The 2023 reading year promises to be exciting, as readers all over the globe wait expectantly for the release of what they deem to be the most anticipated books of the year. Even though we are halfway into the new year, some of these books have already started making waves on social media (case in point, Prince Harry’s memoir Spare); and the remaining 350 days promise to come along with equally great reads. 

If you are figuring out which book(s) to begin the reading year with, we’ve got the perfect mix of titles, from edge-of-the-seat thrillers to heart-breaking stories about freedom and self-love, which would definitely want you to add on to that already tall reading list! 

Memoirs & Non-Fiction

Spare by Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (January 10)

It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother’s coffin as the world watched in sorrow – and horror. As Diana, Princess of Wales was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be thinking and feeling – and how their lives would play out from that point on. For Harry, this is that story at last. With its raw, unflinching honesty, Spare is a landmark publication full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.

The Half-Known Life: In Search of Paradise by Pico Iyer (January 10)

Humming with wisdom and a profound appreciation of nature’s inherent contradictions, Pico Iyer’s meditation on paradise—where it is, what it means, if it can be found on Earth—is much more than a diary of his country-spanning travels. It’s a work of philosophy, probing the scientific and the spiritual to understand why the most beautiful places often become such sources of pain, and how paradise might be re-discovered.

Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara (January 31)

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. 

8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go by Jay Shetty (January 31)

Award-winning storyteller and podcaster Jay Shetty is set to deliver his second book 8 Rules of Love and seeing as how his first landed in the number one slot on Amazon’s best-seller list, we’re looking forward to this subsequent project. Shetty’s 8 Rules of Love combines ancient wisdom and modern science to offer tangible tools that will help you navigate relationships through every stage— and not just relationships with others, but also with ourselves and the world.

The Love You Save: A Memoir by Goldie Taylor (January 31)

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings meets Educated in this harrowing, deeply hopeful memoir of family, faith and the power of books—from acclaimed journalist and human rights activist Goldie Taylor. This debut memoir shines a light on the strictures of race, class and gender in a post–Jim Crow America while offering a nuanced, empathetic portrait of a family in a pitched battle for its very soul.

Historical Fiction

The Night Travelers by Armando Lucas Correa (January 10)

Set in Berlin 1931, Havana 1958, and Berlin 1988, four generations of women experience love, loss, war, and hope from the rise of Nazism to the Cuban Revolution and finally, the fall of the Berlin Wall. Separated by time but united by sacrifice, these women embark on journeys of self-discovery and find themselves to be living testaments to the power of motherly love.

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo (January 17)

The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring determination and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as his “slave”.

Wade in the Water by Nayani Nkrumah (January 17)

Set in 1982, in rural, racially divided Ricksville, Mississippi, Wade in the Water tells the story of Ella, a black, unloved, precocious eleven-year-old, and Ms St. James, a mysterious white woman from Princeton who appears in Ella’s community to carry out some research. Soon, Ms St. James befriends Ella, who is willing to risk everything to keep her new friend in a town that does not want her there. The relationship between Ella and Ms St. James, at times loving and funny and other times tense and cautious, becomes more fraught and complex as Ella unwittingly pushes at Ms St. James’s carefully constructed boundaries that guard a complicated past, and dangerous secrets that could have devastating consequences.

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer (January 31)

The Emancipation Act of 1834 should mean that Rachel is a free woman. But the man who owns the plantation says that it changes nothing. So she escapes. Her five surviving children have all been sold to other plantations. So she goes in search of them, travelling to Trinidad, Barbados and British Guiana, fuelled by a mother’s love.

Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor (January 3)

Deepti Kapoor’s sprawling novel, Age of Vice, centres on the wealthy Wadia family. There’s the playboy heir, Sunny; his servant, Ajay, who was born in poverty; and a journalist, Neda, who falls into Sunny’s orbit. Kapoor takes the readers through each of their stories, and what results is a fast-paced, compelling novel that is part thriller, part family drama, and part look at modern Indian politics.

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins (January 3)

This is a gothic suspense novel set in an Italian villa. It is inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Mansion murders, and Percy and Mary Shelley’s time with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle. Emily and Chess are reconnecting and spending a summer together at an Italian villa with a history that includes not only being the place of inspiration for art and music but the site of a murder as well.

Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon (January 17)

For fans of Mystic River by Dennis Lehane and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, Stephen Amidon’s Locust Lane is a taut and utterly propulsive story about the search for justice and the fault lines of power and influence in a seemingly idyllic town. Can anyone be trusted? On the surface, Emerson, Massachusetts, is just like any other affluent New England suburb. But when a young woman is found dead in the nicest part of town, the powerful neighbours’ close ranks to keep their families safe.

Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (January 17)

Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate. I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that. Have I killed someone? Yes. I have. Who was it? Let’s get started

Decent People by De’Shawn Charles Winslow (January 17)

The author of In West Mills returns with a new novel set in the same community, Decent People. It’s 1976 and three secretive siblings have been shot in the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina. The authorities don’t have a sense of urgency about the crime, but someone has a lot of questions for which she expects answers — Jo Wright, freshly back home from NYC and ready to take matters into her own hands.

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

The Bandit Queens by Parini Schroff (January 3)

The Bandit Queens is a buzzy debut novel with a wickedly funny premise. A young woman in a small village in India “loses” her husband when he walks out on her one day. But somehow the village believes that she killed him – and she finds herself in high demand with other wives who are hoping for the same outcome.

The Dream Builders by Oindrila Mukherjee (January 10)

After living in the US for years, Maneka Roy returns home to India to mourn the loss of her mother and finds herself in a new world. The booming city of Hrishipur where her father now lives is nothing like the part of the country where she grew up, and the more she sees this new, sparkling city, the more she learns that nothing—and no one—here is as it appears. Ultimately, it will take an unexpected tragic event for Maneka and those around her to finally understand just how fragile life is in this city built on aspirations.

Hold My Girl by Charlene Carr (January 24)

For fans of Jodi Picoult, Kate Hewitt and Ashley Audrain, a heart-wrenching novel about two women whose eggs are switched during IVF. With themes of racial identity, loss and betrayal, this emotional novel centred around a difficult moral question beautifully explores the complexities of motherhood.

Maame by Jessica George (January 31)

Jessica George’s Maame follows the story of a Londoner, Maddie, called “Maame” by her Ghanaian family, as she cares for her father who has advanced stage Parkinson’s. When her mother returns from Ghana, she tries to begin her life outside of the family home. Soon, however, tragedy strikes and Maddie loses her job at a publishing house. In this coming-of-age novel, Maddie navigates grief, familial duty, workplace racism, and being torn between two cultures. An unforgettable, funny debut.

Is this list juicy enough for you? If it isn’t, do join us again next month to find out about the February releases. However, if one or two…or three caught your eye, go on ahead and purchase them, and be sure to let us in on the tea. Happy reading month!