July 2026

GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL LIFE

by Emily Henry

The dazzling new love story and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick from the TikTok sensation and Sunday Times bestselling author of Beach Read and Funny Story.

AN INSTANT NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER!

'Emily knows how to craft a love story like the all-time greats' -- Taylor Jenkins Reid, bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

'A new Emily Henry novel is an event, ushering in longer days and promises of summer' The Skinny

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When Margaret Ives, the famously reclusive heiress, invites eternal optimist Alice Scott to the balmy Little Crescent Island, Alice knows this is it: her big break. And even more rare: a chance to impress her family with a Serious Publication.

The catch? Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud, Hayden Anderson, is sure of the same thing.

The proposal? A one-month trial period to unearth the truth behind one of the most scandalous families of the 20th Century, after which she'll choose who'll tell her story.

The problem? Margaret is only giving each of them tantalising pieces. Pieces they can't put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they're in the same room.

And it's becoming abundantly clear that their story - just like the tale Margaret's spinning - could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad ... depending on who's telling it.

BLASKET BOUND

by Lesley Bond

'Like those who came before me, I arrived as an outsider, but the island does not allow one to remain separate for long. It takes root and leaves a mark you cannot shake.'

Lesley Bond and her partner Gordon were the first couple to embark on the six-month caretaking residency on the Great Blasket Island, one of Ireland's most remote and historically rich locations. With no electricity, hot water or modern conveniences, their daily existence was like nothing they had experienced, and echoes of the past remained ever-present.

As well as chronicling their encounters, Lesley delves into the lives of the island's last inhabitants and the circumstances that led to their evacuation in the 1950s. A unique blend of personal reflection and historical context, Blasket Bound reveals how the past continues to shape the present. It is an exploration of identity, illustrating how the environments we inhabit and the histories we inherit leave an indelible mark.

THE NAMES

by Florence Knapp

A once-in-a-generation debut from a major new talent, The Names is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. 'I've just been blown away by the best debut novel in years . . . A genius idea for a book' Sunday Times

'Wildly original and emotionally profound'
Observer

'An unadulterated success: moving, evocative and utterly convincing'
The Times

THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

It is 1987, and in the aftermath of a great storm, Cora sets out with her nine-year-old daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and call the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Going against his wishes is a risk that will have consequences, but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? The choice she makes in this moment will shape the course of their lives.

Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, and one that will prove as cataclysmic as the storm from which it emerged. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, believing it will enable him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image - but is there still a chance to break the mould?

Powerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. It is the story of one family, and love's endless capacity to endure, no matter what fate has in store.

CHOSEN AS A SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY MAIL, RED, PRIMA, STYLIST and EVENING STANDARD BOOK OF 2025 | A READ WITH JENNA BOOKCLUB PICK

'The viral literary hit of the summer'
Grazia

'A beautiful, heartwrenching, utterly original novel'
Miranda Cowley Heller

A RIVER RED with BLOOD

by John Connolly

The players call it The Game. There are just two rules:

No Killing Close to Home.
No Killing Outside the Game

But what happens when those rules get broken?

When the drowned body of a troubled teenager is recovered from a river in Maine's Kennebec Valley, and a young woman disappears from a small rural town, they draw the attention of the private investigator named Charlie Parker.

Now Parker will be forced to confront a band of men without morality and without loyalty, not even to one another, in a place where the very darkness is alive.

Because something has emerged from the shadows, something very bad.

And it wants revenge.