“The Empty House”, “Forever”, “The Forces”, “My real name is Élisabeth”…? You have voted and chosen your favorite novels of the year 2025.
The other Laura Vazquez. Photo Roberto Frankenberg for Télérama
Published on December 24, 2025 at 1:32 p.m.
Updated December 24, 2025 at 1:41 p.m.
VThere were many of you, two years ago and last year, who responded to our request and told us what your best reads were from the past year. Placing it at the top of your preferences, in 2023, sad tiger (ed. POL), the unforgettable story of Neige Sinno, and in 2024 Jacaranda (ed. Grasset), the beautiful novel by Gaël Faye. There were even more of you this year — almost four thousand — and it is clear that the list of achievements that you have established together really looks good! Which testifies to your interest in singular and new voices, to your appetite for narrative forms which give themselves the freedom to evolve between poetry and investigation, reality and fiction.
At the top of your votes, The Forces (ed. du Sous-Sol), Laura Vazquez’s bitter and powerful book. In second place, My real name is Elizabeth (ed. du Sous-Sol, again!), the family investigation by Adèle Yon, an admirable book and a real bookstore phenomenon since its publication last February (more than 200,000 copies). And on the third step of your podium, the dazzling and romantic Goncourt 2025 Prize, The Empty House (ed. of Minuit) by Laurent Mauvignier. It is without real surprise, but with genuine happiness, that we note, this year again, that your choices and ours coincide, since you also voted in favor The Figure, by Bertrand Belin (ed. POL), All lives, by Rebeka Warrior (ed. Stock), Night in the heart, by Nathacha Appanah (ed. Gallimard), and the books by Emmanuel Carrère, Leïla Slimani, Nicolas Demorand and Pierre Lemaître, which Telerama defended throughout 2025. See you in 2026!
The top 5 best novels of the year according to our readers:
1. The Forces, by Laura Vazquez
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In “Les Forces”, Laura Vazquez dismembers reality and reinvents poetry
2. My real name is Elizabeth, d’Adèle One
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“My real name is Élisabeth”, the heartbreaking story of Adèle Yon on the tragic destiny of her grandmother reputed to be schizophrenic
3. The empty house, by Laurent Mauvignier
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“The Empty House” by Laurent Mauvignier, a saga of infinite modesty
4. The Figure, by Bertrand Belin
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“La Figure”, by Bertrand Belin, a destabilizing and fascinating self-writing
5. All lives, by Rebeka Warrior
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“All Lives”, the moving story of singer Rebeka Warrior
The best of 2025
Films, series, albums, books… They made us happy throughout the year. Find our favorites in our selections.
