11 Of The Best New Summer Reads
A Perfect Day To Be Alone by Nanae Aoyama
If you’re a fan of Japanese literature, A Perfect Day To Be Alone is one to reach for. A love letter to Tokyo, it follows the relationship between a young woman, Chizu, who moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, a kooky distant relative. The two rub along precariously, amid youthful antagonism, unfulfilling part-time jobs and other unsatisfying relationships. Spanning spring to spring, this tale is a moving analysis of loneliness and the human condition, full of wry humour and detail.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
The Coast Road by Alan Murrin
Alan Murrin is one of the sharpest new minds on the literary scene. His debut novel, released last month, is set in 1990s County Donegal, Ireland. It tells the story of Colette who returns to her small community after leaving her happy family life for a married man in Dublin. Facing the scrutiny of her town, Colette tries to reclaim her life, but the man she left is refusing to let her see her children. With the legalisation of divorce just around the corner, our protagonist finds herself stuck between her old life and the freedom she risked everything for. She strikes up a friendship with a housewife and mother of two, and the women embark on a journey of self-discovery and tragedy.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
The Coin by Yasmin Zaher
Yasmin Zaher’s debut novel is one of the must-reads of the summer. The Coin's narrator is a wealthy Palestinian woman who gets caught up in a scheme reselling Hermès Birkin bags. In New York, she strives to put down roots and the ideal life remains just out of reach: her inheritance is inaccessible, her homeland exists only in her memory and her attempt to thrive in America seems doomed from the start. She teaches at a school for underprivileged boys, where her eccentric methods cross boundaries. So, when she befriends a homeless swindler, a pyramid scheme reselling designer handbags sounds all too tempting.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Things Don't Break on Their Own by Sarah Easter Collins
A haunting and twisting story about loss and trauma, Sarah Easter Collins’ latest work is about Laika Martenwood, the girl who vanished without a trace on her way to school one morning. For her sister Willa, life shattered into tiny pieces that day, and she has never been able to put them back together again. Willa sees Laika everywhere: on buses, at parties, in busy streets. It’s been 25 years and the only thing that has kept her going is her belief that her sister is alive, somewhere. But when a dinner party conversation about childhood memories spirals out of control, a shattering revelation from one of the guests forces Willa to rethink everything she thought she knew about her past.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Butter by Asako Yuzuki
This Japanese novel has become a cult phenomenon. Compelling, freaky and unsettling, it tells the story of a famed female chef convicted as a serial killer of lonely white-collar businessmen. She is said to have lured them to their deaths with her extraordinary cooking, despite being unconventionally attractive. A tenacious journalist wants to learn her secrets to a good beef stew, so the two begin a correspondence. Butter offers searing insight into misogyny, obsession and human connection, addressing societal fatphobia by tackling the question, ‘Can a femme fatale really be fat?’ You’ll devour this one whole.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes
Hot on the heels of the return of Rachel Walsh in Again, Rachel, Marian Keyes is back with another Walsh family novel. This time, we’re back in the world of Anna. Anna has a life to envy – an apartment in New York, a well-meaning partner and a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn’t want all that? Anna, it turns out. Trading a minor midlife crisis for a major life event, she ups sticks from Manhattan for the tiny Irish town of Maumtully, helping old friends Brigit and Colm set up a luxury coastal retreat. Alas, the locals hate the idea. So much so, there have been threats – and violence. Anna, however, worked in the beauty industry, so there’s no wrinkle she can’t smooth over. There’s just one fly in the ointment – old flame Joey Armstrong, who’s on hand as her wingman. Because no matter how far you go, your mistakes will still be waiting for you.
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Bad Tourists by Caro Carver
Fans of The White Lotus will love this murder mystery set in the Maldives. Best friends Darcy, Camilla and Kate have landed in paradise for a luxury holiday at the exclusive Sapphire Island Resort. They can't wait for ten days of scorching sun, crystal-clear waters, white-sand beaches – and the chance to put a traumatic shared past behind them. Recently divorced, they’re looking forward to a much-deserved break. But what awaits them is a murderous revenge plot that none of them saw coming. Or did they
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Cuckoo by Nell Frizzell
Journalist Nell Frizzell’s The Panic Years was a relatable tale of finding yourself during your thirties. In her latest project, Frizzell is turning her hand to fiction with Cuckoo, which follows the story of Nancy, whose life is turned upside down when her father dies. She then finds out she has a half-brother she knew nothing about. But she can’t help but feel curious about Oliver, this stranger who shares her DNA. Her sister Rita, on the other hand, is furious and wants nothing to do with their ‘cuckoo’ brother. To top it all off, Nancy finds out she’s pregnant and the father – her not-quite-boyfriend from her not-quite-relationship – doesn’t want to commit any time soon. In a tumult of grief, fear and hope, Nancy pushes herself into an uncertain future as she rethinks what really makes a family.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Plaything by Bea Setton
Following Bea Setton’s darkly entertaining novel Berlin, her latest book takes place in and around the prestigious halls of Cambridge University. Anna is a bright student with her whole life ahead of her. Her new life in Cambridge is full of promise – she’s the top student in her PhD cohort, she has great friends and she has met an attractive man, but something is a little off. After falling for the beautiful, enigmatic Caden, her need to get under his skin and to truly know him becomes overpowering. When Anna and Caden's lives become tightly entangled, her obsession with Caden’s seemingly ever-present ex-girlfriend reaches a dangerous pitch. Just how far will she go to satiate her curiosity?
Available at Amazon.co.uk
The Life Impossible by Matt Haig
When retired maths teacher Grace is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the Balearics, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past. Filled with wonder and wild adventure, this is a story of hope and the life-changing power of a new beginning.
Available at Amazon.co.uk
Long Island by Colm Tóibín
Long Island is the sequel to Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn. Set in the 1950s, and spanning both sides of the Atlantic, Brooklyn told the story of Eilis Fiorello, an Irish immigrant who leaves her family behind in search of a better life. She falls in love with an Italian who promises her the world, but her world is shaken with news from home. Long Island follows on from this, with Eilis now 20 years into her marriage with two children. A man with an Irish accent shows up to disrupt her white-picket dream, making her question the foundations of her new life in the States and turn her thoughts back to Ireland. Did she make a mistake? And can we ever really go home again?
Available at Amazon.co.uk
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