As the long, languid days of summer beckon, so too does the pleasure of getting lost in a truly compelling read. Whether you’re stretched out by the pool or unwinding between holiday gatherings, a well-chosen book remains the season’s most reliable indulgence.
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe
by James Patterson
Marilyn Monroe lived under the world’s gaze but carried burdens few ever saw. Here, James Patterson and Imogen Edwards-Jones chart her transformation from Norma Jeane to Hollywood icon, while probing the unsettling questions surrounding her final hours.
The White Hot
by Quiara Alegría Hudes
When a young mother walks out on her family, what starts as ten days of freedom stretches into years of reckoning. Fierce, funny, and written in lyrical prose, The White Hot is a tender letter of abandonment and awakening, and an exploration of the messy pursuit of selfhood.
The Silver Book
by Olivia Laing
In 1974 Venice, a young English artist is drawn into Danilo Donati’s dazzling world of Fellini and Pasolini. A love story and noir thriller in one, The Silver Book explores desire, illusion, and the sometimes dangerous intersection of art and life.
Deeper than the Ocean
by Mirta Ojito
In this sweeping novel, a century-old shipwreck exposes a family secret that reshapes everything a journalist thought she knew about her past. Spanning the Canary Islands, Cuba, and New York, Deeper than the Ocean is a luminous story of love, loss, and maternal devotion.
The Eleventh Hour
by Salman Rushdie
From Bombay neighbourhoods to English universities, Salman Rushdie’s dazzling new stories confront love, mortality, and legacy with wit and imagination. At once elegiac and exuberant, The Eleventh Hour ponders how we say farewell to the people and places that shape us.
The Predicament
by William Boyd
Drawn back into espionage, Gabriel Dax uncovers a conspiracy reaching from Guatemala to Berlin — and a chilling plot to assassinate JFK. Boyd’s The Predicament is an elegant, twisting novel of betrayal, obsession, and dark temptations that can upend a life.
Great Eastern Hotel
by Ruchir Joshi
As Tagore’s death brings 1940s Calcutta to a halt, lives entwine inside the Great Eastern Hotel. Spies, soldiers, artists, and fugitives alike come together in Ruchir Joshi’s exuberant, atmospheric, suspenseful novel centred on survival in a world on the brink.
Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts
by Margaret Atwood
What shapes a writer’s life? From wild Quebec forests to The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood traces the path of her imagination. Witty, candid, and expansive (like the woman herself), Book of Lives links lived experience with the worlds she’s conjured on the page.
Insomnia
by Robbie Robertson
After The Last Waltz, Robbie Robertson found himself on Martin Scorsese’s doorstep. What followed was four decades of friendship, excess, and transformative art. Insomnia captures their remarkable collaboration and the soundtrack it gave to American cinema.
Bread of Angels, A Memoir
by Patti Smith
From condemned housing to the canals of Michigan, Patti Smith charts a life shaped by love, grief, and, above all, art. Bread of Angels is her most intimate memoir yet — a luminous testament to the potent power of memory, devotion, and imagination.
Boy From the North Country
by Sam Sussman
Inspired by the author’s own uncertain celebrity paternity, this daring debut follows a son returning to his dying mother, still searching for the truth of her romance with Bob Dylan. A moving portrait of identity, inheritance, and a mother’s love.
The Mad Wife
by Meagan Church
In 1950s suburbia, Lulu Mayfield strives to be the perfect housewife, until the birth of her second child shatters her carefully constructed façade. When a mysterious new neighbour moves in, Lulu’s fixation unravels dark truths that threaten her sanity, and survival.
