The 40 most exciting books to look forward to in 2026

Social media comes under the spotlight in Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear – which is already being turned into a film starring Anne Hathaway. She’ll play Natalie, a successful tradwife influencer who one days wakes up in the past, and is forced to live the reality of the “old-fashioned” lifestyle she’s built her career promoting.

The Dial Press, Penguin Press, Doubleday

6. Poignant true stories

Marriage is the focus of some of this year’s most anticipated memoirs too.

Belle Burden’s Strangers is based on a viral New York Times Modern Love essay and charts the collapse of a 20-year marriage during the pandemic. Siri Hustvedt’s Ghost Stories is a moving account of the 43 years spent with her husband, the late writer Paul Auster.

One of the biggest publishing stories of the year will be Gisèle Pelicot’s A Hymn to Life, out in February. In December 2024 Pelicot’s husband and 50 other men were convicted of her rape and sexual assault. Her decision to speak out and insist that “shame must change sides” made her a symbol of strength around the world, and her story promises to be a difficult but powerful read.

Other memoirs hitting the shelves in 2026 include Lena Dunham’s Famesick, a “frank, deeply personal reflection on illness, fame, sex and everything in between”, and Liza Minnelli’s Kids, Wait Until You Hear This!

Finally, one of 2026’s non-fiction highlights is sure to be the new title from Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Say Nothing and Empire of Pain. Like those books, London Falling is an expansion of a New Yorker article, this time about the tragic death of 19-year-old Zac Brettler, who fell from a luxury London apartment into the River Thames. As always with Radden Keefe, there’s much more to the story than first appears. 

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