10 exciting books to look out for in 2024

In this assured and deft debut, Williams presents both a domestic story about a family on the edge of destruction, as well as a story about nature and the seasons. Tess and Richard move from London to the countryside to raise their ‘rainbow twins’, one of whom presents as Black, and the other as white. Told from different and overlapping perspectives, The House of Broken Bricks is both poetic and heartbreaking.

The House of Broken Bricks is published in January 2024.

Greta and Valdin has been a runaway success in New Zealand, and it’s sure to have the same impact in the UK when it is published in 2024. Greta and Valdin are siblings living together in young adulthood, navigating their individual doomed relationships with the help of their Maori-Russian-Catalonian family. Valdin is still in love with his ex-boyfriend who has moved countries, and Greta is in love with fellow English tutor Holly, who seems to be using her to assist with her workload. Told in wry, warm prose, this is a story about family units, migration and being over-dramatic.

Greta and Valdin is published in the UK in February 2024.

Ko’s novel begins in the 1980s and takes us all the way into the 2040s as it charts the friendship between three Asian-American creatives. The teenage Giselle, Jackie and Ellen promise one another that they will develop their artistry into adulthood, which comes up against challenges like surveillance, gentrification and social codes that they previously couldn’t dream of. A keen look at the move from the pre-digital era to the age of technology, Memory Piece is as ambitious as it is innovative.

Memory Piece is published in March 2024.

Set in 1980s Bristol, Fast by the Horns looks at the impact of violence, council neglect and injustice within a tight-knit community. 14-year-old Jabari is proud of his Rastafari faith and how he is the only son of respected community leader Ras Levi, but finds himself pushed in other directions when a local activist is arrested. Jabari and Ras Levi must reckon with each other as outside forces threaten their former safety in each other in this searing look at place and faith.

Fast by the Horns is published in May 2024.

Set between Belfast and Liverpool, Walsh’s debut examines the nuances of moving cities and returning again, as well as the devastating impact of sexual assault. Fiadh moves to Liverpool to study, but finds herself up against unexpected challenges that she has no guidance for. Returning to her native Belfast for Christmas, she feels isolated from her friends and family until one night out changes everything. Exile is a beautifully-rendered debut that examines what it means to self-destruct.

Exile is published in May 2024.

The Ministry of Time is a wildly original ride that asks the important question, how horny can a speculative fiction novel be? Told over space and time, Bradley’s debut is at once an outrageously fun comedy while also providing keen analyses on the nature of colonialism, power and bureaucracy. In the near future, a civil servant known only as ‘the bridge’ is tasked with looking after time expat Commander Gore, a man who technically died in 1845. The bridge and Gore navigate the trials of modern life, including Tinder, Spotify and the collapse of the British Empire, surrounded by a cast of extremely loveable characters. One not to miss.

The Ministry of Time is published in June 2024.

Told over three days across six decades, Kalia’s debut is a moving and often very funny portrait of a family in transit – both physically and emotionally. Bedi and Sushma move from India and Kenya to England, hopeful that they can find happiness and hope with each other and in a new land. As they raise their three children, they find themselves still searching as they battle with their internal emotions as well as their inherited family issues.

A Person Is A Prayer is published in June 2024.

From the author of the modern queer masterpieces salt slow and Our Wives Under the Sea, Private Rites is a stunning novel about the end of the world. It has been raining for as long as anyone can remember, and yet the drudgery of life and work goes on for most people. Sisters Isla, Irene and Agnes learn of the death of their estranged father, a man who has assisted with the reformation of infrastructure during the earth’s ecological collapse. Taking inspiration from Shakespeare’s King Lear, Armfield has her characters reckon with the nature of legacy and inheritance on a dying planet.

Private Rites is published in June 2024.

The hotly-anticipated third offering from the author of Boy Parts and Penance is a collection of short stories, due from Faber in the autumn. Clark has gained a reputation for her smart prose, and these stories will only cement her as one of Britain’s brightest young talents. Featuring tales about a mysterious yet carnivalesque takeaway and a diet ‘hack’ of ingesting tapeworms, She’s Always Hungry will shock, surprise and satisfy you (in that order). 

She’s Always Hungry is published in November 2024.