ANY TROPE BUT YOU by Victoria Lavine has made Library Journal's list of the Best Books of 2025!
See the full list here.
Three fantastic InkWell titles have made SLJ's list of the best books of the year: HAZELTHORN by CG Drews, GHOST TOWN by Eric Colossal, and THIS PLACE KILLS ME, illustrated by Nicole Goux!
See the full list here.
Helen Garner's HOW TO END A STORY, John Kay's THE CORPORATION IN THE 21ST CENTURY, Johan Norberg's PEAK HUMAN, and Matthew Cobb's CRICK: A MIND IN MOTION have been named to The Economist's list of the Best Books of 2025!
See the full list here.
The Washington Post has named titles by Jesse Lonergan, Sam Wachman, and Amity Gaige to their lists of the best books of 2025!
THE SEASON by Helen Garner has been selected as one of LitHub's favorite books of 2025! Congratulations, Helen!
See the full list here.
Kate Myers, Laura McCluskey, Rory Power, Nicole Goux, Andrea Bell, and Meredith McClaren have made BookPage's Best of 2025 lists!
It is with great sadness that we share that our client Madeleine Wickham, best known to millions of readers and fans as Sophie Kinsella, has died after a courageous battle with brain cancer. To champion Sophie Kinsella’s novels was to witness magic—her boundless imagination, her humor, and her profound kindness. I am deeply grateful to have walked beside Maddy on her creative journey, and I will hold her legacy, and the laughter she gave the world, with immense love. — Kimberly Witherspoon
The bestselling novelist Madeleine Wickham, best known to millions of readers and fans as her pseudonym Sophie Kinsella, has died aged fifty-five after a courageous battle with brain cancer.
Madeleine, known to everyone as Maddy, wrote her first novel under her real name aged twenty-four, whilst working as a financial journalist. The Tennis Party was an immediate success, a top ten bestseller hailed by critics and the public alike. She went on to publish six more novels as Madeleine Wickham. Five years later, writing as Sophie Kinsella, she published the groundbreaking The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, which introduced readers to the beloved Becky Bloomwood, a character for our times, funny, feisty and without a trace of guile. Over the next twenty-five years, Maddy would write eight further Shopaholic novels and another eighteen books, including one YA novel and four children’s books. Over the course of her career, she has sold over 50 million copies of her books in over sixty countries and has been translated into forty languages.
While she is known as the ‘queen of happy endings’, Madeleine also defined and elevated romantic comedy by populating her stories with real-life issues that combined wit, emotional depth and societal insight. Her distinctive voice and style brought her readers from a wide demographic across the world. Her most recent book, published in 2024, was the extraordinary novella, What Does It Feel Like?, a poignant and witty account of her cancer journey which was miraculously written after her surgery and which went on to be another instant Sunday Times bestseller.
Araminta Whitley and Marina de Pass, her agents at The Soho Agency, said:
Maddy was a once-in-a-lifetime author and friend, and it has been the privilege of our working lives to represent her since the beginning of her career. Over the last three decades, her success has been truly international: she published thirty-four novels across adult, YA and children’s publishing that have topped charts around the world, breaking records and defying expectations. Yet reaching higher heights wasn’t what drove her.
Maddy was an intelligent, imaginative, loving and irreverent woman who valued the deeply connective power of fiction. She had a rare gift for creating emotionally resonant protagonists and stories that spoke to, and entertained, readers wherever they were in the world and whatever challenges they faced. She also had an unmatched wit and ability to find the funny side. Comedy, for her, was both an art form and an intellectual pursuit and she instinctively understood that it is often a tightrope act of balancing light with dark.
Her readers, and we include ourselves in that, felt seen and understood by her protagonists and their stories. We have lost count of the number of fans we met at events and in signing lines who wanted her to know that her books had helped them through some of the hardest moments of their lives. Yet through it all, Maddy remained humble and full of wonder at her success and influence. Consequently, she was profoundly moved, and buoyed, by the outpouring of love and support she received on publicly disclosing her glioblastoma diagnosis last year.
It is hard to contemplate life and work without Maddy. We will remember her for her warmth, insight and irrepressible sense of humour, for the magnificent, witty and resonant novels she leaves behind, and for making our days infinitely more meaningful and fun. We are completely heartbroken at her death. We loved her dearly and will miss her more than we can say.
Bill Scott-Kerr, Publisher at Transworld, her publishing home for the past thirty years, said:
I have had the true pleasure of knowing Maddy for the past three decades. Transworld have been lucky enough to publish every one of her adult novels. She was our author, our cheerleader, our fellow conspirator and our friend. From the outset it has been a genuine partnership based on commitment, trust and celebration that has gone from strength to strength over the years, right up to the heartbreaking brilliance of her last novella. She has been such an unshakeable pillar of our publishing at Transworld for so many years that the thought of a year without a Sophie Kinsella to publish is inconceivable.
As a writer, Maddy was a complete professional; she consistently delivered above and beyond what she promised. But what really singles her out and made all of her myriad achievements possible was her humanity. First and foremost, she was intensely, authentically herself: intelligent, creative, intuitively understanding and curious about the world and the people who lived in it. Even if you didn’t know her personally, you got such a strong sense of connection with the person behind the books that reading them felt like a communal moment.
Every time you opened one of her novels you knew you were in for something special. It takes exceptional talent to balance pitch-perfect comic timing with serious intent on the page and Maddy was able to do that with apparent ease, time and time again. Her instinctive and empathetic understanding of human nature gave her novels true authenticity that broadened and deepened the experience of reading them, and yet she could still turn on a pin from a farcical scenario to a moment of breathtaking pathos. She gave substance to the fine art of entertainment, elevating it to something that delivered an individual experience to each and every one of her readers, irrespective of gender or age.
Maddy leaves behind a glorious and indelible legacy: a unique voice, an unquenchable spirit, a goodness of intent and a body of work that will continue to inspire us to reach higher and be better, just like so many of her characters. On a personal level Maddy was the embodiment of joy, an extraordinarily clever, funny, sassy, impish, kind and generous collaborator who brought light into our lives. She was as part of this company as anyone, and we will all truly miss her.
The New York Public Library has included the following InkWell titles on their list of the Best Books of 2025!
Best Books for Adults
DROME by Jesse Lonergan
HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige
Best Books for Teens
SAY A LITTLE PRAYER by Jenna Voris
Best Books for Kids
FREE PIANO (NOT HAUNTED) by Whitney Gardner
MASKS by Margaret Rae and Brian Nathanson and Beck Kubrick
MILLIE OF THE MANOR by Karina Evans and Andrea Bell
SCARLET MORNING by ND Stevenson
SPEAK UP SANTIAGO by Julio Anta
Click here for the full list!
WILD THING by Sue Prideaux and HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige are both included on the New York Times' list of 100 Notable Books of 2025. WILD THING is a top 10 title!
See the full list here.
HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige, SCARLET MORNING by ND Stevenson, THE BOOK OF ALCHEMY by Suleika Jaouad, CHANGE THE RECIPE by José Andrés, THE HEARTBREAK HOTEL by Ellen O'Clover, WHO IS GOVERNMENT? featuring contributor Casey Cep, CRUMBLE by Meredith McClaren & Andrea Bell, JOYRIDE by Susan Orlean, and THE NEW ECONOMY by Gabrielle Calvocoressi have been named to NPR's "Books We Love" list! Congrats, all!
See the full list here.
Amity Gaige's HEARTWOOD is one of Audible's Best Fiction Audiobooks of 2025!
See the full list here.
SPEAK UP, SANTIAGO by Julio Anta & Gabi Mendez, ANOTHER by Paul Tremblay, and MIXED UP by Kami Garcia & Britt Williams are nominees for the 2026-2027 Texas Bluebonnet Awards!
See the full list of nominees here.
Maggie Stiefvater's THE LISTENERS, Susan Orlean's JOYRIDE, and Sam Wachman's THE SUNFLOWER BOYS have all made Oprah Daily's list of their favorite books of 2025! Congrats, all!
See the full list here.
Gabrielle Calvocoressi is a National Book Award finalist with her poetry collection THE NEW ECONOMY!
See the National Book Foundation site for more info!
Our authors are all over Amazon's list of the Best Books of 2025: Gabrielle Hamilton, Susan Orlean, Jimmy Wales, Yasmin Khan, Alexander Clapp, ND Stevenson, and Casey Cep have all been honored!
Top 20 Overall
Biography & Memoir
Business & Leadership
Cookbooks
Nonfiction
Children’s (Ages 9-12)
See the full list here!
JOYRIDE by Susan Orlean has been honored as one of Time Magazine's Best Books of 2025!
See the full list here.
Books by Elin Hilderbrand & Shelby Cunningham, Amity Gaige, CG Drews, Allison Saft, Jenna Voris, Sophie Gonzales, Suleika Jaouad, and Susan Orlean were all nominated in the Goodreads Choice Awards!
THE ACADEMY by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham was nominated in the Fiction category. HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige was nominated in the Mystery/Thriller category. HAZELTHORN by CG Drews and WINGS OF STARLIGHT by Allison Saft were nominated in the Young Adult Science Fiction & Fantasy category. SAY A LITTLE PRAYER by Jenna Voris and NOBODY IN PARTICULAR by Sophie Gonzales were nominated in the Young Adult Fiction category. THE BOOK OF ALCHEMY by Suleika Jaouad was nominated in the Nonfiction category. JOYRIDE by Susan Orlean was nominated in the Memoir category.
See the full list here!
Maggie Stiefvater's THE LISTENERS and Sam Wachman's THE SUNFLOWER BOYS have both been named to Kirkus Reviews' list of the Best Books of 2025!
See the full list of honorees here!
ANOTHER by Paul Tremblay, MIXED-UP by Kami Garcia and Britt Williams, and SPEAK UP, SANTIAGO by Julio Anta and Gabi Mendez have all been nominated for the 2026-2027 Texas Bluebonnet Awards!
See the full list of nominees here!
Malcolm Kempt discusses the inspiration behind the rugged Arctic setting of A GIFT BEFORE DYING with Publishers Weekly.
Read PW’s full interview with Malcolm here!
Helen Garner is the 2025 winner of the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction with her book HOW TO END A STORY! This is the first collection of diaries to ever be awarded this prize.
Read all about it here!
HAZELTHORN by CG Drews is an instant #1 NYT Bestseller in the Young Adult Hardcover category!
HAZELTHORN by CG Drews is an instant #1 NYT Bestseller in the Young Adult Hardcover category!
Jimmy Wales discusses his forthcoming book, THE SEVEN RULES OF TRUST, with The New York Times!
Read the article here!
CG Drews' HAZELTHORN and Allison Saft's WINGS OF STARLIGHT are two of Barnes and Noble's Best YA Books of 2025!
See the full list of honorees here!
SHADOW OF THE BRIDGE authors Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee discuss their work with True Crime Garage!
Listen to the full podcast here!
CG Drews' DON'T LET THE FOREST IN is the 2025 Young Adult Book Award winner at the Queensland Literary Awards! Erin Gough's INTO THE MOUTH OF THE WOLF is a 2025 Young Adult Book Award finalist!
See the full list of winners and nominees here.
ND Stevenson's SCARLET MORNING has been chosen by the team at Common Sense Media as an official Selection for Families!
See the Common Sense Media review of SCARLET MORNING here!
Catherine Hong writes for the NYT Book Review: "In the small-scale world of Laura Amy Schlitz’s novel 'The Winter of the Dollhouse,' the emotional stakes are both intimate and enormous."
Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter/co-author Shelby Cunningham discuss their new book, THE ACADEMY, with the cast of CBS Mornings!
Watch the full interview here!
THE SALVAGE by Anbara Salam, THE ACADEMY by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham, and NEXT OF KIN by Gabrielle Hamilton are some of Town & Country's Best Books of Fall 2025!
See the full list here!
DEVIL IS FINE author John Vercher has been named as a fiction finalist in the 2025 Virginia Literary Awards!
https://www.lva.virginia.gov/events/litawards
HEARTWOOD by Amity Gaige and OUR LAST RESORT by Clémence Michallon have both been named to Tertulia's list of the year's best new crime and thriller reads!
https://tertulia.com/editorial-list/best-crime-and-thriller-books-2025
Ivy Pochoda and Gary Phillips have been lauded by Publishers Weekly for their contributions to The Best American Mystery and Suspense anthology!
Frankie Celenza, author of EAT: EASY, AFFORDABLE, TASTY, cooks up a storm on Good Morning America!
Watch the full video here!
James Grady discusses his storied writing career and new novel AMERICAN SKY with People Magazine!
Read the exclusive interview here.
Publishers Weekly has selected Tanya Scott's STILLWATER and Blake Crouch's FAMOUS for their Top 10 Mysteries & Thrillers!
See the full list here!
Clémence Michallon's OUR LAST RESORT and Shawn Levy's CLINT are two of the New York Times' must-reads for July!
Read the full list here!
Alexander Sammartino has won the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award for his debut novel, LAST ACTS!
Read more here.
Jason Roberts' EVERY LIVING THING wins the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award!
For a work that exemplifies literary excellence on the subject of the physical or biological sciences and communicates complex scientific concepts to a lay audience.
Read the judges’ citation here!
Kate Myers' EXCAVATIONS is coming to the silver screen as "Dig," a new NBC comedy from Mike Schur and Amy Poehler!
Read more here!
Jason Roberts' EVERY LIVING THING is the Pulitzer Prize winner for Biography!
See the full list of winners here!
A message from InkWell Management regarding Bill Belichick's upcoming book, THE ART OF WINNING.
In his upcoming book, THE ART OF WINNING: LESSONS FROM A LIFE IN FOOTBALL, Bill Belichick includes a chapter on how to handle communications as a leader, drawing on his decades of experience speaking to players, coaches, and staff about how to set aside individual agendas and differences to come together as a team. On a football team, there is one and one goal only: to win. His book (and his career) has therefore been dominated by questions about how to win, how to find winners, and how to motivate an organization to prioritize winning above all else. It’s not easy. That’s why no one has done it at the level that Bill Belichick has.
But of course, getting clicks is easier than getting wins.
Earlier this month, Bill sat down with CBS Sunday Morning to discuss his book, his life in football, and his perspective on how he has done his job. The nature and orientation of the discussion was known in advance to Bill and to CBS. And indeed, Bill did talk football.
But the segment that was shown to the public veered into a discussion of Bill’s personal life and away from the subject of his book, resulting in a raft of hostile social media posts about his personal life.
Bill has written an authoritative and entertaining book about success that should be judged by its contents, not by the clicks generated by the segment.
Alex Sammartino, author of LAST ACTS, has been honored as one of the National Book Foundation's 5 under 35!
See the announcement here!
Laurie Woolever's memoir CARE AND FEEDING is an instant NYT Bestseller!
Raphael Cormack talks HOLY MEN OF THE ELECTROMAGNETIC AGE on NPR's Weekend Edition!
Listen to the interview here.
THE BEARSKINNER by Laura Amy Schlitz was named Best Illustrated Folk or Fairy Tale, THE HIRED GIRL by Laura Amy Schlitz was a runner up for Best Historical Novel, and TOUCH THE ART by Amy Guglielmo and Julie Appel was named Best Art Book!
See the full list here!
Paul Tremblay's HORROR MOVIE is a Bram Stoker Award finalist!
See the full list of nominees here.
Congrats, Cheryl Mendelson!
Congrats, Arielle Johnson!
WHEN THE CLOCK BROKE by John Ganz WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? by Sophie Kinsella
"Two female writers are willing to do whatever it takes to reach success in 1960s Hollywood, in Berman's third novel."
"N Magazine caught up with Hilderbrand on the heels of her Netflix hit"
"Maddie Ziegler & Levi Miller To Topline YA Fantasy ‘Shiver’ Based On Maggie Stiefvater Bestseller"
"DEVIL IS FINE is a gripping, surreal and brilliantly crafted dissection of the legacies we leave behind and those we inherit."
"Why dark skies are actually good for your health"
"Actor Diego Boneta Announces His Debut Novel"
The Four Engagement Rings of Sybil Rain will be published on June 24, 2025
with Scarlett Johansson to Produce & Potentially Star
alongside 12-year-old magician Rachel Ling Gordon
"A new gripping suspense is on the way from the author of the blockbuster THE QUIET TENANT."
"How humans invented good and evil, and may reinvent both"
"Radium, Marie Curie and her husband discovered, destroyed diseased cells faster than healthy ones. Could the element fight cancer?"
"Genius or Madness? Matthew FitzSimmons on His New Thriller"
Congrats, Eric Ripert!
Claire Cameron's book will be released on March 25, 2025
Anthony Zuiker Adapting For TV With Charlize Theron & Dawn Olmstead’s Secret Menu And Blumhouse
Deadline Annoucement HERE
The TV adaptation is based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand
"Nicole Kidman’s gorgeous murder mystery is ludicrously good"
Amy Poehler Talks About Her Recent Reads
Congrats to LATE BLOOMERS and COLTON GENTRY'S THIRD ACT!
Congrats to all!
"10 Best New Horror Books for Spooky Season in 2024"
"What would Crockett Johnson think of the new movie adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon? His biographer weighs in."
"How I Was Saved by a Book"
based on Gary Kinder's SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA
The Breaking Bad actress announced that she will publish her second novel in 2025. The book is co-written with Lindsay Jamieson.
"Renaissance authorities restricted access to geographic discoveries. A Venetian scholar set out to unveil them in print."
Congrats, Jane!
Based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand
"'Devil Is Fine' explores race, colonialism and grief through magical realism."
Adam is the author of THE MUSEUM OF OTHER PEOPLE.
To discuss her book, "CBK: Carolyn Bessette Kennedy: A Life in Fashion."
"4 Fun, Flirty New Romance Novels"
Congrats, Paul Tremblay!
on the release of SWAN SONG!
Congrats, Naomi!
“When the Clock Broke is one of those rarest of books: unflaggingly entertaining while never losing sight of its moral core.”
"The actor, who memorably played Gus Fring on 'Breaking Bad' and its spin-off 'Better Call Saul,' has sold his memoir after a bidding war."
Congrats, Blake Crouch!
The Next Big Idea Club turns the latest and greatest nonfiction into “Book Bites,” short audio summaries read aloud by authors.
"The Queen of the Beach Read Hangs Up Her Bikini"
"Take a Walk Through the Hamptons With a Photographer and Her iPhone"
"Katie Engelhart has won the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, for a story about dementia — and what happens to a person’s wishes as they slip into cognitive decline."
"Her memoir documents her harrowing ordeal in Russia and her return home"
"Reducing The Idea of You to Fan Fiction Is Another Example of Dismissing Women’s Art"
Books that pair perfectly with Taylor Swift's Tortured Poets Department album!
"Vivid double biography"