From novellas to the ultimate pageturner, here is a list of Virago Books that you won’t be able to put down.
Virago Books to Read in One Sitting
'Hilarious, brilliant, utterly exhilarating' MONICA ALI 'Funny, sharp unputdownable' NINA STIBBE 'Hilarious, but also a brilliantly sharp commentary on the many demands of modern life' RED MAGAZINE 'Fantastic' JESSIE BURTON 'Very funny and very, very relatable' STYLIST, 2026 BEST FICTION PICKS 'An extremely funny book that's both perceptive and propulsive'… Read More
A REDISCOVERED FANTASY CLASSIC - INTRODUCED BY SAMANTHA SHANNON 'Read it now' URSULA K. LE GUIN 'Quiet and thoughtful, playful and wayward, rich with exquisite worldbuilding detail. I only wish - as an author who always dreamed of dragons - that I had discovered Travel Light sooner' SAMANTHA SHANNON 'No… Read More
30TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY THE AUTHOR 'Girl, Interrupted is a beautiful, complex story that truly led the way on opening up a new, brave, nuanced approach to talking about women's mental health. It is an intense and personal story that taps into a universal truth about… Read More
40TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION, WITH A FOREWORD BY STANLEY TUCCI 'I have bought more copies of this book to give to people, in a frenzy of enthusiasm, than any other . . . Heartburn is the perfect, bittersweet, sobbingly funny, all-too-true confessional novel' NIGELLA LAWSON 'I kept a copy of Nora… Read More
LONGLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2024 SHORTLISTED FOR THE JOHN FLORIO PRIZE 2024 The 100,000 copy Italian bestseller for fans of Rachel Cusk and Deborah Levy 'Deliciously enjoyable' Katherine Heiny 'I adored it' Naoise Dolan 'Hilarious' Roddy Doyle 'Thrillingly original' Monica Ali Vero has grown up in Rome with… Read More
A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog - NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING NAOMI WATTS AND BILL MURRAY ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST 100 BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD… Read More
'Effortlessly cool, funny yet sad, breezy but thoughtful - this is an edgy and unputdownable work of modern literature' Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti 'Crimson is written with immense courage - there's no faking the feeling of honesty on each page. It is a brave novel reminiscent of Irvine Welsh's… Read More
INTRODUCED BY MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'A great work of literature, the product of a questing, burning intellect' MAGGIE O'FARRELL 'Even if the themes being explored might seem irrelevant . . . this is not the case' GUARDIAN 'I loved the unnerving, sarcastic tone, the creepy ending' PARIS REVIEW Based on the… Read More
'As profound as Katherine Mansfield, restrained as Jane Austen, sharp as Dorothy Parker' Independent INTRODUCED BY NICOLA BEAUMAN The lark rose in the brilliant air, higher, higher on its spun-glass spiral of song, knowing nothing of peace or war, accepting joyously the bounty of another day. A hot summer's day… Read More