The 5 Fiction Trends To Bookmark For Your 2024 Reading List
You need only briefly peruse the internet to tumble upon our preoccupation with aesthetics, eras and moods to categorise and explain our wavering interests. The literary world is no different. When deciding what to read, there are several trends emerging right now: some a reflection of our new curiosities, others a continued exploration of previously dissected ideas. These are the literary trends to explore in 2024…
1. Love In Conflict
Love has been the spine propping up imaginative works since the dawn of storytelling, yet our prolonged fascination with it in 2024 is spawning intriguing new takes. The complexities of relationships coming into conflict with identity, history and trauma becomes the lifeblood of novels such as Lottie Hazel’s Piglet and Phoebe McIntosh’s Dominos, out 7 March, both of which deal with women faced with awful truths just as they are about to get married. Each book conjures up the questions: where does love go in these circumstances? Is it silenced, must it be?
“A big literary trend we’re also seeing come to the fore in 2024 is multigenerational love stories, particularly for writers of colour,” says Amy Mae Baxter, commissioning editor for Avon at HarperCollins and editor-in-chief at Bad Form Review, the books magazine by and about writers of colour. “It has been fascinating to see the huge boom in romance novels trickling into upmarket books. From books where the love literally spans space and time, such as Kalianne Bradley’s The Ministry of Time, out 14 May, to love over the ages in Real Americans by Rachel Khong, out 30 April, and even books on different types of love over the years, as in This Love by Lotte Jeffs, out now.”
2. Identity & Belonging
Identity is still proving a focal point for literature in 2024, no doubt a consequence of a growing demand for inclusion and diversity. Some standout tomes in this regard are Jaded by Ela Lee and Mongrel by Hanako Footman. Both debuts grapple with how we belong anywhere with sharp precision and lyrical introspection. Then there’s Chukwuebuka Ibeh’s debut Blessings, a heart-wrenching queer coming of age story. And for fans of poetry, the first UK publication of Safia Elhillo’s Girls That Never Die – a funny, heartbreaking and smart exploration of Muslim womanhood – is not to be missed.
3. Money, Finance & ‘Eat The Rich’
Money is a perhaps unsurprising fixation, given the economic turmoil of the past few years and the advent of a growing discontent with privilege. It is the focus of the much-anticipated second novel of Kiley Reid, Come And Get It and Bri Lee’s debut novel The Work (out in April), which places a love story within a nuanced dissection of commerce, power, art and intimacy. Carrie Sun’s elegiac and eviscerating memoir, Private Equity, is a must-read addition to this topic. Her account of life inside a high-profile hedge fund makes Industry look like an episode of Paw Patrol.
“Another trend is ‘eat the rich’. Think Saltburn, but bookish,” saya Baxter. “This one is spanning genres, from books reminiscent of The Secret History, such as The Four by Ellie Keel (out 11 April) and Winter Animals by Ashani Lewis. The theme is also popping up in crime novels with luxury settings, such as The Concierge by Abby Corson and The Yacht by Sarah Goodwin.”
4. Irish Voices
Following the barnstorming (deserved) success last year of Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting, Irish literature is having a moment in 2024. The award-winning Jan Carson is back with a beautiful short story collection, Quickly, While They Still Have Horses (out 4 April), which covers everything from IRA ghosts to the perils of soft play. One of Bloomsbury’s major fiction releases, The Coast Road by Alan Murrin (out 9 May), is a mesmerising account of one woman’s experience of Ireland’s rarely discussed legalisation of divorce in 1996, while this August sees the release of Donal Ryan’s Heart, Be At Peace, which revisits the voices from his beloved 2012 debut The Spinning Heart.
5. The Books Defying Categorisation
“Most writers aren’t constructing their novels with their eye on any particular trend,” says Imogen Crimp, author of 2022’s blisteringly brilliant A Very Nice Girl. “My approach to reading is to be more open, as opposed to classifying books that way, as I find it can be quite limiting. You make assumptions about the kind of book it’s going to be and stop seeing other aspects of it.” She says her favourite new read of 2024 is Butter by Asako Yukuzi. Fittingly, Amy Mae Baxter also singles out this novel. She calls it “delightfully difficult to categorise”.
Team Service95’s 5 Favourite Reads Of 2024 So Far…
- Salt Houses by Hala Alyan – read our review here
- My Friends by Hirsham Matar – read our review here
- Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi – read our review here
- Unsettled Ground by Claire Fuller
- Strong Female Character by Fern Brady – read our review here
Marie-Claire Chappet is a London-based arts and culture journalist and contributing editor at Harper’s Bazaar
