21 books I'm excited for in 2025
Fiction and non-fiction book releases
Happy new year, book friends! A new year brings new books, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for what’s coming, at least for the first half of 2025 that publishing houses have released launch dates for. Here are 21 books I’m most excited for—17 fiction titles, and four non-fiction.
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Fiction
1. Homeseeking by Karissa Chen (7 January)
An epic and intimate tale of one couple across 60 years as world events pull them together and apart, illuminating the Chinese diaspora and exploring what it means to find home far from your homeland.
Teenage sweethearts in 1940s Shanghai are separated and reunited 60 years later, in Los Angeles. Past Lives vibes?
2. Good Dirt by Charmaine Wilkerson (28 January)
The daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom. In this sweeping, evocative novel, Charmaine Wilkerson brings to life a multi-generational epic that examines how the past informs our present.
Charmaine’s debut, Black Cake, was a whirlwind family drama that sucked me in last year and has since been made into a Disney+ series. I’m excited for more.
3. Bethnal Green by Amélie Skoda (30 January)
Bethnal Green explores the themes of sacrifice and heartbreak, the power of using your voice and the will to build a life of one's own against the odds. It is also a powerful love letter to dedicated NHS workers from around the world, whose work touches countless lives every day.
This is set in both London’s Bethnal Green and Malaysia’s Penang, where I have spent much time. I am cautiously hopeful, though as we saw recently, Andrew O’Hagan’s depiction of Islington in London in Caledonian Road last year was a bit too close to home. That said, I deeply enjoy Tan Twan Eng’s books set in Penang, and I am always looking for books set in Malaysia.
4. We Do Not Part by Han Kang (6 February)
Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully illuminates a forgotten chapter in Korean history, buried for decades—bringing to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering, it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable violence—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be.
The latest novel by Noble Prize winner Han Kang, freshly translated into English, has to be a must-read.
5. Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld (25 February)
A funny, fiercely intelligent, and moving collection exploring marriage, friendship, fame, and artistic ambition — including a story that revisits the main character from Curtis Sittenfeld’s iconic novel Prep.
And so continues my love-hate relationship with Curtis (loved You Think It, I’ll Say It, Rodham, Prep, and The Man of My Dreams; simply could not finish American Wife; liked Romantic Comedy, though it wasn’t my favourite). I have high hopes for her second short story collection.
6. Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (4 March)
A searing, exquisite new story of four women and their loves, longings, and desires. A trenchant reflection on the choices we make and those made for us, on daughters and mothers, on our interconnected world, Dream Count pulses with emotional urgency and poignant, unflinching observations of the human heart, in language that soars with beauty and power.
I still haven’t read Americanah, and might start with Chimamanda’s latest book instead.
7. I Leave It Up to You by Jinwoo Chong (4 March)
A dazzling novel about love, family, and the art of sushi that asks: What if you could return to the point of a fateful choice, wiser than before, and find the courage to forge a new path? A highly entertaining and poignant story about second chances and self-discovery, I Leave It Up to You navigates loss, love, and the absurdity of finding one’s footing after the ground gives way.
Jinwoo is the author of Flux, which you might enjoy if you like Interior Chinatown by Charles Wu. I’m excited about this one, not least for the promise of sushi, but I’m curious how he navigates returning to a place that stopped being home a long time ago, that stubbornly refuses to change but is somehow still different. Given Flux, might we see Jinwoo exploring magic realism more here?
8. Flesh by David Szalay (6 March)
From Booker-shortlisted author David Szalay, comes a propulsive, hypnotic novel about a man who is unravelled by a series of events beyond his grasp. Spare and penetrating, Flesh is the finest novel yet by a master of realism, asking profound questions about what drives a life: what makes it worth living, and what breaks it.
This starts out in Hungary, with fifteen-year-old István becoming one of London’s super-rich. I wonder if it might be a good companion to Caledonian Road.
9. My Documents by Kevin Nguyen (8 April)
The paths of four family members diverge drastically when the U.S. government begins detaining Vietnamese Americans, in this sharp and touching novel about coming of age at the intersection of ambition and assimilation.
I have a feeling this book will make me very angry.
10. The Cat Who Saved the Library by Sosuku Natsukawa (10 April)
The highly anticipated sequel to Sosuke Natsukawa's The Cat Who Saved Books – an uplifting tale from Japan about a talking cat, a book-loving girl and the power of books to make a difference in the world.
I loved the first book and am really excited about this one! It will be an interesting twist with a girl this time too.
11. City of Fiction by Yu Hua (24 April)
This is a story of two people: a man who finds unexpected success after having journeyed to the hometown of the woman who abandoned him; and the woman he is searching for, who mysteriously disappeared to embark on her own eventful journey. This is a story about vanished crafts and ancient customs, about violence, love, and friendship. Above all, it’s a story about change and about storytelling itself, full of vivid characters and surprising twists—an epic tale, as inexorable as time itself and as gripping as a classic adventure story.
Early 20th century China fascinates me, with all of its shifts and ancient empire and modern developments butting heads. I wonder how much will remind me of Mei’s early adulthood in China in Real Americans by Rachel Khong (admittedly taking place several decades later), and dare I say it, Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan.
12. The Original Daughter by Jemimah Wei (6 May)
In this dazzling debut, Stegner Fellow Jemimah Wei explores the formation and dissolution of family bonds in a story of ambition and sisterhood in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore.
I’m so looking forward to this one. If 2024 taught me anything, it’s that I adore books about sisterhood (see: Hello Beautiful; Blue Sisters). And it’s set in Singapore!
13. The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (May 13)
Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Vuong’s writing – formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin grit with grace through tenderness – are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.
Lyrical books have a special place in my heart, and Ocean is first a poet before a novelist. I can’t wait to have his writing in my hands again.
14. The Catch by Yrsa Daley-Ward (3 June)
Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. The catch: this version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life.
Another book about sisterhood and mother-daughter. Is it my biases, or do I see why one reason why Intermezzo was so exciting was its exploration of brotherhood? That said, I really look forward to this book, and its description reminds me of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett.
15. Flashlight by Susan Choi (3 June)
A novel tracing a father’s disappearance across time, nations, and memory, from the author of Trust Exercise.
In chapters that shift from one member to the next, turning back again and again to that night by the sea, Susan Choi's Flashlight chases the shockwaves of one family’s catastrophe. Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, an ethnic Korean born and raised in Japan, lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to the DPRK. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her family after a reckless sexual adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne’s illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences.
I’ll have to set aside time for this, as I suspect it will be quite absorbing. Might it also build upon what I learned in Pachinko by Lee Min Jin?
16. The Sisters by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (17 June)
Narrated in six parts, each spanning a period ranging from a year to a day to a single minute, Jonas Hassen Khemiri's The Sisters is a big, vivid family saga of the highest order—an addictively entertaining tour de force.
Another book about sisters, drawing from the author’s Tunisian-Swedish background, and what happens when they all take different paths.
17. The Other Wife by Jackie Thomas-Kennedy (17 July)
Susan “Zuzu” Braeburn is almost forty. She has the life she’s always dreamed of – a beautiful house, a child, a successful partner. But something between her and her wife has been off for a long time, and she can’t help but wonder if she’s chosen wrong at every turn. Choosing to live with her white mother over her Black father in the divorce, choosing to become a lawyer rather than an artist, and most importantly, choosing to marry Agnes despite her unrequited feelings for her male best friend Cash. When an unexpected loss takes her back to her hometown, the “what-ifs” in her mind become too loud to ignore.
This sounds like quite the mid-life reckoning. Zuzu has quite different life experiences from mine, and I’m curious about her perspective on life.
Non-fiction
18. The Sirens’ Call by Chris Hayes (28 January)
From the New York Times bestselling author and MSNBC and podcast host, a powerful wide-angle reckoning with how the assault from attention capitalism on our minds and our hearts has reordered our politics and the very fabric of our society.
Will this make me delete all my social media? (Except for Substack, of course.)
19. Life in Three Dimensions by Shigehiro Oishi, PhD (4 February)
From one of our foremost psychologists, a trailblazing book that turns the idea of a good life on its head and urges us to embrace the transformative power of variety and experience.
I have enough variety. I eat most meats and vegetables of all colours (except for brussels sprouts). Just kidding. One of my beloved mentors reminds me that success is whatever we define it as, and this book might help further develop those thoughts.
20. How to Love Better by Yung Pueblo (11 March)
Yung Pueblo offers a blueprint for deepening your compassion, kindness, and gratitude so you can truly grow in harmony with another person and build stronger connections in all your relationships.
I’ve actually never read a book by Yung Pueblo, but with so many of his quotes floating around, perhaps it is finally time.
21. The Next Conversation by Jefferson Fisher (18 March)
The Next Conversation will give you practical phrases that will lead to powerful results, from breaking down defensiveness in a hard talk with a family member to finding your own assertive voice at the boardroom conference table. Everything you want to say, and how you want to say it, can be found in The Next Conversation.
As someone who loves the written word and has been known for sending mammoth texts spilling into WhatsApp’s ‘read more’ (sorry, friends), I’m excited to learn how to have better live conversations.
What books are you most excited for in 2025? Tell me in the comments!
I’ve read Homeseeking and it is wonderful!!
I swear Good Dirt is even better than Black Cake!