Hot off the press
Relax with Andreina Cordani’s pick of this summer’s best fiction…
The best summer reads
After The End by Clare Mackintosh (Sphere, £12.99) Loving couple
Pip and Max have an unimaginably tough decision to make. Their toddler, Dylan, has terminal cancer and after months in hospital, his body battered by operations and chemo, doctors want to withdraw treatment, allowing him to die in peace. It’s the hardest choice a parent could face – and Pip and Max don’t agree with each other.
Clare Mackintosh uses a Sliding Doors-type narrative to explore both possible outcomes in searing, emotional depth. Medical controversies often hit the headlines, so this is an important story, and her tender, intimate description of hospital life makes Pip and Max’s dilemma achingly real.
The Bookshop On The Shore by Jenny Colgan (Sphere, £12.99) Life is tough for Zoe – she is cash-strapped, tired of London and worried about her three-yearold son Hari’s mutism. So when she is offered an au-pair job in a Scottish manor she grabs it, picturing herself as a Highland Maria von Trapp.
The reality – draughts, dirty dishes and three feral children – is very different. But slowly Zoe, Hari and the people around them help each other heal.
Fans of The Little Shop Of Happy Ever After will spot some familiar characters in a novel that will transport fans old and new to Zoe’s world.
Tell Me Your Secret by Dorothy Koomson (Headline Review, £12.99)
As a journalist, Pieta’s job is to win people’s confidence and get them to spill their secrets. But she has a secret of her own; 10 years ago she was held prisoner by a psychopath known as The Blindfolder – and she is still too afraid of him to tell anyone. Then Pieta is asked to interview The Blindfolder’s latest victim and discovers that he is hunting down survivors like her.
Dorothy Koomson winds the suspense tighter and tighter while keeping the characters real and relatable. Dark and tightly plotted with a thrilling climax.
Why Mummy Doesn’t Give A **** ! by Gill Sims (Harpercollins, £12.99)
Like your comedy smart, snappy and sweary? Then you’ve come to the right place. The latest instalment in the Mummy series is witty, relevant and bitingly sarcastic as our heroine, Ella, struggles to navigate life after her husband’s affair and the morphing of her “adorable moppets” into grumpy teens.
Gill Sims has earned a loyal tribe of followers by nailing the aspects of modern family life that drive us crazy – but which also make us who we are.
And in the Mummy books, she neatly treads the line between comedy and painful reality with pinpoint accuracy.
Half A World Away by Mike Gayle (Hodder & Stoughton, £12.99)
For most of his life, Noah has dealt with inconvenient feelings like grief and anger by ignoring them, instead focusing on family and his legal career. So when his long-lost, bear-hugging, Mariah Carey-loving sister shows up, dragging their childhood baggage with her, he’s in shock. Kerry has a reason for tracking him down – one that will change both their lives.
What follows is a kind of love story, as a bond grows between the siblings, helping them face some terrible realities.
Mike Gayle’s writing is wise, compassionate and prone to making you cry.
The Lemon
Tree Hotel by Rosanna Ley (Quercus, £7.99) Three generations of women run
The Lemon
Tree Hotel in the Ligurian countryside – and it is a big success.
But when it comes to love, they haven’t been so lucky. There’s Chiara, fifty-something and still pining for her first love; Elene,
married to sensible Silvio but preoccupied by the hotel’s future, and Isabella, who is drawn to a mysterious guest but afraid to trust him.
Through Rosanna Ley’s writing you can practically feel the sun on your skin and taste Elene’s trofie al pesto, making this a wonderfully relaxing sunlounger read – even if the lounger is in your own garden.
The Phoenix by Tilly Bagshawe writing as Sidney Sheldon (Harpercollins, £8.99)
Mixing glamour, exotic locations and high-octane thrills won Sidney Sheldon millions of fans worldwide. And now, writing in his name, Tilly bagshawe skilfully blends the same elements.
Ella was raised by her secretive grandmother and is plagued by headaches doctors can’t explain.
Then a stranger offers her answers on condition that she joins The Group, a mysterious crime-fighting agency dedicated to destroying the underworld boss who killed her parents.
High-concept, outlandish and guaranteed to raise the heart rate, this is a real edge-of-theseat read.
Secrets And Seashells At Rainbow Bay by Ali Mcnamara (Sphere, £7.99) Amelia is scraping by in a tiny council flat, raising her son alone, when she discovers, to her astonishment, she has inherited a castle by the sea. ok, so it’s dilapidated, run by grumpy staff and quite possibly haunted, but Amelia is determined to make it a success and uncover the castle’s long-buried secrets in the process. Romantic and escapist, this modern fairy tale will put a smile on your face.
A Summer Reunion by Fanny Blake (Orion, £7.99) businesswoman Amy has worked hard to get where she is, especially after being expelled from school at 18 for a theft she didn’t commit.
More than four decades later she invites her ex-schoolfriends to a reunion at her Majorcan villa to find out what really happened.
Wine is drunk, confidences are shared and baggage is unpacked as all four women confront their hang-ups and mistakes, past and present. An insightful look at female friendship with a beautiful sunny backdrop.
I Heart Hawaii by Lindsey Kelk (Harpercollins, £7.99) In this final episode of the
I Heart comedies, Angela Clarke has all the trappings of grown-up life – a baby, a gorgeous husband and an impressive job, albeit with a boss from hell.
Happily, though, she is still the same lovable disaster magnet she’s always been. but when Angie’s friend Jenny drags her on a trip to Hawaii, she seems to be hiding something and Angela fears their friendship is under threat. With a mix of love, laughs, sunshine and the world’s most picturesque cat sanctuary, it is safe to say we heart this one.
The Things I Know by Amanda Prowse (Lake Union, £4.99) Hitch Waycott tells herself she is happy with her isolated life on her parents’ farm and b&b. In reality, though, she is hiding after a lifetime of being treated differently – and even tormented – because of her disabilities; she has crooked limbs, a weak heart and a deformed lip. Then shy, awkward Grayson comes to stay. He is different, too, and together they form a bond. With insight and sensitivity, Amanda Prowse tells this story of love, freedom and the joy of building a life for yourself.
The House By The Loch by Kirsty Wark (Two Roads, £16.99) broadcaster kirsty Wark’s love of the Scottish countryside shines through in this tale of family secrets and ties – but she also explores how one person’s heaven can be another’s prison.
To Walter Macmillan, the loch represents home and happiness but his flighty, troubled wife Jean finds the isolation unbearable, triggering a sequence of events that ripple out over the years, affecting the family more deeply and tragically than any of them can imagine. Slow burning and richly descriptive, this is one to savour.
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