WHAT’S PUBLISHING THIS WINTER AT ICON BOOKS
Posted on 2026/01/19 , tagged as
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Are you deep in the trenches of winter? Runny noses and frozen fingers are a staple, but the company of a good book can go a long way to combat the cold. There’s no better time to cancel plans and bury yourself in blankets with this season’s non-fiction.
From memoirs than encourage you to take a life-altering path, to lesser-known histories that you won’t be able to put down, to the sciences of pain and technology, and excellent companions for those planning their summer travels, we’ve got the must-reads this winter.
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WHAT’S NEW THIS JANUARY
The Year I Lay My Head in Water: Swimming Scandinavia in Search of a Better Life by Laura Hall (15th January 2026)
Laying your head in water is what you do when you’re having a bad day. It’s where you go when you reach a crossroads in your life.
Living in Copenhagen had been a dream for Laura Hall and it was working out – until it wasn’t. She discovered that the trials of life will follow you anywhere and felt herself disintegrating into stress and burn out.
What followed was a year swimming the cold seas of Scandinavia in search of answers and meaning. She swam in iceberg-filled seas in Greenland, experienced Viking spas in Iceland and visited beaches and piers all over Norway, Denmark and Sweden. Laura met other people doing the same thing and swapped notes, discovering ways to use the water to strengthen a bond with nature and get back to a more human way of life.
Del: Becoming a Voice for Young People by Delroy Ellis (29th January 2026)
When Del Ellis was growing up, he lost his way. Turning to crime, he was on the wrong path -a one-way ticket to a life of regret and pain for himself and those around him. Today he runs a successful youth outreach programme and charity, advocating for young people. How did he get here?
In this book, Del tells his story with searing honesty and directness. With remarkable self-awareness, Del never shies away from the conflicting feelings and tensions that exist within us all.
Today, through YES Mentoring and Increase the Peace, he enables young people to reach their potential and avoid a life of regret. This book is his inspiring story, told in his own inimitable voice.
WHAT’S NEW THIS FEBRUARY
Mad Tom’s Rising: The Revolutionary Mystic Sir William Courtenay and the Last Battle Fought on English Soil by Ian Breckon (12th February 2026)
In the villages and fields of Kent, the discontented find an unlikely champion in John Nicholls Tom. Calling himself ‘Sir William Courtenay’, he appears to the local magistrates and gentry as a madman, a charlatan, or a dangerous radical. But for the labouring people he is the New Messiah, come to lead them in a revolt against the forces of oppression, and to herald the end of the world.
In May 1838, Tom’s crusade ignites into bloody violence. The confrontation that follows will shock the country and become known as the last battle ever fought on English soil.
Oscar Piastri: A Biography by Anthony Meredith (12th February 2026)
Oscar Piastri is a rising star in the world of Formula One. Laser-focused, talented and with a huge future ahead of him, he represents the new breed of drivers hungry for success. After just a few seasons at the top, he has shown himself to be a driver of exceptional ability.
In this book, motorsport writer Anthony Meredith charts Piastri’s remarkable rise from the suburbs of Melbourne to the pinnacle of his sport. Documenting Piastri’s trials and successes across his entire racing career, this is an essential read for fans everywhere.
Slumlord: Peter Rachman and the Post-war Underworld by Neil Root (26th February 2026)
Peter Rachman dominated housing in post-war London – he owned vast swathes in the west of the city, accumulating huge wealth as his tenants lived in squalor and fear of his hard-nosed collectors and enforcers. He was also at the heart of the city’s murky, post-war underworld.
Ruthless in his ambition, Rachman was the archetype of the exploitative landlord, and a man who was willing to use the prejudices of his time in order to maximise profits. He is also a compelling leading man in a story of post-war London, a city where, among the grime and the rubble, fortunes could be made. You just had to hold your nose, abandon your morals and be willing to take from those less fortunate.
The Intertidal Zone: Life on the Edge by Ruth Searle (26th February 2026)
The intertidal zone is a place of extremes – where creatures endure crashing waves, scorching sun, and the constant ebb and flow of the tides. It is a place of resilience and adaptation and home to some of the most extraordinary organisms on the planet.
Blending marine biology, oceanography and evolutionary science, marine biologist Ruth Searle takes us on a journey through the deep history of the intertidal zone – from its ancient origins as the possible cradle of life to the remarkable adaptations of the species that inhabit it today.
As climate change and human activity reshape coastlines across the planet, understanding this environment has never been more urgent.
COMING IN PAPERBACK IN FEBRUARY 2026
Against the Odds: Women Pioneers of Science by Mary and John Gribbin (12th February 2026)
From bestselling and award-winning science writers John and Mary Gribbin, Against the Odds highlights the achievements of women who overcame hurdles and achieved scientific success (although not always as much as they deserved) in spite of male prejudice, as society changed over about 150 years, from the middle of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century.
With a foreword from astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, this book is not only a cautionary tale about the stifling effects of prejudice against women in science, but a celebration of those who achieved success against the odds – and an inspiration for the next generation.
The Trillion Dollar Conman: The Astonishing True Story of the Most Audacious Fraud in Sport by Ben Robinson (26th February 2026)
In 2009, Notts County FC were struggling to survive in League Two when they were taken over by a mysterious company supposedly backed by the Bahrain royal family. The club was promised millions of pounds worth of investment and marquee players.
However, within months, the dream turned into a nightmare as it transpired that the club, the players and the fans had been duped by a convicted fraudster called Russell King.
The world’s oldest professional football club found itself at the centre of one of the most outlandish frauds in sporting history, which spanned the globe from Nottingham to North Korea, involving fake sheikhs, fast cars, broken promises and a trail of destruction.
WHAT’S NEW THIS MARCH
Chronic: Understanding Pain by Gillian Best (12th March 2026)
Chronic pain is one of the great public health crises of our age – virtually no one is untouched, either living with it themselves or seeing their loved ones suffer. Yet it is a topic that remains in the shadows, too often brushed aside or treated as an afterthought. Chronic is an urgent and vital answer to this silence.
Gillian Best seeks out researchers carrying out the cutting-edge work that could be the key to finally understanding and effectively treating this debilitating condition. Shining a light on the groundbreaking investigations being carried out around the world, Gillian searches for answers and wonders whether, one day, she may feel truly well again.
Nanotechnology by Rahul Rao (12th March 2026)
In this accessible and concise primer, Rahul Rao takes the reader on a journey to the hidden world of the nano realm. This world is invisible to the human eye, but without it, life as we know it simply wouldn’t exist.
Celebrating the power and potential of the small things, this book looks at a diverse range of examples of nanotechnology including super-strength carbon nanotubes, speciality nanoparticles and biological nanomachinery. It explains the science behind these breakthroughs and offers a tantalising glimpse at what may await us in the world of tomorrow.
The Years of Travelling Anxiously: A Travel Writer’s Search for Peace of Mind by Tom Sykes (26th March 2026)
Over the last twenty years, Tom Sykes has been lucky enough to travel all over the world. But his trips have often been marred – if not ruined – by anxiety. Part travelogue, part wellbeing memoir, The Years of Travelling Anxiously recounts jittery visits to Nigeria to get married and undergo IVF treatment, stressful encounters with bigots and bureaucrats in France, the Philippines and the USA, and what can be learned about mental health on the road from a baby with an inspiringly calm attitude to travel.
The Years of Travelling Anxiously tries to solve a lifelong conundrum about the causes and consequences of panic and distress, and in so doing help other anxious travellers, or indeed anyone who gets anxious about anything, wherever they go.
COMING IN PAPERBACK IN March 2026
Brainjacking: The Science and Influence of Manipulation by Brian Clegg (12th March 2026)
Brainjacking takes us on a journey through advertising and marketing’s attempts to understand and influence our thoughts and desires, from the earliest billboards to the technologies of the future.
With Brian Clegg as your guide, this is a book that will help you unpick the insidious world of brainjacking. Expertly pulling together different strands on disparate topics including AI, Big Data, subliminal advertising and more, this essential investigation shows how new and old technology and science can be combined to influence human behaviour and beliefs.
White Supremacy: From Eugenics to Great Replacement by Gavin Evans (26th March 2026)
Beginning in the 19th century, Gavin Evans traces the historical roots of white supremacy with Charles Darwin and his cousin Francis Galton’s race-based theories before looking at the spread of eugenics ideas throughout the UK, Europe and the United States, their Holocaust-prompted decline after the Second World War, and their revival in a different guise through the promotion of race science from the late 20th century. Evans also examines the hatching of ‘Great Replacement’ conspiratorial ideas in the 21st century – and their expression via alt-right forums to the minds of troubled young men with access to assault rifles.
White Supremacy breaks new ground in showing the links between mainstream ‘Replacement Theory’ and the terrorist version cited by far-right killers. It also traces the thread between these ideas and the race science promoted both by the far right and establishment figures.
