Whether by the beach, or in the shade under a tree, you can lose yourself in a good story. So relax and indulge yourself with these page-turners.
Lou Clark arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this new adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. She is hurled into the world of the super-rich Gopniks: Leonard and his much younger second wife, Agnes, and a never-ending array of household staff and hangers-on. Lou is determined to get the most out of the experience and throws herself into her job and New York life within this privileged world.
Before she knows what's happening, Lou is mixing in New York high society, where she meets Joshua Ryan, a man who brings with him a whisper of her past.
In Still Me, as Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets - not all her own - that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. And when matters come to a head, she has to ask herself: Who is Louisa Clark? And how do you reconcile a heart that lives in two places?
As children, Ida loves looking after her younger sister, Nora, but when their beloved father dies in 1926, everything changes. The two young girls move in with their grandmother who is particularly encouraging of Nora's musical talent. Nora eventually follows her dream of a brilliant musical career, while Ida takes a job as a nanny and their lives become quite separate.
The two sisters are reunited when Nora's life takes an unwelcome direction and she finds herself, embittered and resentful, isolated in the Tasmanian bush with a husband and children.
Ida longs passionately for a family and when she marries Len, a reliable and good man, she hopes to soon become a mother. Over time, it becomes clear that this is never likely to happen. In Ida's eyes, it seems that Nora possesses everything in life that could possibly matter yet she values none of it.
Set in rural Tasmania over a span of seventy years, the strengths and flaws of motherhood are revealed through the mercurial relationship of these two very different sisters. The Sisters' Song speaks of dreams, children and family, all entwined with a musical thread that binds them together.
Looking back, it all started on the day of the fair and the terrible accident. When twelve-year-old Eddie first met the Chalk Man.
It was the Chalk Man who gave Eddie the idea for the drawings: a way to leave secret messages between his group of friends.
And it was fun, to start with, until the figures led them to the body of a young girl.
That was thirty years ago and Ed thought the past was behind him. Then he receives a letter containing just two things: a piece of chalk, and a drawing of a stick figure.
As history begins to repeat itself, Ed realises the game was never over...
Everyone has secrets.
Everyone is guilty of something.
And children are not always so innocent.
When the Black Death enters England through the port of Melcombe in Dorseteshire in June 1348, no one knows what manner of sickness it is or how it spreads and kills so quickly.
The Church proclaims it a punishment from God but Lady Anne of Develish has different ideas. With her brutal husband absent, she decides on more sensible ways to protect her people than the daily confessions of sin recommended by the Bishop. Anne gathers her serfs within the gates of Develish and refuses entry to outsiders, even to her husband.
She makes an enemy of her daughter by doing so, but her resolve is strengthened by the support of her leading serfs … until food stocks run low and the nerves of all are tested by their ignorance of what is happening in the world outside. The people of Develish are alive. But for how long? And what will they discover when the time comes for them to cross the moat?
Compelling and suspenseful, The Last Hours is a riveting tale of human ingenuity and endurance against the worst pandemic known to history. In Lady Anne of Develish - leader, saviour, heretic - Walters has created her most memorable heroine to date.
Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.
In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned - from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town - and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost...
'To say I love this book is an understatement...It moved me to tears' Reese Witherspoon
'Just read it...Outstanding' Matt Haig
'Highly recommended, beautifully written and thought-provoking'
'An engrossing read'
'Absolutely brilliant'
'Great characters, interesting plot that leaves you desperate to read more and written beautifully. I loved it and highly recommend it!'
The #1 New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of The Martian returns with an irresistible near-future adventure.
You grew up on the moon, of course you have a dark side...
Jazz is a small time criminal, subsidising work as a porter on the moon with smuggling a little contraband. But it’s never enough.
When she’s offered the chance to get rich quick she jumps at it. But planning the perfect crime in 1/6th gravity was never going to be easy, especially as there is a conspiracy at the heart of Artemis.
At first it was about the money, then it was about control. Now it’s about survival…
The Martian was always going to be a tough act to follow but Andy Weir has definitely delivered with Artemis, a thrilling heist story with a brilliant sci-fi twist. Artemis follows small-time criminal Jazz, scraping by a measly existence on the moon with odd smuggling jobs, who finds her chance to hit the big time with the perfect heist, only to find herself deep in the heart of a conspiracy that threatens more than just her freedom.
Jazz is a fantastic character who has more than earned her place among the legions of roguish yet lovable space smugglers that have dominated sci-fi over the years - one imagines she’d feel right at home alongside Han Solo or Mal Reynolds. The world she inhabits on the world is gritty and complex, a haven to the rich and a hell for the poor, and makes for a perfect backdrop to the gripping ride that this novel takes you on. If you’re looking for your next exciting read for the summer, this is it!
