Leila Aboulela, Cathy Bramley and Abir Mukherjee among Reading Agency's Quick Reads line-up

Authors Leila Aboulela, Cathy Bramley and Abir Mukherjee are contributing books to The Reading Agency’s 2025 Quick Reads initiative. Three further titles by Fiona Cummins, Dr Alex George and Cathy Rentzenbrink are also on the line-up for next year.

Quick Reads are "short, accessible, diverse and affordable" reads and will be available for £1 in bookshops. Readers can also borrow them from libraries for free. They will be used across the country in colleges, prisons, trade unions, hospitals and adult learning organisations, as well as being gifted as part of World Book Night on 23rd April 2025.

The Reading Agency’s State of the Nation in Adult Reading: 2024 report showed that regular reading improves health, wellbeing, life chances and social connections, yet only half of today’s adults read regularly. Now entering its 19th year, the Quick Reads initiative aims to help new readers access reading and lapsed readers get back into the habit.

To date, Quick Reads has collaborated with more than 30 publishers and produced more than 140 titles, with over five million copies distributed, and over six million library loans.

"In the fast paced, digital world we live in, we often have to sift through lots of noise and distractions which can negatively impact our mental health and wellbeing," said Karen Napier, chief executive officer of The Reading Agency. "Reading can provide a mindful, focussed and meaningful outlet. Our Quick Reads are a way to entice reluctant and less confident readers to experience the benefits reading can bring, and hopefully hook them into a reading habit, thanks to the brilliant stories on offer from some of the UK’s leading bestselling authors at work today."

Aboulela’s Quick Read, A New Year (Saqi Books), tells the story of a widow called Suad, who moves in with her son’s family in the Scottish countryside until "relations break down with her daughter-in-law". Meanwhile, Bramley’s book, Between Friends, tells the story of long-distance friends Claire and Lisa, and the secrets they hold. 

Cummins’ A Boy Called Saul (Pan) is about a "clever but troubled teenager with a dark past, Saul Anguish", while Rentzenbrink book is an abridgement of Write It All Down (Bluebird), a guide to "putting your life on the page". George’s Quick Read is an abridged version of his book, The Mind Manual: Mental Fitness Tools for Everyone (Aster), while Mukherjee’s book is an abridged version of the first title in the Wyndham detective series, A Rising Man (Vintage).