The best new books to read in November 2024
Tick off your reading list with these great new books
Ah, the penultimate month of the year. If you find yourself asking where 2024 has gone, you’re not the only one. But now – with just 60 days until 2025 – is not the time to start making excuses for not sticking to those New Year’s resolutions or personal aspirations you committed to way back when. If finally getting through your reading list was one, and it’s been forced to take a backseat recently, it’s time to shake things up. Here are the best new books to read in November, from crime thrillers to political novels.
The Lake of Lost Girls by Katherine Greene
By the author of All Good People, Katherine Greene continues her thrilling crime writing streak with a twisty tale of a missing student and her sister who is desperate for answers. Written in alternating timelines and using suspenseful podcast clips to weave the narrative, step back in time to 1998 when a university in North Carolina experiences a spate of student disappearances, including the fun and intelligent Jessica Fadley. Two decades later, Jessica’s sister Lindsey continues searching for answers via a new true crime podcast – and almost as soon as she asks for the podcast host’s help, bodies begin turning up at a local lake, which leads Lindsey down a disturbing road of discovery…
Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez
The highly-anticipated conclusion to New York Times bestselling What the River Knows, Ibañez’ latest instalment is an immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt and filled with adventure and romance. Set in 1885, protagonist Inez Olivera is reeling from her cousin’s murder and her mother’s betrayal, when she’s delivered an ultimatum about her inheritance: marry her nemesis or be cut off. With everything on the line, does Inez have to sacrifice her life for money? Find out on 7 November.
The Proof of My Innocence by Jonathan Coe
Combining true crime, politics and coming-of-age themes, Jonathan Coe’s latest novel is as funny as it is poignant. When literature graduate Phyl moves back home with her parents, she soon finds herself frustrated by life in the country. She feels her ambitions to be a writer are pretty much down the pan until she visits family friend and journalist, Chris, who divulges that he’s working on such a political story so it explosive it could threaten his life once published – and it’s not long until Phyl gets involved. Darting between decades and genres, The Proof of My Innocence is a sharp and witty story by one of Britain’s finest living novelists that you certainly won’t want to miss.
Fire by John Boyne
From the acclaimed author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Heart’s Invisible Furies, Fire is a forensic, analytic study of a cruel woman, and questions whether she can be blamed for her actions. On the face of it, Freya is wealthy, privileged, career-driven and pretty comfortable, but behind closed doors she is miserable and, above all, horrible to everyone she meets. As Boyne digs deeper into her childhood, he allows his reader to question what influence her disturbing childhood has had on her personality – was she always destined to be that person, and was she born with cruelty in her heart? We can guarantee this moving 176-page novella will get your mind whirring, and you won’t be able to put it down.
City of Laughter by Temim Fruchter
Spanning four generations of Eastern European Jewish women bound by blood and secrets over the course of 100 years, City of Laughter is centred around young queer woman Shiva, who is in the midst of recovering from her first heartbreak while grieving her beloved dad. She’s desperate to get away from guarded mother, and, as a student of Jewish folklore, jumps at the opportunity to visit Ropshitz in Poland – once known as the City of Laughter. Little does she know that the trip will help her uncover family mysteries as she walks unwittingly in the footsteps of her great-grandmother, Mira, who no one talks about. Riveting and intimate, this is a delicate family portrait that touches every emotion.
Waiting for a Party by Vesna Main
One glance at 92-year-old Claire Meadows, a retired piano teacher, and it would be hard to suspect she had anything to hide. But as she reflects on her life, while waiting to be taken to a 102nd birthday party of a friend, she looks back on her marriage to Bill, determining to be a happy time despite the fact he cheated on her many times. While her life ambition to become a mother slowly faded away as months passed without any luck and, when years later she discovered it wasn’t her fault, she reminisces about embarked on her own string of relationships. Posing big questions with even bigger answers, Waiting for a Party is witty, fun and reaffirms the notion that we only live once – and should make it count.
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