‘The Boy from the Sea’ by Garrett Carr

Hardback, Picador, £16.99

In a close-knit community on Ireland’s west coast, a baby is found abandoned on the beach.

Named Brendan by Ambrose Bonnar the fisherman who adopts him, the boy will become a source of fascination and hope for a town caught in the storm of a rapidly changing world.

Ambrose brings Brendan into his home out of love, but it is a decision that will fracture his family and force this man to try to understand himself and those he cares for.

Set over 20 years, this follows a restless boy trying to find his place in the world.

‘We Do Not Part’ by Han Kang

Hardback, Hamish Hamilton, £18.99

Like a long winter’s dream, this haunting new novel from 2024 Nobel Prize winner Han Kang takes us on a journey from contemporary South Korea into its painful history.

Beginning in December, we trace the path of Kyungha as she travels from the city of Seoul into the forests of Jeju Island, to care for the pet bird of her friend, Inseon.

Flying into Jeju, as snowstorm hits the island, she battles to reach his home.

This is a hymn to friendship, a eulogy to the imagination and above all an indictment against forgetting the Jeju Island massacre 70 years earlier.