New Fiction: July
Blog · Posted June 25, 2024
Our booksellers have chosen their top fiction picks for this month.
PAPERBACK
Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop by Hwang Bo-reum | 4th July | £9.99
Burned out, Yeongju abandons her old life, quits her high-flying career, and follows her dream. She opens a bookshop. In a quaint neighbourhood in Seoul, surrounded by books, Yeongju and her customers take refuge. The Hyunam-dong Bookshop becomes the place where people learn how to truly live. A heart-warming story about finding comfort and acceptance in your life – and the healing power of books.
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano | 25th July | £9.99
The four Padavano girls bring loving chaos to their close-knit Italian American neighbourhood. William meets the spirited Julia Padavano and it’s as if the world has lit up around him. But when darkness from his past begins to block the light of his future, it’s Julia’s sister, Sylvie, who becomes his closest confidante. The result is a catastrophic rift that leaves the family on two sides of a fault line.
Julia by Sandra Newman | 4th July | £9.99
Seventy-five years after Orwell finished writing his iconic novel, Sandra Newman has tackled the world of Big Brother in a truly convincing way, offering a dramatically different, feminist narrative that is true to and stands alongside the original. For the millions of readers who have been brought up with Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, here, finally, is a provocative, vital and utterly satisfying companion novel.
The Black Eden by Richard T. Kelly | 4th July | £9.99
The discovery of ‘black gold’ in the North Sea transforms all it touches – including the dreams of five very different individuals. Joe and Ally each aspire to make their fortunes in business. Mark believes oil can cause political change. Aaron wishes to write his name into scientific history. Robbie only hopes for a better chance in life. But every wish incurs a price, and the desires spurred by oil will turn old friends into foes – even putting lives in peril.
Kala by Colin Walsh | 4th July | £9.99
Helen, Joe and Mush were part of an original group of friends in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala as their group’s white-hot centre. Soon Kala disappeared without a trace. Now it’s fifteen years later. Human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing and past and present begin to collide, forcing the estranged friends to confront their own complicity in the events.
Chain-Gang All Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah | 4th July | £9.99
Enter a world where prisoners fight like gladiators for their freedom. Fan-favourite female stars Loretta Thurwar and Hamara ‘Hurricane Staxxx’ Stacker are teammates and lovers. Thurwar is free in just a few matches, a fact she carries as heavily as her lethal hammer. But as protestors clash with the baying crowds and the programme’s corporate owners stack the odds against her – will the price be simply too high?
Pelican Girls by Julia Malye | 18th July | £10.99
1720. On the American frontier, French settlers are in want of wives. At the asylum in Paris, a list is drawn up: eighty-eight ‘difficult’ women of childbearing age to be shipped to New Orleans. Bold, thrilling and startling intimate, Pelican Girls is a powerful vision of female friendship, identity and desire, and the choices women make in their unshakeable will to survive.
HARDBACK
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | 4th July | £16.99
Some said it was tragic, what happened to the Van Laars. Some said they deserved it. They never even thanked the searchers who stayed out for five nights in the forest trying to help find their missing son. Some said that the Van Laars knew what happened to the boy. Now, fifteen years later, the daughter the family had in their grief has gone missing in the same wilderness as her brother. Some say the two disappearances aren’t connected. Some say they are.
Rosarita by Anita Desai | 4th July | £12.99
A woman and claims to recognize Bonita because she is the spitting image of her mother, who made the same journey from India to Mexico as a young artist. No, says Bonita, my mother didn’t paint. She never travelled to Mexico. But this strange woman insists, and so Bonita follows her. Into a story where Bonita and her mother will move apart and come together, and where the past threatens to flood the present, or re-write it.
The King’s Mother by Annie Garthwaite | 11th July | £16.99
1461. Through blood and battle Edward has gained England’s throne, eighteen years old and unstoppable. Cecily has piloted his rise to power and stands at his shoulder now, first to claim the title King’s Mother. But to win a throne is not to keep it and war is come again. Cecily must focus her will to defeat every challenge. Wherever they come from. Whatever the cost. For there can be only one King, and only one King’s Mother.
These are just some of the exciting new releases in fiction for this month. To keep up to date with more recommendations and new releases, keep an eye on our socials, or join our newsletter.