PAPERBACK

Pax by Tom Holland | 4th July | £12.99

The Pax Romana has long been revered as a golden age. At its peak, the Roman Empire stretched from Scotland to Arabia, and contained perhaps a quarter of humanity. It was the wealthiest and most formidable state the world had yet seen. Vividly sketching the lives of Romans both ordinary and spectacular, Holland demonstrates how Roman peace was the fruit of unprecedented military violence. A stunning portrait of Rome’s glory days.

La Vie by John Lewis-Stempel | 4th July | £9.99

Buying an old honey-coloured limestone house with bright blue shutters, the Lewis-Stempels began their new life as peasant farmers in rural France. John Lewis-Stempel fell in love with the countryside, from the wild boar that trot past the kitchen window to the glow-worms and citronella candles that flicker in the evening garden. Although it began as a practical enterprise, it quickly became an affair of the heart, living the good life – or as the French say, La Vie.

Breathe by Sadiq Khan | 18th July | £10.99

Seven ways green politics goes wrong. Seven ways to get it back on track. Fatalism. Apathy. Cynicism. Deprioritisation. Hostility. Cost. Gridlock. When green campaigners and politicians lose the debate, this is why. The Mayor of London draws on a decade in the corridors (and cycle lanes) of power to explain how, in practice, to win the climate argument. His book will help create a world where we can all breathe again.

The Britannias by Alice Albinia | 4th July | £12.99

From Neolithic Orkney to modern-day Thanet, Alice Albinia explores the furthest reaches of Britain’s island topography, once known by the collective term, Britanniae. Sailing over borders, between languages and genres, trespassing through the past to understand the present, this book boldly upturns established truths about Britain. It pays homage to the islands’ beauty, independence and their suppressed or forgotten histories.

Emperor of Rome by Mary Beard | 4th July | £11.99

Beard shines her spotlight on the emperors who ruled the Roman empire, from Julius Caesar (assassinated 44 BCE) to Alexander Severus (assassinated 235 CE).  Emperor of Rome is not your usual chronological account of Roman rulers, one after another: the mad Caligula, the monster Nero, the philosopher Marcus Aurelius. Beard asks bigger questions: What power did emperors actually have? Was the Roman palace really so bloodstained?

Travel Guide to the Middle Ages by Anthony Bale | 25th July | £10.99

From the bustling bazaars of Tabriz, to the mysterious island of Caldihe, Anthony Bale brings history alive in A Travel Guide to the Middle Ages, inviting the reader to travel across a medieval world punctuated with miraculous wonders and long-lost landmarks. It offers the reader a vivid and unforgettable insight into how medieval people understood their world – a world of stories, desire and fantasies, of cherished pasts and longed-for futures.

HARDBACK

Fi: A Memoir of My Son by Alexandra Fuller | 11th July | £18.99

Alexandra Fuller is barely hanging on when suddenly her son Fi, at twenty-one years old, dies in his sleep. From a sheep wagon deep in the mountains of Wyoming to a grief sanctuary in New Mexico to a silent meditation retreat in Canada, Alexandra journeys up and down the Rocky Mountains in an attempt to find how to grieve herself whole.  She recounts the wild medicine of painstakingly grieving a child in a culture that has no instructions for it.

Storm Pegs by Jen Hadfield | 11th July | £18.99

In her late twenties, Jen Hadfield moved to the Shetland archipelago to make her life anew. On these islands known for their isolation and drama, she found a close-knit community of neighbours always willing to lend a boat, of women wild-swimming together in the star-spangled winter seas and a place teeming with life. In prose as rich and magical as Shetland itself, Hadfield transports us to the islands as a local and shows us new ways of living at the edge.

Autocracy Inc. by Anne Applebaum | 23rd July | £20

One of the world’s most celebrated historians and journalists uncovers the networks trying to destroy the democratic world. Nowadays, autocracies are run by sophisticated networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services and professional propagandists and are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. Unlike military or political alliances, this group operates like an agglomeration of companies: Autocracy, Inc.

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.