7 New Books To Read This June
Looking For Eliza by Leaf Arbuthnot
Ada is a widowed writer, navigating loneliness in Oxford after the death of her husband. She has no children, no grandchildren and fears she is becoming peripheral – another invisible woman. Eliza is a student at the university. She finds it difficult to form meaningful relationships after the estrangement of her mother and breakup with her girlfriend. After meeting through Ada’s new venture, ‘Rent-a-Gran’, and bonding over lapsang souchong tea and Primo Levi, they begin to find what they’re looking for in each other. But can they cast off their isolation for good? A tale of connection and loss, Looking for Eliza shows how a person can completely change another person’s life. Fans of Libby Page’s The Lido will love this.
“Beautifully rendered, thoughtful and original.” – Pandora Sykes, author of How Do We Know We’re Doing It Right?
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The Glass House by Eve Chase
Outside a remote manor house in an idyllic wood, a baby girl is found. The Harrington family takes her in and disbelief quickly turns to joy. They're grieving a terrible tragedy of their own and the beautiful baby fills them with hope, lighting up the house's dark corners. Desperate not to lose her to the authorities, they keep her secret, suspended in a summer world where normal rules of behaviour – and the law – don't apply. But within days a body will lie dead in the grounds, and their dreams of a perfect family will shatter. From the author of Black Rabbit Hall, this is an emotional, thrilling book about family secrets and belonging.
“Absolutely her best yet.” – Lisa Jewell, author of The Family Upstairs
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Good Citizens Need Not Fear by Maria Reva
A bureaucratic glitch omits an entire building, along with its residents, from municipal records. So begins Good Citizens Need Not Fear, a collection of intertwined narratives and nine stories that span the chaotic years leading up to and immediately following the fall of the Soviet Union. But even as the unfortunate occupants of Ivansk Street weather the official neglect of the authorities, they devise ingenious ways to survive. In ‘Bone Music’ an agoraphobic recluse survives by selling contraband LPs. A delusional secret service agent in ‘Letter of Apology’ becomes convinced he’s being covertly recruited to guard Lenin’s tomb, just as his parents, not seen since he was a small child, supposedly were. Weaving the narratives together is the unforgettable, chameleon-like Zaya: a cleft-lipped orphan in ‘Little Rabbit’ and a beauty-pageant crasher in ‘Miss USSR’. Inspired by her and her family’s own experiences in Ukraine, this collection is as clever as it is heartfelt.
“Bright, funny, satirical and relevant. A new talent to watch.” – Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale
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The Consequences of Love by Gavanndra Hodge
Seven-year-old Gavanndra Hodge's life is a precarious place. Her father is a hairdresser and drug dealer to Chelsea's most decadent inhabitants; her mother an alcoholic ex-model. So, it is up to Gavanndra to keep her little sister Candy safe. But when Candy dies suddenly on holiday aged nine, the family, already so fragile, implodes. Now a mother herself, and with only memories of Candy's awful final moments, Gavanndra embarks on a journey to write her way back to the little girl whose death tore her family apart. The Consequences of Love is a story of loss and recovery, trauma and memory. But it is also a joyous and compelling account of the strength of the love between sisters.
“I read this in one sitting, tears splashing onto its pages. A beautiful book about grief, losing a sibling, trauma, drugs, parenting and memory in the most exquisite way.” – Emma Gannon, author of Olive
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The Chiffon Trenches by André Leon Talley
From the pages of Vogue to the runways of Paris, this is a deeply revealing memoir by one of the fashion industry’s most legendary style icons. During André Leon Talley's first magazine job, alongside Andy Warhol at Interview, a fateful meeting with Karl Lagerfeld begins a decades-long friendship with the enigmatic, often caustic designer. Following a racially tinged encounter with a member of the house of Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, he returns to New York and into the offices of Vogue under Grace Mirabella. It’s there that he eventually becomes creative director, developing an unlikely but intimate friendship with Anna Wintour. As she rose to the top of Vogue's masthead, André also ascended to became one of the most influential men in fashion. A candid look at his career in fashion – not to mention his own personal struggles – The Chiffon Trenches is a highly compelling read that captures the essence of a world few of us will ever have real access to.
“The Chiffon Trenches honestly and candidly captures fifty sublime years of fashion.” – Manolo Blahnik
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The Sight of You by Holly Miller
Joel has sworn off falling in love. But when he meets Callie, he can’t help being drawn to her. In Callie, he sees a second chance at life. And in Joel, Callie discovers the kind of love she’d always hoped was real. They challenge each other to take chances, to laugh and to trust that no matter what. But Joel has a secret. He dreams about the people he loves, and these dreams always come true. One night, Joel has the dream of Callie he’s feared the most, and each must decide: can Callie stay, knowing her fate? And if her days must be numbered, is there a life she is meant to live? Told in Joel and Callie’s voices, The Sight of You is a sweeping, romantic and unforgettable American debut, about the bravery it takes to love, especially when we think we know how the story will end.
“Unique and breath taking and painful and broken and perfect… just like love. I’m still crying, yet all I want to do is settle down and read it again.” – Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister’s Keeper
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Heatstroke by Hazel Barkworth
It is too hot to sleep, to work, or to be questioned time and again by the police. At the beginning of a stifling, sultry summer, everything shifts irrevocably when Lily doesn’t come home one afternoon. Rachel is Lily’s teacher. Her daughter Mia is Lily’s best friend. The girls are fifteen – almost women, but still children. As Rachel becomes increasingly fixated on Lily’s absence, she finds herself breaking fragile trusts and confronting impossible choices she never thought she’d face. Intoxicating and compulsive, Heatstroke is a darkly gripping, thought-provoking novel of crossed boundaries, power and betrayal, that plays with expectations at every turn.
“A thrilling look at mothers and daughters, adolescence, sex, suburbia and secrets.” – Nell Frizzell, author of The Panic Years
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