9 Books On Our Reading Radar This May

The sun is shining and we are ready to welcome summer with open arms!

There’s nothing better than soaking up the sun with a good book and a nice beverage in hand.

Here are nine books we can’t wait to sink our teeth into…

The Names – Florence Knapp

In this debut novel, Florence explores what is in a name.

In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son’s birth. Her husband, Gordon, a local doctor, respected in the community but a terrifying and controlling presence at home, intends for her to name the infant after him.

But when the registrar asks what she’d like to call the child, Cora hesitates…

Spanning thirty-five years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of Cora’s and her young son’s lives, shaped by her choice of name.

Out May 6th

A Family Matter – Claire Lynch

An immersive and tender debut novel that tells the story of one family torn apart by secrets and their own best intentions.

It’s 2022, and Heron has just had the sort of visit to the doctor that turns a life upside down. He’s an old man, stuck in the habits of a quiet life. Telling Maggie, his only daughter, and the person his life has revolved around for so long, seems impossible. Heron can’t tell her about the diagnosis, and he can’t tell her all the other things he’s been keeping from her all these years either.

It’s 1982, and Dawn is a young mother – just beginning to adjust to life in her husband’s house rather than her parents’ – when Hazel breezes into her life like a torch in the dark. It’s the kind of connection that’s impossible to resist, and suddenly life is more complicated, and more joyful, than she ever expected. But Dawn has responsibilities, she has commitments: Dawn has Maggie.

Out May 15th

Let Me Go Mad in My Own Way – Elaine Feeney

Claire O’Connor’s life has been on hold since she broke up with Tom Morton and moved from cosmopolitan London back home to the rugged west of Ireland to care for her dying father. Now, a couple of years later, Claire learns that Tom has moved nearby for work.

She must decide if he has come for her or for himself, and unravel what went wrong in their past.

Living in her childhood home brings its own challenges. While she tries to maintain a normal life – obsessing over the internet and trad wives, going to work, and minding her own business – Tom’s return stirs up old memories and the stories trapped within the walls of  the old house that looms nearby.

As the violence of the past collides with the mundane reality of Claire’s everyday life, she must confront whether she can escape her history or if she is destined to be immobilized by it forever.

Out May 29th

Speak To Me of Home – Jeanine Cummins

From the author of the runaway bestseller American Dirt comes a heartstopping novel of a family weathering a storm that will either drive them apart, or finally bring them back home.

It is a Tuesday evening in June when Ruth receives the phone call that all parents dread. Her daughter Daisy has been hit by a car during a deadly storm in Puerto Rico. How Ruth wishes she could tell Daisy she loves her. That she is sorry her own muddy feelings about Daisy’s move to San Juan caused them to fight.

What a waste of precious breath. Instinctively, it’s her mother, Rafaela, Ruth wants to turn to. Rafaela whose own memories of growing up in Puerto Rico are becoming ever more vivid, as have her sudden flashes of forgetfulness. Can Rafaela close the gap between her daughter and granddaughter? Can she bring them home, before it’s too late?

Out May 13th

The Eyes of Gaza – Plestia Alaqad

Written as a series of diary extracts, The Eyes of Gaza relates the horrors of her experiences while showcasing the indomitable spirit of the men, women and children who share her communities.

From the epicentre of turmoil, while bombs rain around her and devastation grips her people, she is witness to their emotions, their gentle acts of quiet, necessary heroism, and the moments of unexpected tenderness and vulnerability amid the chaos.

Through the raw honesty and vulnerability of a normal 21-year-old woman trying to make her way through a human tragedy, The Eyes of Gaza is a potent reminder of the horrors of violence and a powerful testament to the human spirit. It recounts a harrowing experience, but it is not a heart-breaking lamentation. Rather, it is a deeply intimate love letter to a girl’s home: demolished before her eyes, yes, but forever present in her heart.

Out Now

Gunk – Saba Sams

Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works alongside him at Gunk, the grotty student nightclub he owns in central Brighton. She spends her nights serving shots and watching, from behind the bar, as Leon flirts with students on the dancefloor.

But then Leon hires nineteen-year-old Nim to work the bar – and her arrival jolts Jules awake for the first time in years. When Nim discovers she’s pregnant, Jules agrees to help. As the months pass, and the relationship between the two women grows increasingly intimate and perplexing, it emerges that Nim has her own unexpected gifts to give.

Now, alone in her small flat, Jules is holding a baby, just twenty-four hours old, who still smells of Nim. But no one knows where Nim is, or if she’s coming back. What could the future – for Jules, Nim, and this unnamed baby – possibly look like?

Out May 8th

The Ladie Upstairs – Jessie Elland

Scullery drudge Ann longs to become a lady’s maid. Ann can’t quite remember how or when she arrived at the grand Ropner Hall, but she loathes spending her days toiling in the dank kitchen.

When a chance meeting with Ropner’s Lady Charlotte leads to the opportunity to become her personal maid, Ann is convinced she has finally escaped her own version of hell. But has she?

As Ann’s new life above stairs takes a sinister twist, will it turn out that the terrors lurking up there are worse than the devils she knows below?

Out May 22nd

Big Mouth – Vogue Williams

Well, we think we should let Vogue tell you about her book in her own words.

“Big Mouth is the perfect name for my book. Everyone is known for something and I truly believe I am known for the size of my gob. Luckily, I love doing all things oral; eating, talking and a few other bits I would rather keep private. Ah F**k It I’ll tell you, I enjoy catching food people throw at my mouth because it’s as big as a goal and they never miss.

“We all know social media only offers a little part of what somebody is like so I’m taking this opportunity to defrost my crazy and let it all out. Get ready to dive into stories of divorce, anxiety, family, immortality and showbiz alongside important life lessons such as how to sellotape a bottle of vodka to your inner thigh. Everything good or bad that has shaped me, I’ve tried to include here. With no filter!

“From modelling burgers on a Dublin main street to taking three hour bathroom naps on a night out….I really, genuinely thought I was normal till I wrote it all down!”

Out May 22nd

Long Story – Vicki Notaro

Tara is a famous movie star, known for her leading roles in beloved rom-coms. When her husband shows up on set one day to tell her he’s leaving her for his much younger action co-star, her life is turned upside down.

Alex is a powerhouse podcast host and writer, covering all things celebrity and pop culture. But she’s less of a girlboss when it comes to her love life, which has never quite recovered after an old flame left her heartbroken.

As youngsters as the same stage school, Tara and Alex swore off a boy for life, promising to always put their friendship first. But now the two BFF’s friendship is tested when rockstar Sean Sweeney’s memoir is published, revealing his past relationships with them both, unveiling secrets from the past and plunging their friendship into crisis.

Out May 29th