The Best ( and most anticipated )fiction book of 2024 so far

There are few pleasures—or responsibilities—I appreciate as much as the chance to survey a whole year’s worth of books. Hundreds of thousands (or millions, depending on what and how you’re counting) of great titles are published each year: Giving each the equal consideration they deserve is impossible, but I’ve stubbornly resolved to try anyway. After digging—in some cases, literally—through as many books as the ELLE office could squeeze in, we decided to split our annual “best of 2024” list into five categories: literary fiction; nonfiction; fantasy and sci-fi; romance; and mystery and thrillers. Those other lists are forthcoming, but for now, you’ll find below the standout fiction we recommend for the first few months of 2024.

There are a lot of remarkable novels out there. (If this is news to you, I implore you to visit your local bookstore expeditiously.) For that reason, we’ll be updating this list every quarter throughout 2024 to add new anticipated titles, revisit those we enjoyed, and include the gems we might have missed earlier. For now, here’s what January through March have to offer—and why you should carve out space for them on your bookshelves. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan “Ambitious” would be a trite term for Vanessa Chan’s outstanding debut, a historical novel that thrums with the commingling tensions of its backdrop: the lead-up to the WWII Japanese invasion of what is now Malaysia. Chan writes her characters—particularly the conflicted protagonist, Cecily Alcantara, a former espionage asset to the Japanese Imperial Army—with a precision that neither flinches from the brutality of war nor ignores the humanity within. This is a book with real staying power.“Ambitious” would be a trite term for Vanessa Chan’s outstanding debut, a historical novel that thrums with the commingling tensions of its backdrop: the lead-up to the WWII Japanese invasion of what is now Malaysia. Chan writes her characters—particularly the conflicted protagonist, Cecily Alcantara, a former espionage asset to the Japanese Imperial Army—with a precision that neither flinches from the brutality of war nor ignores the humanity within. This is a book with real staying power.Beginning with the electric line, “There’s a night—I think this is the middle of June—when we lock you in the house,” Julie Myerson’s Nonfiction hurls the reader into a devastating conflict between the narrator (an author herself) and her only child. As this child—the “you” to whom the book is addressed—wrestles with their destructive behaviors, the author confronts her own role in this emotional maelstrom, and what it might mean for her to confront her relationship with her mother. Challenging and entrancing in equal measure, Nonfiction is a short but gutting feat of love. Sugar, Baby by Celine SaintclareSugar, Baby by Celine SaintclareSugar, Baby by Celine SaintclareSugar, Baby by Celine SaintclareAn elegant coming-of-age tale, Sugar, Baby follows Agnes, a 21-year-old sex worker swept up in the supposedly luxurious world of sugar daddies, where she finds a financial foothold if not, exactly, a home. As author Celine Saintclare’s dedication page suggests—quoting the iconic “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” line, “A kiss may be grand, but it won’t pay the rental”—Agnes has a lot more to worry about than her clients’ proclivities. Saintclare’s language is easy to soak in, even as her nuanced touch pokes and prods and asks—no, demands—real consideration of the reader.A posthumous work by the masterful Katherine Min, The Fetishist is a farcical, alarming take on Lolita that plunges headfirst into the depths of objectification and sexualization, and their fraught relationships with race. There is a wicked sense of delight to this book, yet that never diminishes its parallel, clear-eyed sense of justice. Min’s ultimate talent was that she can hold both objectives in the palm of her hand, and deposit them directly on the page.