Six of the best summer reads for this strangest of years
Even if you’re not going away this summer, you can always escape with a good book. Hannah Stephenson selects half-a-dozen of this year’s best offerings.
1. THE VANISHING HALF BY BRIT BENNETT (DIALOGUE BOOKS, £14.99)
THIS HIGHLY acclaimed novel begins in a small town in the Deep South, home of identical twins Stella and Desiree who left as teenagers in 1954 for New Orleans, where their lives diverge. Ten years later, Desiree has returned with a young daughter, while Stella has been passing as white and her new family knows nothing of her past. It’s in these new worlds they’ve built for themselves, that their daughters, Kennedy and Jude, must grow up and navigate their mothers’ silences.
2. QUEEN BEE BY JANE FALLON (PENGUIN, £8.99)
SHARP AND hilarious, as are virtually all of Fallon’s novels, this yarn sees hard-working cleaner Laura move to a posh North London neighbourhood following her divorce, where she encounters the rich, rude and arrogant Stella, Queen Bee of The Close. But when Laura unearths a secret about Stella’s husband, Al, the unlikely pair join forces. A perfect beach read.
3. ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE BY MIKE GAYLE (HODDER & STOUGHTON, £14.99)
FUNNY AND life-affirming intergenerational story of loneliness, friendship and hope, seen through the moving life story of Hubert Bird, an elderly man of the Windrushgeneration.
In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, the widower paints a picture of the perfect retirement, but in reality he sees no-one and is racked with loneliness, until he receives news that forces him to make his real life resemble his fake one. This one’s timely in its key themes of social isolation and loneliness – in both the young and old – and the importance of community, as we all emerge from a lockdown which has seen loneliness levels soar.
4. FIND THEM DEAD BY PETER JAMES (PAN MACMILLAN, £20)
THE HUGELY popular Brighton policeman DS Roy Grace has once again hit the top of the bestseller list with a tale in which the detective, seconded to the Met, confronts the wave of drug gang violence sweeping the capital. Concurrently, Sussex Police is closing in on a Brighton-based drug gang mastermind who faces trial – but soon an international criminal network springs into action to stalk, kidnap, blackmail and kill, to ensure the jury declares him ‘not guilty’.
5. OLIVE BY EMMA GANNON (HARPERCOLLINS, £14.99)
THE WRITER and broadcaster’s first foray into fiction focuses on the eponymous heroine who doesn’t want children, but when her three best friends’s lives begin to move towards marriage and motherhood, she wonders if she’s made the right decisions.
Moving between their 20s and the present-day, when they hit their early 30s, the women’s lives take different paths and the difficulties they face will strike a chord with many. Yet, despite all their disagreements, there’s warmth and empathy amid the rippling friendships.
6. THE WEEKEND BY CHARLOTTE WOOD (WEIDENFELD & NICOLSON, £14.99)
SET OVER three hot days in a house overlooking the ocean, this novel examines friendship and betrayal among three women in their 70s, who have come together after the death of their other close friend. Jaded by life and consumed by anger and grief, they have trouble remembering why they are still friends, as their relationships have become fractious and complicated by secrets. It’s a moving study of age, friendships and all their complexities.