Books to whisk you far away during this long summer of staying at home
Selects some of the highlights for your holidays between now and autumn
JUNE : This Happy — Niamh Campbell (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, June 11). Relationship drama is the order of the day in this debut from Dubliner Niamh Campbell, the first of two books she signed for with W&N last autumn. James and Nora — Edna O’Brien (White Rabbit, June 11). From the hand of O’Brien, a retelling of Irish literature’s most famous couple — James Joyce and Nora Barnacle.
Guilty — Siobhan McDonald (Little, Brown, June 11). Psychological suspense as a respected heart surgeon and his family are preyed upon by an unknown enemy near their lakeside idyll in Co Clare.
MEMOIR PICK
A Rip in Heaven — Jeanine Cummins (Headline, June 11). Cummins’ Mexican border thriller American Dirt drew such heat from PC bullies that her publishers feared for her safety. This unflinching memoir tells of her own family’s search for justice after a brutal murder.
How to Fall Apart — Liadan Hynes (Hachette Books Ireland, June 20). A journalist and podcaster, Hynes’ debut memoir tells of the salutary lessons learned after rebuilding her life from its lowest ebb.
The Vanishing Half — Brit Bennett (Dialogue Books, June 22). Comparisons to Toni Morrison and James Baldwin are coming in for this tale of African American twin sisters whose lives diverge.
POPULAR FICTION PICK
Unfiltered — Sophie White (Hachette Books Ireland, June 18). Podcaster and Sunday Independent food columnist White added bestselling author to her CV last year with Filter This, a zeitgeist-mauling romp about Instagram addiction. Returning in this sequel are her shameless cast of characters and White’s on-the-money wit.
Ladies in Waiting — Anne Somerset (Quercus, June 25). A look at the power-hungry ladies playing their way into the British monarchy over the centuries. “Juicy anecdotes” are promised. HISTORICAL FICTION PICK
Freedom is a Land I Cannot See — Peter Cunningham (Sandstone Press, June 25). The first years of the Irish Free State form the backdrop to this latest thriller from Cunningham, whose last outing Acts of Allegiance was superb.
JULY
The City Under Siege — Michael Russell (Little, Brown, July 2). A wartime murder mystery from Wicklow’s Michael Russell that stretches from Dublin to Soho to a bomb-strewn Malta.
Rodham — Curtis Sittenfeld (Doubleday, July 9). Given how Trump is going, this re-imagining of how Hillary’s political career could have played out in an alternate dimension may hit a nerve.
Utopia Avenue — David Mitchell (H&S, July 14). The saga of a rock band through the unspooling imaginative powers of the Cloud Atlas maestro.
Tennis Lessons — Susannah Dickey (Doubleday, July 16). Dickey is being hailed as a fresh and funny arrival to Irish fiction. This coming-of-ager about a misfit transitioning into adulthood is her debut novel.
Ann Devine: Handle With Care — Colm O’Regan (Transworld, July 16). The Cork wit’s follow-up to last year’s warmly received Ann Devine: Ready for Her Close-Up should be reliably hilarious and charming.
The Constant Rabbit — Jasper Fforde (H&S, July 20). A dystopian satire in which part of the British population has morphed into large rabbits whose rights are being infringed upon. Have at it.
The Women Who Ran Away — Sheila O’Flanagan (Headline, July 23). Friendship and redemption as two women find connection in Spain while escaping their lives. O’Flanagan is a favourite of Marian Keyes, you know.
A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom — John Boyne (Doubleday, July 23). The prolific Boyne leaps through ages in his 12th novel with this widescreen saga about souls colliding across millennia.
The Pull of the Stars — Emma Donoghue (Picador, July 23). The timing of the Room author’s latest book couldn’t be better, telling as it does of a hospital in wartime Dublin dealing with a strange new strain of flu.
If Looks Could Kill — Olivia Kiernan (Quercus, July 23). The third novel in Kiernan’s Frankie Sheehan series, as the detective inspector is called to Wicklow to investigate a missing woman.
The Wild Laughter — Caoilinn Hughes (Oneworld, July 23). The eagerly anticipated follow-up to Hughes’ critically acclaimed 2018 debut Orchid & the Wasp.
Nothing But Blue Sky — Kathleen MacMahon (Penguin, July 30). Pushed back from May, this third novel from MacMahon sees a bereaved husband unpacking 20 years of marriage to his late wife.
AUGUST
Owls of the Eastern Ice — Jonathan C Slaght (Allen Lane, August 4). To the frozen forests of East Russia we go, in search of the world’s largest and rarest owl.
Inge’s War — Svenja O’Donnell (Ebury Press, August 6). Half-Irish,
Half-German journalist O’Donnell uncovers the secret life of her grandmother, who was caught on the wrong side of history under Hitler.
Meanwhile in Dopamine City — DBC Pierre (Faber, August 6). This satire from Man Booker winner Pierre blows up the trials of raising a child by setting it in a frightful period in human history — the present day.
SPORTS PICK
Seeing Serena — Gerald Marzorati (Scribner, August). The tennis giant is the subject of this lavish portrait that follows her during her 2019 season from Melbourne to the US Open as the 37-year-old went in search of her 24th Grand Slam singles title.
Spooked — Barry Meier (H&S, August 6). An examination of the world of private modern espionage and the insidious role it plays in our lives.
After the Fire — Jo Spain (Quercus, August 6). Politico turned crime queen Jo Spain returns with another Inspector Tom Reynolds mystery involving a vicious Dublin arsonist.
Scenes of a Graphic Nature — Caroline O’Donoghue (Little, Brown, August 6). After Promising Young Women, a warm welcome awaits this second helping of sharp-eyed wit and wisdom in the family arena from O’Donoghue.
The Craft — John Dickie (H&S, August 10). Dickie traces the mysterious history of the Masonic order, charting its intersections with historical events and the celebrity figures attached to it.
CRIME PICK
The Dirty South — John Connolly (H&S, August 20). After a staggering 17 novels in the series, Connolly takes us right back to the origins of his perennial favourite investigator Charlie Parker.
Meteorite — Tim Gregory (John Murray Press, August 20). Sky at Night presenter Gregory takes us through the history and science of meteorites.
Wild Thing — Philip Norman (Orion, August 20). A new biography of Jimi Hendrix recounting the white-hot trail he blazed through rock immortality.
As You Were — Elaine Feeney (Harvill Secker, August 20). Covid-19 burst the huge buzz that had built for Feeney’s fiction debut. It remains to be seen if it can regenerate between now and this new release date.
SCIENCE & NATURE PICK
Vesper Flights — Helen Macdonald (Jonathan Cape, August 27). Macdonald’s raptor-themed grief memoir His For Hawk was a publishing phenomenon. Here, the champion nature writer and leading light of “new non-fiction” returns with this collection of essays and writings.
The Truth Must Dazzle Gradually — Helen Cullen (Michael Joseph, August 20). “Tears were shed” was Graham Norton’s review of this Irish family saga from London-based Cullen.
Here is the Beehive — Sarah Crossan (Bloomsbury, August 20). Laureate na nOg Crossan steps into the world of adult fiction with this saga of a three-year affair brought to a halt by tragedy.
Summer Water — Sarah Moss (Picador, August 20). Ceaseless rain, cooped-up families and rising tensions combine in Moss’s latest. “Utterly of-the-moment” was Hilary Mantel’s verdict.
The Bird in the Bamboo Cage — Hazel Gaynor (HarperCollins, August 20). A true tale of friendship set in 1940s China as the Japanese invade and the teachers and pupils of a school are sent to internment camps.
LITERARY FICTION PICK
Strange Flowers — Donal Ryan, (Doubleday, August 27). At a time of uncertainty, there is comfort knowing a new title is due from the routinely excellent Ryan. This fifth novel tells of parents whose lives are changed when their absent daughter walks back in the door with some weighty baggage.
A Ghost in the Throat — Doireann Ni Ghriofa (Tramp, August 27). Ni Ghriofa’s unorthodox prose debut is another example of Tramp Press’s commitment to literary progression.