Cursed Daughters by Oyinkan Braithwaite
My Sister, the Serial Killer put Braithwaite on the literary map with her thrilling debut about the jealousy of sisters and, yes, murder. In one of the most anticipated books of the year, the Nigerian/British writer brings us a follow-up to the story. Cursed Daughters is a spookier, otherworldly tale coloured by magical realism, family curses, and reincarnation, but it’s not short on Braithwaite’s prickly female characters and twisty, suspenseful plotting.
Notes to John by Joan Didion
The New York Times called this collection “slightly sordid and utterly fascinating”. The cult of Didion continues unabated and these notes, discovered in a file after her death, make for engrossing — if voyeuristic — reading. Jotted down after her therapy sessions over two years, they make up a diary of what she and her psychiatrist discussed, intended for her husband, John Gregory Dunne, to read. Anxiety, alcoholism and, most of all, her relationship with their adopted daughter, Quintana, fill the pages. A glimpse into a brilliant but troubled mind.
The Last Lions by Don Pinnock and Colin Bell
This weighty book sounds a worrying alarm about the downward spiral of lions in Africa. The authors introduce the reader to rangers, conservationists, and scientists who study and aim to protect these awing, beloved animals. The stats are frightening but they also outline a message of hope. It’s not too late for the lion if we act now.
Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata
Murata is the Japanese author of the mega-bestseller The Convenience Store Woman, which sparked a new boom in Japanese fiction in translation. Vanishing World was actually written first and has now been translated into English. Murata is an adept chronicler of the strangeness of contemporary society and she creates an even stranger future world here, where sex is frowned upon and artificial insemination is the norm. A surprising, highly imaginative story.
Red Tape by Bridgid Hamilton Russell
Few of us think about the politics of winemaking when we lift our glasses, but this intriguing biography lays bare a world of machinations and power plays. It is the story of a wineloving Joburg advertising executive named Tim Hamilton Russell who, in the 1970s, went up against the formidable Afrikaner establishment to grow wine in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley near Hermanus. It’s a story of skulduggery and smuggling and sheer heroism.
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
McEwan is routinely described as one of the greatest living British writers, and his new novel demonstrates exactly why. Here he casts forward to Britain in 2119. It is an unsettling, post-catastrophic tale that blends mystery with the academic novel; climate change and nuclear war with philosophy; secrets for the ages and a love poem for the ages, too. Masterly.
Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
The acclaimed British nature writer turns his attention from the Underland to the rivers that run over it. If we consider them to be alive, are they entitled to legal rights? Macfarlane sets off on a journey across the world, to rivers in Ecuador and India and the wilds of Canada, inspired by the “Rights of Nature” movement (the global effort to legally protect nature).
Art and the Devil by Reshada Crouse
Writer Rian Malan calls Crouse “a force of nature” and her autobiography traces the tangled life of a woman devoted to her art. She details her early exposure to the European canon and both absorption in and rejection of it as she steadily forges her own bold style, in her life and on the canvas. She also details her life as the so-called queen of Yeoville, adored by all. She’s a true original.
From the December issue of Wanted, 2025
