New paperbacks out this month
Discover more reading inspiration with our roundup of the best new paperbacks of 2026.
Virginia Roberts Giuffre (Author)
In 2011, Virginia Roberts Giuffre hit the headlines as Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s most outspoken victim: the woman whose decision to speak out helped send both serial abusers to prison and whose photograph with Prince Andrew catalyzed his fall from grace. But first and foremost, she became known as a voice of courage and resilience for women everywhere.
In April 2025, Giuffre took her own life. She left behind this memoir, written in the years preceding her death and stated unequivocally that she wanted it published. It is the powerful story of an ordinary girl who would grow up to confront adversity and trauma of the darkest form, yet found the strength to move forwards, reclaim her voice and shine a light on evil – advocating for others and fighting for a safer, fairer world.
Nobody’s Girl demonstrates with extraordinary power that victims are made, not born. And that once you come to truly understand the the horrifying impact of abuse, you will never again question why a victim stays, or returns over and over again. It is a remarkable recounting of one woman’s fortitude in the face of depravity and despair, and the legacy she leaves behind.
Dan Brown (Author)
Accompanying celebrated academic, Katherine Solomon, to a lecture she’s been invited to give in Prague, Robert Langdon’s world spirals out of control when she disappears without trace from their hotel room. Far from home and well out of his comfort zone, Langdon must pit his wits against forces unknown to recover the woman he loves.
But Prague is an old and dangerous city, steeped in folklore and mystery. For over two thousand years, the tides of history have washed back and forth over it, leaving behind echoes of everything that has gone before. Little can Langdon know that he is being stalked by a spectre from that dark past. He must use all of his arcane knowledge to decipher the world around him before he too is consumed by the rings of treachery and deception that have swallowed Katherine.
Against a backdrop of vast castles, towering churches, graveyards buried twelve deep and labyrinthine underground passages, Langdon must navigate a shadow city hiding in plain sight, a city which has successfully kept its secrets for centuries and will not readily deliver them. This is a battlefield unlike any he has previously experienced, one on which he must fight not for his only life, but for the future of humanity itself.
The Secret Of Secrets is Dan Brown’s first novel for over eight years and sees the stunning return of Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time pitting his wits against a conspiracy which will test even his considerable brainpower and take him to the edge of losing all that he holds dear…
Hiro Arikawa (Author)
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Allison Markin Powell (Translator)
THE INSTANT TIMES BESTSELLER
DISCOVER YOUR NEXT FEELGOOD JAPANESE NOVEL, BY THE AUTHOR OF THE TRAVELLING CAT CHRONICLES
Over 1.4 million copies sold in Japan
'You will be wrapped in laughter and tears' Reader review*****
'What I love about it is its Kindness' Reader review*****
'I wanted to tap the shoulders of the characters' Reader review*****
‘Imagine Murder on the Orient Express without the untimely fatalities and you'll be halfway towards this cosy and affecting read' Harper's Bazaar
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The contents of each traveller's heart is a mystery known only to themselves
Trundling through the scenic countryside of Kyoto and Osaka is the Hankyu line, a burgundy-coloured electric train that has been carrying its commuters to their destinations for decades.
Over the course of a single journey in springtime, and the return journey six months later just as the leaves begin to fall:
- a young man meets the woman who happens to take out the last copy of the library book he was about to borrow;
- an angry wedding guest dresses in a white gown to upstage the bride;
- a university student leaves home for the first time;
- a twenty-something finally grows the courage to walk away from an abusive partner
- a widow learns independence, as she and her granddaughter discuss their new dog.
As the seasons and the landscapes change, passengers jostle and connect, as this timeless train carries each one forward towards the person they intend to become.
Philip Pullman (Author)
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Christopher Wormell (Illustrator)
‘Lyra: what will you do when you find this place in the desert, the opening to the world of the roses?’
‘Defend it,’ Lyra said. ‘Die defending it.’
When readers left Lyra in The Secret Commonwealth she was alone, in the ruins of a deserted city. Pantalaimon had run from her – part of himself – in search of her imagination, which he believed she had lost. Lyra travelled across the world from her Oxford home in search of her dæmon. And Malcolm, loyal Malcolm, too journeyed far from home, towards the Silk Roads in search of Lyra . . .
In The Rose Field, their quests converge in the most dangerous, breathtaking and world-changing ways. They must take help from spies and thieves, gryphons and witches, old friends and new, learning all the while the depth and surprising truths of the alethiometer. All around them, the world is aflame – made terrifying by fear, power and greed.
As they move East, towards the red building that will reunite them and give them answers – on Dust, on the special roses, on imagination – so too does the Magisterium, at war against all that Lyra holds dear.
Marking thirty years since the world was first introduced to Pullman’s remarkable heroine Lyra Belacqua in Northern Lights, The Rose Field is the culmination of the cultural phenomenon of The Book of Dust and His Dark Materials.
Claire Douglas (Author)
When Imogen is told she’s inherited a country mansion near Bath, she thinks it must be a mistake. She last saw its owner, reclusive artist Dorothea Roe, sixteen years ago: a summer which changed her life for ever.
Once Imogen and her partner Josh settle into the house, she dares to hope that this is the start of a new life.Yet Imogen can’t stop wondering why a woman she barely knew would leave her everything.
And when she discovers a box with her name on it in the artist’s abandoned studio, she’s sure Dorothea was trying to send her a message before she died.
What if her death wasn’t an accident?
Could it be tangled in Imogen’s own dark family history?
And why is she feeling watched all of a sudden?
Yrsa Daley-Ward (Author)
‘Totally original, entirely compelling and astonishingly well crafted, The Catch solidifies Yrsa Daley-Ward as one of Britain's best and boldest voices. A dark and lyrical debut that's well worth the wait.’ Yomi Adegoke, author of Slay in Your Lane and The List
'A fantastic, shimmering work. Yrsa Daley-Ward's rich exploration of Black womanhood and familial complexities is a must read.' Irenosen Okojie
‘From one of my favourite living writers, The Catch is a slippery shape-shifting delight. Yrsa’s novel is fluorescently dark and winding; brilliant in its investigation of refractions and meaning.’ Eloghosa Osunde, author of VAGABONDS!
‘Yrsa’s work is like holding the truth in your hands. A glorious living thing’ FLORENCE WELCH
A darkly whimsical debut about women daring to live and create with impunity.
Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. The catch: this version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life.
Clara, a celebrity author in desperate need of validation, believes Serene is their mother, while Dempsey, isolated and content to remain so, believes she is a con woman. As they clash over this stranger, the sisters hurtle toward an altercation that threatens their very existence, forcing them to finally confront their pasts--together.
In her riveting first foray into fiction, Yrsa Daley-Ward conjures a kaleidoscopic multiverse of daughterhood and mother-want, exploring the sacrifices that Black women must make for self-actualization. The result is a marvel of a debut novel that boldly asks, "How can it ever, ever be a crime to choose yourself?"
Holly Stars (Author)
Photographer Jeremy Edmunds has vanished without a trace. Last known location? Soho.
As the owner of Lady’s Bar, no one knows the city – and its secrets – better than drag queen Misty Divine. So who better to help private detective Sylvester Green follow this missing man’s trail than the Queen of Soho herself?
But no sooner has one mystery landed, than another one takes Misty by surprise.
Because the next day, Sylvester is back. The difference? Yesterday, he was alive. Today, it’s his dead body on her doorstep.
With danger drawing in, Misty must take Sylvester’s investigation into her perfectly manicured hands. Can she solve the case, and find the missing photographer?
Or will the next murder to solve be her own?
Tom Hindle (Author)
THE GRIPPING NEW MURDER MYSTERY FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR.
‘The perfect crime novel’ Janice Hallett
‘Tremendously engaging.’ Vaseem Khan
The trip of their dreams is about to end in murder.
When five old friends are invited to join Abigail Blythe at the launch of her luxury hotel in the Costa Rican rainforest, they jump at the chance to spend a week in paradise.
None of them have heard from Abigail since the summer they went backpacking in Central America as students – a trip that ended in disaster for one member of the group. . .
Ten years may have passed, but old rivalries are never far from the surface. So when a body is discovered during the hotel’s launch event, it soon becomes clear that one among them must be responsible.
Someone is desperate to keep an old secret hidden – whatever the cost . . .
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PRAISE FOR A KILLER IN PARADISE . . .
'Filled with secrets and twists. This one will keep you guessing until the end!' Kelly Mullen
'The master of the murder mystery. . .' Anita Frank
'Endlessly compulsive – with depths as hidden and sinister as the rain forest itself.’ J M Hall
‘A subtropical tour-de-force… Hidden motivations and underhand shenanigans abound in this twisting, double bluffing classic mystery.’ David Goodman
'Hindle surprises and astonishes the way only magicians and the best crime writers can. A dazzler.' Benjamin Stevenson
PRAISE FOR TOM HINDLE . . .
'Brilliantly clever' Lucy Foley
'Heir to Christie' Daily Mail
'Clever, classy and captivating' Chris Whitaker
Hallie Rubenhold (Author)
THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER BY THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE FIVE
In this gripping examination of one of the most infamous murders of the twentieth century, prizewinning social historian Hallie Rubenhold gives voice to those who have never properly been heard – the women.
'Popular history you devour in one sitting' Sunday Times
'Gripping' TLS
'Unbelievably addictive' LUCY WORSLEY, presenter of A Very British Murder
'I couldn't put it down' BONNIE GARMUS, author of Lessons in Chemistry
'Finely layered' Financial Times
'Breath-taking' Spectator
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On 1 February, 1910, vivacious music-hall performer, Belle Elmore, suddenly vanished from her north London home, causing alarm among her circle of female friends, the entertainers of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild who demanded an immediate investigation.
They could not have known what they would provoke: the unearthing of a gruesome secret, followed by a fevered manhunt for the prime suspect: Belle’s husband, medical fraudster, Dr Hawley Harvey Crippen.
Hiding in the shadows of this evergreen tale is Crippen’s typist and lover, Ethel Le Neve – was she really just ‘an innocent young girl’ in thrall to a powerful older man as so many people have since reported?
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PRAISE FOR STORY OF A MURDER:
'Gripping and eye-opening' I-news, Book to Watch Out For
'Reads like a great thriller. I inhaled it' Bella Mackie, bestselling author of How to Kill Your Family
'A unique combination of sleuthing, storytelling and compassion' Lucy Worsley, bestselling author and historian
'Fascinating. It's about time Belle became the hero of her own story' Val McDermid, bestselling author of the Karen Pirie series
'As compelling as any crime drama' S J Parris, bestselling author of the Giordano Bruno series
'I had my hand over my wide-open mouth…I can’t recommend it more: I will be thinking about it for a very long time. Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Homemade God
'Takes us beyond the world of Dr Crippen into the lives impacted by him and the society in which he moved. Terrific' Ian Rankin, bestselling author of the Rebus series
'Compelling to the very last page' Denise Mina, award-winning author of Reese’s Book Club pick, Conviction
'Does for the Crippen Murder case what THE FIVE did for the victims of Jack the Ripper. Forensic research and insistent sympathetic writing. I loved it' PROFESSOR DAVID WILSON, BBC 1, The Crime
Squad
'Breathtaking. Rubenhold has not only produced a thrilling reassessment of a notorious crime, but an impressive portrait of an age' Spectator
Janina Ramirez (Author)
From the bestselling author of FEMINA, a brilliant reappraisal of the medieval women whose lives have been exploited for political, nation-building ends.
From Joan of Arc to Lady Godiva, Isabella of Castile to Catherine of Siena, famous medieval women have become national icons, their legends burnished and celebrated. But over the centuries their lives have been exploited, their stories twisted and weaponised. Searching for the real women behind the legends, bestselling historian Janina Ramirez reveals how history is often hijacked to serve the ideological and political agendas of the present.
Praise for LEGENDA:
'Fearless, stunning and shockingly relevant' Alice Roberts, author of Domination
'A history like no other. Fabulous, invigorating and beguiling' Kate Mosse, author of Labyrinth
'Sensational! Janina Ramirez is writing women back into history one by one' Lauren Laverne
'A brilliant concept, conveyed with that dynamo mix: academic authority and storytelling pizzazz!' Alice Loxton, author of Eighteen
Robin Givhan (Author)
In 2018, Louis Vuitton appointed a designer with no formal training to be the head of menswear – the first Black director in the brand's 164-year history, upending a century's worth of ideas about luxury and taste.
Recounting Virgil Abloh’s remarkable ascent to the top, Make It Ours unearths how the cloistered, exclusive fashion world faced a revolution from below, dressed in graphic t-shirts and sneakers.
With unparalleled access to Abloh's family, collaborators, and contemporaries like Ozwald Boateng and Kanye West, Givhan weaves a spellbinding biography of a singular creative force and a powerful meditation on fashion and race, taste and exclusivity, genius and luxury.
