Bodywork by Melissa Febos (Manchester University Press)

If, like me, you’re moved to write your way through difficulty, then this book will be a gift. In it, Febos shares all she has learned about writing personal narrative, with her trademark insight and intimate, curious voice. I turn to it time and again to remind me of the power of telling our own stories and how to craft them on the page.

Lost Cat by Mary Gaitskill (Daunt)

I adore this short memoir by Gaitskill. It’s about rescuing a stray cat and trying to come to terms with the loss of it, and through sharing that experience Gaitskill explores the vulnerability, joy and fears that attend loving anything and anyone.

Happiness Forever by Adelaide Faith (HarperCollins)

When life feels tough it can be nice to retreat into a sweet, funny book. I was hopelessly charmed by Faith’s debut novel. It tells the story of Sylvie and her obsession with her therapist. Along the way we get to think about how to recover from hurt, the comforting diversion of longing, and the rewards of opening ourselves up to friendships.

things in nature merely grow by Yiyun Li (HarperCollins)

In this extraordinary memoir, Li shares with the reader her work of ‘radical acceptance’ after the loss of her two sons, who both died from suicide. Li rejects the expectation readers might bring for a narrative arc that brings resolution and wisdom. Instead, she lives ‘thinkingly alongside death’.

Love in Exile by Shon Faye (Penguin)

In this wise, searching book Faye shares her reckoning with the ideas of love and lovelessness that shaped her. In doing so she encourages us all to reframe, deepen and broaden our notions of love.

That Broke into Shining Crystals by Richard Scott (Faber & Faber)

This second collection of poems by Scott arose from violation and trauma. He transforms experience into an astonishing and luminous encounter with art, gemstones, tenderness, and ultimately, hope.

Amy Key

Amy Key is the author of the memoir Arrangements in Blue (Jonathan Cape, 2023), chosen as a Book of the Year by The Sunday Times, Independent, Irish Times and Granta and shortlisted by Foyles for their Non Fiction Book of the Year 2023. She is also the author of two collections of poetry, Luxe (Salt, 2013) and Isn’t Forever (Bloodaxe, 2018). Her essays have appeared in the collections At The Pond (2019) and By the River (2024) published by Daunt, as well as Granta, Vogue, The Observer, The Poetry, Independent and elsewhere. Her Substack is So Glad I’m Me.