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Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

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Villa Coco

A zest for life

Happily destined for the Summer Reads bestseller lists, Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer seems at first glance to follow the well-worn literary path of an American innocent abroad. It tells the story of an initially unnamed young man, a recently graduated archivist, hired to catalogue the artefacts and treasures of a grand Tuscan Villa. Upon arrival, however, he is plunged into a world of bizarre characters and strange events orchestrated by his employer, 92-year-old Coco, the Baronessa. Coco instantly nicknames him ‘Giovedì’, and along with her kooky companions, lights his way to a life well lived in Greer’s luminous tale of friendship, abiding secrets and sheer zest for life.

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Top Ten Summer Classics

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Top Ten Summer Classics

Is there anything better than a summery read to get you into a sunny mood? Or a summery novel to read on your holiday?  To get you into the spirit, we have chosen our top ten summer classics.

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Dead Lucky by Connor Hutchinson

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Dead Lucky

Inspired debut novel of addiction and confession

The most original debut we’ve read this year, Dead Lucky by Connor Hutchinson tells the story of twenty-something Jamie, a funeral embalmer leading a chaotic double life in a Manchester suburb. Although dedicated to his job and in love with his fabulous girlfriend, Rebecca, Jamie is harbouring a secret which threatens to capsize his life. Addicted to gambling, on the edge of financial ruin and under pressure from Rebecca to purchase their first home together, Jamie needs to pull off a major win. By turns darkly funny and affecting, Dead Lucky invites us into the mind of a young man, who unable to share his troubles with those who love him, tells them to the corpses on his embalming table instead.

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Strangers by Belle Burden

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Strangers by Belle Burden

The shock of abandonment

On the face it, the premise of Strangers by Belle Burden might repel some readers. A Waspy, privileged, New York woman is suddenly left by her successful, hedge fund husband. What’s new? you might think. That was my reaction too, however, as I started reading I was won over by Burden and her portrayal of grief, confusion and loneliness. Sure, millions of women around the world have been in a lot more dire straits than Burden, but the trauma of being abandoned is universal.

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Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima

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Territory of Light

A quietly powerful story of separation

Our nameless narrator’s husband has just announced he is leaving her. Adrift with a three-year old daughter she attempts to rebuild a life, but 1970s Japan is an unforgiving place for divorced women and shame, sadness and responsibility weigh heavily on her. Territory of Light by Yuko Tsushima is a strange little book; its quietly powerful, sparse language perfectly captures despair and isolation in the wake of separation.

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Backlight by Pirkko Saisio

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Backlight

The comedy of puberty

Prickly Pirkko is in opposition to everyone and everything, above all her cantankerous father and most of her teachers, with the notable exception of her Finnish teacher who seems to spot a glimmer of talent in her student’s writing. Besides, she hates puberty. She seeks out trouble, befriends the wrong kids and is all round a pain in the butt. Backlight by Pirkko Saisio is an autofictional deep dive into the author’s teenage mind which will leave you relieved those years are behind you.

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Brawler by Lauren Groff

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Brawler

Hard hitting on good and evil

Anyone who loved the novel Matrix—a book I still think about—will leap at newly published short-story collection Brawler by Lauren Groff. Groff’s incredible range is on full display in this engrossing collection. We travel from the East Coast to Southern California, from Boston aristocracy to Los Angeles trailer parks. The settings vary, but the family troubles remain the same, as does the capacity for both good and evil.

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Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga

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Nervous Conditions

Instant African classic

Rare is the book that becomes an instant classic but that was the case for Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga when it was published in 1988. Set in 1960s and 70s in what was then Rhodesia, it’s the coming-of-age story of Tambu, a gifted girl from a dirt-poor farming family who defies her gender and class to be allowed an education. Nervous Conditions was the first book published in English written by a black Zimbabwean woman and its feminist outlook, inspired by Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch, revolutionary in itself. A fenomenal portrayal of misogyny, colliding cultures, colonialisation and class.

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