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After months and months of reading, consideration, rereading, voting and debating, we reveal the Foyles Books of the Year 2019.

But before we do: this has been a fantastic year for literature. It’s the kind of year that makes you passionate about being a book lover, and proud to be a bookseller—which makes it agonizing to pick any kind of best book for Fiction, Non-Fiction, and Children’s and Young Adult.

So in this year’s three winners we’ve held to the core of what great literature is, of great reading and writing: three books we can see ourselves still talking about for years to come. Three books that move and immerse us, that stir us and inspire us; that speak of our inner lives, most precious hopes, our losses and heartaches and fantasies—in short, of what it means to be human. Each is expertly crafted and each takes risks, returning triumphantly in each case—and all three deserve to be called new classics in their categories.

Fiction Book of the Year 2019
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong

An intimate novel of a man’s unburdening as he wrestles with sexual discovery, family tradition, and the ghosts of the Vietnam War.

Written as a letter to the protagonist’s mother—one that will knowingly never be read—this debut novel from TS Eliot Prize-winning poet Ocean Vuong is from the outset a baring of self to the world that leaves no door locked; an often painfully intimate story of a young man’s sexual awakening and responsibility to his family.

Every moment kaleidoscopes the individual and the social—young gay love, loss, poverty, family, the wake of the Vietnam War, the US immigrant experience and more—into an interior emotional epic that refracts the dreams and dispossession of a people through the story of one young man’s coming of age. As brave and tender as an open heart, this is a devastating, completely compelling, and utterly moving confession that refuses to be forgotten.

Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

A modern masterpiece of narrative non-fiction that opens up the sexual and psychological lives of three contemporary American women.

Publishing straight into the pantheon of classic narrative non-fiction, journalist Lisa Taddeo’s debut book follows Maggie, Lina and Sloane—three real American women whose sexual and personal stories go unspoken and unheard in a patriarchal world. Taddeo spent eight years researching her subjects’ lives, embedding herself in their worlds, and the result is a profoundly frank and recognisable depiction of the innermost longings, struggles and heartaches of women today.

As page-turning as a true crime thriller and as lyrical as great fiction, Taddeo’s masterpiece is at once a minute journalistic account of three regular women and a demonstration of how power and sex are entwined in our society, in myriad ways, to perpetuate the place of women as the second sex. Quite simply a must-read, this is a watershed work of non-fiction that has rightfully exploded into our bestsellers chart and been inhaled by readers of all kinds.

Children’s Book of the Year 2019
The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell

A thrilling middle grade adventure where four talented misfits discover friendship, courage and a sense of what’s right.

The world of The Good Thieves is one of vintage New York City streets, mafioso-types and family castles, but at its core are four wildly talented friends whose ambitions and concerns speak to young readers now. You’ll adore Vita, the feisty but fragile heroine, and feel all the rage and passion she does as she fights to save her Grandpa’s legacy; you’ll love all the new friends she makes along the way, and quiver every time the villainous Sorrotorre gets too close for comfort. You’ll turn those pages breathlessly as this gripping heist thriller reaches its climax—and when the last page ends you’ll stay in Rundell’s world.

This is steam-train storytelling and a grand adventure, which gives you all the nostalgia and sense of wonder of classic children’s literature; a book that never looks down on its readers and challenges them with tough ideas and beautiful language. It’s a fresh take on the old crime caper genre about fighting for what you believe in and working together—and, best of all, a celebration of people who don’t fit in.

Get your hands on a first edition signed by Katherine Rundell—and with every copy you’ll get an exclusive, limited edition pin badge that proclaims I read children’s books even though I am so old and wise—a triumphant take on the title of Rundell’s must-read manifesto for grown-ups on the value of reading children's books Why You Should Read Children's Books, Even Though You Are So Old and Wise

The Fiction Shortlist

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Queenie: Shortlisted for the Costa...

(Hardback)

Candice Carty-Williams

A darkly comic and unflinchingly raw depiction of a young woman trying to navigate her way in the world, QUEENIE is about identity, independence and carving your own path. For...

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£12.99

After months and months of reading, consideration, rereading, voting and debating, we reveal the Foyles Books of the Year 2019.

An intimate novel of a man’s unburdening as he wrestles with sexual discovery, family tradition, and the ghosts of the Vietnam War.

Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019 Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

A modern masterpiece of narrative non-fiction that opens up the sexual and psychological lives of three contemporary American women.

Children’s Book of the Year 2019 The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell

A thrilling middle grade adventure where four talented misfits discover friendship, courage and a sense of what’s right.

The Fiction Shortlist

The Non-Fiction Shortlist

The Children's & Young Adult Shortlist

Previous Winners

Non-Fiction Book of the Year 2019
Three Women by Lisa Taddeo

Children’s Book of the Year 2019
The Good Thieves by Katherine Rundell