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Reading lists

Debut novels of 2025: discover the year’s breakthrough new voices

Lisa Ridzén

Alice Menzies

So heartbreaking and funny and beautiful and wise… an extraordinary book

The most moving book I’ve ever read – heart-breaking but also heart-warming.

A novel anyone will take to heart. A simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care... Lisa Ridzén’s debut demonstrates how sometimes the simplest storytelling can be the most effective. Anyone anywhere who has worried for a crumbling parent, or worried about the crumble in themselves, or simply worried that their dog understood them better than their family, will identify with Ridzén’s novel.

A tender tale about ageing, our own and others, and the quiet brutality of love. About what being a man is, and what being a human is, about fathers and sons and fathers and dogs. It&rsquo;s really a book for anyone who&rsquo;s had to say goodbye. The kind of book you give to someone when you&rsquo;re really trying to say &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been thinking about you&rdquo; but don&rsquo;t know how.

Fredrik Backman, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove

This empathetic Swedish bestseller is a poignant, quietly devastating meditation on old age.

This profoundly moving novel is sure to melt you into tears faster than a Cornetto in the sunshine ... Poignant, beautifully written and guaranteed to spark introspection.

Through lucid, observant writing, Ridzén conveys the lack of autonomy allowed to elderly people in a heartfelt novel that gives voice to a sensitively realised old man.

Meditations on memory and fatherhood underpin this tender tale about a man defending his right to live independently.

It’s one of those “you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to buy twenty copies and give them to everyone you love” books.

There are not many novels that I want to tell you that you should read, but this is one of them. It is a novel about family, how our history shapes our present, and the many different forms that love can take. This is a beautiful and gentle novel about an honest and relatable man who simply wants to live quietly with his dog, and I won’t ever forget it.

Once you’ve read this beautiful and deeply emotional story, you’ll want to pass it on to someone you love.

When the Cranes Fly South really touched me... and Sixten completely stole my heart. This story felt universal and timeless – it’s about love and death and family and friendship. Everything that makes us human.

Josie Ferguson, author of The Silence in Between

[Cranes] gripped my heart and didn't let go...incredibly moving and life-affirming.

This novel is irresistible. So tender and moving. It&rsquo;s as if Fredrik Backman&rsquo;s Ove had a love child with Åsa Larsson&rsquo;s Sivving &ndash; and the result is the most wonderful thing imaginable. Read it.

Malin Persson Giolito, internationally bestselling author of Quicksand and Beyond all reasonable doubt

A powerful, sneakily emotional meditation on life and death, and the foundational relationships in our lives. This is a book that will echo in your soul.

Garth Stein, New York Times bestselling author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

This was a magical reading experience; among the most moving things I’ve ever read. The characters have lived on in my mind since I turned the final page, and I know this novel will always have a place in my heart.

Camilla Läckberg, No.1 internationally bestselling author

Sparely written, beautifully put together and very moving . . . A deceptively simple book that packs a massive emotional punch. Highly recommended.

Remarkably poignant and reflective . . . A powerful and haunting read, When the Cranes Fly South will stir your emotions

A powerful read about righting wrongs before it’s too late.

This profoundly moving novel is sure to melt you into tears faster than a Cornetto in the sunshine . . . Poignant, beautifully written and guaranteed to spark introspection

A searing insight into holding onto identity and love.

[When the Cranes Fly South] gripped my heart and didn't let go... incredibly moving and life-affirming

A book that you'll fall in love with and want everyone to read... poignant and heartfelt

The book is a sweet yet unsentimental meditation on ageing, dignity and love; after reading it, you want to press into the hands of everyone you know.

The Sunday Times word-of-mouth bestseller. A profoundly moving and life-affirming novel about one man’s desire to preserve his autonomy, the multitude of stories contained within a life, and the big things for which we have no words. 
 
‘So heartbreaking and funny and beautiful and wise… an extraordinary book’ RICHARD OSMAN 
 
'You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to buy twenty copies and give them to everyone you love’ FREDRIK BACKMAN 
 
‘The most moving book I’ve ever read.’ JACQUELINE WILSON 
 
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize 
Waterstones Book of the Month______ 
 
Bo is determined to live his own life in his own way. But his son has other ideas... 
 
Bo lives a quiet existence in his small rural village in the north of Sweden. He is elderly and his days are punctuated by visits from his care team and his son. Fortunately, he still has his rich memories, phone calls with his best friend Ture, and his beloved dog Sixten for company. 
 
Only now his son is insisting the dog must be taken away. The very same son that Bo is wanting to mend his relationship with before his time is up. The threat of losing Sixten stirs up a whirlwind of emotions and makes Bo determined to resist and find his voice... 
 
'A novel anyone will take to heart' Patrick Gale, Guardian 
 
'A magical reading experience; among the most moving things I’ve ever read' No.1 internationally bestselling author Camilla Läckberg 
____ 
 
Readers love When the Cranes Fly South: 
 
'What makes this novel truly remarkable is the way it explores universal themes...readers will find themselves deeply connected to [Bo's] journey of emotional reckoning' 
 
‘It is impossible not to be moved by this book’ 
 
'This is not just a story about a man and his dog; it's a story of family, of relationships tested by time and distance, and the effort to find peace within the limits of one's existence' 
 
'A story that will connect to all of us in some way' 
 
'Not only touches the heart but also invites deep reflection on what it means to truly live and love'

Lisa Ridzén

Praise for When the Cranes Fly South

So heartbreaking and funny and beautiful and wise… an extraordinary book

The most moving book I’ve ever read – heart-breaking but also heart-warming.

A novel anyone will take to heart. A simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care... Lisa Ridzén’s debut demonstrates how sometimes the simplest storytelling can be the most effective. Anyone a ...

So heartbreaking and funny and beautiful and wise… an extraordinary book

The most moving book I’ve ever read – heart-breaking but also heart-warming.

A novel anyone will take to heart. A simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care... Lisa Ridzén’s debut demonstrates how sometimes the simplest storytelling can be the most effective. Anyone a ...

So heartbreaking and funny and beautiful and wise… an extraordinary book

The most moving book I’ve ever read – heart-breaking but also heart-warming.

A novel anyone will take to heart. A simple yet effective meditation on mortality, love and care... Lisa Ridzén’s debut demonstrates how sometimes the simplest storytelling can be the most effective. Anyone a ...

Articles featuring Lisa Ridzén

Debut novels of 2025: discover the year’s breakthrough new voices

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