9 Most Anticipated Books of 2017

After the political and social disaster that was last year, I think 2017 is trying to be good to us by giving us plenty of new literature to stick our noses into.

There are some big names hitting bookshelves over the next twelve months, as well as fresh faces gracing our Amazon wishlists with their debut novels. I’ve picked out nine of the best-looking books due to be released this year, in chronological order.

 

1. FALSE FRIEND BY ANDREW GRANT

The Brummie author of Run and Die Twice, Andrew Grant, is helping us kick off 2017 with the second installment of the Cooper Devereaux series, a collection of mystery thriller books about the Alabama detective. The first in the series, False Positive, was full of twists and turns with a completely unpredictable ending; its sequel promises much of the same, with equal levels of drama.

 

2. LINES IN THE SAND: COLLECTED JOURNALISM BY A.A. GILL

Journalist and author with wit so sharp you could cut yourself on it, the late A.A. Gill was described as ‘a giant among journalists’. Lines in the Sand is being released in early February and contains tales of a man whose mockery held no boundaries (including a hilarious-sounding story about his visit to Donald Trump’s university) and who continued to write funny and rich anecdotes for the more satirical amongst us to enjoy.

 

3. Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

King of fantasy Neil Gaiman is treating us this year with his own telling of ancient Norse myths, which he weaves into refreshing new versions of difficult and somewhat outdated tales. The book investigates nine Norse fantasies, which contain everything from the hammer-wielding god Thor to elves and spirits. Having delved into this kind of ancient storytelling before, Gaiman promises to be on top form with Norse Mythology, giving us adventurous tales from a world unfamiliar to us.

 

4. The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne

John Boyne, author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and A History of Loneliness, is once again pulling at our heartstrings this year with The Heart’s Invisible Furies, a story about Cyril, an illegitimate child born in 1940s Ireland to an outcast teenager. Wound up in confusion and unforgiving Catholicism, Cyril has to find himself in a country that is struggling to do much the same.

 

5. Carnivalesque by Neil Jordan

Film director and screenwriter Neil Jordan is again dabbling in prose-writing after the success of his 2016 novel The Drowned Detective. Carnivalesque tells the story of a somewhat unusual carnival that takes people from the grasps of reality and delivers copies of them to live their lives. If you lost sleep over Coraline, this promises to really creep you out.

 

6. The Unaccompanied: Poems by Simon Armitage

It’s been a while since we had any new material from Simon Armitage, and the poems on the GCSE syllabus are looking a bit dusty. Luckily, The Unaccompanied is the answer to all our prayers. It’s a collection that characterises Britain through its people, using hints of satire, and could not have come at a better time – it carries the threat of a society on the brink of throwing a tantrum, which could not be more appropriate for the UK going into 2017.

 

7. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

Paula Hawkins has been all over everywhere recently, since the film adaptation of her best-selling novel The Girl on the Train hit our screens in late September. Hawkins is back with Into the Water, a psychological thriller following a girl who, following the murder of her mother, is forced to live with her aunt in a house which haunts her. This book guarantees to be as nail-biting and intense as Hawkins’ highly acclaimed The Girl on the Train.

 

8. The Tale of Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien

I don’t even need to acknowledge how brilliant and successful J.R.R. Tolkien is in the literary world – if you don’t know the name, close this page right now. Tolkien is published posthumously once more from his most famous fictional world, Middle-Earth, and telling the love story of Beren and Lúthien, who have been introduced previously in The Lord of the Rings.

 

9. Men Without Women by Haruki Murakami

Men Without Women is a collection of seven short stories by Haruki Murakami, author of Norwegian Wood. It tells quaint and delicate tales of men who, through various circumstances, are alone. Murakami described it as a collection about isolation, and uses an all-male narrative to convey this.