{"id":5053,"date":"2025-12-07T02:44:39","date_gmt":"2025-12-07T02:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5053"},"modified":"2025-12-07T02:44:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T02:44:39","slug":"15-best-books-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/?p=5053","title":{"rendered":"15 Best Books of 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>2025 was another stunning year for literature. Of the hundreds of new fiction books here are our favorite  novels of the year. Enjoy the 15 Best Books of 2025!<\/p>\n<p><em>This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.<\/em><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">15 Best Books of 2025<\/h2>\n<div class=\"simpletoc wp-block-simpletoc-toc\">\n<h2><button class=\"simpletoc-collapsible\">Table of Contents<span class=\"simpletoc-icon\"><\/span><\/button><\/h2>\n<div class=\"simpletoc-content\">\n<a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#15-best-books-of-2025\">15 Best Books of 2025<\/a>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#endling-by-maria-reva\">Endling by Maria Reva<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#seascraper-by-benjamin-wood\">Seascraper by Benjamin Wood<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#lost-souls-meet-under-a-full-moon-by-mizuki-tsujimura\">Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#ordinary-saints-by-niamh-ni-mhaoileoin\">Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#muckle-flugga-by-michael-pedersen\">Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#the-director-by-daniel-kelmann\">The Director by Daniel Kelmann<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#death-of-an-author-by-nnedi-okorafor\">Death of an Author by Nnedi Okorafor<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#the-original-by-nell-stevens\">The Original by Nell Stevens<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#tilt-by-emma-pattee\">Tilt by Emma Pattee<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#strange-pictures-by-uketsu\">Strange Pictures by Uketsu<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#flesh-by-david-szalay\">Flesh by David Szalay<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#isola-by-allegra-goodman\">Isola by Allegra Goodman<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#a-room-above-a-shop-by-anthony-shapland\">A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#three-days-in-june-by-anne-tyler\">Three Days in June by Anne Tyler<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/15-best-books-of-2025#the-eleventh-hour-by-salman-rushdie\">The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Endling by Maria Reva<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/47OCVbC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> |<a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DMaria%2520Reva%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DEndling\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a maverick scientist who scours the country\u2019s forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails while her relatives urge her to settle down and start a family of her own. What they don\u2019t know: Yeva already dates plenty of men-not for love, but to fund her work-entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they\u2019ll find docile brides untainted by feminism.<\/p>\n<p>Nastia and her sister, Solomiya, are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother, who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours.<\/p>\n<p>So begins a journey of a lifetime across a country on the brink of war: three angry women, a truckful of kidnapped bachelors, and Lefty, a last-of-his-kind snail with one final shot at perpetuating his species.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Seascraper by Benjamin Wood<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ooXi65\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DBenjamin%2520Wood%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DSeascraper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thomas lives a slow, deliberate life with his mother in Longferry, working his grandpa\u2019s trade as a shanker. He rises early to take his horse and cart to the grey, gloomy beach to scrape for shrimp; spending the rest of the day selling his wares, trying to wash away the salt and scum, pining for Joan Wyeth down the street and rehearsing songs on his guitar. At heart, he is a folk musician, but it remains a private dream.<\/p>\n<p>When a striking visitor turns up, bringing the promise of Hollywood glamour, Thomas is shaken from the drudgery of his days and begins to see a different future. But how much of what the American claims is true, and how far can his inspiration carry Thomas?<\/p>\n<p>Haunting and timeless, this is the story of a young man hemmed in by his circumstances, striving to achieve fulfilment far beyond the world he knows.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/47EgNjX\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DMizuki%2520Tsujimura%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DLost%2520Souls%2520Meet%2520Under%2520a%2520Full%2520Moon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When Hirase, a young woman from Tokyo, arranges an appointment with the Go-Between, she doesn\u2019t expect a teenager to show up. Dressed preppy-style in a duffel coat and carrying a notebook, he invites the dead back into the real world \u2013 at least, this is what Hirase has pieced together from his website page.<\/p>\n<p>Ushered into a luxury hotel to await her meeting, the Go-Between lays down the ground-rules: the reunion lasts one evening under a full moon; the dead person cannot be called back by anyone else, and may refuse to meet.<\/p>\n<p>With each gripping story, clues are scattered like gems for the reader to piece together the emotional truth behind Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Ordinary Saints by Niamh Ni Mhaoileoin<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/480heGC\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DNiamh%2520Ni%2520Mhaoileoin%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DOrdinary%2520Saints\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Brought up in a devout household in Ireland, Jay is now living in London with her girlfriend, determined to live day to day and not think too much about either the future or the past. But when she learns that her beloved older brother, who died in a terrible accident, may be made into a Catholic saint, she realises she must at last confront her family, her childhood and herself . . .<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the author\u2019s own devout upbringing, Ordinary Saints is a brilliant debut novel from a fresh, exciting new voice which asks \u2013 who gets to decide how we are remembered \u2013 and who we will become?<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Muckle Flugga by Michael Pedersen<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\n<\/p><p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4lP68YO\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DMichael%2520Pedersen%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DMuckle%2520Flugga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Life on a remote island is turned upside down by a stranger\u2019s arrival, testing bonds of family and tradition and leaving a young dreamer\u2019s future hanging in the balance.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s no ordinary existence on the rugged isle of Muckle Flugga. The elements run riot and the very rocks that shape the place begin to shift under their influence. The only human inhabitants are the lighthouse keeper, known as The Father, and his otherworldly son, Ouse. Them, and the occasional lodger to keep the wolf from the door.<\/p>\n<p>When one of those lodgers \u2013 Firth, a chaotic writer \u2013 arrives from Edinburgh, the limits of the world the keeper and his son cling to begin to crumble. A tug of war ensues between Firth and the lighthouse keeper for Ouse\u2019s affections \u2013 and his future. As old and new ways collide, and life-changing decisions loom, what will the tides leave standing in their wake?<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Director by Daniel Kelmann<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\n<\/p><p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4nmOhdh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DDaniel%2520Kehlmann%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Director\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Abebooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A visionary tale inspired by the life of the 20th century film director G.W. Pabst, who left Europe for Hollywood to resist the Nazis and then returned to his homeland with his wife and young son and began making films for the German Reich.<\/p>\n<p>An artist\u2019s life, a pact with the devil, a novel about the dangerous illusions of the silver screen.<\/p>\n<p>G.W. Pabst, one of cinema\u2019s greatest, perhaps the greatest director of his era: when the Nazis seized power he was filming in France, to escape the horrors of the new Germany he flees to Hollywood. But under the blinding California sun, the world-famous director suddenly looks like a nobody. Not even Greta Garbo, who he made famous, can help him. <\/p>\n<p>And thus, almost through no fault of his own, he finds himself back in his homeland of Austria, which is now called Ostmark. The returning family is confronted with the barbaric nature of the regime. But Goebbels, the minister of propaganda in Berlin, wants the film <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/the-genius-of-kurt-vonnegut\">genius<\/a>, he won\u2019t take no for an answer and makes big promises. While Pabst still believes that he will be able to resist these advances, that he will not submit to any dictatorship other than art, he has already taken the first steps into a hopeless entanglement.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Death of an Author by Nnedi Okorafor<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">\n<\/p><p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4fQ7oJ9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DNnedi%2520Okorafor%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DDeath%2520of%2520the%2520Author\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Life has thrown Zelu some curveballs over the years, but when she\u2019s suddenly dropped from her university job and her latest novel is rejected, all in the middle of her sister\u2019s wedding, her life is upended. Disabled, unemployed and from a nosy, high-achieving, judgmental family, she\u2019s not sure what comes next.<\/p>\n<p>In her hotel room that night, she takes the risk that will define her life \u2013 she decides to write a book VERY unlike her others. A science fiction drama about androids and AI after the extinction of humanity. And everything changes.<\/p>\n<p>What follows is a tale of love and loss, fame and infamy, of extraordinary events in one world, and another. And as Zelu\u2019s life evolves, the lines between fiction and reality begin to blur.<\/p>\n<p>Because sometimes a story really does have the power to reshape the world.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Original by Nell Stevens<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3WJ2KEM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DNell%2520Stevens%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Oxfordshire, 1899. Grace Inderwick grows up on the peripheries of a once-great household, an unwanted guest in her uncle\u2019s home. She has unusual skills and unusual predilections: for painting, though faces elude her; for lurking in the shadows; for other girls.<\/p>\n<p>Then a letter arrives, postmarked Saint Helena. After years missing at sea, Grace\u2019s cousin Charles is ready to come home. When Charles returns, unrecognisable and uncanny, a rift emerges between those who claim he is an imposter and Grace\u2019s aunt, who insists he is her son. And Grace, whose intimate knowledge of forgeries is her own closely-guarded secret, must decide who and what to believe in, and what kind of life she wants to live.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Tilt by Emma Pattee<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4ncxoSR\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DEmma%2520Pattee%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DTilt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Annie is 37 weeks pregnant, standing in IKEA, finally about to take home the crib she should have bought months ago. That\u2019s when it happens \u2013 the long-anticipated Cascadia Earthquake, dismantling the East Coast of America in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Propulsive, disruptive, funny, terrifying, Tilt is a novel about how the foundations of our lives are built and shaken. About a woman trying to walk back to the husband she\u2019s long been pushing away. About put-off dreams and inevitability and what makes us keep moving forward.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Strange Pictures by Uketsu<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kPLFTQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DUketsu%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DStrange%2520Pictures\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>An exploration of the macabre, where the seemingly mundane takes on a terrifying significance. . . .<\/p>\n<p>A pregnant woman\u2019s sketches on a seemingly innocuous blog conceal a chilling warning.<\/p>\n<p>A child\u2019s picture of his home contains a dark secret message.<\/p>\n<p>A sketch made by a murder victim in his final moments leads an amateur sleuth down a rabbithole that will reveal a horrifying reality.<\/p>\n<p>Structured around these nine childlike drawings, each holding a disturbing clue, <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/book-of-the-month-july-2025\">Uketsu<\/a> invites readers to piece together the mystery behind each and the over-arching backstory that connects them all.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Flesh by David Szalay<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/45tQBJv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DDavid%2520Szalay%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DFlesh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Fifteen-year-old Istv\u00e1n lives with his mother in a quiet apartment complex in Hungary. New to the town and shy, he is unfamiliar with the social rituals at school and soon becomes isolated, with his neighbour \u2013 a married woman close to his mother\u2019s age \u2013 as his only companion. These encounters shift into a clandestine relationship that Istv\u00e1n himself can barely understand, and his life soon spirals out of control.<\/p>\n<p>As the years pass, he is carried gradually upwards on the currents of the twenty-first century\u2019s tides of money and power, moving from the army to the company of London\u2019s super-rich, with his own competing impulses for love, intimacy, status and wealth winning him unimaginable riches, until they threaten to undo him completely.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Isola by Allegra Goodman<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3GuQovi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAllegra%2520Goodman%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DIsola\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In sixteenth-century France, as the heiress to an aristocratic fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of privilege. Then she is orphaned, and her enigmatic and volatile guardian squanders her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to the new French colonies of North America. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian\u2019s servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished, abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.<\/p>\n<p>From a childhood dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she had never before needed\u2026<\/p>\n<p>Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola tells the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">A Room Above a Shop by Anthony Shapland<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/4kS4c2f\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAnthony%2520Shapland%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DA%2520Room%2520Above%2520a%2520Shop\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>When two quiet men form a tentative connection neither knows where it might lead. M has inherited his family\u2019s ironmongery business and B is younger by eleven years and can see no future in the place where he has grown up, but when M offers him a job and lodgings, he accepts. As the two men work side by side in the shop, they also begin a life together in their one shared room above \u2013 the kind of life they never imagined possible and that risks everything if their public performance were to slip.<\/p>\n<p>Unfolding in South Wales against the backdrop of Section 28, the age of consent debate and the HIV and AIDS crisis, this is a tender and resonant love story, and a powerful debut.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Three Days in June by Anne Tyler<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3HSIjRF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DAnne%2520Tyler%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThree%2520Days%2520in%2520June\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the day before her daughter\u2019s wedding and things are not going well for Gail Baines. First thing, she loses her job \u2013 or quits, depending who you ask. Then her ex-husband Max turns up at her door expecting to stay for the festivities. He doesn\u2019t even have a suit. Instead, he\u2019s brought memories, a shared sense of humour \u2013 and a cat looking for a new home.<\/p>\n<p>Just as Gail is wondering what\u2019s next, their daughter Debbie discovers her groom has been keeping a secret\u2026<\/p>\n<p>As the big day dawns, the exes just can\u2019t agree on what\u2019s best for Debbie. Gail is seriously worried, while Max seems more concerned with whether to opt for the salmon or prime rib at the reception, if they make it that far.<\/p>\n<p>The day after the wedding, Gail and Max prepare to go their separate ways again. But all the questions about the future of the happy couple have stirred up the past for Gail. <\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie<\/h3>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Buy Now<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3ID0ono\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Amazon<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/affiliates.abebooks.com\/c\/58313\/77798\/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fan%3DSalman%2520Rushdie%26bi%3D0%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26n%3D-1%26prc%3DUSD%26servlet%3DImpactRadiusAffiliateLinkEntry%26sortby%3D20%26tn%3DThe%2520Eleventh%2520Hour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">AbeBooks<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Two quarrelsome old men in Chennai, India, experience private tragedy against the backdrop of national calamity. Revisiting the Bombay neighbourhood of Midnight\u2019s Children, a magical musician is unhappily married to a multibillionaire. In an English college, an undead academic can\u2019t rest until he avenges his former tormentor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Salman Rushdie\u2019s new fiction moves between the places he has grown up in, inhabited, explored, and left. In doing so, he asks fundamental questions we all one day face. How does one deal with, accommodate, or rail against entering the eleventh hour, the final stage of your life? How can you bid farewell to the places you have made home?<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">The Eleventh Hour is the magisterial new work from one of our greatest living writers. It speaks deeply to what <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/booker-prize-quiz\">Salman Rushdie<\/a> has come from and through, and strikes into the heart of our fractious times.<\/p>\n<p>If you enjoyed our 15 Best Books of 2025, check out <a href=\"https:\/\/quizlit.org\/read-around-the-world-2025-edition\">Read Around the World 2025 Edition<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>2025 was another stunning year for literature. Of the hundreds of new fiction books here are our favorite novels of the year. Enjoy the 15 Best Books of 2025! This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a commission at no extra cost to you. 15 Best Books of 2025 Table of Contents 15 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bookreviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5053"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}