Best summer books 2023
Whether you have a teetering TBR pile or buy one book at the airport when you go on holiday, look no further
BOOKS TO BE SEEN WITH ON THE SUNLOUNGER
If Deborah Levy can do no wrong, then August Blue has to be top of your list. Elsa is in Athens when she spots her doppelgänger buying a pair of mechanical horses in a flea market and follows her across Europe. But who is following who? In I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home by Lorrie Moore, Finn visits the grave of his ex and finds her standing beside it. Cue: an extremely curious road trip. Emma Cline’s The Girls was the book of summer 2016 and The Guest looks set to have similar sunlounger prestige. Alex is the guest of a much older man on Long Island, until a foot out of place sees her banished. But she isn’t planning on going anywhere. For an engaging family saga look no further than Watch Us Dance by Leila Slimani (the second in her trilogy based on her own family history. The first, The Country Of Others is out now, in paperback. Pack them both!) We’re in Morocco 1968 and anything feels possible as freedom takes hold for Mathilde’s children. Other family sagas with a difference include, Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano (13 July), which takes Little Women and transports it to an Italian American family in late 20th century Chicago, and Elizabeth Acevedo’s Family Lore (10 Aug), which follows the Marte sisters (Flor, Pastora, Camila and Matilde) in the days preceding Flor’s living wake. But Flor has a secret, she can predict – to the day – when someone will die... For claustrophobic Picnic At Hanging Rock vibes, you need Mrs S by K Patrick, in which a young Australian woman takes a job at a boarding school and falls for the headmaster’s wife over one long hot summer. Also exploring female desire, Killingly by Katherine Beutner is based on the real life disappearance of a young student at Mount Holyoke, Connecticut in 1897. As the town and college descend into chaos, uncomfortable truths begin to emerge. Another university town – this time in the Midwest – features in Brandon Taylor’s The Late Americans, a thought provoking chronicle of three friends in search of their identity. Last but not least, regular readers know how much I love Jen Beagin’s utterly original Big Swiss – a story of love, lies, dogs, sex, trauma, bees and miniature donkeys that’s about to be made into an HBO series starring Jodie Comer.