The summer is upon us and if you are looking for a book to kick back with and get lost in then we have collated some of our favourite page-turning fiction for you. From stories of friendship and love, to mysteries, heartbreak and even the funny and macabre. There is something for every reader to escape into this summer.
A Sunday Times bestseller, Waterstones Book of the Month and Amazon Book of The Year, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is a paperback to read this summer. Briefly united by a shared love of video games as children, when Sam and Said bump into each other again at a train station their unique spark is instantly reignited. What follows is a story of friendship, family and human fragility that explores the strive for success and our need for connection. This is a love story, but not the one you expect.
When Amy and Lan’s families decide to move out of the city and onto a farm, the two children find themselves unsupervised. Their new, untold freedom leads to some close calls – the adventures on barn roofs and playing with axes are details they keep to themselves. But the adults also have secrets – secrets that threaten Amy and Lan’s idyllic childhood. Narrated through the eyes of the children, this is a funny and moving coming-of-age story you won’t be able to put down this summer.
Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo
Shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2022 and longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023, Glory is an exhilarating political satire about power and corruption told through a bold, vivid chorus of animal voices. When a long-ruling leader is ousted, a new leader brings fresh hope – but is the country trapped in a cycle as old as time? Glory tells the story of an uprising, with the reminder that history can be changed in a blink of an eye.
A Sunday Times bestseller, Lapvona is an addictive, provocative read. Set in a medieval fiefdom during a record year of drought and famine, impoverished villagers work for the sickeningly wealthy lord on the hilltop. At the centre of this grisly fairy tale is Marek, an abused and delusional son of the village shepherd who finds himself caught up in a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to the test.
Disturbingly funny, this one is for fans of the macabre.
Lessons follows the life of one man – Roland Baines – set within the context of key political moments following the Second World War.
Young, vulnerable and stranded at boarding school, Roland attracts the attention of his piano teacher and the relationship that ensues will stay with Roland throughout his life. Years later, married and father to a baby son, Roland’s wife mysteriously disappears, leading Roland to embark on journey of self-discovery that will take the rest of his life.
The story of a life. The story of the summer.
An exhilarating summer scorcher, Free Love is the new novel from the Sunday Times best-selling author of Late in the Day.
Phyllis lives in the suburbs with her husband and two children. While London comes alive in the Swinging Sixties, Phyllis’s life is conventional, comfortable and predictable. That is until one hot summer evening, when a twenty-something family friend comes to visit and kisses Phyllis in the dark of the garden. Suddenly Phyllis is awake to the world, and she makes a choice that defies all expectations of her as a wife and mother.
For fans of Greek mythology, Pandora offers mystery and romance in the perfect historical summer read.
It’s 1799. Dora lives with her uncle in what used to be her parents’ famed shop of antiquities. When a mysterious Greek vase arrives at the shop and her uncle’s behaviour turns suspicious, Dora enlists the help of Edward, a young antiquarian scholar, to find out more about the vase. But what they discover causes Dora to question everything she knows…
In 1959, the Garretts take their first – and last – family vacation to a cabin by a lake. But while they barely venture from home, the family could not be further apart. Narrated from the different perspectives of each family member from the 1950s up until present day, this is a story of family joy and heartbreak, mistakes and secrets, and explores how the events of one family holiday can have an impact that will ripple through generations.
Elizabeth Finch was a teacher, a thinker, an inspiration. While her ideas may not be to everyone’s taste, she’ll change the way you see the world.
When Elizabeth dies, her old journals are left to a former student, Neil, who earnestly tries to finish her work. But Elizabeth was much more than a scholar, and as Neil delves deeper, he risks revealing secrets that will change the way he sees the world forever.
