WHAT’S PUBLISHING THIS SPRING AT ICON BOOKS
Posted on 2026/04/01 , tagged as
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Sunnier days are ahead and it’s time to shed the layers we’ve wrapped ourselves in during the winter months for a brighter spring. Take a picnic for the soul with an invigorating new read, as varied as the changing landscape this season.
Make a colourful escape into the relaxing atmosphere of spa towns, an insider’s account of Scottish politics, philosophy served on a platter, the undocumented years of a visionary, and the untold stories of soldiers fighting for survival. Don’t miss our compact paperbacks covering medical scandals, the open water, Britain’s most notorious murderer, and America’s role in the Troubles.
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WHAT’S NEW THIS APRIL
The Last Enchanted Places: Spa Towns of Europe by Ian Bradley (2nd April 2026)
Ian Bradley has been fascinated by spas since regularly taking the waters at Tunbridge Wells as a boy. He has visited, written and broadcast about spas across Europe and sampled the cures that they offer for over forty years. This book distils his accumulated experiences, research and reflections while also presenting an up-to-date picture of the atmosphere of what, for him, are the most enchanting, and enchanted, spas today.
Keeping the Dream Alive: An Insider’s account of a Tumultuous Decade in Scottish Politics by Joanna Cherry (23rd April 2026)
In 2015, the landscape of British politics was changed forever – Westminster was suddenly the new workplace for dozens of freshly elected SNP members. What followed was one of the most remarkable decades in British political history.
Covering everything from the party’s rejection of its popular leader Alex Salmond to the scandals that engulfed his successor Nicola Sturgeon, Cherry also reflects on the opportunities that followed the 2015 landslide and provides remarkable insight into why the party failed to further the cause of independence despite a series of electoral victories.
As well as giving an astonishing insider’s view of the culture of the SNP, Keeping the Dream Alive also looks to the future and offers a clear-eyed view of how political reform in Scotland and the revival of the independence cause could take place.
COMING IN PAPERBACK IN APRIL 2026
Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s by Charles Piller (9th April 2026)
*A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR*
For readers of Empire of Pain and Dopesick, an arresting deep dive into how Alzheimer’s disease treatment has been set back by corrupt researchers, negligent regulators, and the profit motives of Big Pharma.
Nearly seven million Americans live with Alzheimer’s disease, a tragedy that is already projected to grow into a $1 trillion crisis by 2050. While families suffer and promises of pharmaceutical breakthroughs keep coming up short, investigative journalist Charles Piller’s Doctored shows that we’ve quite likely been walking the wrong path to finding a cure all along – led astray by a cabal of self-interested researchers, government accomplices, and corporate greed.
From there, based on years of investigative reporting, Doctored exposes a vast network of deceit and its players, all the way up to the FDA. Piller uncovers evidence that hundreds of important Alzheimer’s research papers are based on false data. It is a shocking tale with huge ramifications not only for Alzheimer’s disease, but for scientific research, funding, and oversight at large.
The Poisoner: The Life and Crimes of Victorian England’s Most Notorious Doctor by Stephen Bates (9th April 2026)
Dr William Palmer, the Prince of Poisoners, was nineteenth-century Britain’s most notorious, cold-blooded murderer, whose Old Bailey trial in 1855 was avidly followed by newspaper readers from New York to Ballarat. Charles Dickens was fascinated by the case and Queen Victoria herself read the reports. Palmer was a new kind of killer for the industrial age; outwardly charming and respectable, a middle class provincial doctor. That is what made his crimes so shocking to Victorians.
This gripping account of his life and crimes reveals insights into Palmer’s life and psyche and explores the dark and seamy side of Victorian morality. Using Palmer’s hidden letters to his mistress and other original documents, this is a fascinating reconstruction of the character of a killer in one of the crimes of the century.
Breaking Waves: Discovery, Healing and Inspiration in the Open Water by Emma Simpson (23rd April 2026)
The open water. To the uninitiated, it represents the unknown, an expanse of mystery and uncertainty. But to those who brave the wild waters, it is so much more. A space to heal. A place of communion. A balm to quieten the mind, soothe the soul, and allow you to reconnect with the world and yourself.
Emma Simpson discovered wild swimming after a period of immense pain. Lost in grief, disillusioned with life, and feeling increasingly untethered from the world, she instinctively felt the pull of the water. There she found an unexpected source of hope and strength, a profound sense of connection, and a glorious sisterhood of women – each with their own remarkable stories to tell.
WHAT’S NEW THIS MAY
What’s in a Doughnut Hole: And Other Philosophical Food For Thought by Suki Finn (7th May 2026)
Does a doughnut hole exist? How many grains of rice in a biryani? Can the baker, who only bakes for those who don’t bake for themselves, bake for herself?
Using food to explore classic philosophical puzzles and paradoxes about how we know, perceive and experience things, and to question the nature of reality, language and truth, this book will get your brain whirring and your stomach rumbling.
Suki Finn, a Philosophy Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, serves up plenty of philosophical food for thought – enough to whet the appetite of the novice and to satisfy philosophers hungry for a different take on familiar themes. What’s in a Doughnut Hole? gives us new ways to think about the world and to understand our place in it.
Steve Jobs in Exile: The Untold Story of NeXt, and the Remaking of a Technology Visionary by Geoffrey Cain (21st May 2026)
Steve Jobs in Exile tells the largely unexplored story of the dozen years Steve Jobs spent building NeXt in the aftermath of his firing from Apple, the company he founded, in 1985. It would redefine him as a designer and a leader, ultimately leading to the later resurgence and dominance of Apple following his triumphant return. Yet this crucial period remains woefully under-covered. Award-winning writer Geoffrey Cain changes that.
Utilising a trove of new material, including dozens of hours of unbroadcast footage of Jobs at NeXT’s meetings and retreats, new interviews and unpublished oral histories with Jobs and his colleagues, new first-hand material and countless internal documents, Steve Jobs in Exile is the definitive history of the most remarkable period in the life of Steve Jobs.
The Great Italian Breakout: The Most Audacious Escapes of the Second World War by Karen Farrington (21st May 2026)
In 1943, there were more than 60 prisoner of war camps throughout Mussolini’s Italy. Behind barbed wire and under the guards’ dark gaze were captive Allied soldiers. After the Italian Armistice thousands escaped as guards deserted their posts, but when German forces swept down the peninsula to regain control they were left stranded in enemy territory.
The Great Italian Breakout tells the remarkable stories of those men scattered across the Italian countryside, whose experiences have been all but forgotten. The luckiest made it to the safety of the Swiss frontier, the Vatican or the Allied Lines, some had a more arduous journey to France or Yugoslavia, and a handful escaped to Spain by boat. The unfortunate died in their quest for freedom, and many chose to stay and join the partisans, fighting a dangerous guerilla war against the German occupiers.
Using original archival research and interviews with the families of those involved, this book reveals the compelling stories of those on the run and celebrates men who, during the Second World War, took a road less travelled.
COMING IN PAPERBACK IN MAY 2026
Sh*tty Breaks: A Celebration of Unsung Cities by Ben Aitken (7th May 2026)
*AN INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE MONTH*
Adios Paris. Hello Wolverhampton.
Not everything that glitters is gold – which is why Ben Aitken gave London the cold shoulder and went to Preston instead.
Hailing from Portsmouth, Ben knew from experience that unfashionable places could be quietly brilliant. So, over the course of a year, the author of A Chip Shop in Poznan and The Gran Tour visited twelve of the least popular spots in the UK and Ireland for a city break. The motivation wasn’t to take the mickey or stick the boot in, but to seek out the good stuff, to uncover the gems, to have a nice time. By doing so, he hoped to demonstrate that anywhere – like anyone – can be interesting and nourishing and enjoyable if approached in the right fashion.
By ghosting Bath and giving Lisbon the boot, the book champions the unsung in an algorithmic, over-signposted world dominated by celebs and hotspots. Cheeky weekend in Milton Keynes anyone?
The Next One is For You: A True Story of Guns, Country and the IRA’s Secret American Army by Ali Watkins (21st May 2026)
From New York Times reporter and Pulitzer finalist Ali Watkins, this true-crime saga is the long-buried story of how a group of Philadelphia gunrunners armed the IRA at the height of the Troubles. A ragtag band of carpenters, family men and fugitives, the Philadelphia Five, as they came to be known, banded together, bolstering the fight for a united Ireland but fuelling the Troubles at an untold cost.
A gripping tale of crime, rebellion and the hazy line between them, The Next One is For You is the definitive account of America’s hand in the Troubles – a conflict whose resonance is still felt on both sides of the Atlantic today.
