Discover perfect Christmas gifts
Whether you're searching for the perfect stocking filler, Secret Santa idea, or failsafe gifts for your friends and family, our handy Christmas gift guide has got you covered. Discover the very best titles for everyone on your list and find a present they'll cherish.
Best of 2025
From exciting new debuts to unmissable bestsellers and award-winning favourites, explore the best books that have been released this year. Shopping for a fiction lover? Choose from the novels of this year's Booker Prize-winner David Szalay, plus shortlist nominees Katie Kitamura, Susan Choi and Kiran Desai, latest releases from the likes of Richard Osman and Jojo Moyes, and more. For non-fiction readers, you’ll find gripping new memoirs, politics books, history books, and essays from leading expert voices. Whatever kind of reader you’re buying for, these brilliant new hardback books from 2025 make the perfect thoughtful gift.
Festive reads
'Tis the season to lose yourself in a wintery read. Whether you prefer Christmas romance books and love novels, or Christmas crime fiction and mysteries, there are plenty of festive reads to keep you busy at this time of year. If you’re short on time, we recommend Christmas short stories like A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, but if you have a few hours to spare we suggest classic Christmas stories like A Maigret Christmas or lesser-known books like The Penguin Book of Christmas Stories – incidentally, these beautiful editions also make for great gifts.
Beautiful books
You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover – but we must admit that beautiful books always go straight to the top of our Christmas wish lists. If you’re looking for a good book to gift to a fiction lover, or a way to make a book gift more special, we recommend browsing for stunning coffee table books, special editions of beloved classics, and new hardback non-fiction including gardening books, art books, cookbooks and many more. The below are our go-to books to gift this Christmas, but there’s something for everyone in our comprehensive round-up of beautiful books that make great gifts.
2025 in paperbacks
Looking for the perfect stocking filler? Discover the latest paperback editions of our best fiction and non-fiction of all genres, with something for everyone on your Christmas shopping list. Fiction lovers can enjoy page-turning novels like The City and Its Uncertain Walls by Haruki Murakami, Jennie Godfrey’s bestselling debut The List of Suspicious Things, or Jodi Picoult’s first work of historical fiction, By Any Other Name. And for non-fiction fans, choose from memoirs by the likes of Gary Stevenson and Miranda Hart, and insightful politics, culture and history books such as Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari and An African History of Africa by Zeinab Badawi.
Cosy crime
Christmas is the perfect time to curl up with a cosy crime book – which is why they make such a good Christmas gift. There’s something oddly comforting about these mystery books featuring unlikely detectives, small-town settings, and locked-room crime scenes. This year, there are plenty of books to choose from. From bestselling books by Anthony Horowitz to classic festive mysteries by Gladys Mitchell and popular thrillers from new voices, here are our top picks of cosy crime books that would make great gifts this Christmas.
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Classics to give as gifts
There is no better book to gift at Christmas than a beloved, timeless classic. Penguin's beautifully designed editions offer a world of choice, from our Clothbound Classics and Vintage Collector's Classics to our Modern Classics range and pocket-sized Penguin Archive collection. Whether it's a story that has always meant something to you personally, a BookTok sensation, or a hidden gem, the fiction lovers in your life are sure to be delighted to find one of our classics under the Christmas tree on the big day.
For young readers
Want to inspire a life-long love of reading in the next generation? Then gift them a book they just won't be able to put down. Whether you're looking for the perfect Christmas gift for a pre-schooler or a pre-teen, our selection of must-read children's books will guarantee you find the right choice for the young readers in your life. Select from our child-approved bestsellers, with TV favourites, magical fantasy tales, enduring classics and festive picture books that are sure to delight and entertain on Christmas day and beyond.
