I’m a bit late this year with my reflection on my favourite books of 2025.

It’s always hard. There weren’t obvious instant standouts as in previous years. I have tried to include a mix of genres and although I read a lot of crime fiction, which occasionally make my quarterly selections, my top books of the year tend to be something a bit different, so here we go.

I have included two audio books in this list. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock isn’t necessarily one of my top favourites, but I’ve included it because it’s unique in its premise. I’ve never read anything quite like it.

The Light a Candle Society by Ruth Hogan

As I have said before, I’ve read all of Ruth’s novels, my favourites being The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes and The Keeper of Lost Things (in that order or maybe joint first). But nothing could have prepared me for The Light A Candle Society and the emotion it stirred up in me. I listened to it on Audible and at first I wasn’t sure about the male narrator, but I grew to love him with his great voices and impressions.

Having had a busy Christmas Eve and a quick drink in the pub on Christmas Day morning, I had the rest of the day free – dinner notwithstanding. Not particularly interested in the repeats on TV, I listened to the last two hours of the book and spent most of it in tears. It’s not because of the funerals themselves – the Light A Candle Society is a beautiful idea – but because we learn so much about the people who supposedly die without freinds and relatives, and the interesting lives they had before they found themselves alone. There but for the grace of God etc…. Arthur and Captain in particular stole my heart along with crisp-eating Sailor the dog (all my dogs have loved eating crisps in the pub so I can identify).

For my full review click here

The Clockmaker by Roxan Burley

The Clockmaker is only a short novella but I loved every minute, every page. It’s a bit Evie Woods and The Lost Bookshop, which is one of my favourite books.

I loved the character of Elenora – we know she is escaping from something or someone – but as this is a short read, we only get a gist of her back story. But my favourite character was the clockmaker himself, who appears one day after Elenora moves into the bookshop. There is something magical and unreal about him, but we don’t find out until much later on. There are lots of other unexplained happenings, like the notes that appear in the till each day with requests for specific items.

For my full review click here

A Council of Dolls by Mona Susan Power

When I was in my teens in 1970 I saw the film Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman. What stuck with me was a scene in which a fleeing Native American woman was shot from behind by the US troops, killing the baby she was carrying on her back. It has never left me. I fear the horrendous scene with Blanche at school will be the same.

While Little Big Man is set decades earlier (mid 1850s), the treatment of Native Americans hadn’t changed by the last century. Regarded as savages who needed to be ‘civilised’, they were forced to adopt Catholicism with all its cruelty and prejudice. They were sent to ‘Indian’ schools, forced to go to church and were not allowed to speak in their own language.

The level of cruelty is astonishing, as is the lack of respect for their culture. It was virtually wiped out. In The Council of Dolls, we follow three women – grandmother Cora at the start of the century, her daughter Lillian in the 1930s and Sissy, growing up in the 1960s.

For my full review click here

Small Fires by Ronnie Turner

I know it’s supposed to but Small Fires really freaked me out. All those horrific folk tales. It’s like nothing I’ve ever read before.

Sisters Lily and Della killed their parents (allegedly though it was never proved) and fled to a remote Scottish island, a place filled with superstition, folklore, and belief in the Devil. I was waiting for Christopher Lee to appear and start building a Wicker Man.

Everyone who lives there appears to be mad, but in reality it is fear. Some of the stories – many based on Celtic/Cornish folklore – are horrifying, as children’s folk tales often are. The Boy at the Bottom of the Sea, Aine’s Well, The Poor Maidens etc have all been written by the author to enhance the back stories. Others you may recognise, like the stories of Gaia, Charon the Ferryman, the Dryads, the Pleiades. They are often told to children as a warning, like the story of Baba Yaga from my Polish heritage.

For my full review click here

The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock by Imogen Hermes Gowar

Let me just say that you will need to be patient. It’s a long book which meanders along, sometimes not knowing exactly where it is going, and I occasionally struggled to follow the intertwining plot strands. So why 5 stars I hear you ask? Many reasons. The stories are richly woven, the characters beautifully drawn, and the language both masterful and poetic. And then there’s Juliet Stephenson’s narration which is always amazing.

The main strands include the story of widower Jonah Hancock, a merchant whose ship has been sold in exchange for a mermaid. At first he is horrified, but then he sees the potential. He is ably helped by his niece, 14-year-old Suki, probably my favourite character.

For my full review click here