The best novels of 2024, from A Song to Drown Rivers to The Coin

Romantic comedy, historical epic, murder mystery and more ... these books were the most riveting of the year

The best books of 2024 range in genre and style. Photo: The National

As the year winds down, it’s interesting to look back on one’s own reading journey to see which books left an impact.

While I assumed my favourite reads would all fall into two categories – fantasy or romcoms – it was pleasantly surprising that the books I haven’t been able to stop thinking about span a range of genres and styles.

From one bookworm to another, here are my six top reads of 2024.

A Song to Drown Rivers by Ann Liang

Combining history, myth, romance and war, this is definitely a novel that’s difficult to put down.

The stakes are high as we follow Xishi, a strikingly beautiful young girl from a small village, as she is chosen for a secret mission. After training by Fanli, a famous military adviser, she is destined to be gifted to the opposing kingdom’s emperor as his new bride.

Xishi is determined to use her new skills and beauty to win over the emperor and end his tyrannical reign.

But beneath her need for revenge for what the war has done to her family and her village, Xishi has developed strong feelings for Fanli and finds herself in a very unexpected love triangle.

The novel was initially marketed as having elements of fantasy and as inspired by the legend of Xishi, one of the renowned beauties of ancient China. However, there is no fantasy in the book, which was disappointing, and after reading up about the original legend it didn’t feel like a reimaging or retelling but more of an elaborate delve into the story itself.

Nevertheless, this doesn’t diminish the storytelling or the reader experience – the novel is still a bittersweet and achingly powerful story about love and sacrifice.

Entitlement by Rumaan Alam

It’s usually hard to empathise with a thief, but the power of a compelling narrative will make you re-examine how you feel about a character's categorically “wrong” actions.

This is how it felt reading about Brooke Low, a Black woman raised in privilege. But despite everything that has been handed to her, Brooke doesn’t feel fulfilled in her life.

She decides to take charge of her own happiness by working as a project coordinator for billionaire Asher Jaffee’s charity organisation. This is where things start to spiral for Brooke. She wants to help him give his money away ethically, but her own desires start nagging at her. She’s faced with one ethical dilemma after the next, with her decisions and actions disguised as deeds motivated by good intentions.

While Brooke's behaviour was sometimes difficult to validate, making her character at times unconvincing, the novel was still satisfying and worth making one's way through.

The Coin by Yasmin Zaher

This is a sad, thoughtful and subtle examination of identity that’s also somehow honest, witty and genuinely funny. A contrasting set of emotions and ideas that are also reflected in the protagonist.

She is an unnamed Palestinian woman who is navigating life in New York City. While teaching at an underprivileged school for boys, she’s also illegally reselling luxury Birkin bags after her family’s inheritance has disappeared. But as she cheats her way through life, the past and her identity are not only forcing her to examine who she is but pushing her to the point of unravelling.

The writing is sophisticated but simple. Zaher balances complex and intense ideas and themes, such as the modes of navigating contemporary life in an urban city through the use of fashion as a mask for identity or cleanliness as a metaphor for control.

The Villain Edit by Laurie Devore

This is a fun book with plenty of laughs, drama and romance. The novel also cleverly examines our modern-day, pop culture-fuelled notions of fame and villainy.

The protagonist is Jacqueline Matthis, a once-popular romance novelist who isn’t selling books like she used to until she comes up with a brilliant idea.

Jacqueline joins a The Bachelor-like reality dating show and plans to win over the star, bachelor Marcus. But true to the trope of the romcom genre, Jacqueline’s last fling, Henry Foster, is the show's producer. Stuck between wanting to “win” on the show to boost her public image and her undeniable attraction to Henry, things get even more complex when Jacqueline finds out she’s being edited on the show as the villain.

While the writing is witty and fun, this is much more than a book about love, it’s an examination of the effects of reality TV on its stars and audience. The narrative explores how the world can be manipulated in its perceptions of people and, more importantly, how individuals' self-perception can likewise be manipulated.

Politica by Yumna Kassab

Reading Lebanese-Australian Yumna Kassab’s latest novel is a poetic experience. She moulds language and story down into its very essence while still maintaining a sense of beauty and freedom through images and words.

The story depicts the intertwined lives of a town and its inhabitants in an unnamed region affected by war and revolution. With continuing conflict, bombings and disappearances, danger is at every turn, which is presented through a series of short passages based on the thoughts and perspectives of various characters.

The story is carried through these various perspectives. The reader experiences those who decide to stay and endure in an unsettled region, and those who leave only to grapple with exile and extortionate change.

Sometimes, it feels as though we weren’t going deeply enough into the characters' lives and the subplots. Yet overall, the collections of voices are purposefully fleeting and temporary as a means to capture the immense way conflict and war affect the many simultaneously and in ways we can’t fathom all at once.

Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez

This was an incredibly enjoyable read. However, it’s important to note that the novel has been shrouded in controversy. It is based on the life of the Cuban-American performer and sculptor Ana Mendieta, who is not credited in the book.

The story cleverly switches between the perspectives of two women. The first is Raquel, a student of colour studying art history at a prestigious university. A sympathetic character to readers, Raquel doesn’t feel that she belongs among her privileged peers. But things start to take a turn when she finds herself mesmerised by the story of Anita de Monte, a rising star in the art world who was found dead in New York City in 1985.

The story then shifts to the perspective of Anita, who is wild, free and passionate. Before her premature death, she was living in New York City and married to artist Jack Martin.

Gonzalez is very talented at weaving the stories from two very different perspectives together, and leading the reader through the surreal connections between them while also critiquing many aspects of the art world.