January–June

• There Are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
• On Beauty by Zadie Smith
• Chlorine by Jade Song
• Boy by Nicole Galland
• Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe
• Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar
• We Used to Live Here by Markus Kliewer
• Upon a Starlit Tide by Kell Woods
• James by Percival Everett
• The Wedding People by Alison Espach
• You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego
• Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor

close calls

• The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
• Cheddar Luck Next Time by Beth Cato
• The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
• Devil Is Fine by John Vercher
• Swordheart by T. Kingfisher
• The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
• Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett
• When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà
• We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
• Gulf by Mo Ogrodnik
• Delphi by Clare Pollard
• Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
• We Spread by Ian Reid
• Gliff by Ali Smith