The nights are cold, the days are dark — but escape is just a few pages away in 2023’s most exciting new books. In the new year, some favourite authors return with new work, while debuts usher in a fresh generation of literary talent. Meanwhile, independent publishers remain committed to bringing brilliant works in translation to English readers and, in non-fiction, furious, moving and transformative books are pushing much-needed conversations forward.
Below, we’ve highlighted some of the thrilling new stories coming to an independent bookshop or library near you in 2023.
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New voices
The winner of the Merky Books New Writers’ Prize, Jyoti Patel uncovers family secrets in her tender debut novel, The Things That We Lost, which follows a grief-stricken family as they fall apart and back together in the wake of loss. A difficult past is also explored in Cecile Pin’s Wandering Souls, a heartbreaking novel about Vietnamese siblings who arrive as refugees to Thatcher’s Britain. Chronicling the family’s life right up until the present day, it’s a deeply affecting reckoning with history. A more wry exploration of grief is Wenyan Lu’s The Funeral Cryer, about a professional mourner in rural China. Oscillating between tragedy and comedy, Wenyan’s novel is a refreshing perspective on mourning, as well as a moving tale of a social outcast.
Set in New York City in the 60s, Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery is sublime. A teenage girl is hired as Andy Warhol’s typist in this irreverent coming-of-age tale about the perils of artistic voyeurism. Meanwhile, Jen Calleja takes on the verse novel with Vehicle. Following a group of scholars on the run in an authoritarian society, this inventive debut of speculative fiction demonstrates the power of looking to the past. Owlish by Dorothy Tse (translated by Natascha Bruce and republished by Fitzcarraldo Editions) offers a similarly crucial perspective on art under oppressive regimes. Set in an alternate universe Hong Kong, a professor falls for an antique doll that comes to life in this brilliantly unsettling fairytale.
If you want some drama in your reading life, The Three of Us by Ore Agbaje-Williams is a witty comedy of manners about a wife, a husband and a best friend. Relationships fracture over the course of a single day as ambition, wealth and integrity are weaponized for personal gain. Another novel of intriguing rivalries is Alice Slater’s Death of a Bookseller. Two booksellers find themselves playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse in this delicious study of obsession. The wealthy elite succumb to the consequences of their privilege in Sarah Thomas’ meticulously crafted thriller Queen K. Set on a luxury yacht, a young tutor enters the glamorous world of the super rich and is soon treading dangerous waters.
Books in translation
Thanks to the work of independent publishers, the number of books being translated — and celebrated — is increasing in the UK. Charo Press brings the best of contemporary Latin American fiction to English readers. Next year they publish Two Sherpas by Sebastián Martínez Daniell (translated by Jennifer Croft). This innovative novel set on Mount Everest explores colonialism with a dazzling, bird’s eye perspective. Tilted Axis is another publisher introducing us to the best of world literature, and their collection No Edges will bring an array of Swahili fiction to English readers for the first time, with vibrant stories from East African writers.
The feminist film journal, Another Gaze, is stepping into publishing with The Sky is Falling by Marguerite Waldman, first published in 1962. The Italian novel has previously been out of print in the UK, and a rich, new translation by Livia Franchini will bring this coming-of-age story, set during the country’s 20th century fascist regime, to new readers. Another subversive historical novel is The Spectres of Algeria by Hwang Yeo Jung (translated by Yewon Jung). Published by Honford Star, this Korean novel follows a group of playwrights who commit the radical act of distributing a play by Karl Marx during South Korea’s military dictatorship. The dazzling novel is a testimony to both the devastating consequences and utter absurdity of censorship.
A powerful work of autofiction, Voyager by Nona Fernández (translated by Natasha Wimmer), reckons with the Chilean author’s past and her mother’s illness through astronomy and astrology. Also set among the stars — although featuring more monsters and aliens — is a new collection of short stories from the beloved Mexican author Yuri Herrera. Ten Planets (translated by Lisa Dillman) is bold, philosophical science fiction. Another cherished author known for unsettling fiction is Han Kang, who wrote the award-winning The Vegetarian. She’s back with a new spellbinding novel, Greek Lessons (translated by Deborah Smith and Emily Yae Won), about a tender relationship that blossoms between a student and her Greek tutor.
Real life
A thrillingly diverse array of non-fiction is arriving in 2023 too. Harry Nicholas’ memoir A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar recounts Harry’s experience of navigating gay culture as a trans gay man with unflinching candor, exploring what it means to hold multiple identities. Meanwhile, Hijab Butch Blues is a moving reconciliation of identity and faith. Drawing on stories from the Quran, Lamya H asks what it means to be a queer, devout Muslim today. Black Girl from Pyongyang tells Monica Macias’ extraordinary family story of being sent from West Africa to North Korea as a child. She embarks on a journey searching for her roots, from Beijing to Guinea. Another exquisite travelogue published this year is How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart, an essay-length memoir by Florentyna Leow about her time working as a tour guide in the Japanese city.
The bestselling author of How to Do Nothing, Jenny Odell, returns with another urgent examination of modern life. Saving Time asks why we’re self-governing ourselves with clocks that are destroying our health, society and planet. Disempowerment as a consequence of capitalism is also interrogated in Sophie K. Rosa’s Radical Intimacy. From the wellness industry and state violence to rampant racism and unsustainable productivity, Sophie implores us to transcend our unfair social structures to instead compassionately reconnect with one another. Meanwhile, founder of the Reproductive Justice Initiative, Dr Annabel Sowemimo tackles the need to decolonise healthcare in Divided, an illuminating and powerful intersectional analysis of health inequalities and racism.
What do we do with the art of bad men? Claire Dederer addresses this fan dilemma head on in the punchy and sharp Monsters. Exploring her own relationship to art made by shitty men, the book moves beyond tedious cancel culture discourse to interrogate ethics, art and fandom with nuance and compassion. Another book of clever cultural criticism, Away From Beloved Lover tells the history of rock music in Cambodia. Author Dee Peyok travels across the country, searching for the musicians who were killed during the Khmer Rouge genocide and discovering those who escaped. Poet Amy Key takes Joni Mitchell’s album Blue to frame her own life in her deeply moving memoir, Arrangements in Blue. A study of love — platonic and romantic, lost and found — Amy’s memoir demonstrates the power of music on forming a self.
New fictions
Sophie Mackintosh wins best 2023 book title with her third novel Cursed Bread. Inspired by a true story of poisonous baked goods, this is a thrilling and subversive fable about a community that tears itself apart. One of the UK’s finest speculative fiction authors, Martin MacInnes, returns with a new novel, In Ascension, in which a marine biologist descends into the Atlantic Ocean, seeking the first forms of life on Earth. What she discovers in the murky depths will change everything in this searching, ambitious epic. 2023 also sees Malaysian author and Man Asian Literary Prize winner, Tan Twan Eng’s first novel in 12 years. Set in Penang in the 20s, The House of Doors is a sweeping story of love and loss that tackles British and Asian colonial history through a colourful cast of characters.
A new graphic novel, Men I Trust by Tommi Parrish, renders the messiness of modern life into vivid, gorgeous art. A single parent and a sex worker strike up an intimate friendship in this singular story, told through bold figures and atmospheric splashes. Chaotic modernity is also narrated with astute clarity in Bridget van der Zijpp’s new novel. Leaving behind her past to run away to Berlin, the narrator of I Laugh Me Broken descends into a personal spiral in the city as she becomes undone.
Max Porter also returns with Shy, a short novel that packs a punch. The mind of a teenage boy bursts across the page as he escapes from a home for “disturbed young men” and ventures into the night. Empathetic and energetic, it’s a furious damnation of modern Britain. And so too is Guy Gunaratne’s imaginative Mister Mister. In this provocative novel, a Syrian man finds himself in a UK detention centre after going viral for his incendiary remarks about Britain. After the runaway success of Open Water, Caleb Azumah Nelson is publishing his follow up, Small Worlds. Set between England and Ghana, this poetic tale follows a young man discovering who he is: as a dancer, as a son and on his own terms.