The Elle Books List 2024: Our favorite books of the year make the perfect Christmas gift

Reading makes you happy. And the year 2024 was a particularly good year for books. The female voices in the book market have become louder. More successful. And in doing so, we focus on topics that really move readers. We have a lot of good ones this yearread. Some touched our hearts, others made us think, others simply entertained us. Here they comeElle's ten favorite books of 2024. Coincidentally all of them are female.

“A sister is not a friend,” writes Coco Mellors in the first sentence and you are already in the lives of the four “Blue Sisters”. Or better: the three. Because Nicky dies and the lives of those left behind start to falter... With empathy and lightness, Coco Mellors talks about the big themes of life: family, motherhood, love and forgiveness. To the interview with shooting star Coco Mellors –.

Friendship at first sight. The Irish oneabout Rachel, her best friend James, her professor Fred and his wife Deenie is great fun. The charming coming-of-age story about friendship, love and the search for oneself is entertaining, amusing and touches the heart.

“Violence in many women’s lives often begins early,” says author Ruth-Maria Thomas. Painful ideals of beauty that can never be achieved, misogynistic rap lyrics, attacks. That's why the 31-year-old former social worker really wanted to write a novel about violence against women. That's what it's about: Jella, a young woman in the East in the post-reunification period, escapes a toxic relationship. And in flashbacks she reflects on how she got there. Thomas tells us unsparingly but very sensitively what consequences growing up in patriarchy can have for young women. A strong, very well written debut!

During the day, dancer Juno, in her mid-50s, looks after her husband Jupiter, who suffers from MS. At night, when she can't sleep, she chats with love scammers on the Internet. But instead of falling for it, these very men become a form of freedom... The German book prize winner tells of melancholy and loneliness with a lot of lightness and humor.

There was no getting around Jovana Reisinger in 2024. The theater version of her essayistic novel “Enjoy Schatz” at the Berlin Schaubühne was a huge success. This year she shot the feature film “On the Road in the Name of the Empress” and her new book “Pleasure” is a bestseller. In amusing, macabre anecdotes, the “Renaissance woman of the 21st century” (Taz) enjoys talking about glamour, kitsch and gluttony. Great reading fun.

Bea and Niklas have known each other since they were teenagers, eventually found each other and have now been married for over 30 years. And parents of teenage twins. Although they have always understood each other blindly, Ben suddenly starts to deviate. Disappears, doesn't call anymore, shuts down completely. A catastrophe for Bea and completely incomprehensible. Until Ben's point of view is brought up halfway through the book... A book that you devour breathlessly because it is so true, so surprising, so wonderfully scenic and excitingly written!

After her brilliant debut “22 Bahnen” last year, Wahl continues to tell the story of the two sisters Tilda and Ida in “Windkraft 17”. This time, however, the focus of the story is little sister Ida. To Carolin Wahl's great disappointment, there wasn't enough for the book prize. But she made her many enthusiastic readers very, very happy with this sequel. A stormy oneabout love and loss that you can't put down. By the way: “22 Bahnen” is currently being made into a film with Luna Wedler, Jannis Niewöhner and Laura Tonke. And the 29-year-old author has announced that she will win the book prize another time!

Do women need children to be happy? Two women who are very successful in their careers struggle with their childlessness. Jackie Thomae hits the nerve of the times with her novel “Happiness”. And with a great sense of psychological depth and her ability to combine drama and humor, she manages to tell this actually difficult topic in a light and very amusing way. To the interview with the author –!

The book is based on a true crime case. Jessica Knoll does not focus on the US serial offender Ted Bundy (his name is never mentioned!), but rather writes the story from the perspective of the female victims. In 1978, a man broke into a Florida State University fraternity house and attacked the young women as they slept. Two of them die. The perpetrator will go down in history as a charismatic, brilliant monster. The book dispels the myth. And makes it clear: This man was not a diabolical genius, just an average incel.

Dieare getting more and more attention. The US artist July is also in the middle of it all. And she turned her experiences into a quirky, sympathetic, very disarming novel. Your protagonist (you always imagine July herself when reading!) goes on a road trip - out of her comfort zone. A great book about femininity, sex and family. Already cult!