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Gyles Brandreth

(Elizabeth: An Intimate Biography, Michael Joseph)

My book of the year was published in 1941. Looking For Trouble by Virginia Cowles is a young American reporter’s account of being on the front-line during the Spanish Civil War and the first years of World War II.

Now reissued by Faber, I began reading it at the start of this year’s Russian invasion of Ukraine and I couldn’t put it down. So well observed, so beautifully written, this book shows you, first-hand and in close-up, the horror of war — and how little it has changed in the past 80 years.

To lift my spirits, I turned to Playing Under The Piano, Hugh Bonneville’s entertaining account of his life before and after he met Paddington Bear.

I love showbusiness memoirs and my surprise treat of the year was actor-playwright David Wood’s memoir Elizabeth Taylor’s Kiss, featuring his unlikely encounters with, among others, Richard Burton, Roger Moore, and Queen Elizabeth.

Karin Slaughter

(Girl, Forgotten, HarperCollins)

For thrillers, Anywhere You Run by Wanda Morris is an intense and powerful story about two sisters in an impossible situation.

And Jennifer Hillier’s Things We Do In The Dark is a twisty, dark joyride. For general fiction, Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart is heartbreaking and beautiful.

Nobody Gets Out Alive by Leigh Newman is a fascinating collection of Jack London-esque stories about women in Alaska.

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland is a non-fiction book about the first Jewish person to break out of Auschwitz to warn the world about the death camps in Germany. A powerful, informational, emotional read.

Elizabeth Day

(Magpie, 4th Estate)

Susannah Dickey’s Common Decency. I’ve been an admirer of Dickey’s writing since her debut, Tennis Lessons, a savagely insightful coming-of-age story.

Her second novel, Common Decency, is set in a Belfast block of flats, and it follows the story of two women, one of whom becomes fixated on the other.

It is a study of grief and alienation, of connection and belonging and it’s also very funny in parts.

Alan Titchmarsh

(The Gardener’s Almanac, Hodder)

The most glorious, slow read of my year — a comfort read — was the five-volume Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Jane Howard, a family saga beginning between the wars and running up to the 1950s.

Such elegant, intense writing about characters in whom it is easy to invest. They are a contrast to Raynor Winn’s The Salt Path, which tells the moving story of the destitute author’s walk along the South-West Coast Path with a husband — Moth — whose serious illness seems to be kept at bay by their close contact with nature and the elements.

And for a scurrilous read — by turns fascinating and infuriating — The Diaries Of Henry ‘Chips’ Channon, in three volumes, shine a light on the salacious world of aristocracy and politics in the first half of the 20th century. Gripping!

Adam Kay

(Undoctored, Trapeze)

David Whitehouse’s About A Son. A profoundly affecting true story about Morgan Hehir, a young man stabbed to death by strangers.

Chronicled by Morgan’s dad and told powerfully by David Whitehouse, this book is devastating and extraordinary.

Love Marriage by Monica Ali is every bit as brilliant as you’d hope from the author of Brick Lane. Her latest is a moving, funny page-turner about cultural chasms.

Vince Cable

(How To Be A Politician, Ebury)

I have read all of Robert Harris’s novels and found his latest, Act Of Oblivion, the best of the lot. It has the pace and excitement of a manhunt combined with carefully researched history and period detail.

It tells the — imagined —story of two of the supporters of Cromwell who were later held responsible for the execution of Charles I.

They were hunted down, one by one, across the New World by a vindictive Royalist. The suspense is sustained until the very last page.

Adele Parks

(One Last Secret, HQ)

Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons In Chemistry. In 1960s America, chemist Elizabeth Zott is relentlessly underestimated and undermined until she meets fellow genius Calvin Evans, who falls in love with her mind. Original, touching and witty.

Menopausing by Davina McCall. This definitive bible on menopause seeks to create an empowered, supportive community by debunking damaging myths, and smashing the taboos.

Cuckoo In The Nest by Fran Hill. It’s the heatwave summer of 1976 and 14-year-old Jackie is newly fostered by the Walls. She desperately needs stability, but their daughter isn’t happy about the cuckoo in the nest. Funny and poignant.

Anthony Horowitz

(The Twist Of A Knife, Century)

The book that most impressed me in 2022 was The Escape Artist, by Jonathan Freedland, a superb account of the life of Rudolf Vrba, the first Jewish man to escape Auschwitz.

His dream was to tell the world the truth of what the Nazis were doing in the hope of saving future lives, but as Freedland recounts, in many ways his hopes were dashed.

My favourite work of fiction was Act Of Oblivion by Robert Harris, a wonderfully gripping story of a manhunt for two men involved in the execution of King Charles I. There is so much about this period that I didn’t know and Harris has dug deep with his research.

It’s his best work since Fatherland.

Nathan Harris

(The Sweetness Of Water, Tinder Press)

Elizabeth McCracken’s The Hero Of This Book. Her novels awe me endlessly. I read this wondering how she was managing to make me laugh and cry at the same time.

ClaIre Fuller

(The Memory of Animals, Fig Tree, out in April)

My rough list is already at eight. Here are three which I know will definitely make it: Nonfiction by Julie Myerson — a novel about a mother’s struggle with her addict daughter: clever, thought-provoking, and heart-breaking.

Burntcoat by Sarah Hall — a dying sculptor looks back on her life and work. Extraordinary, passionate, and devastating. And Lean Fall Stand by Jon McGregor — a man suffers a catastrophic brain injury while in Antarctica. Riveting, humane, and simply superb.

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