Alongside your passport, swimwear and SPF, a good beach read is an essential in your summer holiday suitcase. Helping you switch off and relax, there a few better feelings than escaping into the pages of a book while stretched out on a sun lounger (Aperol Spritz, optional).
But what makes a good summer book? For some, it’s revisiting the comforting reads that they associate with a certain place and time, while for others it’s indulging in romantasy, diving into exciting debuts, page-turning thrillers or classics set in the destination you’re sojourning in.
Above all, you want to enjoy yourself – and you don’t want to waste valuable sun lounging time on a bad book. Luckily, the IndyBest team is on hand with their literary recommendations for this summer.
From a century-spanning William Boyd tome to a classic Patricia Highsmith thriller and Sarah J Maas’s TikTok-viral A Court of Thorns and Roses series, these are the best summer books that deserve a special spot in your suitcase.
Read more: Best new book releases to read this summer
‘A Month in the Country’ by JL Carr, published by Penguin Classics: £9.02, Amazon.co.uk
This is one of the best novels I’ve ever read. I’m certain that this forgotten classic will make its way onto best lists and university curricula over the coming decades. Set just after the First World War, it follows an ex-serviceman as he restores a medieval fresco in a Yorkshire village. Taking place over just a month in 1920, it’s full of perfect portrayals of the English countryside. Anyone who has spent time in rural Yorkshire will love Carr’s tight, neat descriptions of its fields and woods in summertime. This quiet novel is a surprising page-turner; as Tom Birkin chips away at the wall painting, he confronts his damage from the war, and draws you further and further into his relationship with the villagers and the painting he uncovers. It’s a short book – you can read it in an afternoon by the pool – but it’s one of those novels that stays with you for months after you read it.
Alex Aitcheson-David, Deputy IndyBest Editor
‘The Covenant of Water’ by Abraham Verghese, published by Grove Press: £9.47, Amazon.co.uk
A truly great family saga is one that spans generations, cleverly weaves together different plots and intertwines personal stories with historical events – The Covenant of Water is a story that ticked all these boxes for me and more. The novel opens in 1900 in Travancore, in the south west of India (in what is now part of Kerala), where a young girl is sent by boat to meet her much older husband-to-be for the first time. From that moment we see her grow into the matriarch of her family, affectionately known as Big Ammachi. Over the next seven decades we witness the lives, deaths, marriages, triumphs and more of her descendants, all touched by a mysterious curse. In every generation, at least one person dies by drowning and yet, their home of Parambil, is surrounded by water.
Verghese crafts an epic tale with a cast of beautifully written characters and unexpected twists. The lakes and rivers of southern India are brought vividly to life and I felt completely drawn into the world he so wonderfully creates. With more than 700 pages, it’s a chunky read, but the storytelling is so immersive that you won’t want it to end. It’s ideal for a long summer getaway but if you’re travelling light, it’s definitely one to download on your e-reader. If you’re a fan of Pachinko or Homegoing, I think you’ll love this too.
Sabrina Sahota, Consumer Editor
‘Any Human Heart’ by William Boyd, published by Penguin: £9.19, Amazon.co.uk
I envy you if you’re yet to devour William Boyd’s Any Human Heart. Just as enjoyable on its first read as it is on its second (or even third), the cult novel follows Logan Mountstuart’s life that stretches across the 20th Century. Spanning an anything-but-ordinary existence as a writer mingling with Hemingway in Paris, a spy during the Second World War recruited by none-other than Ian Fleming, an art-dealer in the swinging Sixties and much more, Boyd explores familial, romantic and platonic love his signature warm and witty voice. A modern classic, it’s a masterclass in story telling that’s just as joyous as it is emotional (be warned), and the perfect companion on your sun lounger this summer.
‘A Court of Thorns and Roses' by Sarah J Maas, published by Bloomsbury: £5, Amazon.co.uk
After seeing so much hype online about Sarah J Maas’s romantesy series, A Court of Thorns and Roses, I hesitantly brought the first book with me on a family holiday last summer. It wasn’t long before I was hooked and immediately regretting not bringing the entire six-book series with me. In the novel, we meet Feyre, a human huntress who kills a wolf that is not all it appears to be. Feyre is soon taken prisoner in the faerie realm, as revenge for the murder of a fellow faerie. As she discovers more about her captor, the high lord of the spring court Tamlin, Feyre develops feelings for her enemy (in true “romantasy” style). Meanwhile, a war is brewing, thanks to Amarantha, the evil and vindictive high queen of Prythian. Yes, it all sounds faintly ridiculous, but as a former fantasy literature hater, Sarah J Maas has made me a convert. It’s excellent at world building while the enemy-to-lover storyline keeps you hooked until the very last page - the true marker of a good sun lounger read.
‘The Secret History’ by Donna Tartt, published by Penguin: £7.99, Amazon.co.uk
Part psychological thriller and part story of disaffected university students, Tartt’s tome follows a group of clever misfits at an elite New England college and the chain of events that led to the death of a classmate. Although from a lower-class family, newbie Richard is accepted into the clique of students who are all under the cult-like influence of their charismatic Greek classics professor. When one member of the group threatens to reveal the group’s role in the murder, tensions rise and the second half of the novel explores the psychological consequences of hiding such a terrible secret. Offering pure escapsim, Tartt boths thrills and intrigues the reader.
Daisy Lester, Senior Shopping Writer
‘Dear Dolly’ by Dolly Alderton, published by Fig Tree: £3.69, Amazon.co.uk
I read this book last summer on holiday in Croatia after falling in love with Dolly’s now infamous 2018 memoir, ‘Everything I know about Love’. It’s a collection of entries from her Sunday Times Style agony aunt column, which covers everything from friendship to careers and, of course, love lives. An easy and insightful read, the book’s plotless nature makes it a great one to dip in and out of in between fun-filled vacation excursions. You’ll naturally find yourself relating to the queries of both those writing in and Dolly’s comforting, non-judgemental big sister advice. It doesn’t try too hard to be all-knowing or too existential, instead walking the line between self-help and having a chat with a friend. Additionally, the scenarios that readers write in make for great conversation topics over evening cocktails.
‘Butter’ by Asako Yuzuki, published by Fourth Estate: £11.99, Amazon.co.uk
I have yet to read this one but can’t wait to pick it up this summer. It sounds like the perfect mix of crime thriller, twisted feminist fantasy and gourmet cooking – what more could you want? The plot follows a chef as she sits in a Japanese detention centre, accused of murdering lonely businessmen after seducing them with her cooking. Once a scrappy journalist begins to break down her walls through a, seemingly, shared love of food we begin to learn more about obsession, romance, misogyny and the layered relationship between Japan and food.
‘Big Swiss’ by Jen Beagin, published by Faber & Faber: £8.89, Amazon.co.uk
I'm only halfway through this book, but I’m completely hooked. The story follows a woman who transcribes sex and relationship therapy sessions in a quirky small town. As she listens to her neighbours’ most intimate confessions, their secrets start to seep hilariously, and often cringe-inducingly, into her own life. One voice inparticular captures her attention: the enigmatic “Big Swiss.” As fate (and small-town dynamics) would have it, she meets this woman in real life, and the story takes off with intrigue, drama, and unexpected connection.
The writing is sharp, sexy, and packed with dry humour. It's gossipy in the best way, like eavesdropping on a very juicy secret. A perfect summer read that’s both smart and irresistibly entertaining. Even more exciting? It’s being adapted into an HBO series starring Jodie Comer. If you love character-driven, offbeat stories with a voyeuristic twist, this one’s a must.
Ella Duggan, Freelance Production Journalist and Writer
‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ by Patricia Highsmith: £9.19, Amazon.co.uk
With the critically acclaimed Netflix series Ripley causing a stir earlier in the year, American novelist Patricia Highsmith’s wily anti-hero Tom Ripley has captured a new generation of fans.The first book in the series, which was originally published in 1955, tells the story of Tom Ripley, a young, aimless man from New York who is offered a lot of money by the wealthy father of Dickie Greenleaf to go to Italy and persuade him to return to America. Tom integrates himself with Dickie and his girlfriend Marge on the sunny Italian coast, and becomes enamoured with the Mediterranean lifestyle. But when Tom’s relationship with Dickie becomes more and more unsettling, Marge begins to suspect that Tom isn’t everything he claims to be. Things turn deadly and Tom has to go on the run from the Italian police. The book’s vivid portrayal of towns and cities across Italy coupled with a nail-biting narrative will draw you into Tom Ripley’s twisted universe.
Samuel Mathewson, Assistant Audience Editor
‘A Woman in the Polar Night’ by Christiane Ritter, published by Pushkin Press: £10.45, Amazon.co.uk
If you find yourself sweltering by a pool this summer, forget dipping in the water to cool off. Instead, dive into this captivating memoir, which follows painter Christiane Ritter as she decides to join her hunter-trapper husband in the Arctic Circle, where the mercury falls as low as -35C. Just reading about the icy, sub-zero conditions is enough to make your temperature drop. Spending a year living in an isolated hut in Spitsbergen – an island in the Svalbard archipelago – Ritter endures everything from dwindling supplies to the threat of polar bears. From unblinking daylight and glittering glaciers in summer to never-ending nights and severe storms in winter, Ritter marvels at her surroundings and discovers what it takes to survive so far north. What makes the author’s Arctic adventure even more awe-inspiring is the fact it took place in the 1930s, without any of the hi-tech gear used by polar explorers today.
Like all the best travel writers, Ritter transports readers to the otherworldly landscape she encounters. Even if your own travels are more likely to involve swimwear and sangria than snow boots and sea ice, you can’t help but be drawn in by Ritter’s grit and good humour. The “unimaginable world of splendour and beauty” she describes is enough to make you want to say goodbye to sun loungers in Saint-Tropez, in favour of eking out an existence in a frozen shack in Svalbard. Well, almost – on second thought, perhaps it’s better to stick to reading about it by the pool.
Angharad Moran, Senior Production Journalist
‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ by Ottessa Moshfegh, published by Jonathan Cape: £8.41, Amazon.co.uk
Everyone was reading or talking about this book at one point, and it’s still a strong contender for your summer reading pile. The main character uses sleep as a form of extreme ‘rest and relaxation’ – the goal being to sleep for a year to escape feelings of disillusionment and emerge anew, which she attempts by getting sleep-inducing medications from a bizarre, very questionable psychiatrist. It mostly unfolds in her New York apartment, and socialising is more of less limited to one dysfunctional friendship, so it's a claustrophobic read. Dark, but very funny, it covers themes of isolation, grief, and privilege. If you like a book with lots of twists and turns then this may bore you (it can be quite repetitive), but it's an interesting take on something like self care, and quite addicting.
‘My Husband’ by Maud Ventura, published by Penguin: £9.19, Amazon.co.uk
I’m about halfway through Maud Ventura’s My Husband, translated from French by Emma Ramadan, on Audible, and I can’t wait to get back to it. Consumed with thoughts of her husband, even after years of marriage, the protagonist of the novel is, to put it plainly, obsessed with him. She ruminates on her husband’s behaviour, second-guesses his feelings for her, and, in pursuit of the perfect relationship, takes things to the extreme. It’s unnerving and, at points, quietly hilarious. A dark, compelling novel, this reads as easily as a hot knife glides through butter, making it (so far) the perfect psychological thriller to pick up and rip through by the pool this summer.
Lois Borny, Production Journalist and Writer
‘Men without Women’ by Haruki Murakami: £9.19, Amazon.co.uk
In seven short stories, Haruki Murakami leads the reader through the lives and stories of men who have loved and lost women in some way in their lives, and the lasting impact that each of these relationships hold. Although translated from Japanese, so I’m not reading it in its original form, Murakami has a unique way of storytelling that makes all of his books so easy to read. This one felt especially impactful in the way that it examined completely different relationships with completely different types of people and, while remaining fully their own stories, brought together an overall message of appreciation for women and their impact on men. I took Men without Women with me on a beach holiday this year and it was a perfect holiday read in it being a short, easily digestible book with vivid imagery and depth. There was a sense of calm that I had while reading this book, as I’ve experienced with other Murakami books, that keep the author at the top of my list in stories to reach for.
Niki Cottrell, Freelance Junior Social Editor
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