Gems to keep an eye on during 2025

Marjorie Brennan reveals the coming releases worthy of your attention and time this year

Hope: The Autobiography by Pope Francis is believed to be the first ever papal autobiography. Picture: Gregorio Borgia/AP

Readers can anticipate some gems in 2025, with plenty to look forward to in the first half of the year alone.

February sees the publication of Adam Haslett’s Mothers and Sons (Hamish Hamilton), which recounts the experiences of Peter, a crusading lawyer in New York, while good news for fans of Michelle de Kretser, she returns with Theory & Practice (sort of): Typically entertaining, all we can say is that Virginia Woolf is involved.

March will welcome David Szalay’s Flesh (Jonathan Cape): This is the story of István, a Hungarian we meet as a youngster and follow through his life.

For April, fans of Convenience Store Woman will welcome its follow-up, Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori (Granta): It describes a futuristic world where all children are born by artificial insemination.

A highlight for the year lands in May — The Names by Florence Knapp (Phoenix). This is the story of Cora, who goes to register her infant’s name but hesitates when asked what name she wants: An inventive and moving read.

For readers thinking of their summer holidays this month, why not try Twelve Post-War Tales by Graham Swift (Scribner), a collection from the man who wrote Last Orders and Waterland.

In Stephen King's 'Never Flinch' private detective Holly Gibney must investigate when a high-profile feminist is stalked. File picture: Scott Eisen/Getty

If you’re in the mood for something chillier for the beach, try the evergreen Never Flinch by Stephen King (Hodder). In this one, a high-profile feminist is stalked, and featuring private detective Holly Gibney must investigate.

Some big names are on the bookshelves in January’s non-fiction line-up.

Hope: The Autobiography by Pope Francis (Viking) was apparently intended for posthumous publication, but the Pontiff has decided to release it now: It is believed to be the first ever papal autobiography.

Then there’s The Loves of My Life: A Sex Memoir by Edmund White (Bloomsbury) in which the famous American novelist looks back at decades of his encounters, from the 50s to the modern day.

In February, we welcome a memoir from one of the original tech bros. Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates (Allen Lane) goes into detail about the Microsoft owner’s childhood and his growing interest in technology.

March is a promising month, given the arrival of Changing My Mind by Julian Barnes (Notting Hill Editions). This book is made up of five essays in which the Booker prize-winner discusses what it takes to change a mind — and how his own mind has been changed over the years in several different fields.

Bill Gates memoir, 'Source Code: My Beginnings', goes into detail about the Microsoft owner’s childhood and his growing interest in technology.

A handy companion might be Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Doctor Crippen by Hallie Rubenhold (Doubleday). Author of The Five, an imaginative exploration of the Jack the Ripper murders through the perspectives of those murdered, Rubenhold now looks at another notorious case — that of wife-killer Dr Crippen.

In May we have a succession of treats: Nature lovers will warm to Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (Hamish Hamilton), the acclaimed author of Underland. As the title suggests, this is about rivers all around the world, and would form an interesting double bill with No Straight Road Takes You There: Essays for Uneven Terrain by Rebecca Solnit (Granta).

Solnit’s previous work has been illuminating, and this latest collection of essays drills into the challenges of the modern era — and how we can find solutions to those challenges.

A lighter read from Geoff Dyer — Homework (Canongate) is a memoir which will resonate with people who grew up in the '70s, written in Dyer’s inimitable style.

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