based on real people

The Girls by Emma Cline
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Rapture by Claire McGlasson
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

bookish themed books

The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman

celebrity authors (who are great!)

Never Greener by Ruth Jones
A Keeper by Graham Norton
Come Again by Robert Webb

contemporary female characters

How Do You Like Me Now? by Holly Bourne
In at the Deep End by Kate Davies
Olive by Emma Gannon
So Lucky by Dawn O’Porter
Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth

deadpan dreams

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

debut delights

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie
The House Swap by Rebecca Fleet
The Rules of Seeing by Joe Heap
Himself by Jess Kidd
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

dystopian & spookily accurate

The Power by Naomi Alderman
Vox by Christina Dalcher
Last Ones Left Alive by Sarah Davis-Goff
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

gothic gems

The Lost Ones by Anita Frank
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Corset by Laura Purcell

feel-good stories

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

historical but so relevant

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

irish authors

Dubliners by James Joyce
The Break by Marian Keyes
Scenes of a Graphic Nature by Caroline O’Donoghue
Normal People by Sally Rooney

memoirs with a message

This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay
The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein
Becoming by Michelle Obama
How Not to be a Boy by Robert Webb

murder mysteries – the good ones

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
The Colour of Bee Larkham’s Murder by Sarah J. Harris
The Chalk Man by C J Tudor
Beast by Matt Wesolowski

older characters aged 60+

Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

psychological & tense

The Body Lies by Jo Baker
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

set in london

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers
Through the Wall by Caroline Corcoran
White Teeth by Zadie Smith

tear-jerkers

The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
Tin Man by Sarah Winman

which witch?

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton
The Familiars by Stacey Halls
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave