14 best books to read in Autumn 2014

The King’s Curse is the sixth and final book in Philippa Gregory's hugely loved Cousins' War series. Set amid the tumult and intrigue of the court of Henry VIII, it centres on Margaret Pole, lady-in-waiting to Henry’s first bride Katherine of Aragon. Gregory vividly recreates the heart-breaking choices her heroine Margaret had to make between the king and her beloved queen. Fast-paced and furious, this is popular history at its finest. 

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An LA ‘It Girl’ accused of killing her own mother, a small town where no one is who they seem and a dark family secret just waiting to be uncovered – Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little is a clever, witty thriller you’ll want to gobble up in one go. 

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Japanese author Haruki Murakami is known for his dream-like, slightly surreal but very readable novels. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years of Pilgrimage follows a man on a quest to find out why he was ostracised by his closest friends years before.

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TV and radio presenter Richard Madeley's second novel The Way You Look Tonight, is a pacy thriller set in the glamorous world of JFK and the Kennedy family. 

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Pole-axed by grief after her father’s sudden death, Helen Macdonald decides to realise her childhood dream of adopting a bird of prey. She finds surprising solace in training it. Big-hearted, joyful and glowing with gorgeous descriptions of nature, H Is For Hawk is an unusual but very special memoir. 
 
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The Storms Of War is a big, juicy drama set on the eve of the First World War. TV historian Kate Williams paints a spellbinding portrait of a family clinging on desperately to their privileged way of life. 

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What Milo Saw by Virginia MacGregor is a life-affirming read about a boy on a mission to save his grandmother from her nursing home. Warm, wise and insightful. 

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When Maeve Haran wrote Having It All 20 years ago, it struck a nerve with working mums and became an instant best-seller. Now she's doing the same for the over 60s with The Time Of Their Lives about a generation of women who aren't prepared to become invisible. A funny, feisty read. 

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The effervescent Kathy Lette delivers playful puns aplenty in her legal comedy, Courting Trouble. 

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Thirst is an unconventional love story set in London by new writer Kerry Hudson, who is a star in the making.

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Without You by Saskia Sarginson is a haunting thriller about a family devastated by the supposed drowning of their eldest daughter - and what actually happens to her. 

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As the Beatles storm the charts, single mum Christie struggles to get back on her feet. Love, Love Me Do by Mark Haysom manages to be both funny and heart-breaking.

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