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World Book Day: Book Releases To Be Excited About in 2022

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World Book Day: Book Releases To Be Excited About in 2022

A new year also brings new books, and 2022 certainly has an impressive lineup to line your shelves. Here’s the C&TH edit of books we’re most excited about this year.

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New 2022 Book Releases To Get Excited About

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

Following her bestseller, Rachel’s Holiday, Keyes returns with our protagonist – with her life seemingly back on track. She gardens, she has a good job, and she even has love. But an old flame returns and throws open the question: are you never too old to change?

Out 17 February

An Immense World by Ed Yong

For serious escapism into nature, Ed Yong’s An Immense World will guide you through the sensory abilities of the animal kingdom. See the world through animals’ own sensory bubbles. Encounter a crocodile’s scaly face as sensitive as a lover’s fingertips, or the inaudible song of plants to court bugs. No travel required.

Out 12 July

The Invisible Kingdom by Meghan O’Rourke

Illnesses that are marginalised, poorly defined, or undiagnosed is a silent epidemic that is rarely talked about, yet affects millions of people. Drawing on her medical expertise and decades of experience, O’Rourke investigates the intersection between ‘invisible’ illnesses and clunky Western definitions of diagnosis that leave many neglected.

Out 1 March

Burning Questions by Margaret Atwood

For those with insatiable curiosity, Margaret Atwood’s new non-fiction read seeks to answer life’s philosophical questions. From the climate crisis and breakfast cereal to what zombies have to do with authoritarianism, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale brings her searing intellect and sharp wit to report on what she finds.

Out 1 March

Regenesis by George Monbiot

After we’ve been pillaging and plundering our earth, why is it that millions still go hungry? Poised to become a non-fiction classic, Regenesis looks at the faltering food system of the 21st Century and prizes open the fascinating innovations that could very well be the way we sort out our mess.

Out 26 May

To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara

Following up on his classic A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara brings us a story that covers three centuries. We have 1893 America, where a young man from a notable New York family resists marriage to an arranged match, and drawn instead to a penniless music teacher. In 1993, as Manhattan grapples with the AIDS epidemic, we meet a young Hawaiian who lives with an older, wealthier partner. And in 2093, we’re taken to a dystopian America, ravaged by pandemics and totalitarian rule. The three ages are blended together in glorious symphony to explore themes of race, power, and the longing to find an earthly paradise.

Out 11 January

Violeta by Isabel Allende

Pandemics and financial crises aren’t new phenomenons in history. Isabel Allende takes us back to 1920, exploring the life of Violeta, one that’s defined by the aftershocks of the Great War and the Spanish Flu arriving to her home in South America, before facing the Great Depression that snatches away her bourgeoise way of life. Covering two pandemics, passionate affairs, and poverty, Violeta is a must for historical fiction lovers.

Out 25 January

Wahala by Nikki May

Soon to be a BBC TV series, Wahala traces the lives of Ronke, Simi and Boo, three mixed-race friends carving out their futures in London. When an impossibly glamorous friend returns from the past, a heinous crime is committed that leaves the women to reckon with their past. Brazenly political about colourism, class as well as a rapid page-turner that’s wildly hilarious, Wahala isn’t one to miss.

Out 6 January

Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart

From the Booker-prize winner Douglas Stuart, Young Mungo is a portrayal of working-class life set in urban Glasgow. Following the dangerous romance of Mungo and James (one Protestant, the other a Catholic), Stuart explores the violence faced by so many queer people, the fluidity of masculinity, and the politics of family.

Out 5 April

A Very Nice Girl by Imogen Crimp

A Very Nice Girl follows the life of an aspiring opera singer, leaving her provincial parents to pursue her career at the elite London Conservatory. From residing in a hardline feminist-style commune to falling in a toxic relationship with a wealthy man, the book explores themes of feminism, power, and the sacrifices of an artistic career – and who pays for it. For those who loved Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You, but with a prod at the underbelly of capitalist systems. bloomsbury.com

Out 3 February

Main image: Unsplash

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10 Books to Escape the World With Right Now / Online Book Clubs to Join Now