The best (and worst) novels of 2021 so far In this regularly updated guide, our critics review the best of the year's fiction – and suggest a few books to avoid Eight of the best: this year's top novels The Start-Up Wife by Tahmima Anam ★★★☆☆ Tahmima Anam is best known as the award-winning writer of three novels (A Golden Age, The Good Muslim and The Bones of Grace), and less well-known as the executive director of a music technology startup called ROLI. An experience no doubt plumbed for her latest book, The Startup Wife, a tech industry-set reverse romcom in which a young Bangladeshi-American woman creates a social media network that gets out of control.