The year isn’t yet through, but already our “best books of 2026” list is brimming with titles that have got people talking – both online and over martinis. From Caro Claire Burke’s divisive and wildly inventive , to Patrick Radden Keefe’s masterclass in non-fiction storytelling, , to Josh Silver’s darkly funny , 2026 has shaped up to be a bumper year for big, buzzy reads and page-turners to get lost in.
On the hunt for something to get stuck into? Below, discover British ’s pick of the best books of 2026 so far.
Patrick Radden Keefe is easily one of this generation’s best and most thorough non-fiction writers – though if you’ve read his award-winning 2021 exposé, Empire of Pain, about OxyContin and the opioid crisis, then you already knew that. follows the story of Zac Brettler, a 19-year-old who fell to his death from an apartment in 2019 after secretly posing as the son of a billionaire Russian oligarch, and his parents’ quest to uncover the truth. Empathetic, exhaustive and utterly gripping, this one will stay with you for ages.
London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
You’ve probably already seen this one on the Windrush line, your friends’ Instagram stories and peeping out of handbags in and around the smoking areas of Southeast London. It’s amassed a buzz for a reason: from its first few pages, Josh Silver’s is propulsive, knowing and wickedly funny. If you needed further convincing, here’s the premise: a once-lauded literary sensation, Mallory, has spent seven years with writer’s block. Convinced that “gay, sad, and dark” is what publishers want, she opens a Grindr account using a photo of her sleeping husband. Enter: Leo, a young homeless gay guy and drug addict who is also – Mallory decides – about to become the subject of her next novel. Just a bit unhinged, then.
Fruit Fly by Josh Silver
I Want You To Be Happy by Jem Calder
If you’re in your 20s or 30s and live in London, then Jem Calder’s I Want You To Be Happy will probably hit uncomfortably close to home (its eye-catching cover has phrases like “star sign compatibility”, “warehouse conversion” and “natural wine” plastered across it, all of which are oddly triggering). The novel follows an age-gap relationship between two people just trying to make it work (Chuck is a 35-year-old copywriter at an ad agency, Joey is a 23-year-old barista living pay cheque to pay cheque). British fashion writer Olivia Allen’s response to reading this book? “I have never had an original experience.”
I Want You To Be Happy by Jem Calder
The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray
If there’s one book I keep recommending to people over and over again, it’s The Make-Believe by Hannah Murray (who you’ll probably know as Cassie from or Gilly from ). In her vivid, honest and often quite funny prose, Murray traces how one energy healing session led to her becoming increasingly involved in an international “wellness” cult, which ultimately triggered a psychotic episode linked to her diagnosed bipolar disorder. “I’d been through this big experience, and couldn’t stop thinking about it,” Murray told British earlier this year. It’s a book you’ll inhale in a couple of sittings.
I’m a high-key fan of reading holiday-adjacent books while on holiday, and the latest from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Andrew Sean Greer, set in a tumbledown mansion in the Tuscan hills, is exactly the sort of thing one should tuck into their cabin luggage. The book follows a young man, broke and directionless, who takes a job as an all-purpose assistant to the “strong-willed, wealthy widow” Lisabetta, better known as “Coco”. His duties are vast and sprawling, from entertaining an endless carousal of bohemian guests to attending a funeral in order to make off with the urn. A gorgeous, glistening read that’ll make you want to catch a train to Tuscany immediately.
Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Grear
Have you ever wanted to know why a couple might divorce two decades into an apparently perfect marriage? The writer of this memoir, Belle Burden, does too – her marriage and its breakdown, which she dissects in beautiful, devastating detail in this buzzy memoir set against the affluent backdrop of Martha’s Vineyard summer houses and country club memberships. If you want a preview before committing, it’s worth reading her viral Modern Love essay, Was I Married To A Stranger?, published in the back in 2023. Though it’s non-fiction, reads with all the momentum and colour of watertight literary fiction.
Strangers by Belle Burden
Love it or hate, Caro Claire Burke’s is a wild ride – and exactly the sort of thing that’ll get book clubs arguing (for the record, I’m in the former camp). For the uninitiated: Natalie is a trad-wife influencer, living on a farm with her perfect kids and all-American cowboy husband. And then, in a wicked twist of events, she wakes up one morning in what appears to be her life, except… It’s the 1800s. Gripping, addictive, timely and darkly funny, there’s a reason has already been passed around the office multiple times. It’s also already being adapted into a movie starring Anne Hathaway, who gets a thank you in the acknowledgements.
Yesteryear By Caro Claire Burke
Rom-coms in book form are a dime-a-dozen, but, for the most part, it’s a genre that can at times lean towards “trashy airport read”. Not so much with from former columnist Annie Lord, whose debut novel – a smart, funny, poignant read following 26-year-old Londoner Daisy and her best mate Maya as they attempt to reinvent modern dating by turning one of their straight male friends into an ideal partner – feels like a refreshing progression of the form. Don’t be fooled, though – it’s still an addictive page-turner. If you’re a fan of Lord’s other work – either from reading her columns, or her debut book – you’ll surely devour this one
The Project by Annie Lord
An instant bestseller upon release in February, was one of the first hype-y books of the year. Unlike so many (too many?) books about open relationships right now, instead focusses on the three Flynn daughters, whose have recently opened their marriage – with disastrous consequences. But, there’s more: one of the daughters is in communication with an online terrorist, the other is dating an older ex-soldier and the youngest is being sent to a wilderness camp for troubled youths. Dysfunctional and comedic in equal measure, delivers a fresh new voice in oddball packaging.
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash
Everyone knows that Lena Dunham is a fantastic writer – she’s written plenty of times for this very magazine – but until , we hadn’t been blessed with a book from the director, actor and author since 2014’s Not That Kind Of Girl. It was worth the wait – it’s probably her best written work to date. Set primarily in the 2010s, at the height of Dunham’s notoriety, is a deft exploration of how the creator’s health issues have intersected with her life in the spotlight. “We live in, for lack of a better word, an ableist, capitalist world, where your ability to produce is so connected to the idea of your worth,” she told British . A must-read!
Famesick by Lena Dunham
The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste by Ione Gamble
If you, too, have a short attention span (who doesn’t), then this book of immensely readable, whipsmart essays – essentially a love letter to “bad taste” – from the team behind is well worth a read. From a confessional tribute to mainstream pop culture like The X Factor to a deep-dive into the joys of Poundland, The Polyester Book of (Bad) Taste feels like an antidote to an era in which we’re being constantly told what to like and dislike via influencers and algorithms. With contributions from the likes of founder Tavi Gevinson, food writer Angela Hui and author and contributor Yomi Adegoke among others, there’s much to dive into. One to pick up and put down at your will.
The Polyester Book Of (Bad) Taste by Ione Gamble
This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin
Daniyal Mueenuddin’s debut short story collection, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders, won the Story Prize and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize, the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize – so, kind of a big deal? This Is Where the Serpent Lives is his first ever novel. It’s described as painting “a powerful portrait of contemporary feudal Pakistan, and a farm on which the destinies of a dozen unforgettable characters are linked through violence and love, resilience, and tragedy”. All the makings of a classic.
