Every year, we at Foyles choose our 3 best books. One Fiction, one Non-Fiction, one Children’s book – all representing our favourite, most interesting, most important, most year-defining titles published, recommended and sold this year. In the past we’ve highlighted novels that have become contemporary classics, like Naomi Alderman’s The Power and Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Women - game-changing Non-Fiction such as Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Three Women - and children’s books to cherish from Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls to SF Said’s Tyger. See below for this year’s crème de la crème, along with the rich and varied books chosen from years gone by.
Fiction Book of the Year 2023
After the barnstorming success of Babel, Rebecca F Kuang set herself a near-impossible task in tackling a follow-up but in Yellowface she has created a masterpiece in its own right. As unputdownable as it is wickedly funny, Kuang’s pin-sharp thriller of the machinations of the publishing world is a novel to gobble up in one, breathless sitting.
Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2023
A game-changer in the history of human evolutionary biology, Eve delivers a punchy, readable and revolutionary take, peppered with references as wide-ranging as they are fascinating. American author and academic, Cat Bohannon has written a book that deserves a place on every bookshelf, shedding light not only on how we came to be, but also on what needs to change about how female bodies are studied, cared-for and included.
Children's Book of the Year 2023
To write a stand-out fantasy children’s novel that feels fresh, exciting and genuinely new takes some doing but in Impossible Creatures Katherine Rundell has gone one step further and created a modern classic. Telling the story of a boy and girl from different worlds, each caught-up in a perilous adventure of hidden portals, an urgent quest and - of course – a host of impossible mythical creatures, this is a treat for children and adults alike. Read it and lose yourself in the magic.