The best books for Christmas 2023

Look no further for festive gift ideas, whether you're looking for stocking fillers or great presents for book lovers. Everything from the best new releases to fantastic fiction and children's books are available here, hand-picked by our editorial team.

Fiction books

The Bee Sting

The Bee Sting

£18.99

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Prophet Song : WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 2023

Prophet Song

£16.99

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So Late in the Day : The Sunday Times bestseller

So Late in the Day

£9.99

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The Fraud

The Fraud

£20.00

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Julia : The Sunday Times Bestseller

Julia

£18.99

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Study for Obedience : Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2023

Study for Obedience

£12.99

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If I Survive You

If I Survive You

£14.99

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Kick the Latch

Kick the Latch

£9.99

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Tackle!

Tackle!

£22.00

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A Shining — WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

A Shining — WINNER OF THE 2023 NOBEL...

£8.99

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Beasts Of England

Beasts Of England

£10.99

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The Young Man – WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

The Young Man – WINNER OF THE 2022...

£6.99

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The Pole and Other Stories

The Pole and Other Stories

£20.00

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Shame - WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE

Shame - WINNER OF THE 2022 NOBEL PRIZE...

£9.99

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Bluebeard's Castle

Bluebeard's Castle

£12.99

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Hangman

Hangman

£16.99

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Lord Jim at Home

Lord Jim at Home

£9.99

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The Mountain Lion (Faber Editions) : 'I love this novel' Patricia Lockwood

The Mountain Lion (Faber Editions)

£9.99

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The Coiled Serpent : Longlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2024

The Coiled Serpent

£14.99

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Strangers at the Port : Longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award 2024

Strangers at the Port

£16.99

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Victory City

Victory City

£22.00

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The New Life

The New Life

£16.99

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Ordinary Human Failings

Ordinary Human Failings

£16.99

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These Days : 'A gem of a novel, I adored it.' MARIAN KEYES

These Days

£12.99

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History books

Emperor of Rome : The Instant Sunday Times Bestseller

Emperor of Rome

£30.00

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A Northern Wind : Britain 1962-65

A Northern Wind

£30.00

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Beyond the Wall : East Germany, 1949-1990

Beyond the Wall

£25.00

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Pax : War and Peace in Rome's Golden Age - THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Pax

£30.00

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Colonialism : A Moral Reckoning

Colonialism

£25.00

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Revolutionary Spring : Fighting for a New World 1848-1849

Revolutionary Spring

£35.00

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The Forgers : The Forgotten Story of the Holocaust’s Most Audacious Rescue Operation

The Forgers

£25.00

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November 1942 : An Intimate History of the Turning Point of the Second World War

November 1942

£25.00

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The Revolutionary Temper : Paris, 1748–1789

The Revolutionary Temper

£35.00

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Mirrors of Greatness : Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him

Mirrors of Greatness

£25.00

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The Hundred Years War Vol 5 : Triumph and Illusion

The Hundred Years War Vol 5

£40.00

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Out of the Darkness : The Germans, 1942-2022

Out of the Darkness

£40.00

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France on Trial : The Case of Marshal Petain

France on Trial

£25.00

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The Blazing World : A New History of Revolutionary England

The Blazing World

£30.00

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The Middle Kingdoms : A New History of Central Europe

The Middle Kingdoms

£35.00

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Bismarck's War : The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe

Bismarck's War

£30.00

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The Penguin History of Modern Spain : 1898 to the Present

The Penguin History of Modern Spain

£30.00

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Architects of Terror : Paranoia, Conspiracy and Anti-Semitism in Franco’s Spain

Architects of Terror

£30.00

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Henry III : Reform, Rebellion, Civil War, Settlement, 1258-1272

Henry III

£30.00

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The Coming of the Railway : A New Global History, 1750-1850

The Coming of the Railway

£25.00

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Ukraine books

The Russo-Ukrainian War : From the bestselling author of Chernobyl

The Russo-Ukrainian War

£10.99

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The War Came To Us : Life and Death in Ukraine -- A Waterstones Book of the Year 2023

The War Came To Us

£20.00

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Ukraine 22 : Ukrainian Writers Respond to War

Ukraine 22

£12.99

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We Play On : Shakhtar Donetsk’s Fight for Ukraine, Football and Freedom

We Play On

£22.00

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Sky Above Kharkiv : Dispatches from the Ukrainian Front

Sky Above Kharkiv

£14.99

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A Small, Stubborn Town : Life, death and defiance in Ukraine – As heard on BBC Radio 4

A Small, Stubborn Town

£12.99

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Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet : A Family Story of Exile and Return

Ukraine Is Not Dead Yet

£22.00

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Sports books

Watford Forever : How Graham Taylor and Elton John Saved a Football Club, a Town and Each Other

Watford Forever

£22.00

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What It Takes : My Playbook on Life and Leadership

What It Takes

£22.00

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The Race To Be Myself

The Race To Be Myself

£20.00

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Bazball : The inside story of a Test cricket revolution

Bazball

£22.00

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Answered Prayers : England and the 1966 World Cup

Answered Prayers

£25.00

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Tinseltown : Hollywood and the Beautiful Game - a Match Made in Wrexham

Tinseltown

£22.00

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Concussed : Sport’s Uncomfortable Truth: SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023

Concussed

£20.00

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Stars and Scars : The Story of Jewish Boxing in London

Stars and Scars

£18.99

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On Days Like These : The incredible autobiography of a football legend

On Days Like These

£22.00

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Hope and Glory

Hope and Glory

£9.99

£6.99

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Children books

Impossible Creatures : INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

Impossible Creatures

£14.99

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The Snow Girl

The Snow Girl

£12.99

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Island of Whispers

Island of Whispers

£14.99

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Begin Again

Begin Again

£20.00

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Three Little Monkeys and the Grand Hotel

Three Little Monkeys and the Grand Hotel

£12.99

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Yours From the Tower

Yours From the Tower

£14.99

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King Charles : Volume 97

King Charles

£9.99

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The King's Pants : A children’s picture book to celebrate King Charles III's 75th birthday

The King's Pants

£7.99

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Saving Neverland

Saving Neverland

£14.99

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The Handbook of Forgotten Skills : Old fashioned fun for a new generation

The Handbook of Forgotten Skills

£17.99

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The Wolf-Girl, the Greeks and the Gods: a Tale of the Persian Wars

The Wolf-Girl, the Greeks and the Gods:...

£25.00

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The King's Runaway Crown: A coronation caper

The King's Runaway Crown: A coronation...

£7.99

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Ghostlord

Ghostlord

£8.99

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Biographies

Spare

Spare

£28.00

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Wifedom : Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life

Wifedom

£20.00

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Erotic Vagrancy : Everything about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

Erotic Vagrancy

£30.00

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Monet : The Restless Vision

Monet

£35.00

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Orwell : The New Life

Orwell

£30.00

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Burning Man : The Ascent of DH Lawrence

Burning Man

£12.99

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Love Me Fierce In Danger : The Life of James Ellroy

Love Me Fierce In Danger

£14.99

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Crime books

The Running Grave : Cormoran Strike Book 7

The Running Grave

£25.00

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The Secret Hours : The Instant Sunday Times Bestselling Thriller from the Author of Slow Horses

The Secret Hours

£22.00

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The Winter List : Gripping historical thriller completes the Seeker series

The Winter List

£20.00

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Scarlet Town

Scarlet Town

£16.99

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The Murder Wheel

The Murder Wheel

£20.00

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Small Mercies : A Times and Sunday Times Thriller of the Month

Small Mercies

£20.00

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Independence Square : Arkady Renko in Ukraine

Independence Square

£18.99

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Age of Vice : 'The story is unputdownable . . . This is how it's done when it's done exactly right' Stephen King

Age of Vice

£20.00

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The End of Us : A twisty and unputdownable psychological thriller with a jaw-dropping ending

The End of Us

£16.99

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Music books

The Woman in Me

The Woman in Me

£25.00

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Sonic Life : The new memoir from the Sonic Youth founding member

Sonic Life

£20.00

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Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine

Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine

£80.00

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Madonna : A Rebel Life - THE ULTIMATE GIFT FOR ANY MADONNA FAN

Madonna

£35.00

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The Double Life of Bob Dylan Volume 2: 1966-2021 : ‘Far away from Myself’

The Double Life of Bob Dylan Volume 2:...

£35.00

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Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) : The Sunday Times Music Book of the Year

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)

£25.00

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1964: Eyes of the Storm

1964: Eyes of the Storm

£60.00

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Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics : The official, fully illustrated celebration of the Man in Black

Johnny Cash: The Life in Lyrics

£40.00

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Reach for the Stars: 1996–2006: Fame, Fallout and Pop’s Final Party : Winner of the 2024 Penderyn Music Book Prize

Reach for the Stars: 1996–2006: Fame,...

£12.99

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The Island Book of Records Volume I : 1959-68

The Island Book of Records Volume I

£85.00

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Living the Beatles Legend : On the Road with the Fab Four - The Mal Evans Story

Living the Beatles Legend

£6.99

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Bee Gees: Children of the World : A Times Book of the Year

Bee Gees: Children of the World

£22.00

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Energy Follows Thought : The Stories Behind My Songs

Energy Follows Thought

£16.99

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Science books

White Holes : Inside the Horizon

White Holes

£14.99

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Eve : How The Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution

Eve

£25.00

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Engineers of Human Souls : Four Writers Who Changed Twentieth-Century Minds

Engineers of Human Souls

£25.00

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Four Ways of Thinking : Statistical, Interactive, Chaotic and Complex

Four Ways of Thinking

£18.99

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The Experience Machine : How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality

The Experience Machine

£25.00

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We Are Electric : The New Science of Our Body’s Electrome

We Are Electric

£20.00

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Sleeping Beauties : The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture

Sleeping Beauties

£20.00

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Poetry books

The Iliad

The Iliad

£30.00

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The Lights

The Lights

£12.99

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School of Instructions

School of Instructions

£12.99

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Mothersong : Shortlisted for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize

Mothersong

£9.99

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From Our Own Fire

From Our Own Fire

£14.99

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The Many Hundreds of the Scent

The Many Hundreds of the Scent

£12.99

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Owed

Owed

£9.99

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The Grid

The Grid

£12.99

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Crisis Actor

Crisis Actor

£12.99

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To 2040

To 2040

£15.99

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The Fourth Sister

The Fourth Sister

£11.99

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Before We Go Any Further

Before We Go Any Further

£12.99

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The Recycling

The Recycling

£12.99

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Plot

Plot

£11.99

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