12 fantastic cookbooks to bring your kitchen back to life

From a young age, food was hugely significant to Sumayya Usmani, a previous awardee of the Scottish Book Trust Next Chapter Award. Sumayya spent the first eight years of her life at sea with a father who captained merchant ships and a mother who preferred to cook for the family herself on a tiny electric stove in their cabin rather than eat in the officer's mess. Enjoy incredible stories like these interwoven with delicious recipes in one tantalising cookbook.

Featuring gruesome recipes from iconic crime writers including Val McDermid, Stuart McBride and Ian Rankin, this cookbook was published to raise money for the Million for a Morgue fundraising campaign. From ‘human’ blood pudding to Inspector Rebus’s favourite soup, the writers treat us to insights into their cooking with recipes inspired by their novels. This cookbook is bound to provide any crime fan with new inspiration in the kitchen.

Award-winning food writer Kate Young created this delightful collection featuring over 100 delicious recipes inspired by beloved stories and storytellers. Learn how to make Paddington Bear’s marmalade and clam chowder from Moby Dick. Serve afternoon tea fit for Manderley or challenge yourself to create a Christmas spread inspired by Charles Dickens. Featuring stunning photography and beautifully written introductions to each recipe, this is the perfect gift for bookworms who love to cook!

From the Guardian’s ‘New Vegan’ columnist Meera Sodha, East is bursting with mouthwatering vegetarian and vegan recipes inspired by cuisines from across Asia – from Vietnam to India and Korea to Indonesia. Tales from Meera’s childhood and her travels around the world pepper this book; her passion for food and its cultural significance is inspirational. Centred around easy-to-find British ingredients, this book will have you whipping up dishes you never thought you'd be able to make at home: swede laksa, Kimchi pancakes and Vietnamese coffee ice cream are just a few.

Inspired by their shared love of food, three Australian sisters began writing a food blog, thebookerycook.com, which ultimately led them to create this delightfully original cookbook. Rather than taking photographs, the sisters asked artists from all over the world to illustrate their recipes, making this the ideal collection for those who love art as much as they love food.

This book is filled with quick, easy recipes that are perfect for busy people who want to eat well. Each dish is based on a formula to maximise on flavour and nutrition with minimal effort, and only one tray to wash! A must-have for every kitchen.

Part recipe book, part autobiography, this book takes you on a journey through the life of Maya Angelou, from her childhood in Arkansas to her career as a bestselling writer. Within its pages, Maya tells the poignant story of the role food has played along the way, sharing beloved recipes from fried meat pies to chocolate eclairs.

This book combines simplicity with sustainability, offering over 200 delicious vegetarian and vegan recipes designed to use just one pot or pan. In between the recipes, Anna Jones offers helpful tips for reducing food waste and guides to creating your own recipes with what you have in the fridge. From baked dahl to Persian noodle stew, this collection of recipes is big on flavour and small on clean-up.

Centred around the national dish of Vietnam, The Art of Pho is a graphic novel with a dreamy narrative featuring mouthwatering recipes for pho. We meet the character Little Blue who finds himself in Ho Chi Mihn City and follow him as he falls in love with the city and its food. Beautifully drawn and coloured by British cartoonist Julian Hanshaw, this strikingly original graphic cookbook is truly a joy to read.

With recipes and stories from the authors’ Towpath Cafe on the Regent's Canal, this book is a celebration of the iconic eateries that make up London’s food scene. This unmissable cookbook combines gorgeous photography and writing about the canal alongside really mouthwatering recipes, including Towpath specialities like roast chicken and gooey cheese toastie with a side of quince jam.

An absolute classic, this cookbook features 160 favourite recipes from ‘the food writers' food writer' Simon Hopkinson, centred around his 40 favourite ingredients. This book will help you master everyday essentials like chicken, potatoes and cod, and impress dinner party guests with grilled aubergine and pesto and homemade ice cream. Practical and unpretentious, this collection was dubbed ‘the most useful cookbook of all time’ by Waitrose Food Illustrated.

From the record-breaking creators of Pinch of Nom, the UK’s most popular food blog, comes this collection of over 100 quick, easy and scrumptious recipes. From batch-cooking staples to speedy desserts, it’s great food that is nutritious, tastes delicious and means that there is never a valid excuse for not eating well on a school night!