Fiction and non-fiction we’re looking forward to reading

The best part about starting a new year? Forgetting all the books you never got around to reading in the past 12 months and discovering all the ones you can look forward to during the next 12. There are plenty of heavy fiction hitters coming our way with novels from the likes of Han Kang and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, plus some already-hyped debuts from Australian authors.

Non-fiction has seen better sales days, but memoirs from Geraldine Brooks and Hannah Kent might help revive the genre – or surely, there will be some salvation in the first autobiography from a sitting pope.

We’ve selected 15 non-fiction and 15 fiction titles set to hit shelves in the first half of 2025. We’ve tried to include something for everyone, so prepare to let your TBR pile crush you with the weight of possibility … again.

Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros (January 21)

Hold on to your wings. The year gets off to a fiery start with the follow-up to the global publishing phenomena Fourth Wing and Iron Flame, the TikTok-famous novels that set romantasy soaring (and made “dragon sex” an acceptable phrase). Dragon rider Violet Sorrengail has learnt all she can at Basgiath War College, and now it’s time to test herself in the troubled world beyond the safety of the wards.

Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett (February 11)

The two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist’s first novel in nearly a decade (Imagine Me Gone, You Are Not a Stranger Here, Union Atlantic), follows an overworked New York City immigration lawyer forced to reckon with his estranged mother – and the night of violence that tore them apart – after he takes on the case of a gay asylum seeker.

We Do Not Part by Han Kang (February 20)

The 2024 Nobel Prize winner’s new novel follows a woman on her journey through a snow storm from Seoul to the home of an old friend in the forests of Jeju Island. Expect the same haunting, dream-like (sometimes nightmare-like) quality that swept us away in The Vegetarian, The White Book and Greek Lessons.

Time Together by Luke Horton (March 4)

Nothing tests lifelong friendships quite like shared bathrooms, different wake-up times and deciding who gets the good bedroom. But at least group holidays make great fodder for novels. In Time Together, forty-something Phil invites a group of old mates to stay with him at his late mother’s house on the coast. The novel, Horton’s follow-up to The Fogging, tells the story of the beach holiday from four different perspectives.

Signs of Damage by Diana Reid (March 4)

When Cass, 13, goes missing for several hours while staying with the Kelly family at their holiday home in the south of France, no one thinks too long or too hard about it. Until many years later. As with Diana Reid’s debut Love and Virtue, Signs of Damage delves into questions of trauma, memory, friendship and what it means to have your story told by someone else. A page-turner that will give book clubs plenty to discuss.

Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (March 5)

The award-winning and bestselling Nigerian writer’s first novel in more than a decade will be one of the biggest fiction releases of the year. Set during the pandemic, Dream Count follows four Nigerian women. On her social media, Adichie described the book as contemporary yet timeless, global but quintessentially African, as well as “serious and curious and probing and funny”.

Lyrebird by Jane Caro (April 1)

An ornithology student records a lyrebird mimicking the dying screams of a woman in NSW’s Barrington Tops National Park. She hands the video over to police, but her claims are dismissed. They resurface two decades later when a body is found. A gripping thriller which, following her debut The Mother, continues Caro’s interest in how female victims of crime are treated by institutions and systems.

Audition by Katie Kitamura (April 17)

Katie Kitamura’s novels are always mesmerising with their taut yet propulsive prose, and Audition has been described as an “exhilarating, destabilising Mobius strip of a novel”. The story follows the two competing narratives of an accomplished actress and a young man who thinks she could be his mother. We can’t wait.

Ginseng Roots by Craig Thompson (April 29)

It’s been more than two decades since Craig Thompson published his snow-filled graphic memoir Blankets, a coming-of-age story set in rural Wisconsin. Now he returns to the autobiographical form to tell “the story that Blankets left out”. Ginseng Roots follows Thompson and his siblings as they spend their summers harvesting ginseng on Wisconsin farms, tying together his past with the history of the ginseng trade in a sweeping yet personal narrative.

Little World by Josephine Rowe (April 29)

Loading

The new novel from the two-time SMH Best Young Australian Novelist winner opens with the body of a saint arriving, in a timber box, at the home of a retired engineer in the north-western corner of Australia in the 1950s. The saint’s presence hovers over the novel as she touches lives across times and places in a story of interconnected fates that stretches to the start of COVID in contemporary Victoria. A big concept? Yes. Are we in? Yes.

The City Changes Its Face by Eimear McBride (April 29)

From the author A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, Lesser Bohemians and Strange Hotel comes a story of passion and possessiveness. The novel follows the love affair between Eily, 19, and Stephen, 31, and is set against the changing face of mid-1990s Camden, London. Their obsession with each other becomes complicated when it must open up to the past, as Stephen’s long-lost teenage daughter Grace enters their lives. Be prepared to be swept away by one of the best writers at work today.

Rytual by Chloe Elisabeth Wilson (May 6)

“What if your favourite cult beauty brand … was actually a cult?” That’s the question that holds together this darkly funny Australian debut which follows a young woman who lands a job at the coveted cosmetic brand Rytual. There’s something not quite right (beyond all the Millennial pink) and more than meets the eye to the company’s enigmatic and seductive chief executive. You’re going to be seeing Rytual’s lush cover all over your social media feeds this year.

The Emperor of Gladness by Ocean Vuong (May 13)

Poet Ocean Vuong’s 2019 debut novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous was a butterfly of a novel – elegant, vulnerable and difficult to pin down. It became a TikTok sensation, sold a million copies and has been translated into more than 40 languages. Lucky for us the Vietnamese-American author hasn’t had a case of the second-book blues. His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, follows the unlikely friendship between a teenager and an elderly widow in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut. I’m not crying, you’re crying.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid (June 3)

We were rocketed into space this year by Samantha Harvey’s Booker Prize-winning Orbital, and we’re set to continue to question our place in the universe with the latest novel from the author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six. Set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program, the novel follows a group of candidates training to be astronauts at Houston’s Johnson Space Centre – and the mission during which “everything changes in an instant”. Buckle up!

A Beautiful Family by Jennifer Trevelyan (June 19)

The debut from New Zealand author Jennifer Trevelyan was, according to publishers A&U, “the subject of a massive international bidding war”. The story takes place over one summer holiday on the coast of New Zealand and is narrated by a 10-year-old girl who stumbles upon long-buried family secrets in her innocent quest to solve a local mystery. “This exquisite debut is storytelling at its best, a true delight,” publishing director Cate Patterson says.

Hope: The Autobiography by Pope Francis (January 14)

Hope was due to be published posthumously but will become the first autobiography to be released by a sitting Pope. Pope Francis, 88, is set to take us on a journey from his humble beginnings in Buenos Aires to his appointment as the head of the Catholic Church. It won’t be all theology; we’re told to expect his take on global conflicts, the future of the church and surprises such as his love for football and tango. Yes, the Pope dances.

Dare I Say It by Naomi Watts (January 21)

Actress Naomi Watts, fresh off filming King Kong and hoping to start a family, learnt at 36 that she was on the brink of menopause. Since then, she has become a leading advocate for menopause awareness, striving to dismantle the stigma surrounding it. Drawing from personal experience, Watts offers a relatable and informative guide to navigating menopause, shedding light on its physical, emotional and societal impacts (and if you want a fictional accompaniment, try Miranda July’s All Fours).

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks (January 29)

Pulitzer Prize winner and former Sydney Morning Herald journalist Geraldine Brooks delivers a tender and moving memoir about the sudden loss of her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz, who passed away unexpectedly at age 60, on the US Memorial Day public holiday in 2019. In the aftermath, Brooks retreated to a remote shack on Flinders Island, off the coast of Tasmania, to grapple with grief and attempt to rebuild her life. It’s heartbreaking yet hopeful. We’re lucky to have Brooks to help us make sense of the world.

Source Code: My Beginnings by Bill Gates (February 4)

In what he describes as his “origin story”, Bill Gates traces his journey from a curious child in Seattle through his rebellious teenage years to his decision to leave Harvard to found Microsoft. He reflects on his principled grandmother, ambitious parents and early friendships, including the profound impact of losing his best friend. Coincidentally, his ex-wife Melinda Gates will also have a memoir out this year, The Next Day: Transitions, Change, and Moving Forward (April 15).

The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource by Chris Hayes (February 4)

Well done if you’ve made it this far. As The Sirens’ Call reveals, it’s challenging to maintain attention today. But guess what? We can blame someone else. Chris Hayes, a New York Times bestselling author and television and podcast host, argues that attention has become a commodified resource wrested from us by capitalist ventures. This is the wake-up call we probably all need. Now, maintain your focus until the end of these bite-sized preview briefs, please.

Miles Franklin Undercover by Kerrie Davies (March 4)

Billed as a “real-life sequel” to My Brilliant Career, Miles Franklin Undercover explores the life of one of Australia’s most well-known literary figures after the publication of her famous novel. Davies chronicles the turbulent years following Franklin’s early success — a decade during which she became an advocate for working women. Drawing on unpublished manuscripts, diary extracts from Franklin’s time undercover as a servant, and her correspondence with Banjo Paterson, this book will no doubt add a new dimension to our understanding of the writer.

The Age of Diagnosis: Sickness, Health, and Why Medicine Has Gone Too Far by Suzanne O’Sullivan (March 25)

With a take that’s bound to be divisive (although maybe you just have narcissistic personality disorder), neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan offers a critical examination of modern medicine’s obsession with diagnosis. She argues that advancements in diagnostic technology often blur the line between health and illness, creating a culture of over-medicalisation. Weaving patient stories and scientific insight, O’Sullivan explores the unintended consequences of labelling conditions and unnecessary interventions while questioning what it truly means to be healthy.

All of It by Brooke Boney (April 1)

A heartfelt collection of essays from journalist and Gamilaroi woman Brooke Boney. Reflecting on the complexities of her personal and professional life, Boney explores love, identity, cultural heritage and the pressures of navigating life in the public eye. The former Today Show host, who is studying at Oxford (come home soon!), also delves into issues such as body image, fertility and the importance of friendship.

Unsettled: A Journey Through Time and Place by Kate Grenville (April 1)

Australian writer Kate Grenville’s most famous novel, The Secret River, was based on the story of her own great-great-great grandfather, an early settler on the Hawkesbury River, and was criticised for overlooking the Indigenous point of view. Two decades on, Grenville grapples with what it means to have ancestors “on the sharp edge of the moving blade that was colonisation”. In this memoir, she returns to her family stories with a bid to “put the stories and the First People back into the same frame”.

The Rising War in the colony of New South Wales, 1838–1844 by Stephen Gapps (April 1)

Historian Stephen Gapps, author of The Sydney Wars, uncovers the story of frontier resistance warfare in the 19th century. Gapps explores the first Wiradyuri war of resistance, ending in brutal massacres by settlers in the Bathurst region in 1824, and the second Wiradyuri war of resistance (1839-1841), which spanned a vast arc from NSW to northern Victoria and southeast Queensland, to shed new light on the resistance of Aboriginal communities during colonisation.

There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift by Kevin Evers (April 8)

It’s Taylor Swift’s era and we’re all just living in it. Harvard Business Review senior editor Kevin Evers unpacks how Swift became a cultural phenomenon who had us Googling “separate IP addresses” as we tried to buy tickets to her Australian show. For Swifties music and culture fans – and the confused – this book explains our enduring love story with Swift and reveals why she keeps winning in both music and business.

Always Home, Always Homesick by Hannah Kent (May)

Loading

The bestselling author of Burial Rites, The Good People and Devotion will release her first work of non-fiction – a literary memoir and love letter to Iceland. Kent first visited Iceland as part of a year-long exchange when she was a teenager and her breakthrough novel, Burial Rites, was based on the true story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last woman executed in Iceland in 1829. But Kent’s real-life connection to Iceland might be her most gripping story yet.

Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane (May 13)

In one of the biggest non-fiction releases of the year, the celebrated writer argues that rivers are living entities and deserve such recognition in both imagination and law. Through journeys to Ecuador’s cloud-forests, India’s creeks and lagoons, and Quebec’s wild rivers, Macfarlane examines the threats these waterways face from activities such as gold mining and damming, and interweaves with them the story of a fragile chalk stream near his own home. The Parramatta River already seems more beautiful to me.

Australia’s Agricultural Identity – an Aboriginal Yarn by Joshua Gilbert (May 27)

Worimi man Joshua Gilbert delves into Australia’s agricultural past and envisions its future, arguing that ancient Indigenous knowledge can work with modern technology to address climate change and land care. Drawing on his family’s history and yarns from his Worimi country, Gilbert challenges the static perception of Indigenous practices to make the case that they should account for and inform our approaches to land. A timely and important read.

Homework by Geoff Dyer (June 10)

Writer Geoff Dyer (The Last Days of Roger Federer, Out of Sheer Rage, Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It) reflects on his youth as the only child of a dinner lady and a sheet metal worker, growing up in the English working-class world of the 1960s and 1970s. At grammar school, he discovered his love of literature. Interweaving his personal story with the broader social history of England, the memoir follows Dyer’s journey to the cusp of university, where he stands at the crossroads of transformation and the lingering ties to his origins.

Which book are you most excited to read in 2025? Tell us in the comments.