
A Meal in Winter
Hubert Mingarelli
Spare and striking, this novel's resounding emotional power echoes beyond its few pages. Three Nazi soldiers are charged with capturing a Jewish prisoner for execution. While sheltering from the harsh winter, each must confront his own conscience as the reality of the mission becomes clear.
Read moreBehind the Beautiful Forevers
Katherine Boo
A stunning work of immersive journalism that won a National Book Award and has since been adapted for the stage. It follows the lives of a group of Mumbai slum-dwellers after a crime in their community turns tensions over religion, caste, sex, power and economic envy truly brutal.
Read moreCity of Thorns
Ben Rawlence
A fearless work of reportage that takes the reader inside Dadaab, the world's biggest and most notorious refugee camp, through the stories of the people who live there.
Read moreCruel Britannia
Ian Cobain
An award-winning work of investigative journalism that uncovered Britain's secretive and shameful record of torture. Cobain exposes decades of complicity, obfuscation and cover-ups. An essential document for anyone interested in the real face of our country's government.
Read moreDo It Like A Woman
Caroline Criado-Perez
Gathering together stories from all corners of the world, this is an inspiring celebration of private heroisms and public triumphs, and a brilliant, necessary manifesto for women everywhere.
Read moreHonourable Friends?
Caroline Lucas
Britain's first Green MP reveals the inner workings of parliamentary life and offers bold and practical suggestions for a fairer British political system.
Read moreStrange Weather in Tokyo
Hiromi Kawakami
Touching, curious and written with extraordinary delicacy and precision, from one of Japan's most important contemporary writers. It is an offbeat love story between a woman in her late thirties and her former high school teacher.
Read moreThe End of Days
Jenny Erpenbeck
Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize 2015, The End of Days follows the life of one woman in twentieth century Europe. Or rather, the various possible lives she could have led. An intoxicating masterpiece.
Read moreThe Vegetarian
Han Kang
Winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2016, The Vegetarian is a shocking, visceral and incredibly sensual novel that follows a woman's unusual desire, and the violent consequences this has for herself and her family.
Read moreWho Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner
Katrine Marçal
Politically engaged, but shy of economics? Sharp, funny and thought-provoking, Marçal exposes how our economics is failing us all (but particularly women) and how much better things could be.
Read moreEssential Portobello Books
Portobello Books has a rich and varied backlist,
but where to start?
In Essential Portobello Books you’ll find some of our best known titles along with hand picked lesser known works by some of the world’s finest thinkers and writers.
We’ll be regularly updating our selection with the aim of always bringing you something to inspire and stimulate. For an introduction to each book simply hover your cursor over the titles displayed on the shelf above.