Summer is the season for switching off, slowing down and finally getting to the book that’s been sitting on your to-read list. Whether you’re boarding a flight, laying claim to a patch of grass in the park, or taking shelter from the less-than-summery weather, a great paperback is the perfect companion.
From gripping crime thrillers to award-winning and bestselling debuts, to pensive memoirs that will make you think differently about life, we’ve rounded up some of the best picks of this year so far below.
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Fiction paperbacks
Disgraced exFBI operative Sadie Smith is sent undercover into a radical commune in rural France, where she is tasked with building a case against its enigmatic leader. What unfolds is a sharp, genre-flexing exploration of ecological idealism, paranoia and the moral cost of loyalty. Blending a pitch-perfect noir tone and propulsive pacing, Rachel Kushner’s Booker-shortlisted novel is an original and page-turning thriller.
After Daphne’s fiancé Peter leaves her for his childhood best friend Petra, Daphne moves in with the only person who knows what she’s going through: Petra’s ex, Miles. Muddling through their shared heartbreak, the two housemates form an unlikely friendship and hatch a plan to make their small-town summer adventures look more than platonic on social media. Emily Henry’s Funny Story is a warm and witty rom-com to escape with this summer.
Every summer, Ana Magdalena Bach, a married woman, travels to a Caribbean island to visit her mother’s grave – and to briefly reinvent herself through an affair. This novella, published 10 years after Gabriel García Márquez’s death, is a treatise on desire and the quiet rebellions of middle age. Fleeting yet resonant, it serves as a sultry, wistful coda from one of fiction’s greatest sensualists.
Jacqueline Wilson revisits the characters of her beloved Girls series in this bestselling adult sequel. Now turning 40, Ellie Allard is an art teacher and professional illustrator living in London with a daughter off at university. As her friends navigate their own paths – Nadine embracing no-strings-attached freedom and Magda betting on a third marriage – Ellie explores connections with people new and old as her life begins to take unexpected turns.
This sweeping, epic novel by Elif Shafak follows the life of a raindrop as it travels through centuries and rivers – beginning in ancient Mesopotamia, where the despotic king Ashurbanipal rules; through to the Thames in Victorian London, home to printing apprentice Arthur; followed by the Tigris in modern Turkey, where Narin, a Yazidi girl, flees violence; and finally back to the Thames, where houseboat-dwelling hydrologist Zaleekhah is processing a recent heartbreak.
Winner of the Orwell Prize for Political Fiction, this polyphonic novel is told through the voices of 21 narrators as a small town deals with a looming menace. Deftly exploring themes of economic hardship, generational tensions, and a community grappling with new challenges alongside complex histories, Ryan offers a nuanced, intimate portrait of communal life and its fractures.
After walking away from a high-flying career in New York, Anna Walsh returns to Ireland, where she agrees to do the PR for her friend’s resort opening in the coastal town of Maumtully. Alongside the bubbling crisis of local opposition to the development, she finds herself working closely with old flame Joey in this heartfelt story about second chances and midlife reinvention.
Saou Ichikawa’s provocative International Booker-longlisted debut follows Shaka Isawa, a woman with a congenital muscle disorder and severe spine curvature living in a care home on the outskirts of Tokyo, who leads a rich online life centred around her prolific erotica writing. When it transpires that a carer is familiar with her work, they enter an arrangement that pushes the boundaries of their relationship in this unflinching exploration of autonomy and desire. (Translated by Polly Barton)
This laugh-out-loud funny debut follows brother and sister Greta and Valdin as they navigate love, heartbreak and family life in Auckland. Valdin is struggling to move on after his ex-boyfriend fled the country, while Greta is dealing with an unrequited crush on a colleague. Amid disastrous dates, awkward karaoke nights and sometimes fraught, but always loving family dynamics, the siblings might just turn around the fortunes of their respective love lives.
Winner of this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, Yael van der Wouden’s The Safekeep is a haunting debut set in post-war Netherlands. Isabel, living a simple and solitary life in her late mother’s rural home, faces disruption when her brother’s vivacious new girlfriend, Eva, arrives to stay. As the temperature rises and unspoken tensions come to light, a deep yet precarious connection begins to develop between the two women.
Crime, mystery, and thriller paperbacks
In the first book of a new series from the bestselling author of The Thursday Murder Club , private security officer Amy Wheeler is tasked with protecting popular author Rosie D’Antonio on a remote island. When Amy is framed for murder, she and Rosie go on the run with the help of her father-in-law, a retired detective enjoying the quiet life. Together, they hope to outwit a killer hot on their tails in this whimsical mystery-thriller.
In the 33rd entry of Donna Leon’s long-running series, a violent clash between teenage gangs in Venice draws Commissario Brunetti’s attention – and sparks wider questions – when one youth turns out to be the son of a local hero. As Brunetti uncovers past corruption and hypocrisy, the moral weight of heroism and justice takes centre stage in this rich and engaging mystery.
Private detective Jackson Brodie returns in Kate Atkinson’s delightfully twisty mystery set in a snowed-in Yorkshire country estate. When valuable paintings go missing, Brodie finds himself among a colourful cast of characters – including a vicar, an ex-Amy officer and several aristocrats – while an axe murderer stalks the moors. With shades of Agatha Christie, Atkinson blends classic crime with dark humour as Brodie tackles his most unusual case to date.
When television presenter and national treasure Jessica Holby dies live on air during a cooking demonstration, junior barrister Adam Green is tasked with defending the man accused of her murder: celebrity chef Sebastian Brooks. As Adam navigates the courtroom drama, he uncovers the complex relationships and hidden tensions behind the glossy surface of daytime TV, in a case that turns out to be anything but straightforward.
When DNA from a double murder is linked to Greg Downing, a man thought to be dead, sports agent Myron Bolitar is pulled into a case that defies reason. Greg was a former client and rival, and Myron even spoke at his funeral. As buried truths emerge, so do questions of identity and motive. Featuring Harlan Coben’s signature twists and misdirection, Think Twice is a thrilling ride.
Tokyo government official Tsuneo Asai learns of his wife Eiko’s death from a heart attack while away on business. Suspicious of the circumstances surrounding her passing near the villa Tachibana – a known rendezvous for secret lovers – Tsuneo soon uncovers Eiko’s double life. This compelling crime novel from Seicho Matsumoto is a story about duty and the conflict between personal truth and societal expectations, as well as being a fascinating snapshot of post-war Japanese culture. (Translated by Louise Heal Kawai)
In Los Angeles, a bomb detonates in a mall just days before the presidential election. In London, Sajid Khan is arrested after his daughter Aliyah, who was seen with the bomber, disappears. That’s when Carrie, a woman whose son is also missing, shows up at his door, claiming their children are together. Navigating borders and evading the authorities, the pair unravel a web of secrets in this gripping race-against-time thriller.
The List of Suspicious Thin gs Jennie Godfrey
Paperback memoirs and non-fiction
Economist Gary Stevenson’s memoir is a jaw-dropping, unfiltered story of excess and disillusionment inside the world of high finance. From his working-class East London upbringing to becoming a profitable city trader, Stevenson offers a rare glimpse into a system that rewards betting on the state of the economy. The Trading Game is a propulsive, clear-eyed account of the physical and spiritual toll of pursuing ambition at all costs.
Beloved actor and cooking show presenter Stanley Tucci offers a poignant chronicle of a year in meals – the good, the bad, the comforting, and even the inedible. From film sets to family dinners, this memoir captures the texture of a life where food serves as both an anchor and a lens. Reflective, funny and tender, What I Ate in One Year is a love letter to the rituals that sustain us.
Celebrated farmer and nature writer John Lewis-Stempel journeys through a range of English habitats – from moorland to fen, estuary to park – tracing the natural beauty, seasonal rhythms, and deep cultural legacy of the landscape. England is an intimate investigation into how land shapes identity and everyday life, building an evocative portrait of a nation seen through its wild and working places.
In this incisive anthology of essays, bell hooks examines the role of art as a radical force in Black life, identity and imagination. Through critiques and interviews with artists including Carrie Mae Weems and Alison Saar, she interrogates how visual culture intersects with politics and power. Art on My Mind reflects on art’s place in both public and domestic spaces, asking how it can inspire communities and challenge dominant narratives.
In this candid and affirming memoir, comedian and actor Miranda Hart opens up about the physical and emotional toll of living with an undiagnosed chronic health condition. In a moving meditation on pain and identity, Hart traces her search for clarity and understanding with the help of scientists, neuroscientists, therapists and sociologists – “all the ‘ists’”, as she puts it – to chart a personal journey with universal lessons and tools.
Booker Prize-winning author Richard Flanagan blends memoir, history and speculation in this daring exploration of how lives can be shaped by distant, seemingly disconnected events. He moves from his father’s survival of a Japanese prisoner of war camp to his own survival of a near-fatal kayaking accident in his 20s, by way of the love affair between H. G. Wells and Rebecca West – and the invention of the atomic bomb.
An African History of Afric a Zeinab Badawi
Based on insights from his chart-topping podcast of the same name, serial entrepreneur Steven Bartlett instils the lessons behind his success – and that of his many high-profile guests – into 33 clear, actionable “laws”. Merging psychology, business strategy and behavioural science, this handbook offers wisdom that withstands fluctuating trends. It’s a sharp, engaging manifesto for anyone seeking to start or grow a business – or to simply improve their professional life.
Historical fiction paperbacks
Jodi Picoult’s first foray into historical fiction flits between Elizabethan England and modern-day New York as she tells the story of Emilia Bassano, England’s first professional poet and, according to one theory, the real genius behind William Shakespeare’s works. Fast-forward to the present day, and playwright Melina Green faces similar struggles in the male-dominated world of theatre in this bold reckoning with authorship, erasure, and power.
In the aftermath of a failed Athenian invasion in ancient Sicily, best friends Gelon and Lampo visit the quarry where thousands of defeated soldiers are imprisoned under the scorching sun. Trading scraps of food and goatskins of wine for recitations of Greek plays, the pair hatch a madcap plan to stage Medea with the prisoners cast as actors. Ferdia Lennon’s darkly comic, prize-winning novel explores art, friendship and (in)humanity in desperate times.
Set in late 18th-Century India during the reign of Tipu Sultan, Loot follows Abbas, a gifted young toymaker, whose intricate carving of a tiger is seized by British soldiers. Spanning the palaces of Mysore to the country estates of England, Tania James crafts a sweeping epic tale of artistry, love, ambition and resistance – simultaneously a caper set amid the violent backdrop of colonialism and a compelling coming-of-age story.
Set in the heart of ancient Rome, Conn Iggulden’s historical drama marks the start of a gripping new series. Beginning in 37 AD, Nero follows the ruthless ambition of Agrippina – niece of the emperor Claudius – as she moves through a treacherous world of politics, calculated marriages, quiet assassinations, and shifting loyalties. In this dangerous environment, she will stop at nothing to see her son Nero assume the seat of power.
Set in the summer of 1914, Precipice charts the story of a consequential moment in British political history through the entwined perspectives of Prime Minister HH Asquith, his mistress (the 26-year-old socialite Venetia Stanley), and a junior intelligence officer. Asquith, distracted and infatuated, soon turns a private affair into a national liability in this brilliantly gripping story from a master of the political thriller.
