The beginning of the books calendar is usually dominated by debuts, but January 2026 sees releases from some of the year’s biggest authors. Known for his surreally bittersweet short stories, George Saunders has written only one novel so far – but that one won the Booker prize. Ali Smith’s Glyph (Hamish Hamilton) is a companion to 2024’s Gliff, and promises to tell a story initially hidden in that previous novel. Expect fables, siblings, phantoms and horses in a typically playful shout of resistance against war, genocide and the increasingly hostile social discourse. View image in fullscreen Photograph: Fourth Estate/PAAsako Yuzuki’s Butter, featuring a gourmet cook turned serial killer, has become a slow-burn sensation (“There are two things that I can simply not tolerate: feminists and margarine”).

Source: The Guardian December 27, 2025 16:27 UTC