Top 12 fiction pics for summer reading 'in Bali or the back yard'
Whether you’re spending your summer break in Bali or the back yard, there’s something for everyone in this bundle of novels, my top 12 fiction picks for summer reading. Enjoy.
Sinéad Crowley’s A Maid on Fifth Avenue (Head of Zeus €12.99) sees young Annie leave her Kerry village in 1924 to work as a maid in New York, not returning until years later. In a dual timeline, Emer arrives in Kerry, spun out by recent Covid restrictions and longing for open space. Crowley intertwines history and mystery beautifully in these two women’s stories.
Catherine Ryan Howard’s Burn After Reading (Bantam €16.99) crackles with intrigue from the start. Young Dublin writer Emily owes her publisher €25K for a second novel she hasn’t yet produced, she’s got writer’s block. Her solution is to travel to Florida, to write the memoir of a famous cyclist whose wife was burned in a house fire the previous year, but it looks like murder and he’s still the chief suspect. Then again, Emily’s own copybook isn’t exactly snow white. First-class shocks – and some humour too – from this classy thriller writer.
Lynda Marron’s The Bridge to Always (Eriu €13.99) explores the complexity of human relationships as Maeve returns to Cork from Dublin with her little daughter Emer. Maeve is intent on rekindling her relationship with Emer’s father. But he doesn’t know he’s Emer’s father and anyway, he’s already married to someone else. There will be tears, but it’s ultimately an uplifting story.
Would you stop your car on a dark foggy night, on unfamiliar country road, to help a family in trouble on the roadside? A couple do just that in CM Ewan’s Strangers in the Car (Pan €14.50) and what follows is a rollercoaster of fear and dread in a tense psychological thriller that never lets up, either on pace or tension. Ian Rankin described it as ‘wild and terrifying’ and that’s it in a nutshell.
Anne Tiernan’s The Good Mistress (Hachette €17.99) opens with Juliet at the funeral of Rory, the love of her life. But she was never his wife, only his mistress. The wife, Erica, sits in the front row, seemingly blinded by grief. And there’s Maeve, who made up the threesome of these teenage friends in the 1980s, before Juliet emigrated and life got in everybody’s way. A thoughtful story of loyalties and the ties that bind, compassionate and humorous.
Inspired by a nightmare the author had during Covid lockdown, Karen Fitzgibbon’s Never Look Back (Poolbeg €16.99) begins with Jenny losing her 19-year-old daughter Clara in Limerick’s Colbert Station – and being left with a surprise grandchild on her hands! As Jenny’s search for Clara becomes more frantic, private investigator Lana Bowen takes the case. But every lead runs dry. A heart-stopping thriller, full of shocks.
At a slightly slower pace, Anthony Horowitz’s Marble Hall Murders (Century €18) is quite a tome, but all the more to enjoy. This is a novel within a novel, as editor Susan Ryeland reluctantly helps Eliot Crace finish his novel, a sequel detective story that’s not going well. Susan needs the money and so takes the job. But separating fact from fiction turns out to be more than she bargained for. Already earmarked for TV, it seems Horowitz can do no wrong.
Plenty goes wrong in Chloe Ford’s Work Trip (Head of Zeus €14.50) when enemy colleagues James and Fliss are sent to the Scottish Highlands with just a tent and a few supplies, to… er… ‘get along together’ in the run-up to an important promotion for one of them, and neither knows which one. It’s funny and peppered with minor disasters, a perfect holiday read.
Things aren’t so funny in Lynda La Plante’s Crucified (Zaffre €15.99) when Detective Jack Warr, hoping for a break from work, instead finds himself in the middle of a case where a man is found horrifically murdered in a picture-framing shop. The murder scene has been elaborately staged and framed, and Jack is once again on the hunt for a psycho.
Caroline Madden’s The Marriage Vendetta (Eriu €13.99) is a perfect choice for those who liked How to Murder Your Family. Here, Eliza’s husband has got the job of managing a prestigious theatre in Dublin and the family is uprooted to follow him. Eliza takes care of everything, playing the dutiful wife, until she discovers a dubious photo of her husband with a young woman. Revenge will be hers! But she’s playing the long game, with the help of unusual marriage therapist Ellen Early. Is she being encouraged to go too far? Funny and full of surprises
Abigail Dean’s The Death of Us (Hemlock €14.99) is, by contrast, deadly serious. A serial killer is finally caught and apprehended. A London couple who survived an attack by him are called to make a victim impact statement. But the attack cost Isabel and Edward more than their peace of mind, the trauma split them up. And now they’re forced to relive it all in the retelling, not sure they’re strong enough to survive it. Dark and moody and well written.
Emily Henry’s Great Big Beautiful Life (Penguin Viking €16.99) rounds off this summer roundup in cheerful form, as two writers, Alice Scott and Hayden Anderson compete for the job of writing the memoir of filthy-rich heiress Margaret Ives, socialite of Hollywood’s Golden Age. Both spend time with the prickly Margaret, but who will she choose to write her book? It’s funny and sunny and very seasonal.
Footnotes
Bloomsday has somehow expanded, running from June 11 to 16, though with the range of events on offer, it couldn’t all happen in one day. Various celebrations in Joyce’s Dublin can be checked out at bloomsdayfestival.ie.
The Dalkey Book Festival always draws the crowds and this year’s line-up includes Joe O’Connor, Martina Delvin, Christine Dwyer-Hickey, Elaine Feeney, Roddy Doyle and Donal Ryan, among many others. Running from June 12 to 15, see dalkeybookfestival.org for details.
When Next We Meet festival of new music runs in Clonmel on June 7 and 8 and promises a host of new guests and events. See whennextwemeet.ie for more information.