This charming and warm hearted novel tells the story of Yeongju, a woman who is burnt out from a high-flying career, and a failed marriage which has brought shame on her family and caused a rift with her parents; so she opens a bookshop. Gradually, she gathers a community around her, and they all find a new way to live. The pressure of life in South Korea, expectation around careers and conventional ways of living, is extraordinary. There's quite a lot of discussion around this in the novel, and also discussion of books and philosophy.

Whaea Blue is a fierce, fiery and original memoir, with a distinctly Māori perspective. It jumps backwards and forwards in time, takes in inter-iwi conflict, dispossession and racism, Ans Westra and her work, as well as a having a fearless and honest approach to her own life story. It's written in frenetic prose, propulsive and wild. It's a terrific book, a book like no other, and could only have come from Aotearoa.

Teju Cole is a Nigerian-American novelist, photographer and critic. Tremor is a collage of a novel, it takes in art history, race, the legacy of slavery, life in Lagos. It's reflective, passionate, moving; there are shifting narrators, some of whom address the reader, who has to work to fully appreciate this marvellous book. It's a joy to read this profound book.

David Nicholls is the master of relationship novels, and this latest one doesn't disappoint. It tells the story of two very different people, both damaged by recent relationships, who find themselves walking across the north of England together, over about 10 days. They endure bad weather and misunderstandings, but form a new friendship together. But could it be more? Will it be more? That's the central tension in this atmospheric, plausible, dialogue-rich novel, and the ending is very satisfying.

Hagstone tells the story of Nell, an artist living on an unnamed remote island off the coast of Ireland. She finds the isolation a powerful source of inspiration for her conceptual art. She is commissioned by the head of a mysterious commune of women who have gathered on the island, to create a commemorative work. It's a passionate, somewhat gothic novel, surprising and original, mesmerising and a little supernatural. It's very, very good.

In what I understand will be the first of a two part memoir, Harry Ricketts takes the idea, made implicit in the title, of his first experiences of various aspects of his life, as a platform to tell a terrific story spinning off in unexpected directions. It's at time hilarious, self deprecating, moving and charming, always beautifully evoked, nostalgic and bright. I'm looking forward to the second volume.