My reading year: 2026

Josephine Tey, Miss Pym Disposes

What a story. This isn't the typical whodunit: Tey spends almost two hundred pages preparing the groundwork; when the crime eventually occurs the reader is wholly invested. The 'investigation' involves Lucy Pym's psychological wrangling rather than objective detective work, thus setting this story apart from the popular crime fiction of the period (1940s). While Tey's language and political persepectives may now feel dated (and even offensive), her treatment of the moral aspects of crime feels modern. Read it.

5*

William Boyd, The Predicament

Travel writer Gabriel Dax resumes his role as accidental spy in this enjoyable sequel to Gabriel's Moon. Once again, Boyd's likeable protagonist suspects he is a 'useful idiot', knowing as much or as little about his undertakings as we readers do – which makes it easy to warm to him.

This is William Boyd, so it's virtually guaranteed to be a good read – and it is. Nevertheless, it's not in the same league as some of his earlier work, including the spy thriller Restless (which I thoroughly recommend).

3.5*

Graham Swift, Waterland

As expected from Graham Swift, the writing is hypnotic. The style is quite unusual, with the narrator directing his musings at the children he once taught, almost as if he were delivering a lesson.

The scope of this book is ambitious, covering the nature of history and our place within it. To some extent I found it a little too 'clever'. Ultimately, I'd describe Waterland as a book that I not so much enjoyed as admired.

4*

Anonymous, A Woman in Berlin

The diary of a female journalist in the final weeks of the Second World War, this is a harrowing read. While the Red Army liberated Berlin, its soldiers also subjected the women of the city (including the author) to systemic abuse and rape. The diarist, whom we now know as Marta Hillers, details events in lucid, unemotional prose, making this book a valuable primary source.

You can read my article, 'Her name was Marta', here (North East Bylines).

5*

Simon Armitage, New Cemetery

This luminous collection showcases exactly why Simon Arnitage is Poet Laureate. While not directly authobiographical, the poems touch upon the writing process, his father's death and, of course, his mediatations on the new cemetery near his home in West Yorkshire.

While the poems don't have traditional titles, each one is headed with a species of moth enclosed, coffin-like, within square brackets. This complements the shape of each poem, comprised of tercets which, as Armitage suggests, could mimic the 'two wings and a body part' of a moth.

Simon Armitage's verse is as familiar and fresh as ever.

5*

Rory Carroll, A Rebel and a Traitor

The title alludes to Roger Casement, an erstwhile British consul who goes on to play an active role in the preparations for the Easter Rising in 1916, for which he is eventually executed. Spanning 1914–1916, Carroll charts the exploits of Casement and his nemesis, naval officer Reginald 'Blinky' Hall. Casement's story is complicated by his homosexual liaisons, which he documented in five journals, known as the 'Black Diaries'. The book is packed with interesting historical details and is written is a measured yet entertaining style. It left me wanting to get my hands on Carroll's earlier book Killing Thatcher.

4.5*

Iris Murdoch, The Flight from the Enchanter

I have seen Iris Murdoch's books described as 'soap operas for the literati' and The Flight from the Enchanter seems to fit that description. With a large cast of characters, the unifying force of the narrative is the enigmatic and manipulative Mischa Fox, from whose seductive web none of the characters can escape. The setting is 1950s London, but it feels contemporary . If you like themes such power and entrapment, and literary devices such as doubling and nominative determinism (for example, Fox suggests a predator while Mischa hints at foreign heritage) then this early Murdoch novel won't disappoint.

5*