Shuggie Bain is the 2020 Booker Prize winner. A 10/10 favourite in the Den, it is a brutally honest and brilliantly observed story about a working class family living in 1980s Glasgow, set against the backdrop of high unemployment and poverty.

An astonishing and wonderful memoir from Tara Westover about growing up in a strict Mormon family in rural Idaho before discovering the power of education. A remarkable story and still an inspiring choice for book clubs.

If you are looking for a classic read, this could be the time to re-visit Madame Bovary and discover an original desperate housewife. Flaubert gets under the skin of his characters and this is a passionate and erotically charged novel. A captivating book club choice.

On Chesil Beach is a short intense story of two young lovers in the 60s - when honeymoons were often a couple’s first sexual experience. As in the case of the McEwan’s characters -  Edward & Florence. Great McEwan novel and released as a screen adaptation.

Winner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020, this exquisitely written novel tells the story of Shakespeare's son Hamnet who dies from the plague. A magnetic and compelling tale, beautifully capturing England in the 16th century.

The Den's favourite book in 2019 and a richly deserved novel in our Den's Dozen. Loved by book clubs and a great choice for those feeling 'trapped' by isolation and lockdown. Join the 'alluring, amororous adventure' with the Count.

A modern day epic adventure, kicking off with a bomb explosion in the NYC’s Metropolitan Museum and follows the child survivor who escapes with a piece of art, The Goldfinch and finds himself sucked in to an intoxicating criminal underworld.

A disturbing cult read and definitely the wildest card in the Den's Dozen. The Wasp Factory was Iain Bank's debut novel, written in 1984. A modern gothic horror story about a psychopathic teenager living on a remote Scottish island.

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A mesmerising and lyrical novel by Delia Owens about a young girl alone in the wild beauty of North Carolina marshlands. A bestselling book club read and a superb debut novel from this wildlife scientist. 

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Cutting for Stone is simply a stunning, tremendous read and unanimously made it into the Den's Dozen. Ask any one in the den (and beyond) and this novel will usually remain on a book club's 'favourite read' list.

Originally published in 1960 To Kill A Mocking Bird uses warmth and humour to deal with the issues of rape and racial inequality in America.  A Pulitzer Prize winner the novel has become a classic of modern American literature. And reading it again is a delight!

Make room in your Den for a Margaret Atwood novel. Alias Grace is a dark but addictive murder story, based on a true mid 19th century scandal. Alias Grace revisits the domestic murder scene and the suspects, one of them being a young house girl.