This month’s best books

LITERARY EDITOR SARRA MANNING HAS FALLEN HARD FOR SOME DIFFICULT HEROINES IN HER FAVOURITE NEW RELEASES

Careless by Kirsty Capes

(Orion, £12.99, out 13th May) Are you ready to be heartbroken? Then meet Bess, a teenage girl living in long-term foster care who discovers she’s pregnant by her indifferent and delinquent boyfriend. Careless shines a light on children brought up in the system, and it’s impossible not to fall in love with Bess, who has been starved of affection all her life. Tender, funny and oh-so-sad, this is an incredible debut novel. Kirsty Capes is one to watch.

What’s Mine And Yours by Naima Coster

(Trapeze, £12.99, out 27th May) Noelle and Gee live on different sides of the small North Carolina town of Piedmont. When the town’s Black students are transferred to a mostly white high school, the two form a fragile friendship even as the integration reveals an ugly side to the community and will shape Noelle and Gee’s lives for decades to come. What’s Mine And Yours is a deeply layered but lightly crafted look at what it means to be a family.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

(Hutchinson, £14.99, out 27th May) A beautiful glass house perched on a clifftop overlooking a secluded beach. It’s the perfect location for a wild party, which ends in tragedy for one of the glamorous Riva siblings, children of legendary music icon, Mick Riva. But all is not what it seems in this fast-paced tale of rags and riches, tragedy and triumph, which brings to mind the work of Jackie Collins and Eve Babitz. This summer’s must-read novel.

The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper

(Apollo, £16.99, out 13th May) A one-of-a-kind historical novel, this is the story of Amara, a slave in Pompeii’s most notorious brothel. While she may be exploited, Amara refuses to be a victim and is determined to escape her brutal existence. It is a mesmerising, richly detailed tale of sisterhood and courage that fans of Circe will love.

Fault Lines by Emily Itami

(Phoenix, £12.99, out 27th May) Mizuki tries hard to be the perfect Japanese housewife and mother, but feels trapped. Her husband cares only about his job and she doesn’t fit in with the other mothers at her children’s school – but then she meets Kiyoshi, and what starts as a friendship soon blossoms like the cherry trees. A lyrical story about love and a fascinating look at the collision of old and new traditions in modern Tokyo.