The New Statesman’s 2017 books of the year

Friends and contributors tell us what they've enjoyed reading most over the past 12 months.

(Photo By Exile by Vasantha Yogananthan, one of our books of the year)

Read the complete New Statesman guide to the books of 2017:

Part one: books chosen by Andrew Marr, George Osborne, Rose Tremain and others

“Mukherjee’s deep knowledge of India and the West, allied to his never-failing curiosity about the ties that both bind us and separate us, makes him an outstanding chronicler of Bengali life.” Rose Tremain on A State of Freedom

Part two: books chosen by Nicola Sturgeon, Alan Johnson, Sara Baume and others

“It is a beautifully written epic and will make you laugh and cry in equal measure.” Nicola Sturgeon on The Heart’s Invisible Furies

Part three: books chosen by Joan Bakewell, Michael Moorcock, Olivia Laing and others

“Death haunts us, and George Saunders mines the many ways it does: the Gothic, the sentimental, the fearful and, above all, the grief-stricken.” Joan Bakewell on Lincoln in the Bardo