The Best Fiction Books

In the first instalment of our Poetry Series, the National Poet of Wales tells us why many teachers are better than actors at reading poetry

Plot is king, says bestselling thriller writer Simon Kernick of his chosen genre. He lists five of his all-time favourites

Bestselling romantic novelist Eloisa James says romance novels are all pretty feminist: even historical heroines (who couldn’t hold a job) are forthright, strong women

Russian literature specialist Michael Nicholson, Emeritus Fellow at University College, Oxford, talks us through the best books to learn more about the great Soviet dissident and winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Literature, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

When it comes to whodunnits, the latest ones aren't always the best. Veteran crime writer Simon Brett talks us through some of his all-time favourites, of which the most recent was published nearly four decades ago.

Roger Ellory is a bestselling author whose recommendations include Annie Proulx, Stephen King and Truman Capote. There are, he says, no rules to great writing

We learn much more from failure than we do from success, says Irvine Welsh. The author of Trainspotting recommends his own favourite crime novels.

Right-wing journalist and political commentator Peter Hitchens says the Left has been liberated by the fall of the Berlin Wall and that speech is probably freer in modern Russia than it is in Britain. He recommends some great anti-Communist thrillers.

Author Jeremy Duns says Maksim Isaev was a kind of Soviet James Bond and when they rerun the old black and white TV shows the Russian crime rate drops because everyone is indoors watching them

Which are the best historical novels? Bestselling author Vanora Bennett recommends her top five.