
“This is a really interesting book, bringing together history and fiction…Sara Lodge explores fictional women detectives and the reality of what women were doing in the police force and beyond in the period from the 1840s onwards. She finds the overlap between the two”—Helen King, historian and Wolfson judge
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay
HISTORICAL FICTION
The Book of Days by Francesca Kay
⭐ Shortlisted for the Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction
“I’d advise readers to sit with this book, sit and breathe, as we might sit and breathe with a Book of Hours. The story is tense and full-bodied – you want to know what happens. At the same time, with the skill of a weaver, Francesca Kay depicts the passing seasons, both natural and liturgical, without fanfare but with much beauty”—Katharine Grant, chair of the judging panel
Flesh: A Novel by David Szalay
FICTION BOOKS
Flesh by David Szalay
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Booker Prize
“Flesh explores the ways power, money, and desire intertwine, and how loneliness can endure even amid apparent success… One of the things that I find remarkable is its subtle exploration of how the marks left by youth can echo through an entire life.”—Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, chair of the judges
James: A Novel by Percival Everett
FICTION
James by Percival Everett
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
“The magisterial craft of James by Percival Everett lies in its combination of biting humour and a page-turning plot, with ruminations on sovereignty and Voltaire along the way”—The judges of the Orwell Prize for Fiction
The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar
SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS
The Man Who Saw Seconds by Alexander Boldizar
🏆 Winner 2025 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
“This is such a clever book. Our protagonist, Preble Jefferson, can see five seconds into the future. More specifically, he can see five seconds into an array of alternate futures, and if there’s an outcome he wants, he can start with that and work backwards”—Sylvia Biship, SFF editor, Five Books
The Last One at the Wedding: A Novel by Jason Rekulak
THRILLERS
The Last One at the Wedding by Jason Rekulak
🏆 Winner ITW Award for Best Standalone Thriller
“It follows Frank Szatowski, a widowed war veteran and UPS delivery guy who discovers that his estranged daughter is shortly to marry the son of a famous tech billionaire.”—Cal Flyn, deputy editor, Five Books
Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald
BOOKS FOR TEENS
Glasgow Boys by Margaret McDonald
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Carnegie Medal
“It is a book that will stay in the mind of the reader long after finishing it.”—Ros Harding, chair of the judges, 2025 Carnegies
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
CRIME NOVELS
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera
⭐ Shortlisted for the 2025 Edgar Allan Poe Awards
“It revolves around a main character who does not know whether or not she committed the crime of murdering her best friend. Everyone else, however, thinks she did it”—Sophie Roell, editor, Five Books.
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
FANTASY FICTION
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novel
“Grimdark Magazine describes it as a ‘whirlwind of a mystery novel,’ and that’s absolutely true. But somehow, that’s not at the expense of the world-building – this world feels fully realised and lived-inside, accomplished without shaving a moment off the pace.”—Sylvia Bishop, SFF editor, Five Books
THE BEST KINDLES IN 2025
Which Kindle to get?
“That’s an easy question for me, Kindle Paperwhite is the most popular Kindle by far…It has all the best features that you would want”—Maneetpaul Singh, Kindle reviewer and author of Kindle Bookworm
The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
BOOKS FOR KIDS
The First State of Being by Erin Entrada Kelly
🏆 Winner of the 2025 Newbery Medal
“A warm-hearted speculative novel set in 1999 featuring a 12-year-old boy, his teenage babysitter, a time-traveller from the future, and complications to do with teleportation and growing up.”—Tuva Kahrs, children’s editor, Five Books
AI BOOKS
ChatGPT-4 offers its own opinions on artificial intelligence
“These books offer valuable insights into the development, challenges, and future prospects of AI”—ChatGPT-4, AI chatbot
NEW BOOKS/FANTASY
Katabasis by RF Kuang
“This is the perfect beach read for fans of Five Books, set at Cambridge University and full of jokes about the intellectual life. It’s 500+ pages, but I read it in two days (at home, as it’s too cold for the beach by now)”—Sophie Roell, editor, Five Books
The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
SCIENCE FICTION
The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
🏆 Winner 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novella
“The premise of this book is very neat: mammoths have been recreated, but they are also being hunted for their ivory, in a future where elephants have already gone extinct”—Sylvia Bishop, author and sci-fi editor, Five Books
Buckeye: A Novel by Patrick Ryan
AUDIOBOOKS
Buckeye: A Novel by Patrick Ryan
⭐ An AudioFile Best Audiobook of 2025
“While World War II still rages in the Pacific, a secret spanning generations begins in Bonhomie, Ohio. Cal Jenkins and Margaret Salt, who are married to other people, share a kiss in a hardware store upon the news of victory over Germany”—AudioFile editors
