Holding Her Breath, Eimear Ryan (Penguin, 2021), C+

Eimear Ryan’s forthcoming novel tells the coming of age story of Beth Crowe, as she starts her journey at university, shadowed by the ghostof  her potential as a competitive swimmer and as she attempts to create an identity for herself outside both her swimming career and her family history (she is the granddaughter of a famous poet). For fans of Sally Rooney, this is a fresh and exciting summer read.

Pre-order a copy here.

Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell (Tinder Press, 2020), A+

Maggie O’Farrell’s first historical novel is the fictional story behind Shakespeare’s famous play – the story of the death of Shakespeare’s son and the effect on his life.

Read our full review here.

Pick up a copy here.

Conversations on Love, Natasha Lunn (Penguin, 2021), A+

Natasha Lunn’s Conversations on Love examines love in all of its many forms – it’s an astonishing, joyful celebration of love, from some of the most important voices in literature.

Pre-order a copy here.

The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave (Profile Books, 2021) B+

The Last Thing He Told Me is a propulsive mystery. Hannah finds out that her husband Owen has gone missing and she seeks to uncover the truth behind his disappearance with her step-daughter Bailey.

Read our full review here.

Pick up a copy here.

Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid  (Cornerstone, 2021) A

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s latest novel is as compelling and propulsive as Daisy Jones, it’s the story of siblings growing up in Malibu and the events that unfold around one night.

Pick up a copy here.

Eat a Peach, David Chang (Penguin, 2020), A-

David Chang’s phenomenal memoir is the story of a man succeeding against the odds – it’s an inspiring story even for those for whom Momofuku means nothing.

Read our full review here.

Pick up a copy here.

The Push, Ashley Audrain (Penguin, 2021) B+

The Push is a psychological drama, telling the story of the unravelling of a family – a woman whose initial experience with motherhood does not live up to her expectations.

Read our full review here.

Pick up a copy here.

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[tps_title] 1. The Plot [/tps_title]

Laura Dave’s epic novel centres around Hannah Hall as she tries to discover why her husband Owen Michaels has gone missing.

She works with her step-daughter Bailey to unpick memories from Bailey’s childhood in order to understand what has happened with her husband and why he has fled. More than just a mystery, it is a deep investigation into the dynamics between Hannah and her step daughter.

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The Last Thing He Told Me is the first thriller by celebrated author Laura Dave. Already the book has been optioned as a TV show, starring Julia Roberts and has been chosen as a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick.

The novel is a gripping mystery telling the story of a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life until he disappears. Hannah is happily married to Owen Michaels until one day she is smuggled a note simply saying ‘Protect Her.’ Despite her confusion and fear, she knows that the note refers to Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. On the news, Hannah finds out that Owen’s company is being investigated for fraud. Increasingly desperate to locate Owen as the FBI arrests Owen’s colleagues, Hannah embarks on a search to find more about Owen’s past and why he disappears, with Bailey’s help – unpicking her childhood memories. As they begin to put together fragments of these memories, they discover that Owen’s past is nowhere near what the two thought it was. More than just a mystery and propulsive thriller, the story increasingly becomes an investigation into the relationship between Hannah and Bailey – a layered dynamic that Dave unpicks with ease.

The novel moves at a breakneck pace, with startling plot twists. It is an evocative and riveting family drama that continually sets the reader off balance. Completely unpredictable, the story is enticing and positions Dave as the next great mystery writer and this novel as one of the breakout hits of 2021.

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The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave (4th May)

A gripping mystery about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

Pick up a copy here.

Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead (4th May)

From the night she is rescued as a baby out of the flames of a sinking ship; to the day she joins a pair of daredevil pilots looping and diving over the rugged forests of her childhood, to the thrill of flying Spitfires during the war, the life of Marian Graves has always been marked by a lust for freedom and danger.

In 1950, she embarks on the great circle flight, circumnavigating the globe. It is Marian’s life dream and her final journey, before she disappears without a trace.

Half a century later, Hadley Baxter, a brilliant, troubled Hollywood starlet is irresistibly drawn to play Marian Graves, a role that will lead her to probe the deepest mysteries of the vanished pilot’s life.

An enthralling journey over oceans and continents and a drama of exhilarating power, GREAT CIRCLE is perfect for book clubs and fans of William Boyd and Donna Tartt.

Pick up a copy here.

Ariadne, Jennifer Saint (4th May)

A mesmerizing debut novel for fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe.

Ariadne, Princess of Crete, grows up greeting the dawn from her beautiful dancing floor and listening to her nursemaid’s stories of gods and heroes. But beneath her golden palace echo the ever-present hoofbeats of her brother, the Minotaur, a monster who demands blood sacrifice.

Pick up a copy here.

Arsenic and Adobo, Mia P. Manansala (6th May)

One of BuzzFeed’s Highly Anticipated Mystery Novels of 2021!

The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes—one that might just be killer….

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

Pick up a copy here.

That Summer, Jennifer Weiner (11th May)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Big Summer comes another timely and deliciously twisty novel of intrigue, secrets, and the transformative power of female friendship.

Daisy Shoemaker can’t sleep. With a thriving cooking business, full schedule of volunteer work, and a beautiful home in the Philadelphia suburbs, she should be content. But her teenage daughter can be a handful, her husband can be distant, her work can feel trivial, and she has lots of acquaintances, but no real friends. Still, Daisy knows she’s got it good. So why is she up all night?

Pick up a copy here.

The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz (11th May)

When a young writer dies before completing his first novel, his teacher, Jake, (himself a failed novelist) helps himself to its plot. The resulting book is a phenomenal success. But what if somebody out there knows? Somebody does. And if Jake can’t figure out who he’s dealing with, he risks something far worse than the loss of his career.

Pick up a copy here.

Notes on Grief, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (13th May)

Notes on Grief is an exquisite work of meditation, remembrance, and hope, written in the wake of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s beloved father’s death in the summer of 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic raged around the world, and kept Adichie and her family members separated from one another, her father succumbed unexpectedly to complications of kidney failure. 

Pick up a copy here.

Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid (29th May)

From the author behind The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones and the Six comes one of the most hotly anticipated novels of the summer. Malibu Rising is a story about one unforgettable night in the life of a family: the night they each have to choose what they will keep from the people who made them . . . and what they will leave behind.

Pick up a copy here.

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