Because of my swanning around Paris (it’s RESEARCH, okay?), I have barely had a second to myself this month. I read one book on the flight to France, another on the flight home, and one in between. I’ll do my best to resume proper service this month xx
The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of Gaza and the Occupied Territories by Ilan Pappé
A Substack subscriber recommended this after I said last month I wanted to read as much as I could about the history of Palestine. If you’re interested in the strategy behind the occupation of Gaza, the politics, the behind closed-doors decisions and machinations, this is the book for you. It’s chilling in parts, and infuriating too, but always incisive and incredibly well-researched. He’s such a brave writer.
This Summer Will Be Different by Carley Fortune
Carley Fortune is becoming the queen of the summer rom-com for me. I think she hits that sweet spot of millennial nostalgia, yearning, and longing (this is especially true of her debut, Every Summer After, which is basically Dawson’s Creek reimagined for a modern audience). Her latest book is about Lucy and Felix, a secret love affair, and five summers spent on Prince Edward Island. That’s all you need to know, really. It’s sweet and sexy and everything you want in a beach read.
Into The Storm by Cecelia Ahern
I was SO excited to get my hands on a proof copy of the latest Cecelia Ahern and it did not disappoint. Here’s the blurb – It is a wild night in the middle of December, and GP Enya is crouched over a teenage boy, performing CPR in the freezing rain. She found him on a mountain road near Dublin, the victim of a hit-and-run. The boy survives, but Enya goes to pieces. She leaves her husband, her son, and everything she knows to start a new life in remote rural Ireland. But even in the quiet of Abbeydooley, beneath the boughs of an ancient tree, Enya is still haunted by that night in the rain. Can the stories of strangers and a land steeped in legend lay the ghosts of her past to rest? Or will the storm she's outrunning finally catch up with her?
I thoroughly enjoyed this! Enya is such a brilliant character – she’s flawed and complex yet entirely sympathetic, even when she’s making terrible decisions. I think a lot of women in their late thirties and forties are going to identify with her growing sense of ennui and dissatisfaction with life. It’s coming in October - mark this one on your calendar x
In dire need of a beach read..off to download some carley fortune!!