LOUNGER LIT: WHAT TO READ ON THAT LONGED-FOR BREAK
The Vanishing Half
Brit Bennett (Dialogue, £14.99):
A gorgeously rich, sweeping saga set in the Deep South and spanning several decades from the Sixties onwards, following the diverging lives of twin sisters, one of whom identifies as black, the other as white.
Writers & Lovers
Lily King (Picador, £14.99): A compelling tragic-comic tale of a woman navigating life at 30, grieving the death of her mother, waitressing while trying to write that novel, and embarking on one disastrous love affair after another.
Malorie
Josh Malerman (Orion, £12.99):
The terrifying, page-turning sequel to Bird Box sees Malorie and her two children 10 years on, still blindfolded, still avoiding the creatures, still trying to survive, but this time also looking for answers.
Sorry For Your Trouble
Richard Ford (Bloomsbury, £16.99): Nine short stories from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (on superb form here), dwell on the disappointments of life and the inevitability of death in a way that only truly comes into focus in old age.
The Mirror & The Light
Hilary Mantel (4th Estate, £25):
The long-awaited and masterful conclusion to the Wolf Hall trilogy traces the final years of Thomas Cromwell, rendered here in extraordinarily eloquent and loving detail.
Such a Fun Age
Kiley Reid (Bloomsbury, £12.99):
This debut comedy of manners, about a babysitter who is accused of abducting her two-year-old charge, takes a wry look at wealth, privilege and race in the US in a startlingly original way.
American Dirt
Jeanine Cummins (Tinder, £14.99): Compelling story of race and migration. A Mexican woman must flee the country with her young son after their family is wiped out by a drugs cartel, and they make the perilous illegal journey across the US border.
If It Bleeds
Stephen King (Hodder, £20):
A collection of four long short stories by the master of horror include the sequel to The Outsider and, best of all, Rat, about what can happen to the creative mind when the opposite of writer’s block occurs.