The arrival of a new calendar year brings the chance to look ahead in anticipation of the books slated to be published in the coming months.
And while there’s no saying what works of fiction or non-fiction might widely capture the imagination of readers, these 20 highly anticipated titles slated to be published in the first half of 2025 are sure to garner their fair share of attention.
Hope: The Autobiography
By Pope Francis (Random House, Jan. 14)
Written over the course of six years, the world’s first papal autobiography was slated to be released after Pope Francis’ death, but the pontiff reckoned humanity needed a bit of hope sooner than that. He chronicles his early years, his vocation, the key moments of his papacy and larger societal issues, faith-based and otherwise.
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All the Little Monsters: How I Learned to Live with Anxiety
By David A. Robertson (HarperCollins, Jan. 21)
The first of Robertson’s books to be published in 2025 (his 52 Ways to Reconcile: How to Walk with Indigenous Peoples on the Path to Healing is due from McClelland & Stewart in May, and the sixth book in his Misewa saga later this summer), All the Little Monsters details the anxiety the Swampy Cree author has grappled with below the surface and the tools he has employed to perservere. Robertson launches All the Little Monsters on Friday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson Booksellers’ Grant Park location.
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We Do Not Part: A Novel
By Han Kang (Jan 21)
The Nobel Prize-winning author of The Vegetarian and Greek Lessons details the bond between Kyungha and Inseon, two Korean women; when Inseon is injured in an accident and in hospital, Kyungha must visit her island home to tend to her pet bird. But when a snowstorm hits the island, her journey to her friend’s house (and the darkness that awaits her there) is slowed.
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For the Love of a Son: A Memoir of Addiction, Loss, and Hope
By Scott Oake (Simon & Schuster, Jan. 21)
Recently named to the Order of Canada, the Nova Scotia-born, longtime Winnipegger and beloved hockey and Olympic broadcaster recalls his late son Bruce’s struggles with ADHD, the solace Bruce found in rapping and boxing, his slide into opioid use and his accidental overdose in 2011. Oake then details how he and his family rallied to commit to helping Canadians struggling with addiction, helping launch the Winnipeg recovery centre named after Bruce. Oake launches For the Love of a Son on Tuesday, Jan. 21 at 7 p.m. at McNally Robinson’s Grant Park location.
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The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir
By Neko Case (Grand Central, Jan 28)
The beloved Virginia-born singer-songwriter’s memoir begins with her hardscrabble youth in Washington state, chronicling the neglect she suffered in younger years, the solace she has found in nature and the ways in which she has channeled past and present struggles into her music.
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Source Code: My Beginnings
By Bill Gates (Knopf, Feb. 4)
The Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist has written his share of books, but in Source Code offers a more intimate look at his early years, recalling early friendships and loss, his ambitious parents and steadfast grandmother, his first forays into learning to code, late nights in university computer centres and his dorm room and more.
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Blood Ties: A Novel
By Jo Nesbo, translated by Robert Ferguson (Random House, Feb. 11)
The Norwegian thriller writer sets aside his Harry Hole detective series of mysteries for a standalone. This time it’s about two small-town brothers, a spa manager and gas station proprietor, who begin sinister plotting when it’s announced a new highway will cause traffic to bypass their town… and the bodies soon start piling up.
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Three Days in June: A Novel
By Anne Tyler (Doubleday Canada, Feb. 11)
The latest by Tyler (Breathing Lessons, A Spool of Blue Thread) is a brief novel that follows a recently unemployed woman whose daughter is set to be married the next day, when her ex-husband shows up on her doorstep with a cat and nowhere to stay. When the daughter learns a secret about her soon-to-be spouse, everything is thrown into further disarray.
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One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
By Omar El Akkad (McClelland & Stewart, Feb. 25)
The title of the journalist and American War novelist’s latest comes from an Oct. 25, 2023 tweet he posted about the bombardment of Gaza. In his latest, a “breakup letter with the west,” he weaves his own story as an emigrant with the fractured nature of the relationship between Black, brown and Indigenous people and North American governments — and how many are now rallying to be heard.
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Sucker Punch: Essays
By Scaachi Koul (Knopf, March 4)
Koul’s follow-up to One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter was derailed when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, her marriage dissolved, she lost her job and her mother fell seriously ill. Her life having drastically changed, she revisits fights she has had with her ex, her parents, online strangers and others to see whether duking it out is the best way forward.
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One Foot on the Platform: A Rock ‘N’ Roll Journey
By Peter Goddard (House of Anansi, March 11)
The late Toronto-area music writer and critic began his essay collection in 2020, bringing together pieces on Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Gordon Lightfoot, k.d. lang and many more before his death in 2022. The bulk of the essays are collected here, as are reviews of classic albums, interviews and more.
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When Anna Pearl Lay Down in the Garden
By Deborah Schnitzer (Turnstone Press, March 14)
The beloved Winnipeg poet, essayist and novelist’s forthcoming work of fiction follows the titular character, a newly widowed woman found lying in her raucous garden. When the neighbour finds Anna, he insists her adult son and (estranged) daughter return to tend to her, with an ensuing three-day vigil seeing long-buried truths come to light and gardens continuing to flourish.
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Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Life
By Michael Caine (Mobius, March 25)
Presented in a conversational style, the beloved actor (in a dialogue with writer and friend Matthew D’Ancona) explores his early work, the good and bad times, those who have inspired him and the invaluable lessons the British actor has learned along the way.
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How to Survive a Bear Attack: A Memoir
By Claire Cameron (Knopf Canada, March 25)
The author of the novels The Last Neanderthal and The Bear offers reflections on her skin cancer diagnosis — the same kind that killed her father when she was a child — while unpacking and investigating the case of a 1991 black bear attack in her beloved Algonquin Park, where she would regularly go to help grapple with the grief of losing her father.
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The Maid’s Secret: A Maid Novel
By Nita Prose (Penguin Canada, April 8)
Molly Gray, head maid at the fictional Regency Grand Hotel, is back in Nita Prose’s latest Maid novel, lugging a box of her gran’s old things into work where the reality TV show Hidden Treasures is filming. When a priceless treasure is discovered, Molly is suddenly a millionaire — until said treasure vanishes from the hotel. Perhaps the answer lies in her gran’s long-forgotten diary…
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The World So Wide
By Zilla Jones (Cormorant Books, April 26)
The Winnipeg author and frequent literary prize winner’s debut novel follows a Winnipeg-born woman — born to a Grenadian mother and (absent) white father — who studies opera in London in the 1960s, who then gets wrapped up in the Grenada Revolution when she travels to the country to perform in October 1983 as the Americans invade.
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The Book of Records: A Novel
By Madeleine Thien (Knopf Canada, May 6)
The award-winning novelist of Do Not Say We Have Nothing (which won the 2016 Giller Prize and Governor General’s Literary Award for fiction) returns with a novel about migration, legacy, fate, art and more. Her latest sees a teen arrive with her ailing father at The Sea, a sprawling migrant centre, with only three books to her name. And after meeting a trio of eccentric neighbours with fascinating stories of their own, she is finally privy to her father’s account of how they came to arrive at The Sea.
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The Hinge: Time to Build an Even Better Canada
By Mark Carney (McClelland & Stewart, May 13)
With the rumours swirling around the former governor of the Bank of Canada potentially joining the Liberal Party, and an election coming this year, could there be a more timely book? Carney explores the myriad of national and global crises seemingly coming to a head, the ways in which the “net zero revolution” and the rise of AI could yet disrupt our world as well as potential solutions.
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The Emperor of Gladness: A Novel
By Ocean Vuong (Penguin, May 13)
The poet, novelist and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient (On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous) offers the story of a suicidal teen befriended by an elderly widow suffering from dementia, the ways in which the pair struggle through existence on the fringes of society and the power of second chances.
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Never Flinch: A Novel
By Stephen King (Scribner, May 27)
King brings back beloved character Holly Gibney (Mr. Mercedes, If It Bleeds) to decipher a disturbing letter received by the Buckeye police department threatening to kill 14 people — “Thirteen innocents and one guilty.” Meanwhile a women’s rights advocate on a speaking tour is being stalked and hounded, and Holly is tasked to serve as her bodyguard. What could go wrong?
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@bensigurdson
Ben Sigurdson
Literary editor, drinks writer
Ben Sigurdson is the Free Press‘s literary editor and drinks writer. He graduated with a master of arts degree in English from the University of Manitoba in 2005, the same year he began writing Uncorked, the weekly Free Press drinks column. He joined the Free Press full time in 2013 as a copy editor before being appointed literary editor in 2014. Read more about Ben.
In addition to providing opinions and analysis on wine and drinks, Ben oversees a team of freelance book reviewers and produces content for the arts and life section, all of which is reviewed by the Free Press’s editing team before being posted online or published in print. It’s part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
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