2026 Forecast: Books: Return of the Masters
FICTION
THE LAST OF EARTH | by Deepa Anappara | (Hamish Hamilton)
In 19th century Tibet, Balram, a teacher and surveyor-spy for the British tries to rescue his missing friend. Meanwhile, Katherine aims to be the first European woman to reach Lhasa. There is a story of kinship and endurance under the shadow of colonial rule.
DEPARTURE(S) | by Julian Barnes | (Vintage Digital)
In a fictional story with a serving of truth, the narrator named Julian, like the author, plays matchmaker to Stephen and Jean— first in university in the 1960s and then again four decades later. A contemplation of memory, love and ageing, Barnes’ new work arrives as he turns eighty.
VIGIL | by George Saunders | (Bloomsbury)
What happens when we die? The Booker Prize-winner author of Lincoln in the Bardo returns to the subject in his second novel, following Jill ‘Doll’ Blaine, a spirit tasked with ushering a powerful oil tycoon into the afterlife.
SON OF NOBODY | by Yann Martel | (Canongate)
The author of the beloved Life of Pi returns with a story of a man who discovers a lost account of the Trojan War and unlocks stories that bridge the ancient past and his present.
2026 New Year Issue
Essays by Shashi Tharoor, Sumana Roy, Ram Madhav, Swapan Dasgupta, Carlo Pizzati, Manjari Chaturvedi, TCA Raghavan, Vinita Dawra Nangia, Rami Niranjan Desai, Shylashri Shankar, Roderick Matthews, Suvir Saran
GLYPH | by Ali Smith | (Penguin)
A companion to Smith’s previous novel, Gliff, this “anti-war novel” traces the lives of two sisters as they confront their family legacy, imaginary friends and phantoms across decades.
WHISTLER | by Ann Patchett | (HarperLuxe)
In the galleries of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Daphne meets Eddie who was her stepfather for a short time when she was a child. It is a story of memory, family and love that lingers for a lifetime.
GULABIYA | by Abha Purbey | translated by Shivangi and Tejaswi (Hachette)
The first English translation from Angika, this novel—first published in 2008—is a story of the love between two farmhands and anti-caste resistance, set in the floodplains of the Kosi river.
HEARTWRECK | by Imayam | translated by GJV Prasad | (Simon & Schuster)
A story of infidelity, denial and payback by the Sahitya Akademi-winning Tamil author.
HOOKED | by Asako Yuzuki | translated by Polly Barton | (4th Estate)
Following the bestselling turn of Butter, Japanese author Asako Yuzuki reunites with translator Polly Barton to narrate the story of two women caught up in a toxic circle of friendship and obsession.
LAND | by Maggie O’Farrell | (Tinder Press)
The Hamnet author writes a sweeping tale of tragedies and resilience, land and history in 19th century Ireland. A father and son map their land for the Ordnance Survey, mapping personal calamities and the disaster of living through the Great Hunger.
VILLA COCO | by Andrew Sean Greer | (Sceptre)
The Pulitzer Prize winner sets his new novel in the picturesque Tuscan Hills. A young and broke protagonist accepts a job as assistant to a widow named Coco and finds that there is much more to do than just cataloguing the contents of her crumbling villa.
MARYAM & SON | by Mirza Waheed | (Context)
A story of motherhood and loss in troubled times, Mirza Waheed’s new novel follows the life of Maryam Ali, a British woman whose son Dil—presumed to be a ‘swordsman’ in Iraq— goes missing.
JOHN OF JOHN | by Douglas Stuart | (Picador)
In the Booker Prize winner’s new novel, an artist heads back to his home in a Scottish island where his desires are at odds with the expectations of his father, a sheep farmer and leading figure at the local church.
FIELDWORK AS A SEX OBJECT | by Meena Kandasamy | (HarperCollins)
What happens when a deepfake video of a sex scandal lands Amy aka Amrita in the throes of vicious online trolling? With a little help from friends, she decides to beat incels and WhatsApp aunties at their own game.
YURI IN THE CITY | by Jerry Pinto | (Speaking Tiger)
In this sequel to The Education of Yuri, the titular protagonist is in his early thirties, protecting a Muslim family as communal riots ravage Mumbai in the days following the Babri Masjid demolition.
THE COMPLEX | by Karan Mahajan |(Hamish Hamilton)
A novel about ambition and betrayal, legacy and power, love and loyalty across generations of an influential political dynasty in Delhi.
THE PAIN CHASERS | by Bora Chung | (Dialogue Books)
Inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the Korean author of Cursed Bunny imagines in this speculative crime fiction a world where a radical drug has erased pain and sparked murders and ideological strife.
AUGUST 17 | by S Hareesh | translated by Jayasree Kalathil | (HarperCollins)
In an alternative retelling of history, the author of Moustache writes a novel in which, on August 17, 1947, Thiruvithamkoor aka Travancore becomes an independent nation under a right-wing government.
SHORT STORIES
THE NEWS FROM DUBLIN | Colm Tóibín | (Picador)
Contemplating connections between people and places they call home, the author of Brooklyn writes stories of women caught in the throes of war, an Irishman in Barcelona fleeing his past, an undocumented worker in the US and more.
IT WILL COME BACK TO YOU | by Sigrid Nunez | (Virago)
Teenage crushes and second chances at love populate the pages of Sigrid Nunez’s first book of short stories which assemble thirteen of her works written across the decades.
GRAPHIC NOVEL
ABSOLUTE JAFAR | by Sarnath Banerjee | (HarperCollins)
In Berlin, a father tells his growing son stories from a bygone time in Delhi, Calcutta and Karachi, as they find their lives and love shaped and unravelled by geopolitics, toxic nationalism and bureaucracy.
CRIME FICTION
GUILT: A MYSTERY | by Keigo Higashino | translated by Giles Murray | (Minotaur Books)
In this new novel by the author of The Devotion of Suspect X, a murder investigation serves double results when a suspect confesses to the crime as well as another killing 30 years ago. But Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s Detective Godai is not convinced.
THE MATHEMATICIAN | by S Hussain Zaidi | (Simon & Schuster)
As the Cold War peaks in South Asia, NKT, a mathematical whiz and former RAW field strategist plans a meticulous series of perfect crimes to take down General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s inner circle and finally the leader himself.
BLIND FURY: A KUTTA KADAM THRILLER | by Ashwin Sanghi | (HarperCollins)
Prakash Kadam, Ashwin Sanghi’s leading man from Razor Sharp, and his daughter Ketul investigate a series of brutal ritualistic killings in Mumbai.