Some of the novels had been announced earlier and were expected. But a few came of them almosy out of nowehere to delight fans-in-waiting. Our list of the novels we can’t wait to read this year.

Salman Rushdie returns with his first novel for adults in six years. Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights – the 1,001 nights which the stories of Arabian Nights span – is a classic Rushdie cocktail of history, myth and love. Inevitably using the past to look at the present, it is one of his shortest novels: only 250 pages. “I have finally learned how to shut up," Rushdie declared to an audience whom he told about to book.

Harper Lee, to the stunned delight of readers worldwide, and after a gap of fifty-five years, is publishing in 2015. Her new offeringGo Set a Watchman, is a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird. Set in the 1950s, it features a grown-up Scout visiting her father in Maycomb, Alabama, from New York. This was actually written before To Kill a Mockingbird; the flashback scenes in it became Lee's classic novel.

Milan Kundera is publishing in English for the first time in thirteen years. The novel is called The Festival of Insignificance, translated from the original French by Linda Asher. It has already been well received in France, Italy and Spain, and features the lives of four friends in Paris.

Stephen King will publish the second volume in his Detective Bill Hodges trilogy, Finders Keepers, in June. The first book in this series is Mr. Mercedes. The master of horror has said that he might publish a book of stories later in the year.

Toni Morrison is bringing us her eleventh book, God Help the Child, in April. The Nobel laureate has written a slim novel about the lasting impact of childhood trauma into adult life. Morrison's protagonist is called Bride.

Kazuo Ishiguro is going to publish his first work since Never Let Me Go, in March. Ishiguro's seventh novel is, according to publisher Faber, about "lost memories, love, revenge and war." Apparently Ishiguro's wife, Lorna MacDougall, tore up his first draft of the book - so he began again.

Jonathan Franzen's next book will be published in September. It is the story of a young woman, Purity (also the title of the book) in search of her father's identity. Franzen's publishers have told the Press that this is going to be a departure from Franzen's earlier style, and that it is not strictly realist.

Zadie Smith wowed readers and critics alike with her brilliant debut, written when she was in her early twenties. The British author will be publishing a book called Out of Place in May this year. That's about all that is publicly known about it so far ‒ and we're keeping our ears peeled for more.

Daniel Handler, the Lemony Snicket author, is publishing his first novel for adults. It is called We Are Pirates and it should be out in March. It tells the story of a gaggle of pirates terrorising San Francisco Bay, and how father-daughter Phil and Gwen's lives play out in this scenario.