The Best Fiction and Nonfiction of 2018

Biographies of Frederick Douglass and Winston Churchill. Novels by Lisa Halliday and John Wray. Plus the rest of our top 10.

ASYMMETRY By Lisa Halliday
This daring novel composed of two mismatched parts (plus a coda) yokes together a staggeringly ambitious array of themes: sex, war, art, geopolitics. Lisa Halliday rewardingly explores imbalances in power and privilege, and in mixing intellectual provocation with storytelling panache she gets the proportions just right.

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Read the WSJ reviews of our books of the year

•Asymmetry By Lisa Halliday Read the review

•Churchill: Walking With Destiny By Andrew Roberts Read the review

•Cloudbursts By Thomas McGuane Read the review

•The Consciousness Instinct By Michael Gazzaniga Read the review

• Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom By David W. Blight Read the review

• Godsend By John Wray Read the review.

• Lament From Epirus by Christopher C. King Read the review

• A Life of My Own by Claire Tomalin Read the review

•Patriot Number One by Lauren Hilgers Read the review

•Season of the Shadow by Léonora Miano Read the review

The Best Fiction and Nonfiction of 2018

The 10 books that defined our year.