If you are a parent of a primary aged child or work in a primary school this is unlikely to be news. As a kidlit author I am, probably obviously, all in favour of anything that encourages children to read. World Book Day and the National Year of Reading in the UK are great initiatives that hopefully make a difference. Reading is fun and the benefits go way beyond falling into a fantasy world that won’t let go, amazing as that is in itself.

I am including Small Press Books as Indie Books. Given their small teams the members can be called to multi task and they do not have the reach of the larger and more well known publishers. Some are also authors themselves. As some of them told me 'they need all the help they can get'. I will talk about some of the presses themselves in another part of this series but for now here's some books you might like.

As an Indie author and a fan of Indie and Small Press books I am always keen to encourage others to read them. Throughout 2026 I will be sending a monthly newsletter with some examples you might want to take a look at. I have read or am reading the novels listed below. Having looked at this list I think I need to say I don’t always need a dead body in it to enjoy fiction!