Hodder Books

Hodder Publishing is a book publisher from Hachette UK with a rich history of classic titles and legendary authors to their credit. They have published a wide range of fiction and non-fiction titles over hundreds of years and are renowned for passion, quality and delivering bestselling books across many different literary formats.

First founded in 1868 by Matthew Henry Hodder and Thomas Wilberforce Stoughton on Paternoster Row, London; the Hodder & Stoughton publishing house is one of Britain’s oldest, most elitist publishers. Their publishing in the early years included books from Winston Churchill, JM Barrie and GK Chesterton, and The Bible. The 1920s ‘Yellow Jacket’ series were the precursors to the first paperbacks and included bestsellers from John Buchan, Sapper and Edgar Wallace. In 1921 Hodder & Stoughton also took over ownership of the soon-to-be world-famous medical journal, The Lancet.

After the First World War, Hodder & Stoughton published landmark non-fiction bestsellers like Anthony Sampson’s Anatomy of Britain. The second half of the twentieth century held in store one of the most successful publishing events in the company’s history with the phenomenal reception of Sir John Hunt’s The Ascent of Everest in 1953. Other notable publications include David Niven’s much-celebrated autobiography The Moon’s a Balloon in 1973 and John le Carré’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy in 1974. In 1986, Hodder & Stoughton set up Sceptre as a literary imprint to sit alongside mass-market imprints Coronet and NEL (New English Library). 

By 1993, a company called Headline acquired Hodder & Stoughton and the company became Hodder Headline Ltd. Following which Hodder Headline acquired John Murray in 2002 and two years later the company was bought by Hachette Livre which already owned British publishers Orion and Octopus (and now also Little, Brown and Company). Hodder Headline was restructured and a single Hodder & Stoughton publishing division was created.

Since then the Hodder Books Publishing Catalogue has had big non-fiction names such as Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Clarissa Dickson Wright, James Bowen and Street Cat Bob, Hans Rosling and Michael Caine. Their cookery and lifestyle titles include Gordon Ramsay, Gino D’Acampo and Deliciously Ella, whilst the non-fiction list covers many areas including biographies, memoirs, sports books, humour, health, lifestyle and cookery and is home to the million-copy bestselling The Power of Now.

The crime and thriller list of the publication house boasts some of the best writers in the genre with the likes of John Connolly, Stephen Leather, Erin Kelly, Antonia Hodgson and Peter Robinson, whilst their fiction publishing continues to expand with authors such as Holly Bourne, Becky Chambers and Laini Taylor.

For younger children and early teens between the ages of 7 to 11; Hodder Books have fiction titles like Planet Omar 4 Books Collection Set By Zanib Mian. A beautiful lesson in kindness and facing fears; this one is perfect for when you want your child to develop a reading habit and also pick up good values whilst at it. One of Omar's best friends, Daniel, has a little sister who goes to hospital regularly. He usually finds it easy to cheer her up when she's there, but this time he feels he needs to do something extra special. Enter Omar and their other best friend Charlie to help with Operation Kind! The boys try to come up with the perfect surprise for Suzy, and when they find out her favourite author is in the UK for just one day it feels like it was meant to be. Can the boys overcome all of the ridiculous obstacles that get thrown in their path and face their fears, in a race against time to get a signed copy of the book for Suzy?

One of our favourites from the Hodder Books fiction list for children is this Alice Oseman Four-Book Box Set (Solitaire, Radio Silence, I Was Born For This, Loveless) by Alice Oseman. A set of acclaimed novels by a young and dynamic British author Alice Oseman, who was recently awarded the 2021 YA Book Prize. Alice published her first book when she was all of 19 and she has since written several books and illustrated a graphic novel series, of which has been produced into a Netflix series that she wrote the screenplay for.

Her first book (also a part of this set) Solitaire is about Tori Spring, a Year 12 student who doesn’t really have any close friends. She spends most of her time keeping to herself, reading blogs and doing worse on her coursework than she should be. For someone so unfriended, though, Tori has no shortage of people in her orbit. A teenage drama the book is engaging and makes for a fun read. Another award winning book in the set is Loveless, the fourth novel from the phenomenally talented Alice Oseman. It was all sinking in. Georgia had never had a crush on anyone. No boys, no girls, not a single person she had ever met. What did that mean? Georgia has never been in love, never kissed anyone, never even had a crush - but as a fanfic-obsessed romantic she's sure she'll find her person one day. As she starts university with her best friends, Pip and Jason, in a whole new town far from home, Georgia's ready to find romance. What follows makes for another one of Alice Oseman’s incredible teenage fiction.