For my fourth best-of-the-year list for Book DNA, I went with an all-fiction selection: two recent titles and one modern classic.
Among the runners-up were another novel, One of Us, Elizabeth Day's sequel to her psychological thriller The Party; and the non-fiction highlight of the last twelve months, Alan Bennett's latest decade-odd of diaries, Enough Said; each of the five books, even the one written nearly half a century ago, speaking directly to the present moment, albeit in very different voices.
Here, then – along with a few words about one of my own books, The Vetting Officer – are my 3 favourite reads in 2026…