Best Fiction of 2020

Has there ever been a year when we’ve needed the forget-the-world embrace of an excellent novel more than in 2020? The Year-That-Must-Not-Be-Named has given us a lot to cry over, it’s true, but because there’s a modicum of kindness in this indifferent universe, it has also brought us a host of brilliant stories by a diverse range of writers. The 24 novels below are comforting, challenging, upsetting, humorous, intellectual, and unique. They have nourished us and given us hope, and we offer them to you with love.