Here are ten of my favourite books of 2026 Part Two, excluding audiobooks, of which there are loads so far. As usual a disparate selection, with a fair bit of superstition thrown in, but only one Gothic this time. It was a difficult decision as I had to leave out two more that could have been on this list.
The Tradwife’s Lie by Bella Ellwood-Clayton
After reading The Tradwife’s Lie I thought I’d do a bit of research on the phenomenon. I looked at the main influencers such as @ballerinafarm, @naraaziza and @esteecwilliams. They promote living a simpler life with defined gender roles, akin to the 1950s, where husbands were the breadwinners and wives embraced domesticity. Tradwives look after the children (often home schooling), cook from scratch, bake their own bread – you know where I’m going with this. But why would it attract Gen Z? It is believed that they are struggling with doing it all, having stressful jobs while taking care of the family.
But one of the main differences between now and then is that some ‘tradwife influencers’ are making a fortune from being on social media, thus monetizing the whole movement. Hypocritical? Elke in the book is a prime example. She is the power behind the Westbrook community. The women – Cherries, Blossoms and Orchards (the hierarchy) have to post at least three times a day with pictures and videos of their wonderful lives. Elke demands loyalty, but it’s about control.
For my full review click here
A Bad Deal in Mormon Land by T.I.M. Wirkus
Three of the things I love best in a book – religion, magic, and shady dealings. Add to that a medium, seances and murder, all wrapped up in a Gothic mystery, and you have the perfect recipe for my favourite literary concoction.
The year is 1908, and our main character, Madame Ilsa von Hoffmann, a spiritualist medium, has fallen on hard times. Then she is hired by Roger Marsh, a Mormon elder who has been excommunicated by the church for refusing to accept that polygamy is no longer legal. He has three wives. He wants Ilsa to raise the spirit of Joseph Smith, who founded the Mormon religion. But is Ilsa a fraud?
For my full review click here
The Last Secret of Wickham Grange by Zoe Manlow
I almost didn’t read this but I’m so glad I did! I loved it from start to finish. It takes place in two timelines – 2006 when Caroline Alleyn’s beloved grandmother Frances has just died and Caroline has inherited Wickham Grange, and just after the war when we learn the history of the residents and why a group of five women all left on the same day in 1947. Unfortunately for Caroline, she is not allowed to sell the Grange without the permission of those women.
If they are still alive – they would be pretty old by now – Caroline needs to contact them. But when she does get hold of the women, she is met with outright hostility. The answer is a definite no. What is it they don’t want her to discover? She is told not to look for Lizzie Sixpence, the one Frances had said she couldn’t save. And the elderly residents of Wickham Grange, including Mr Harris, are also hiding something. And then she finds the bones…
For my full review click here
The Bone Mother by Suzy Aspley
As with the first Martha Strangeways book, Crow Moon, I still struggle with knowing that Martha’s three-year-old twins had died in a fire. I understand it gives depth to her character, but it still makes it hard to read. Somehow, it doesn’t seem necessary.
But moving on, I love everything else about the book. Anything Gothic, folklore, local myths is probably my favourite genre.
Basically, the premise of the book revolves around a local legend in which the Bone Mother goddess protects the land. There is a shrine dedicated to her. Disturbing the shrine will cause havoc for those around. But a developer is going to flood the land where he is building an energy plant, using sustainable methods. So which is more important? A Facebook group has been set up encouraging young women to trek alone to the shrine. ‘Alone’ should have rung a few bells.
For my full review click here
Wednesday Night Whites by Marci Lin Melvin
I hardly know where to start. When I got to the end I thought ‘what the hell did I just read?’ It’s deep and meaningful with the focus on vulnerable women and white supremacy, but it’s also quirky and rather strange at times. So did I guess the abductor and alleged killer of the missing women? No I didn’t. I had my own theory (which I’m rather proud of to be honest) but I can’t say any more as it might give too much away.
There is another major twist, which I wasn’t that keen on – a bit too far-fetched for me – but it didn’t distract from my enjoyment. The whole book is so fast-paced that I just kept reading and reading.
For my full review click here
Barbara Truscoe and the Tea of Truth by Peter Berry
If you voted for Brexit or plan to vote Reform in the next election, then this book is probably not for you. There are a lot of parallels, particularly the ‘Change’ party, and its councillors and MPs. And it’s not flattering or sympathetic.
Barbara Truscoe is a fairly ordinary wife and mother, living in a fairly typical suburban cul-de-sac. She gets on really well with her neighbours and her kids are pretty OK. Daughter Dani is twenty-one and supposedly intelligent, even though she says ‘like’ in every sentence. Teenage son Leo is not your average teenager – studious and thoughtful, and no drugs or getting drunk every weekend – though he does admit to getting up to a bit of naughtiness when under the ‘tea of truth’.
For my full review click here
Finding Ida by Marya Burgess
I could have placed my late father inside this book. The names, the places, the food, all the things that made him Polish and – forgive me – I had forgotten. He joined the Polish infantry at the start of the war but was taken prisoner-of-war in Northern Russia before escaping and coming to the UK where he joined the RAF Polish Squadron. I was born here in the fifties.
According to the author ‘…In England I had played up the esotericism of my provenance…’. At a convent school in the late sixties I felt the same. I was foreign, other, exotic. I didn’t visit Poland until 1978 after a failed attempt (due to my father’s dual nationality and the government’s inability to protect him as Poland was still behind the Iron Curtain) to see my grandmother before she died in 1966. As with Marya: In Poland I became 100 per cent British…’
For my full review click here
Wonderful by Louise Beech
I’ve never particularly been a Marilyn Monroe fan, but then I’ve never been a fan of the glamorous movie stars of the fifties – the Golden Age of Hollywood. As a child of the sixties, it was all about the pop music scene. My idols were Sandie Shaw, Marianne Faithful and broadcaster Kathy McGowan. Big fringes, long straight hair and pale pink lips. We wanted to look like them – be them. The movie stars like Marilyn, Lana Turner, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly were unattainable.
So why did I choose to read this book, I hear you ask. I guess it was the premise. A movie star, fed up with fame, notoriety and lack of privacy, decides to take her own life. Until she sees the Virgin Mary in her kitchen and is delivered of a strange message and it changes her decision.
For my full review click here
Fifteen Minutes by Amanda Prowse
I asked my husband if he had ‘fifteen minutes’, who would he choose to talk to. He said his father. I was very surprised. I won’t say why I was surprised at his choice or his reasons. I would probably choose my own father as well, but for very different reasons.
This all set up a discussion with other relatives at dinner. The father (again) who never got to meet his great-grandchildren. Could fifteen minutes be all it would take to tell him who or what might be coming in the future? And that unanswered question – how did they get their furniture up the fire escape to their new flat? All the things you wish you had asked before it was too late.
For my full review click here
Bad Influence by Will Carver
Having just finished listening to Carver’s first two January David books, and having read all his work from The Beresford onwards, Bad Influence starts off as a bit of fun, a bit of a lark. Not the usual Carver fare. Two bored twenty-something college students (more Gen Z than millennials – I’m a bit obsessed with generations) doing silly stuff together. Alyssa is poor, while best friend Less is from a wealthy family, but wants to stand on his own two feet as a milliner, designing hats for the rich and famous. Alyssa wants to be an influencer.
Then they decide – well it’s Alyssa’s idea really – to become ‘phroggers’, people who squat in other people’s houses, while the owners are living there. They are never seen, but eat the food, sleep in the attic or basement, even in the walls, and watch TV etc while the householders are out. Alyssa and Less think it’s amusing to move things around a bit, just to freak the owners out.
For my full review click here
