Short novels to read in a day

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

Becky Chambers

Just when the world needs it comes a story of kindness and hope from one of the masters of Hopepunk. Hugo Award-winner Becky Chambers’s delightful new series gives us hope…

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The Swimmers

Julie Otsuka

A bold and lyrical novel about memory, love, a swimming pool - and the many ways we lose and find each other again

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Open Water

Caleb Azumah Nelson

A stunning first novel about two young Black artists in London falling in and out of love by a new literary virtuoso, and finalist for the BBC Short Story Award…

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Winter In Sokcho

Elisa Shua Dusapin

As if Marguerite Duras wrote Convenience Store Woman–a beautiful, unexpected novel from a debut French-Korean author

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Heaven

Mieko Kawakami

From the bestselling author of Breasts and Eggs and international literary sensation Mieko Kawakami comes a sharp and illuminating novel about a teenage boy subjected to relentless bullying.

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My Phantoms

Gwendoline Riley

An electric, compelling, often painfully funny portrait of family relationships, which shows the damage we can do in the course of a life.

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The Twilight World

Werner Herzog

An extraordinary and captivating story told in exquisite prose; this is the unmade documentary from the pioneer and legendary filmmaker who brought us the mutli-award-winning Grizzly Man

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We Had to Remove This Post

Hanna Bervoets

For readers of Leila Slimani’s Lullaby or Ling Ma’s Severance: a tight, propulsive, chilling novel by a rising international star.

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No One Is Talking About This

Patricia Lockwood

Irreverent and sincere, poignant and delightfully profane, No One Is Talking About This is at once a love letter to the infinite scroll and a meditation on love, language and…

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They (Faber Editions)

Kay Dick

Introduced by Carmen Maria Machado, the radical dystopian classic, lost for forty years: in a nightmarish through-a-glass-darkly Britain, they are coming closer…

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Pure Colour

Sheila Heti

It’s about the surrounding world - sky, trees, lakes, stars - and, as Heti writes, ‘the world beyond this world’, which can be glimpsed in rare moments when something shattering…

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Paradais

Fernanda Melchor

Author of the acclaimed novel Hurricane Season, Fernanda Melchor leads us into a different kind of hell: paradise

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Weather

Jenny Offill (Y)

From the author of Dept. of Speculation, a dazzling and deadpan new novel about hope and despair, fear and comfort as it plays out in these times of environmental and…

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The Disaster Tourist

Yun Ko-Eun, Lizzie Buehler (trans.)

A satirical Korean eco-thriller with a fierce feminist sensibility.

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Recitatif

Toni Morrison

A stunning, relevant short story (the only one Toni Morrison wrote), with a new substantial introduction from Zadie Smith

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People From My Neighbourhood

Hiromi Kawakami (Y)

From the best-selling author of Strange Weather in Tokyo, here is a collection of playful, delightful, delectable Japanese micro-fiction.

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Burntcoat

Sarah Hall

An electrifying erotic lockdown novel - from ‘a writer of show-stopping genius’ (Guardian).

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All Systems Red

Martha Wells

In a society where contracts are awarded to the lowest bidder, safety isn’t a primary concern.

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Ms Ice Sandwich

Mieko Kawakami

New edition of this witty, moving story of adolescent love and loss from the acclaimed, prize- winning author of Breasts and Eggs.

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Cold Enough for Snow

Jessica Au

Winner of the inaugural Novel Prize, an elegant and subtle exploration of the mysteries of our relationships to others.

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Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life

Zarah Butcher-McGunnigle

An unnamed young woman in her late twenties navigates unemployment, boredom, chronic illness and online dating

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Assembly

Natasha Brown

Over the course of twenty-four hours, the whip-smart young narrator of Assembly receives a cancer diagnosis, decides not to tell her posh white boyfriend, accepts a long-awaited promotion from her…

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Small Things Like These

Claire Keegan

An exquisite winter tale of courage - and its cost, set in Catholic Ireland.

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Night Blue

Angela O'Keeffe

Potent, haunting and lyrical, Night Blue is a debut novel like no other, a narrative largely told in the voice of the painting Blue Poles. It is a truly original…

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The Death of Francis Bacon

Max Porter

A great painter lies on his deathbed. Max Porter translates into seven extraordinary written pictures the explosive final workings of the artist’s mind.

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A Girl Returned

Donatella Di Pietrantonio

Set against the stark, beautiful landscape of Abruzzo in central Italy, this is a compelling story about mothers and daughters, about responsibility, siblings, and caregiving, pitch-perfect in Ann Goldstein's English…

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Summerwater

Sarah Moss

From the acclaimed author of Ghost Wall, Summerwater is a devastating story told over twenty-four hours in the Scottish highlands, and a searing exploration of our capacity for both kinship…

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Dolores

Lauren Aimee Curtis

On a hot day in late June, a young girl kneels outside a convent, then falls on her face. When the nuns take her in, they name her Dolores.

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Indelicacy

Amina Cain

A ghostly feminist fable, Amina Cain’s Indelicacy is the story of a woman navigating between gender and class roles to empower herself and fulfill her dreams.

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McGlue

Ottessa Moshfegh

Salem, Massachusetts, 1851: McGlue is in the hold, still too drunk to be sure of his name or situation or orientation - he may have killed a man.

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Leaving the Atocha Station

Ben Lerner (Y)

Veering between the comic and tragic, the self-contemptuous and the inspired, Leaving the Atocha Station is a dazzling introduction to one of the smartest, funniest and most audacious writers of…

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A Pale View of Hills

Kazuo Ishiguro

Etsuko lives alone in rural England, trying to come to terms with the recent suicide of her daughter. A visit from her other daughter Niki sends Etsuko retreating into the…

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Lie With Me

Philippe Besson

A gorgeous coming-of-age love story about two teenage boys in 1980s France.

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The Vegetarian: A Novel

Han Kang

A trangressive, unsettling novel in three acts, about rebellion and taboo, violence and eroticism, and the twisting metamorphosis of a soul.

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Heartburn

Nora Ephron

This autobiographical novel by Nora Ephron, Oscar-nominated screenwriter (When Harry Met Sally) and successful director (Sleepless in Seattle), is a bittersweet and very funny book about love and loss. Published…

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Crimson

Niviaq Korneliussen

‘One of the Top Ten Nordic fiction books’ - Sjon, Guardian; ‘A work of a striking modern sensibility’ - New Yorker

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Convenience Store Woman

Sayaka Murata

The surprise smash hit - Japan’s answer to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

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Dept. of Speculation

Jenny Offill

The second novel from an LA Times First Fiction Prize finalist, Dept. of Speculation is an annihilating, electrifying account of marriage and motherhood, love and madness

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Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

Max Porter

In a London flat, two young boys face the unbearable sadness of their mother’s sudden death. Their father, a Ted Hughes scholar and scruffy romantic, imagines a future of well-meaning…

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Our Souls at Night

Kent Haruf

From the Folio Prize-shortlisted author of Plainsong, Eventide and Benediction, a stunning novel about finding happiness.

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Crudo

Olivia Laing

A blisteringly funny and remarkably tender debut novel from Olivia Laing, one of the finest non-fiction writers of her generation. Winner of the James Tait Black Award 2019, shortlisted for…

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The Incendiaries

R. O. Kwon

A powerful, darkly glittering novel about violence, love, faith, and loss, as a young Korean American woman at an elite American university is drawn into acts of domestic terrorism by…

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Annihilation

Jeff VanderMeer

The first volume of the extraordinary Southern Reach trilogy.

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The Passion

Jeanette Winterson

inventive and brilliant’ Guardian'As moving and funny as it is skilful, and reflects the author’s formidable appetite for life’ Sunday Times'A book of great imaginative audacity and assurance…brilliantly physical (and…

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The Sense of an Ending: The classic Booker Prize-winning novel

Julian Barnes

Tony Webster and his clique first met Adrian Finn at school. Sex-hungry and book-hungry, they would navigate the girl-less sixth form together, trading in affectations, in-jokes, rumour and wit. May…

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My Name Is Lucy Barton

Elizabeth Strout

From Lucy’s hospital bed, we are drawn ever more deeply into the emotional complexity of family life, the inescapable power of the past, and the memories - however painful -…

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The Guest Cat

Takashi Hiraide

An international bestseller. A charming and wonderful novel about a cat that brings joy into a couple’s life

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Sula

Toni Morrison

As young girls, Nel and Sula shared each other’s secrets and dreams in the poor black mid-West of their childhood. Sula is a story of fear - the fear that…

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Short novels to read in a day

A Psalm for the Wild-Built

The Swimmers

Open Water

Winter In Sokcho

Heaven

My Phantoms

The Twilight World

We Had to Remove This Post

No One Is Talking About This

They (Faber Editions)

Pure Colour

Paradais

Weather

The Disaster Tourist

Recitatif

People From My Neighbourhood

Burntcoat

All Systems Red

Ms Ice Sandwich

Cold Enough for Snow

Nostalgia Has Ruined My Life

Assembly

Small Things Like These

Night Blue

The Death of Francis Bacon

A Girl Returned

Summerwater

Dolores

Indelicacy

McGlue

Leaving the Atocha Station

A Pale View of Hills

Lie With Me

The Vegetarian: A Novel

Heartburn

Crimson

Convenience Store Woman

Dept. of Speculation

Grief Is the Thing with Feathers

Our Souls at Night

Crudo

The Incendiaries

Annihilation

The Passion

The Sense of an Ending: The classic Booker Prize-winning novel

My Name Is Lucy Barton

The Guest Cat

Sula