As we head to the halfway mark of the year, booklovers will feel the noticeable swelling on the shelves, and as we brace for cooler weather, will be spoilt for choice over which title(s) to curl up with.
For readers who love books about love, but like to keep it light and frothy, Funny Story, by Emily Henry is a joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common. Critics are raving about this one, and Booktokkers will simply adore it.
My Favourite Mistake, by Marian Keyes, is another surefire winner from the hugely talented Irish ‘chicklit’ author who never disappoints. Anna has a life to envy. An apartment in New York. A well-meaning (too well-meaning?) partner. And a high-flying job in beauty PR. Who wouldn’t want all that? Anna – it turns out. Turning a minor mid-life crisis into a major life event she bins the lot, only to discover that leaving New York doesn’t mean escaping her mistakes. And now she has to face them.
The List of Suspicious Things, by Jenny Godfrey, is a tender and moving coming of age story about family, friendship and community. Sometimes the strongest connections are found in the most unlikely of places. Charming, delightful, and gentle reading.
For page-turning fiction that’s a bit more substantial with content and commentary on society, humanity and history:
Diva, by NY Times bestselling Daisy Goodwin, is the Glittering story of the scandalous love affair between the most celebrated opera singer of all time, Maria Callas La Davina, and one of the richest men in the world, Aristotle Onassis. This book comes in the most gorgeous packaging worthy of its glamorous subject.
The Comrade’s Wife, by local writer Barbara Boswell, follows a turbulent marriage of love and party politics between a rising politician and an academic, told through her life and lens. The Bookbinder of Jericho, by Pip Williams (of The Dictionary of Lost Words fame) is now available in paperback.
For a touch of magic and fantasy, try The Shadow Key, by Susan Stokes-Chapman. There’s something mysterious about the village of Penhelyg. Will unlocking its truth bring light or darkness? Gothic historical fiction at its finest.
The Familiar, by Leigh Bardugo is the new release from the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age. In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her magic becomes amusement for the bored nobility, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, a place where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain.
All titles available at Exclusive Books.
