There are plenty of ‘Books Of The Year’ lists around this time competing for your time and attention, but we like to think that Scots Whay Hae!’s selections are for the more discerning book lover, with something for everyone.
This year we're going with three separate lists. You can read our Crime list here, and non-fiction will be with you soon, but below are our pick of the Ten Best Fiction Books for 2024. Every year tells a different story and it’s always interesting to reflect upon that story as the year comes to a close.
Over the last 12 months there have been striking debuts, existential explorations, contemplation of the past to learn lessons for the present day and future, first loves and losses, meditations on people and the places which shape them, addresses as to the state-of-the-nation in a number of ways, and so much more.
These are the stories which we felt stood out against the stiffest competition in what was another outstanding year for Scottish literature. Taken as a whole they show the artistic diversity and cultural imagination at large in Scotland today and are proof that Scottish writing is in the finest fettle. With this is mind here are SWH!'s Ten Best Fiction Books of 2024.
Click on the highlighted book titles to learn more & grab yourself a copy
Set in Yorkshire as the 1970s move into the 80s, the backdrop, and loose inspiration, for Ajay Close’s What Doesn’t Kill Us is the historic case of the Peter Sutcliffe murders, and the controversial police enquiry into it. From there the novel examines themes of feminism, family, politics, class, race, and place, managing to remain objective and balanced throughout. Ajay Close is a master storyteller, but there is also evidence of her journalistic background with thorough research, and forensic detail, lending events credence and authority. What Doesn’t Kill Us also makes clear that the more things purport to have changed, the more they all too often stay the same.
What Doesn’t Kill Us is published by Saraband
In a year of stunning debut novels Ali Millar’s Ava Anna Ada was one of the very best. It introduced readers to Ava and Anna, a palindromic pair whose lives intertwine against the backdrop of a brutally hot summer, and that heat seeps into the writing itself. It's unnerving and strange in the most artful way, as if you yourself are not entirely sure as to what you are reading (the rare case of an unreliable reader?). Perspectives change and the characters themselves are not sure what they are witness to. All of this as the world burns. And who is Ada? You’ll have to find that out for yourself.
Ava Anna Ada is published by White Rabbit
Better know until now as a poet, Andrés N. Ordorica’s debut novel sees the writer bring that poetic flourish, and an uncanny ability to find magic and beauty in the everyday, to the longer form. It’s a coming of age story which will inspire both empathy and sympathy in readers as the extraordinary impact of first love turns to tragedy, and the intensity of feeling found in those formative years becomes unbearable. Sensual and sensitive, How We Named The Stars has some of the most beautiful prose of this year, and in many years.
How We Named The Stars is published by Saraband
With every novel Andrew O’Hagan wrong foots readers in the most interesting ways, and he has done so again with his latest. He tells stories as few others can, inhabiting his writing as an actor might a role, with every detail, thought and action adding to the whole. It is tempting to think of Caledonian Road as his magnum opus, the novel he’s been working towards since the very start, but I think it’s just the next extraordinary publication from a writer who chronicles our times as few others do, artfully yet without artifice. An epic undertaking which succeeds on every level.
Caledonian Road is published by Faber & Faber
As always with Graeme Macrae Burnet, the devil is in the detail. There are few better at painting a picture of an individual through the objects and items which surround them. The key incident in this novel is from Inspector Georges Gorski’s past in the form of a memory of a broken mustard spoon, and it is in no small part at the heart of his existential crisis. It’s a shame that A Case Of Matricide is to be the last hurrah for Gorski, but it confirms what we already knew, that Graeme Macrae Burnet is a writer of style and substance. Don’t overlook the Georges Gorski trilogy. These are novels to treasure.
A Case Of Matricide is published on the Contraband imprint of Saraband
Malachy Tallack’s That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz has two strands which converge as the novel progresses; Sonny’s story, which runs from 1959 to 1981, and Jack’s, which is contemporary. It’s an intricate and elegant novel which gives up its secrets guardedly, the strands subtly intertwined. Music and song are central to the novel, with many of Jack’s life-lessons learned from his record collection. He also writes his own songs to try and make sense of life, which appear on the page in Jack’s own handwriting. Don’t make the mistake of skipping them as they don’t just mirror events but are where real emotional punches land.
That Beautiful Atlantic Waltz is published by Canongate
Glasgow novels had many moments in 2024, spurred by the success of Yorgos Lanthimos' screen adaptation of Alasdair Gray's Poor Things, and Glasgow Boys was one of the best. Margaret McDonald’s debut introduced readers to Finlay and Banjo, two beautifully realised characters who found each other just when they needed it most. What follows is an examination of friendship, and all the complexities that accompany it. Tough and tender in almost equal parts Glasgow Boys will stay with you long after you’ve turned the final page. It also announces Margaret McDonald as a writer to watch.
Glasgow Boys is published by Faber & Faber
Although it begins on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill, Sara Sheridan’s The Secrets of Blythswood Square brings new stories, characters and context to Glasgow, a city whose identity too often seems set in stone. The best historical fiction speaks to the present day, and The Secrets of Blythswood Square does this in the most smart and stylish manner imaginable, investigating themes and ideas which remain all too relevant, including the troubling and terrible effects of Empire which are ever present. Sara Sheridan has written a novel which looks to the past, and the past looks straight back at us.
The Secrets Of Blythswood Square is published by Hodder & Stoughton
Jane Flett’s Freakslaw is a riot of a novel, one where the irresistible force of the titular travelling fair and its exotic inhabitants meets the immovable object of the conformist townsfolk of Pitlaw, a place where those who don’t fit the locals’ norm are mocked, bullied, and socially ostracised. With a dark magical realism, and using carnival tropes and types, there are, among many others, echoes of Fellini, Tod Browning’s Freaks, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and even The League of Gentleman, as both sides wish for individuals to become “one of us”. In terms of the sheer thrill of reading, I haven't enjoyed a novel this much all year. Full of rich language, arresting imagery, and visceral horror, it’s magical, sensual, weird and completely wonderful.
Freakslaw is published by Doubleday
Remember, Remember touches upon institutionalised racism and misogyny, but also threats against the right to protest, the role of police, prolonged and toothless parliamentary process, universal civil liberties, and much more. As the quote from Edmund Burke says, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, and it’s as relevant today as it was then. Elle Machray has written a novel which weaves together history and fiction seamlessly, and which is genuinely thrilling and thought-provoking throughout. Educate, inform, entertain. Remember, Remember ticks all the boxes.
Remember, Remember is published by HarperNorth
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