O’Farrell, Oseman and Garmus among authors shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year

Maggie O’Farrell, Alice Oseman and Bonnie Garmus are among the authors shortlisted for the Waterstones Book of the Year. 

The 10-strong shortlist has been drawn up by Waterstones booksellers who each nominate a book they think is outstanding and would recommend to readers. This year it features five works of non-fiction, three works of fiction and two books for children and young adults, including the first ever graphic novel to be shortlisted. 

O’Farrell is picked for The Marriage Portrait (Tinder Press), which explores the fate of Lucrezia de Medici, described by booksellers as “historical fiction at its finest”. O’Farrell previously won Waterstones Book of the Year in 2020 for Hamnet (Tinder Press).  

Oseman is in contention with her graphic novel Heartstopper Volume 1 (Hodder Children’s Books). Waterstones said the book represents “the vibrant, flourishing genre of illustration and stories that are particularly loved by teenagers and young adults”. It will be competing against Garmus’ début Lessons in Chemistry (Doubleday), “an uplifting and heart-breaking love-letter to science that also paints a vivid portrait of 1950s America and what it meant to be a woman at that time”. 

Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist (John Murray) is described as a “powerful, immersive book which tells the extraordinary story of Rudolf Vrba’s escape from Auschwitz and his subsequent battle to alert the world to its horrors”. It will compete against Thomas Halliday’s Otherlands (Allen Lane), which takes the reader on a journey into “deep time”.  

Katy Hessel overturns the reader’s sense of art history in The Story of Art Without Men (Hutchinson Heinemann), challenging the canon as we know it. In The Golden Mole (Faber), Katherine Rundell writes a very personal compendium of the staggering lives of some of the world’s most enchanting creatures, lavishly illustrated by Talya Baldwin. The non-fiction list concludes with Jeremy Lee’s Cooking (Fourth Estate) – a collection of recipes from the celebrated chef and a love song to simple dishes crafted with the finest ingredients. 

Meanwhile R F Kuang’s Babel (HarperVoyager), a blend of fantasy, alternative history and dark academia that has been embraced by readers on TikTok, was praised by Waterstones booksellers as a “masterful display of spellbinding storytelling and intricate worldbuilding”. It is up against A F Steadman’s début Skandar and the Unicorn Thief (Simon & Schuster Children’s), hailed for its “perfectly crafted, truly immersive world, steeped in fantastical settings, elemental magic and a captivating mystery”. 

Kate Skipper, Waterstones c.o.o., said: “Our booksellers have nominated a phenomenal shortlist for this year’s Waterstones Book of the Year, capturing the essence of an exceptional year of publishing. It’s a selection remarkable for its depth, full of books that in turn enrapture, divert and entertain the reader. Our booksellers have championed these titles throughout the year, putting them into the hands of readers across the country. I can’t wait to see which one will be crowned the winner.” 

The winner will be announced on 1st December and will receive the full and committed backing of Waterstones shops and booksellers across the UK, as well as support online and through its loyalty card programme, Waterstones Plus. Last year’s winner was Paul McCartney’s The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present (Allen Lane).