The only summer reads you need
Which books deserve a space in your suitcase? Sarra Manning and Cyan Turan select this season’s hottest page-turners
Five Steps To Happy
by Ella Dove (Trapeze, £14.99, out 11th July) Based on a true story, Ella Dove’s debut novel, Five Steps To Happy, will give you all the feels. After recovering from a life-changing accident, actor
Heidi finds her way back to happiness with the help of her new 90-something-yearold pal Maud and Maud’s handsome grandson, Jack.
Expectation
by Anna Hope (Doubleday, £12.99, out 11th July) After two stunning historical novels, Anna Hope has turned her attention to modern life. In her latest work, she charts the course of a 10-year friendship between three women as they navigate careers, marriage and dashed dreams. Expectation will resonate with approximately 99% of women.
The Hiding Game
by Naomi Wood (Picador, £14.99, out 11th July)
A love story set in the Bauhaus art school during Germany’s turbulent 1920s? Be still, my pounding heart!
Big Sky
by Kate Atkinson (Doubleday,
£20, out 18th June)
Jackson Brodie is back, and how we’ve missed him! Our favourite accidentprone detective has relocated to a quiet seaside village, but life doesn’t remain quiet for long after he encounters a desperate man on a crumbling cliff.
Sweet Sorrow
by David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton, £20, out 11th July) The author of the bestselling One Day returns with this coming-of-age story. When 16-year-old Charlie Lewis meets Fran, he has to join a troupe of Shakespearean players to win her love. Expect humour, poignancy and at least one big, ugly cry.
The Most Difficult Thing
by Charlotte Philby (The Borough Press,
£12.99, out 11th July)
The debut novel from Charlotte Philby, whose grandfather, Kim, was the communist double agent who eventually defected to the Soviet Union. So, who better to write a genre-busting spy novel that amps up the tension and will leave you trusting no one?
Our Stop
by Laura Jane Williams (Avon, £7.99, out 8th August) The first novel from Red ’s former online columnist, which is a must-read if you’re addicted to Missed Connections columns. Nadia and Daniel take the same train every morning, but will they ever manage to make the leap from fellow commuters to lovers in this feelgood romance?
Those Who Are Loved
by Victoria Hislop (Headline Review,
£20, out now)
Set against the backdrop of the German invasion of Greece in 1941 and the subsequent civil war, Those Who
Are Loved tells the story of Themis, who joins the Resistance at the age of just 15. Nobody writes about Greece quite like Victoria Hislop.
Those People
by Louise Candlish (Simon & Schuster, £12.99, out 27th June)
The calm of a middle-class street is shattered when Darren Booth arrives with his power tools, loud music and belligerent attitude. Then a tragic accident occurs and everyone’s convinced Booth is behind it. But is he really? Utterly gripping.
This Green And Pleasant Land
by Ayisha Malik (Bonnier Zaffre, £12.99, out 13th June)
Accountant Bilal lives a life of assimilated, bucolic bliss until his dying mother makes him promise to build a mosque in his village. Though darkly funny, This Green And Pleasant Land tackles issues of race, identity and what it means to be British.
City Of Girls
by Elizabeth Gilbert (Bloomsbury, £16.99, out 4th June)
I freaking adored this book.
Its heroine, Vivian Morris, will absolutely steal your heart and probably do a good job of breaking it, too. Set in New York, mostly in the 1940s, it features showgirls and actresses and ingenues. Oh my!
What Happens Now?
by Sophia Money-coutts
(HQ, £12.99, out 8th August)
After spending one night with Alex, a handsome mountaineer, Lil finds herself pregnant. So she gets ready for single motherhood because
Alex has ghosted her… or is he actually trekking up a mountain with no wi-fi access? Another wonderful romcom from Sophia Money-coutts.