Browns Best New Books of 2024

2024 has been a headline-grabbing year. With seismic elections in both the UK and the US, ongoing conflicts around the globe and devastating weather events, many of us will feel we have been glued to the news since January. 2024 was also a year of sporting celebration with the fabulous Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Paris – watching amazing athletes is always hugely inspiring (my personal highlight was the archer who won bronze whilst 7 months pregnant)– and England making the finals of the Men’s Euros in Germany. Publishing in 2024 did not disappoint, there have been some really fantastic books released this year so whatever you are looking for – books to inspire the youngest children, a great and interesting read for a primary-age child, thrilling reads for the terrific teens in your life, a fabulous piece of fiction to lose yourself in or some fascinating non-fiction then do check out our picks of the best books 2024 had to offer.  

Adult Non-Fiction

Politics has been hard to escape in 2024 – in the UK general election in July we saw Labour sweep to victory to form their first government since 2010 and the recent results of the presidential race in the USA has left many reeling. Books like Rory Stewart’s Politics On the Edge have given us an honest and eye-opening view of British politics whilst titles like Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger – winner of the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction- looked at our increasingly polarised times. Climate Change and extreme weather has also been front and centre throughout 2024 and books looking at our world continue to be popular; Blue Machine is a fascinating look at the earth’s oceans and the impact they have and was the winner of the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing. In a year that had many of us glued to the fantastic sporting feats on display at the Olympic and Paralympic games there have been some great sport biographies too, including the inspiring and exceptional All That Matters by Sir Chris Hoy.

Adult Fiction

Whatever you enjoy reading, 2024 has been a great year for Fiction. TikTok continues to be a big influence on many of us and the Romantasy genre persists in drawing in legions of readers (Romantasy was even shortlisted as one of Collins words of the year). Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing has been wowing Romantasy readers and with the third book in The Empyrean series - Onyx Storm - due in early 2025 excitement around these great books is only going to grow even more. The gripping and brilliant Yellowface has been a real favourite at Browns; this brilliant look at success, jealousy and fame won Fiction Book of the Year at the British Book Awards in May. The Japanese bestseller about a female gourmet cook and serial killer Butter has captivated readers this year and Samantha Harvey’s beautiful love-letter to planet earth, Orbital, was crowned winner of The Booker Prize 2024. 

Books For Teens & Young Adults

Books for Teens and Young Adult readers are always some of the most exciting and eagerly anticipated and 2024 has been another great year. 2023 TikTok Author of the Year Holly Jackson has had a great 2024 with her brilliant stand-alone thriller The Reappearance of Rachel Price gripping readers and the beloved A Good Girls Guide to Murder televised on Netflix. TikTok has of course been a big influence on readers and haunting Dark Academia novel Where Sleeping Girls Lie was hotly anticipated and didn’t disappoint. Nathanel Lessore is definitely a teen author to watch with the hilarious King of Nothing following his acclaimed and award-winning Steady For This. Many of us (teens and adults) will have been spending far too much time on our phones this year and The Teenage Guide to Digital Wellbeing with its positive tips and thought-provoking science is a book that will benefit lots of us. With even more TikTok recommends and brilliant reads 2024 has been a great year for Teen readers and we are looking forward to what 2025 will bring.

Books For Older Children

2024 has been another great year for Primary-age readers. Science seems to have been firing the imaginations of many this year and we loved Big Bad Wolf Investigates Fairy Tales, a brilliant book that fact-checks familiar stories with STEM facts. A new book from Hannah Gold is always something to celebrate and Turtle Moon swaps the icy setting of The Last Bear for the heat of the Costa Rican jungle. Graphic novels continue to be a huge hit with legions of children (and adults) and the latest Bunny Vs Monkey book has had us all helpless with laughter. One of the books we are really looking forward to in 2025 is Rosie Jones’s latest The Amazing Edie Eckhart book; in 2024 we loved Moving On Up, Rosie’s fantastic and funny guide to friendship, gaining confidence, dealing with bullies and growing up. 2024 has been a bumper year (it was really hard to pick out highlights from so many great books this year) and 2025 has lots to look forward to as well including hotly anticipated books from Hiba Noor Khan, Phil Earle and Matt Goodfellow.

Books For Younger Children

2024 has seen some inspiring reads for the youngest children. The Winner of the YOTO Carnegie Medal for Illustration was the beautiful wordless picture book The Tree and The River which will enthral all ages with its look at humankind’s impact on our environment. Books portraying those with different outlooks and abilities have been popular this year and two of our favourites were The Girl at the Front of the Class by the brilliant Onjali Q Rauf which looks at the refugee experience and Gina Kaminski Saves the Wolf – a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood with a fabulous autistic character at its heart. 2024 saw the end of Joesph Coelho’s 2 years as Waterstone’s Children’s Laureate, his many books delight countless children and we have particularly enjoyed One Little Word – a look at friendship and the power of saying sorry.