2024 – My favourite ten novels

The past year has been a year in which I have read many good books and it is now my self-imposed task to whittle these down to just a few for a review of the year.

Today I am publishing my list of the ten novels which I read in the year that I most enjoyed – it’s a totally subjective opinion and is about how I felt when I read the book. I have included only those books which were new to me in the year and which are not part of an ongoing series where I have already read some titles.

I note that there is a wide variety in genres in my selection but that was not intentional and I have also not made any ranking of the ten.

If you click on the title of the book below it will take you to my review of the novel.

I highly recommend all these books – I shall be very satisfied if I read novels of this quality next year as well.

My next blog should list the ten non-fiction books I most enjoyed.

• A Killer in King’s Cove by Iona Whishaw – The first in a series of crime novels set in post WW2 Canada. Great fun but also tackles important social issues as the series progresses.

• A Nest of Magpies by Sybil Marshall – The first in a series of novels set in East Anglia. Beautifully written and evoking an English way of life and class of the past.

• Crow Lake by Mary Lawson – Literary fiction set in Canada. The story of a broken family which is brilliantly examined.

• The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene – A modern classic. One man struggles with his conscience and his soul.

• The Iron Princess by Barbara Hambly – A fantasy adventure novel. Great fun but also tackles a few moral issues.

• The Long Way to a Small and Angry Planet by Becky Chambers – Science fiction and the first in a set of connected novels. Funny and touching and very cleverly done as the author explores the issue of identity and belonging.

• Obsidian by Thomas King – A crime novel which is one of a series. One man searches for the killers of mostly forgotten women in the American desert.

• Precipice by Robert Harris – An historical novel. About the political build up to WW2 but actually a story of love and loss.

• The Survivors by Jane Harper – A stand-alone crime novel set in Australia. A brilliant portrayal of how the past can affect the present. The only book I appear not to have reviewed but I enjoyed it immensely as things which happened in the past in a coastal town in Australia affect relationships and attitudes in the present.

• The Voyage Home by Pat Barker – A retelling of a Greek myth. One of a series of connecting books which centre on the women in the stories. This one talks about revenge and betrayal.