The Sacrifice

Joyce Carol Oates, Fourth Estate, January 29

When a 14-year-old girl is allegedly the victim of a brutal act of racial violence, it exposes a US town’s simmering tensions. This incendiary novel from the best-selling author examines violence, revenge and the decisions we make to protect those we love.

The Wandering Pine, Per Olov Enquist, Maclehose Press, January 1

Enquist has achieved huge fame as a Swedish author and lived in the great cities of the world. But the success brought personal turmoil and he was left unable to write a letter, let alone a book. Newly translated autobiographical novel about finding a way back to life.

The Offering

Grace McCleen, Sceptre, January 22

When Madeline was just 14, something so traumatic happened to her that it led to her incarceration in a London mental institution. This gripping mystery from the award-winning author promises to be a meditation on faith, family and of innocence corrupted.

Magna Carta

David Carpenter

Penguin Classics, January 1

This year marks the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. It was a milestone for civil liberties and set out a series of rights and duties that have been argued about ever since. Translated with a new commentary by expert Carpenter.

Inside Alcatraz

Jim Quillen, Century, January 15

It was one of the world’s most feared prisons Now Prisoner #586, or Quillen, looks back on the 10 years he spent on the rock for burglaries committed during the Depression era. Expect a brutally honest account of the life, the inmates, the myths surrounding ‘The Birdman’ and the road back to freedom.

Walking the Nile

Levison Wood, Simon and Schuster, January 29

The journey is thousands of kilometres long, traversing rainforests, swamps and desert. This is the epic tale of how one man walked the length of the Nile, from source to delta, and in doing so, sees how a modern Africa is emerging.