Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

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Seascraper

A gloriously evocative Booker Longlisted read

Deservedly longlisted for the Booker Prize 2025, the beautiful and evocative Seascraper by Benjamin Wood tells the story of Thomas Flett, a young man living in an English coastal community in the mid-twentieth century. His days consist of drizzle and drudgery, dragging for shrimp on the beaches, a gruelling job that is wrecking his body. Its almost succeeded in claiming his spirit too, except for one tiny flickering flame that Thomas nurtures when he sings and plays guitar. When an American movie director improbably shows up in his village, Thomas is offered a chance of reinvention, if only he can break free from the shackles of his past.

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Let It Go by Dame Stephanie Shirley

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Let It Go

One amazing woman

I was in awe of Let It Go by Dame Stephanie Shirley, the memoirs of one of Britain’s most successful (and possibly most unknown?) female software company entrepreneurs who sadly passed away this week. I certainly hadn’t heard of this amazing woman before and I’m willing to bet that many of you haven’t either. This inspiring book is the story of her journey from 5-year-old Kindertransport child in 1939 to one of Britain’s wealthiest women and most generous philanthropists.

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Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq

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Heart Lamp

A vital and insightful International Booker Prize winner

Winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 and the first ever short story collection to scoop the award, Heart Lamp by Banu Mushtaq consists of twelve quietly powerful tales centred around the everyday lives of Muslim women and girls in southern India.  As a writer, lawyer, and activist, Mushtaq has had extraordinary insight into a world often typified by struggle and oppression. Here she garners the voices of those who shared their experiences and spins them into stories that, even when painful to read, glow with the love, hope and sacrifices of her female (often maternal) characters.

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Lush

Full-bodied with a lingering aftertaste

If your idea of the perfect summer holiday read calls for secrets, temptation and eyebrow-raising excess, then Lush by Rochelle Dowden-Lord deserves top billing on your TBR list. Its premise is deliciously intriguing: the elderly and charismatic owner of a French vineyard extends a wine-tasting invitation to four well-known figures from the industry. At the end of their stay, his guests will be rewarded with a sup from the last remaining bottle of one of the rarest and most valuable wines in the world. A hedonistic unravelling follows in a suitably potent commentary on ambition, prejudice and our cultural relationship with alcohol,

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Is a River Alive?

A heartfelt love letter to nature

With the climate crisis breathing down our necks, interest in nature books has surged. Some are wonderfully uplifting, others more challenging reads. Is a River Alive? by Robert MacFarlane is a bit of both as he takes us from the magnificent cloud forests of Ecuador to the sprawling wilderness of Canada via the lifeless river Adyar in India. MacFarlane raises philosophical and legal questions around what is ‘alive’ and therefore has the right to legal protection, but mostly this book is about nature and the incredible people fighting to save it.

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The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf

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The Princess of 72nd Street

A New York radiance

It’s 1970’s New York, and 72nd Street is a vibrant enclave of arty types, one of whom is struggling artist, Ellen, an abstract expressionist in more than one sense. Sometimes Ellen thinks all she needs is a solvent and dependable husband, but then the ‘radiance’ will arrive, a period of euphoric mania, and her alter-ego Princess Esmerelda takes over. At such times, bedecked in flamboyant outfits, she steps out amongst her people, in search of adventure. First published in 1979 and ripe for rediscovery, The Princess of 72nd Street by Elaine Kraf is a wryly astute exploration of notions of female propriety and soundness of mind.

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Adventures in the Louvre by Elaine Sciolino

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Adventures in the Louvre

A charming tour of the people’s palace

A fortress, a palace, and now one of the world’s most marvellous museums, the Louvre has undergone several transformations in its centuries of existence on the  banks of the river Seine. Enticingly subtitled ‘How to Fall in Love with the World’s Greatest Museum’, Adventures in the Louvre by Elaine Sciolino invites us to a place that’s very close to the author’s heart. A gallery companion comprised of history, appraisal and personal vignettes along with some illuminating insider interviews, Sciolino’s labour of love is an oracle for Louvre virgins and veterans alike.

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Bad Nature by Ariel Courage

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Bad Nature

Bold, bizarre debut novel of revenge and resistance

Possessed of a murderous streak, Hester has always known that one day she’ll kill her father. When her 40th birthday is marked by an oncologist’s diagnosis of terminal cancer, she decides to walk away from her outwardly successful life and take a road trip to California: final destination Dad’s house, to deliver a bullet to his treacherous brain. In the fabulous debut, Bad Nature by Ariel Courage, we join Hester on a chaotic journey, accompanied by hitchhiking eco-activist, John, a man intent on saving the world while Hester turns a blind and indifferent eye. Read full Review