Book Lists.

based on real people

The Girls by Emma Cline
The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
The Rapture by Claire McGlasson
See What I Have Done by Sarah Schmidt
People Like Them by Samira Sedira 
Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

bookish themed books

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams 
Bookworm by Lucy Mangan
The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami
Dear Reader by Cathy Rentzenbrink
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
Snowflake by Louise Nealon
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
Everything You Ever Wanted by Luiza Sauma

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
Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

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
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

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

historical but so relevant

The Leviathan by Rosie Andrews
The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory
Things in Jars by Jess Kidd
The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
Circe by Madeline Miller
The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

LGBTQ+ stories

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
That Green Eyed Girl by Julie Owen Moylan
Home Stretch by Graham Norton
Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
Tin Man by Sarah Winman

love stories (that aren’t cheesy)

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
This Lovely City by Louise Hare 
Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
Normal People by Sally Rooney
The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea

memoirs with a message

No Shame by Tom Allen
Manifesto: On Never Giving Up by Bernardine Evaristo
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
Educated by Tara Westover

motherhood – the ups & downs

The Push by Ashley Audrain
I Am Not Your Baby Mother by Candice Brathwaite
Magpie by Elizabeth Day
Little Darlings by Melanie Golding
The Foundling by Stacey Halls
Trying by Emily Phillips
Why Mummy Swears by Gill Sims
Little Bandaged Days by Kyra Wilder

murder mystery marvels

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 Murder of Graham Catton by Katie Lowe
The Chalk Man by C J Tudor
Beast by Matt Wesolowski

older characters aged 60+

Three Things About Elsie by Joanna Cannon
Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
The Weekend by Charlotte Wood

psychological & tense

The Body Lies by Jo Baker
Girl A by Abigail Dean
Fragile by Sarah Hilary
Good Me Bad Me by Ali Land
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

set in brighton

The Second Wife by Rebecca Fleet
The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths
Brighton Rock by Graham Greene
Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan
The Brighton Mermaid by Dorothy Koomson
I Know What You’ve Done by Dorothy Koomson

set in ireland

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

set in london

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

set in scotland

The Cut by Chris Brookmyre
Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone
The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea
Pine by Francine Toon

short stories

The Mistletoe Murder and other stories by P.D. James
Dubliners by James Joyce
Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
Send Nudes by Saba Sams

social media themed

How Do You Like Me Now? by Holly Bourne
The Echo Chamber by John Boyne
People Like Her by Ellery Lloyd
Adults by Emma Jane Unsworth
Underbelly by Anna Whitehouse

thrilling thrillers

The Castaways by Lucy Clarke
Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
Changeling by Matt Wesolowski

time-travel themed

Time in my Pocket by Gina Dewink
Space Hopper by Helen Fisher
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Impossible by Sarah Lotz
Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister
Come Again by Robert Webb

tear-jerkers

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

translated tales

Grown Ups by Marie Aubert (Norwegian)
The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos (French)
Arsène Lupin, Gentleman Thief by Maurice Leblanc (French)
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Japanese)
There’s No Such Thing as an Easy Job by Kikuko Tsumura (Japanese)
Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun (Korean)

twins as lead characters

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Mirrorland by Carole Johnstone
The Metal Heart by Caroline Lea
The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

which witch?

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton
The Lighthouse Witches by C. J. Cooke
The Familiars by Stacey Halls
The Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea