Gingerbread, the blurb of Oyeyemi's novel points out, has a significance that's "equal parts wholesome and uncanny" across children's fiction, "from the tantalizing witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can." In Oyeyemi's take, gingerbread is a matter of legacy: Perdita Lee and her mother Harriet make it, according to a cherished family recipe, while Harriet's childhood friend Gretel Kercheval devours it. Later, as a teenager, Perdita attempts to find the now-missing Gretel — and gains a new understanding of her mother on the way.

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You might be familiar with Setterfield from her troubling gothic novel The Thirteenth Tale, the author's debut. Her latest, a 19th century mystery set on the banks of the Thames, looks to be similarly suspenseful. A stranger brings a girl's body, seemingly drowned, into a sleepy pub, but a few hours later, the mysterious girl is inexplicably revived. Who is the girl, and the man who plucked her from the river — and what brought her back to life?

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Candice Carty-Williams' first novel is possibly one of the most anticipated debuts of 2019 — and you can count me amongst those eagerly awaiting its launch. Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman, is in a time of crisis. She's grappling with a not quite final break up with her longterm boyfriend; with her white, middle class coworkers at the major newspaper where she works; with two cultures, neither of which she feels she belongs to entirely. How, in the midst of all the pressures and bad decisions and uncertainties familiar to twenty-somethings, will Queenie figure out who she wants to be?

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Grief is often assumed, somewhat tritely, to bring us closer, but in Hadley's latest novel, she demonstrates the opposite. When Zach dies, leaving behind his widow Lydia and their closest friends Alex and Christine, the group begins to distort and fragment in unforeseen ways. Lydia moves in with Alex and Christine — but the trio have suppressed unacknowledged feelings for decades, which rise to the surface upon Zach's death.

Pre-order Late in the Day from Waterstones.

Spring is the third novel in Smith's Seasonal Quartet (which started with Autumn, and then — surprise — Winter). And while current details on the title are sparse, if it's anything like its predecessors, it's bound to be something of a sensation. Autumn was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2017, while Winter made its way onto just about every "best of the year" list this year. It's probably safe to assume, therefore, that Spring will be a defining novel of 2019.

Pre-order Spring from Waterstones.