The Skinny's Books of 2024

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Picador)

Kaveh Akbar has written a deeply moving tale of grief that is rich with inventive narration. Martyr! navigates the inner turmoil of its protagonist Cyrus, along with all the people who love him, and in turn, who are often frustrated by his myopic views on life. The ending was magical and life-affirming and I feel fuller for having spent time with Akbar’s poetic prose. [Andrés Ordorica]

Private Rites by Julia Armfield (4th Estate)

Against the backdrop of a decade-long downpour in a near-sinking city, three sisters process the loss of their father, an eminent architect and absent parent. Navigating their own complicated, queer relationships with lovers and with each other, Agnes, Isla and Irene’s personalities clash as the age-old competitiveness instilled by their father resurfaces even after his death. Meanwhile, watchful eyes peer out from the rain, still falling, through the floor-to-ceiling windows of their late father's floating mansion, as the truth of their childhoods and respective mothers threatens to rise with the water levels. [Paula Lacey]

Nostalgia by Agnes Arnold-Forster (Picador)

Nostalgia is generous with its historical, medical, scientific, cultural, socio-political, economic and critical insights into the disease that nostalgia used to be, its universal practice, and the collective weapon it has the potential to be. It traces the diagnostic roots of the emotion and tracks its evolution with sagacity and diligence. It is a thrilling and informative nonfictional read dedicated to observing the minute and major shifts that nostalgia has taken on as a condition and field of study. Arnold-Forster refreshes the field's contemporary examination of this phenomenal subject matter with wit, intrigue, and relevance. [Maria Farsoon]

Mother Naked by Glen James Brown (Peninsula Press)

Mother Naked is a minstrel, Segerston is a small town and The Legend of The Fell Wraith is a terrifying story told through twists and turns the length of the book. Plumbing the horrors of the pre-reformation church and its tyranny, this vivid green book lays bare deep fissures of wealth and exploitation through their disastrous impact on a small community. Glen James Brown’s writing is electric; this is not a period piece, it’s a call to arms. [Marguerite Carson]

Goblinhood: Goblin as a Mode by Jen Calleja (Rough Trade)

Before this book, I had never known non-fiction to be quite so riotously fun. Pop culture analysis through the lens of goblinhood is as mischievous and quirky as the little green fellas that you will come to spot everywhere after gobbling up this work. Calleja has the most readable voice as she excitedly tours us through why our favourite figures are goblin-coded and the depths of intimate personal trauma without missing a beat between the two. [Jo Higgs]

Limelight and Other Stories by Lyndsey Croal (Shortwave)

A collection of science fiction stories set on Earth and beyond from a prolific homegrown talent, Limelight interrogates our relationship with technology in distant and not-too-distant futures through a bold and incisive lens. Croal explores love, grief, and the pursuit of a better self with a mixture of eerie images and empathy, always focusing on the human heart of her stories. A wonderful exploration of humanity and technology in all its myriad complications. [Katalina Watt]

It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over by Anne De Marcken (Fitzcarraldo)

A horror-comedy of a zombie novel, It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over sees its heroine adjusting to her new (after)life as she heads west through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, carrying a dead crow in her chest and losing limbs as she goes, towards somewhere she knows, loves, but can’t quite remember. [Terri-Jane Dow]

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves (Neem Tree Press)

Stefan's best friend Mark disappears shortly after going away to uni at the Royal College of St Almsworth. When he encounters a woman who looks just like Mark years later, he is plunged into an obsessive quest that leads him to Dorley Hall, the exclusive student housing on the edge of campus, and what lies beneath it… This is a propulsive, thought provoking and deeply emotional look at power, gender, violence and redemption. [Eris Young]

My Friends by Hisham Matar (Viking)

Hisham Matar crafts a beautiful piece of personal, character-driven fiction from real-life events in his utterly deserved Orwell prize-winner. In the 1980s, two Libyan students at the University of Edinburgh find their lives upended by a tragic event at a protest outside of their country's London embassy. 30 years later, one of them recounts the fallout of that day against the backdrop of the Arab Spring. [Louis Cammell]

Namesake: Reflections on A Warrior Woman by N.S. Nuseibeh (Canongate)

This is the book I’ve been thinking about since I first read it; the book I will recommend to anyone who’ll listen. Namesake is an essay collection about identity in the context of the occupation of Palestine. Nuseibeh draws parallels between herself as a British-Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem and her famous ancestor Nusaybah bint Ka’ab al Khazraji, the legendary female warrior. Mostly written before October 2023, Namesake is as relevant now as ever, exploring topics like violence, religion and womanhood with a clear and approachable voice that will continue to resonate through time and geography. This is the kind of book the world might not deserve, but it desperately needs. [Venezia Paloma]

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber)

Liminal states of desire and grief take centre stage in Sally Rooney’s fourth – and perhaps best – novel Intermezzo, in which two brothers find themselves trapped in the sticky quagmire of tangled relationships following the death of their father. I have been trying to pick apart just why I love Rooney’s writing so much, why I underlined this book like some kind of sacred text, and I think it is because she takes desire so seriously – the ecstasy of its subjunctive mood and the devastation of its (almost always) inevitable fallout. I felt it so acutely throughout Intermezzo: the tenderness and insanity about placing ourselves entirely in someone else’s control. But also, maybe, that is all that intimacy ever is. [Anahit Behrooz]

That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz by Malachy Tallack (Canongate)

That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz gives up its secrets guardedly, so when everything comes together the effect is unexpectedly profound. Tender-hearted, graceful, and subtly philosophical, this is a novel to be cherished. It’s an artful, and emotionally mature, evocation that every single life is extraordinary. [Alistair Braidwood]