The Editorial Team's Reading List for 2024

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“The pages of a good book can be a welcome escape from the world’s complexities, or the means of engaging with them.” 

As a new year begins, the pages of a good book can be a welcome escape from the world’s complexities, or the means of engaging with them. The Spill's editorial team shares the recent reads that moved us, and the books we are eagerly anticipating in 2024, spanning genres from autobiography to mystery. Here are 6 books we recommend adding to your reading list this year.

Not the End of the World, by Hannah Ritchie

We are bombarded by doomsday headlines that tell us the soil won't be able to support crops, fish will vanish from our oceans, that we should reconsider having children. But in this bold, radically hopeful book, data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that if we zoom out, a very different picture emerges. The data shows we've made so much progress on these problems, and so fast, that we could be on track to achieve true sustainability for the first time in history. Packed with the latest research, practical guidance and enlightening graphics, this book will make you rethink almost everything you've been told about the environment, from the virtues of eating locally and living in the countryside, to the evils of overpopulation, plastic straws and palm oil. It will give you the tools to understand what works, what doesn't and what we urgently need to focus on so we can leave a sustainable planet for future generations.

Out 11th January 2024, Chatto & Windus

Mongrel, by Hanako Footman

Mei loses her Japanese mother at age six. Growing up in suburban Surrey, she yearns to fit in, suppressing not only her heritage but her growing desire for her best friend Fran. Yuki leaves the Japanese countryside to pursue her dream of becoming a concert violinist in London. Far from home and in an unfamiliar city, she finds herself caught up in the charms of her older teacher. Haruka attempts to navigate Tokyo's nightlife and all of its many vices, working as a hostess in the city's sex district. She grieves a mother who hid so many secrets from her, until finally one of those secrets comes to light... Shifting between three intertwining narratives, Mongrel reveals a tangled web of desire, isolation, belonging and ultimately, hope.

Out 8th February 2024, Footnote Press Ltd

My Brother, My Land: A story from Palestine, by Sami Hermez, with Sireen Sawalha

In 1967, Sireen Sawalha's mother, with her young children, walked back to Palestine against the traffic of exile. My Brother, My Land is the story of Sireen's family in the decades that followed and their lives in the Palestinian village of Kufr Ra'i. From Sireen's early life growing up in the shadow of the '67 War and her family's work as farmers caring for their land, to the involvement of her brother Iyad in armed resistance in the First and Second Intifada, Sami Hermez, with Sireen Sawalha, crafts a rich story of intertwining voices, mixing genres of oral history, memoir, and creative nonfiction. A riveting and unapologetic account of Palestinian resistance, the story of one family's care for their land, and a reflection on love and heartache while living under military occupation.

Out 13th February 2024, Redwood Press

Women of Good Fortune, by Sophie Wan

Lulu has always been taught that money is the ticket to a good life. So, when Shanghai’s most eligible bachelor surprises her with a proposal, the only acceptable answer is yes, even if the voice inside her head is saying no. After all, his family’s fortune would solve all her parents’ financial woes. Lulu’s two best friends and confidantes also need money for different reasons: freedom, time, beauty. Lulu’s wedding is their golden opportunity, the social event of the season, with enough cash gifts to transform their lives. Set against a high-society Shanghai wedding, Women of Good Fortune is a heartfelt, funny, dazzling novel about women who are fed up with the way society treats them, and forge a plan to get repayment for it.

Out 5th March 2024, Graydon House

Where Sleeping Girls Lie, by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

In Where Sleeping Girls Lie, 25-year old bestselling author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímíde exposes the dark realities and hidden horror of misogynoir, sexual violence and secrecy endemic in British educational systems. Set in the Alfred Nobel Academy, a prestigious boarding school in England steeped in tradition, this highly anticipated contemporary mystery draws inspiration from various real-life cases. The tragic murder of teen activist  Oluwatoyin Salau profoundly influenced Faridah's writing, compelling her to bring the often-silenced voices of Black girls to the forefront of the #MeToo movement, expand discussions on sexual assault, and champion a more inclusive dialogue that recognises and empathetically addresses their distinct experiences.

Out 14th March 2024, Usborne Publishing

No Son of Mine, by Jonathan Corcoran

When Jonathan Corcoran, the youngest and only son of three siblings in a family balanced on the precipice of poverty, left home to attend Brown University, a chasm between his upbringing and his reality began to open. As he formed new bonds beyond bloodlines, he met the upper-middle-class Jewish man who would become his husband. But Corcoran was forever changed when his mother, a traditional, evangelical woman who was often his only ally, disowned him after discovering his truth. In the ensuing fifteen years, the two would come together only to violently spring apart. A biography nestled inside a memoir, No Son of Mine is Jonathan Corcoran's story of alienation and his attempts to understand his mother's choice to cut him out of her life.

Out 1st April 2024, University Press of Kentucky