Jess Kim, Deputy Marketing Director

I’m recommending:

Heart the Lover by Lily King (Canongate)! A pretty perfect 250 pages, and a revelation to me, a Lily King novice. I have been harping on about it since June and show no signs of stopping.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Indignity: A Life Reimagined by Lea Ypi (Allen Lane). I loved Free, and I just think Ypi has the most wonderful mind and style and I can’t wait to read anything she writes.

Kayleigh Jayshree, Publicity Assistant

I’m recommending:

In the Hollow of the Wave by Nina Mingya Powles (Nine Arches Press). After reading the collection I took a breath and immediately read it again. It’s that good! The book itself is stunning, with visual poems, found poems and an experiential engagement with form that feels prismatic and light-footed. I read Magnolia, 木蘭 a few years ago and it became a firm favourite of mine. I’d recommend Nina Mingya Powles to any fans of Sylvia Plath or poetry lovers.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Top of my TBR list is Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata (Granta). I like books that take up a small issue and prise it open. I’ve heard good things about Sayaka Murata’s books for years, and this will be my first delve in. The hardcover looks beautiful!

Ruth O’Loughlin, Publishing Manager

I’m recommending:

I’m recommending Everything We Do is Music by Elizabeth Alker (Faber). One of the best books on music that I’ve read in years. Alker is hugely knowledgeable but wears it lightly in this brilliantly written and compelling exploration of the work of some of the most innovative composers of the twentieth century and their influence on the restlessly inventive world of pop.

I’m looking forward to reading:

I’m looking forward to reading Every One Still Here by Liadan Ní Chuinn (Granta), a debut short story collection steeped in the violent past of Northern Ireland which has had stunning reviews: ‘phenomenal’, ‘voice of a generation’, ‘utterly brilliant’, ‘deserves to be considered among the best Irish books of the twenty-first century’. It all sounds intriguing, fresh and powerful – I can’t wait to read these stories.

Emma Golay, Children’s Communications Assistant

I’m recommending:

My autumn read recommendation is Graveyard Shift by M. L. Rio (Headline). I read this when it first published last year and finished it in a matter of hours. A perfectly haunting read for the spooky autumn months. Graveyard Shift follows a group of young people in a university town, who meet each night at a graveyard – the only place they can smoke outside of university grounds. But when they witness a dark deed, they fall into a hair-raising mystery that sucks you in and sets your teeth on edge!

I’m looking forward to reading:

The book I am most looking forward to reading is Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. I haven’t read this book since school, but I remember adoring it! I recently picked up a copy of Vintage’s new edition (so I can finally set my well-thumbed, falling apart, and overly annotated A-Level English copy aside), and I can’t wait to curl up with a cup of tea and enjoy the hauntingly gothic world of Rebecca all over again.

Hassan Ali, Head of Faber Factory

I’m recommending:

They Will Beat the Memory Out of Us: Forcing Nonviolence on Forgetful Movements by Peter Gelderloos (Pluto Press). This book is an important corrective to the political canon about how civil rights have consistently been won in the past, but it’s also an important reminder not to be complacent about the power of ideas. People are the custodians of those ideas, and people are all too vulnerable to brutal forms of repression. Peter Gelderloos helps bring some of those forgotten histories of resistance to light, and perhaps illuminates a path forwards.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Attila by Aliocha Coll, translated by Katie Whittemore (Open Letter). I tried to read this in the Summer but I wasn’t in the right headspace for such an experimental novel, set during the dying days of the Roman empire. I can’t decide whether it’s better to approach this with the idea of dissecting every page, or to enter a trance and just let the words wash over me and see where it takes me. Either way, autumn makes me feel equal parts studious and imaginative, so I’m eager for another shot.

Rachel Darling, Senior Marketing Manager, Heritage & Trade

I’m recommending:

Just a Little Dinner by Cécile Tlili (Foundry Editions). I adore a heatwave novel and love a dinner party scene so imagine my delight upon finding that Just a Little Dinner is both! The combination of claustrophobic tension and sticky drama, everything fraying at the edges, when two couples dine in the delirious heat of a stultifying Parisian summer night – all while trying to fight down their own insecurities, memories and secret desires – is magnificent. I also absolutely loved Brandy Sour from Foundry Editions and can’t wait to read the rest of their list.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Dreaming of Dead People, Rosalind Belben. An autobiographical, mid-life (well, thirty-six) crisis confessional novel originally published in 1979 which a review of the recent And Other Stories reissue described as rivalling ‘anything by Virginia Woolf’ . . . frankly nothing has ever made me want to read something more.

Hannah Knowles, Publishing Director

I’m recommending:

In the Distance by Hernan Diaz (Daunt Books). Like all the very greatest works of literature, this operates on a transcendent level. Diaz’s acute understanding of the human condition is imbued in every sentence, and it left me completely awed.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Penguin). Can’t wait to learn more about one of the greatest thinkers and writers of our time, and what has shaped her.

Jennifer Shelton, Contracts Assistant

I’m recommending:

The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard (Daphne Press). This is the ultimate millennial read (although it is great for any age from teen upwards). Set in the nineties, Dennard creates a Scooby-Doo murder mystery vibe that will have you longing for those pre-mobile and early dial-up internet days. It’s also the perfect Halloween read for anyone looking for something less scary and more cosy-spooky.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree (Pan Macmillan). I loved the first two books in this series: Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust. Brigands & Breadknives follows Fern, who was a personal favourite character from Bookshops & Bonedust. This series really kicked off the cosy fantasy genre, and I can’t wait to read about what my favourite foul-mouthed booklover gets up to on her own adventure. And not to mention the copious amounts of pastries Baldree’s writing always inspires me to eat!

Bonnie Jones, Commercial Director

I’m recommending:

I am recommending Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (Simon & Schuster). I didn’t mean to read it, but I could never quite put it down! I love Olive – she is blunt, righteous, opinionated and compassionate, gets things terribly wrong and terribly right, and keeps going. It is a series of short stories about the community, with Olive driving a narrative wedge through each one. Set on the blustery Maine coast, you will need walking shoes and a sensible coat.

I’m looking forward to reading:

I am looking forward to reading A Year with Gilbert White by Jenny Uglow (Faber) – it is absolutely gorgeous, a beautifully made book and a pleasure to hold, and it draws from the diaries of an eighteenth century naturalist living in Hampshire. It starts in January, but I’m going to jump straight into autumn and watch the season turn, find out what is ripe and what has gone over and get day by day updates on Timothy the tortoise as he enters hibernation.

Aisling Brennan, Assistant Editor

I’m recommending:

How to End a Story: Collected Diaries by Helen Garner (Orion). I went through a long period a few months ago where I tired of every single book I tried to read. Fed up, I decided there was nothing for it but to go to the bookshop and spend a load of money. It worked! My absolute favourite of the bunch was Helen Garner’s diaries. She skims lightly over forty years of her life, and you’re left gasping at how much better life is in her company: she’s wise beyond your wildest dreams, but also so, so gloriously petty. You get the sense that she couldn’t be dull or pretentious if she tried. Now firmly on the diary train, I’ve started Alphabetical Diaries, which I also wholeheartedly recommend.

I’m looking forward to reading:

Fire Weather by John Vaillant (Hodder & Stoughton). The world is burning. Read all about it!

Katie Hall, Marketing and Brand Director

I’m recommending:

My autumn recommendation is When the Going Was Good (Grove Press) – Graydon Carter’s memoir which recounts a long and mostly glamorous career at top of Vanity Fair magazine. As fun, gossipy and revealing as you would hope. He is Anna Wintour with a sense of humour.

I’m looking forward to reading:

I’m looking forward to reading more Lily King! I recently read her new novel, Heart the Lover (Canongate), and just as soon as my own heart has recovered, I’m going to work my way through her backlist.

Tia Ray, Sales Assistant

I’m recommending:

For me, Jane Austen’s Persuasion is a classic autumn read (and re-read, and re-re-read . . . ). Anne and Wentworth’s may be my favourite literary love story and the nostalgia, longing and unexpected second chances feel perfect for the season. It’s tender and bittersweet, full of Austen’s signature wit and feels like a chilly walk through falling leaves in the very best way. It’s just beautiful, and I dare anyone to not fall in love at the letter scene, if you’re not already head over heels by then.

On a completely different note – Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume series (Faber). What better time than autumn to read something completely unique and unexpected about the mysteries of time and our places in it, all told through the repetition of one November day? I’ve been lucky enough to read the first three volumes already and I’m very impatiently waiting until I can get my hands on the fourth!

I’m looking forward to reading:

Helm by Sarah Hall (Faber). As someone who loves folklore inspired stories and who has already been sent the same ‘woman whose whole personality is loving autumn’ Instagram reel by multiple friends, a book that gives voice to the wind itself as it witnesses all of human history seems right up my street. I’ve read the first few pages and have already fallen in love with Hall’s beautiful, lyrical writing and the mysterious, impish Helm – I’m trying to resist the rest until I can take it with me on holiday and read it curled up by the fire while listening to one of Helm’s relatives swirling around outside.

Hannah Marshall, Head of Marketing

I’m recommending:

I gulped down the new Lily King novel Heart the Lover over a few days on holiday this summer. I found the first part of the story wildly enjoyable, the latter part quietly devastating. Reading the last twenty pages, I sobbed behind my sunglasses on the beach while the rest of my family splashed around in the sea oblivious. My favourite novel this year, possibly of the last couple of years, I can say that I heart it very much indeed.

I’m looking forward to reading:

I’m really into Chris Kraus; so brilliantly intelligent and original, there’s no one else out there writing quite like her. I love that you never know where a new book of hers will take you, but you can be sure that wherever you’re going with her, she’s going to take you on a wild – often very funny – ride. And her forthcoming novel – The Four Spent the Day Together, about the murder of a teenager and the woman who becomes obsessed with the case – sounds right up my street. I can’t wait to get myself a copy when it’s out in October.

Nina Stratou, Export Sales and Operations Assistant

I’m recommending:

Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje (Daunt Books). Slanting Towards the Sea! It might be more of a summer read, but I read this on my recent holidays and couldn’t put it down. It’s a love story and exploration of identity moving between past and present. It follows Ivona and her relationships with herself, her ex-husband and first love, her family, her country. It is a raw, tender, heartbreaking and hopeful (for me at least) novel. The story of a woman and all her different facets.

I’m looking forward to reading:

The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar (Scribe) and Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Would it be considered cheating if I mention two? One of them is a re-read, so does it make better? No? Well, it’s happening. The first one that I’ve wanted to read for a couple of months now is The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran, a story of an Iranian-German family that begins 1979 in Tehran during the revolution and continues right up to the present day in Germany. A friend recommended it to me and the topic and polyphonic aspect of it sounds so compelling, and I’m really looking forward to reading it. And the second choice is more recent, impulsive and definitely influenced by the media, and enabling friends, because I’m weak. Wuthering Heights. Yes, I watched the film trailer, yes, I have the strongest urge to re-read this classic and yes, I’m justifying this choice due to its gothic elements and the fact that the autumn season demands it. (Please tell me I’m not alone.)