This Year’s Best Holiday Reads
This Year’s Best Holiday Reads

This Year’s Best Holiday Reads

If your idea of a perfect summer afternoon is the sun, the sea and a good book, you can’t afford to waste valuable luggage space on a dud. From romcoms to pacy thrillers, here are the freshest releases to get stuck into on your next holiday.

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Enlightenment By Sarah Perry

From the author behind The Essex Serpent comes Enlightenment. And, if there is one thing that Sarah Perry does well, it’s mystery. Told over the course of 20 years, through the perspective of two unlikely best friends, this is a novel of love and astronomy. The pair are united by an obsession with the vanished 19th-century astronomer who is said to haunt a nearby manor. In equal parts spooky and tense, the mysteries of the small Essex town of Aldleigh are revealed, leading to discoveries about love, friendship and our place in the universe.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


Bad Summer People By  Emma Rosenblum

Emma Rosenblum’s debut novel stormed onto the scene last year, and was seen on sun loungers everywhere. Rightfully so, as this smart tale scratches the veneer of an exclusive summer haven and its elite holidaymakers to reveal the lies, cheating and murderous intent lying just under the surface. Outsiders aren’t welcome in this paradise – well, except a handsome tennis coach – so when a body is discovered under the boardwalk, the community can only look inwards for the perpetrator.

Available at Amazon.co.uk

Long Island By Colm Tóibín

Long Island is the sequel to Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn. Set in the 1950s, and spanning both sides of the Atlantic, Brooklyn told the story of Eilis Fiorello, an Irish immigrant who leaves her family behind in search of a better life. She falls in love with an Italian who promises her the world, but her world is shaken with news from home. Long Island follows on from this, with Eilis now 20 years into her marriage, with two children. A man with an Irish accent shows up to disrupt her white-picket dream, making her question the foundations of her new life in the States and turn her thoughts back to Ireland. Did she make a mistake? And can we ever really go home again?

Available at Amazon.co.uk


Blue Sisters By Coco Mellors

Coco Mellors’ Cleopatra and Frankenstein was the relatable and sexy paperback of 2023. The author now brings her keen appreciation for people’s insular lives and relationships to her highly anticipated second novel, Blue Sisters. This time, it is a story of three brilliant yet different sisters who return to their New York family home from their lives in Paris, London and LA when their beloved fourth sister dies. Reunited in tragedy, the three messily battle with grief, addiction and ruthless ambition, exploring what sisterhood really means and, in turn, life. This one is a tearjerker; you’ll be glad you’re wearing your sunnies.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


Table For Two By Amor Towles

Known for his massive-selling A Gentleman in Moscow – now a TV adaptation starring Ewan McGregor – Amor Towles has shared some of his shorter fiction for this newest release. Set in New York City, each of the stories examine the complexities of modern marriages, the fateful fallout from passing encounters, and all the things left unsaid. A Table For Two is sharp and sophisticated, and is perfect for those who prefer their fiction short and bitter.

Available at Amazon.co.uk

Butter By Asako Yuzuki 

This Japanese novel has become a cult phenomenon. Compelling, freaky and unsettling, it tells the story of a famed female chef convicted as a serial killer of lonely white-collar businessmen. She is said to have lured them to their deaths with her extraordinary cooking, despite being unconventionally attractive. A tenacious journalist wishes to learn her secrets to a good beef stew, so the two begin a correspondence. Butter offers searing insight into misogyny, obsession and human connection, addressing societal fatphobia by tackling the question, ‘Can a femme fatale really be fat?’ You’ll devour this one whole.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


Funny Story By Emily Henry

Funny Story has all the components of your favourite rom-com movie: awkward and unfortunate circumstances, a small hometown setting, and an unlikely pair with love prevailing. When Daphne’s fiancé realises he’s in love with his childhood best friend and dumps her, she has no option but to move in with a roommate to save some money. Of course, the roommate is the chalk to her organised cheese, and he’s also her ex-fiancé’s new partner’s ex. The two wronged exes hatch a plan to put their exes through hell – and hilarity and romance ensue.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


You Are Here By David Nicholls

We’ve all watched the recent Netflix adaptation of One Day. Now David Nicholls is back to satisfy your need for a summer romance. You Are Here follows two lost souls who meet on a countryside walk, finding each other disorientated in more ways than one. Marnie is stuck in a life that is passing her by while Michael is coming undone after his wife leaves him. Yet, together, they find exactly what they’ve been looking for. Heartfelt and hopeful, this is a story about the journey of life and the things you find along the way.

Available at Amazon.co.uk

Wild Love By Elsie Silver

Hot young billionaire Ford Grant is the world’s most eligible bachelor when he finds himself face-to-face with a young girl claiming he’s her biological father. Suddenly, between parenting a sullen 12-year-old and desperately trying to keep his hands off his best friend’s sister Rosie, Ford is stretched thin. And when the verbal sparring becomes flirty, something has to break. A classic tale of star-crossed love and irresistible lust, this book feels like a daydream.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


Caledonian Road ByAndrew O'Hagan

Mayflies is an SL office favourite, and Andrew O’Hagan has done it again with the scathing and witty satirical novel, Caledonian Road. This time, he’s holds a light up to the state of our country, and the powers-that-be. The story centres around Campbell Flynn, an art historian and celebrity intellectual, who becomes embroiled with Milo Manghasa – a provocative student who inhabits a very different world. Fuelled by feelings of novelty and admiration, and a sense of social infringement, Campbell enjoys their relationship. But, over the course of a year, lies unravel and even Campbell’s privilege and power can’t protect him.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


My Favourite Mistake ByMarian Keyes

When it comes to beach reads, Marian Keyes is a failsafe. Her latest centres around Anna Walsh, a high-flying beauty PR who loses her taste for the Big Apple. One midlife crisis and major life U-turn later, she finds herself in a sleepy coastal town in Ireland. Her old friends, who are trying to set up a luxury coastal retreat, find themselves in trouble with the locals who oppose the idea. Soon enough, Anna is in hot water of her own when her old flame, Joey Armstrong, resurfaces.

Available at Amazon.co.uk

Bellies By Nicola Dinan 

Hong Kong-born, London-based transgender author Nicola Dinan is a connoisseur of the liminal. Her debut novel, Bellies, is a sparkling tale of an evolving queer relationship. When Tom and Ming meet on a night out, they hook up and fall hard. Soon, they are planning to build a life together. Narrated from both perspectives, Bellies documents their metamorphosis as a couple and individuals, exploring how much you have to sacrifice to become who you want to be. It is a tender tale, dealing with the complexities of transitioning while in a relationship and, indeed, of growing up, with compassion and insight.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


A Perfect Day To Be Alone By Nanae Aoyama

If you’re a fan of Japanese literature, A Perfect Day To Be Alone is one to reach for. A love letter to Tokyo, it follows the relationship between a young woman, Chizu, who moves in with 71-year-old Ginko, a kooky distant relative. The two rub along precariously, amid youthful antagonism, unfulfilling part-time jobs and other unsatisfying relationships. Spanning spring to spring, this tale is a moving analysis of loneliness and the human condition, full of wry humour and detail.

Available at Amazon.co.uk


The Coast Road By Alan Murrin

Alan Murrin is one of the sharpest new minds on the literary scene. His debut novel, released earlier this month, is set in 1990s County Donegal, Ireland. It tells the story of Colette, who returns to her small community after leaving her happy family life for a married man in Dublin. Facing the scrutiny of her town, Colette returns and tries to reclaim her life, but the man she left is refusing to let her see her children. With the legalisation of divorce right around the corner, our protagonist finds herself stuck between her old life and the freedom she risked everything for. She strikes up a friendship with a housewife and mother of two, and the women embark on a journey of self-discovery and tragedy.

Available at Amazon.co.uk

All Fours By Miranda July

Sentimental and quirky, Miranda July’s The First Bad Man was an instant New York Times bestseller.  Featuring the same witty prose and wry observations about womanhood and sexuality, her new one is likely to be the same. All Fours begins with our 45-year-old protagonist – a semi-famous artist – on the precipice of great change. Thirty minutes after leaving her husband and child at home, she finds herself exiting the freeway, booking into a motel, and undergoing a temporary metamorphosis. Thrilling and relatable, this is one of those novels that makes you feel profoundly alive.

Available at Amazon.co.uk

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