This cradle-to-pontifical-throne autobiography covers everything from the Pope’s Italian roots, Argentinian childhood and his rise to modern crises in Ukraine and the Middle East. It also asks big questions around sexuality, the environment and the role of the church in today’s fractured world. His reflections reveal something of the man at the heart of the Vatican.
Viking, 14 January
Han Kang’s fiction is always richly evocative and this book, with events taking place in a snowstorm and spurred by a race against time, showcases the skills that won her the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. In it, the obligations of friendship combine with a quest and a dark episode from South Korea’s past.
Hamish Hamilton, 6 February
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