Top Ten Books of 2025

In no particular order, here are my top reads of the year. I’d love to know yours too. It’s been a bumper year for reading, so I’ve included more in this end of year list than I normally do.

This was a fascinating read. Kate Rawles built her own bamboo bike and then cycled the entire length of South America over thirteen months, to witness the biodiversity and extractivism crisis first hand, talking to activists, ecologists and others playing their role to regenerate habitat and tackle these issues. I felt like I was on the journey with her – hugely inspiring.

Staying in South America (Ecuador), Nemonte Nenquimo is from the Waorani tribe from the Amazon. Facing missionaries, abuse and the exploitation of her land, she has a powerful calling to form an alliance of indigenous people from the Amazon basin to stand up against Big Oil and protect her sacred, ancestral lands. This is an incredible story, told alongside her husband Mitch Anderson, founder of Amazon Frontlines.

I met Israeli Noam Chayut who lives in Norwich, the same city as me. This is his first account of rising high up in the ranks of the Zionist military in Israel, and a pivotal moment that takes place for him during an incursion into Gaza in 2008. Looking into the eyes of a terrified child, everything falls away for Noam, and the trajectory of his life changes from that point on. He has gone on to co-found Breaking the Silence, a group that helps ex-soldiers in Israel, traumatised by what is required of them by the state, and now campaigns from the UK for Palestinian liberation and a two-state solution. Harrowing, illuminating and deeply moving.

Reading an Elif Shafak book is always such a treat – storytelling at its very finest. The Island of Missing Trees was no exception and I loved the originality of part of the story being told from the perspective of a fig tree, which bears witness to the love of two young people, set against a backdrop of a troubled and divided Cyprus and London many years later.

The voice of this novel’s feisty Palestinian protagonist, Nahr (named after the river that her mother, recently made a refugee, crossed while pregnant with her) grabs you by the throat from the first page and doesn’t let you go. This is a novel about resilience in the face of a world that batters Nahr and her family down again and again. I will definitely be reading more of Palestinian-American author Abulhawa’s work next year.

This slender little novel packs a powerful emotional punch. Set in a small Irish town in the 1980s and told in sparse, beautiful prose, we are introduced to a humble coal merchant and family man whose life is changed forever one day when he delivers coals to the local convent and makes a shocking discovery. This forces him to confront right and wrong, the price for being silent, and the price for finding the courage to speak out.

This is not an easy book to review, and at times I was quite emotionally challenged by some of the ideas he put forward. But I do like to be challenged, and I read it slowly, reading a little when I could over a few months. Charles Eisenstein lays out what he believes we as individuals can do to to confront the polycrisis we find ourselves in, fully embracing and practising the principle of interconnectedness towards a more full understanding of cause, effect and stepping away from a story of separation.

Set in post-troubles Belfast, Sean has just returned home after a spell away. He is desperate to not get drawn back into the same kind of life he had before, but the past keeps tugging at him and won’t let him go. This is a beautifully told story of set in the shadows of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, shining a light on cycles of trauma and secrecy and how to step out of those habits that keep us small.

What an utter joy this graphic novel is. It literally had me laughing out loud on one page and punched me in the gut for sadness or shock the next. Set in Tehran during the political and cultural upheaval of the Islamic Revolution, Satrapi takes us through her childhood and her high school years in Vienna where she is sent for safety. A coming of age story with a difference, accompanied by the author’s own glorious illustrations.

Another slim novel that is bursts far beyond its pages. Set in the mountains of Andalucia (a place very dear to me, and this is where my first novel is set), El Hacho tells the story of an olive farmer who is determined to keep tending his land and honouring the tradition that his been in his family for generations. But drought, flood and a rapidly changing world make this challenging beyond all expectations. This story is in such sparse, tender prose. I loved it.

Bonus Book

This one is not strictly a book, it’s a zine. But my list couldn’t be complete without sharing my dear friend Shahd Alnaami’s zine. A collection of prose and poetry, Gaza-based Shahd bears witness to the suffering she and the Palestinian people continue to endure with courage, resilience, wisdom and soulfulness. I cannot recommend this zine enough; now translated into many languages, Shahd’s voice is one the world needs to hear.

Click here to see how to order it.

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What have your favourite books of the year been? Do drop me a line and let me know; I always love recommendations.

Thank you for reading my blog and wishing you a peaceful and book-filled festive season 🎄

To compliment this post, read about my top books of 2024, 2023, and 2022.