One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
Alice is happiest in two places: the lake in Barry’s Bay, and behind her lens. The lake is where she took the photograph that kick-started her career all those years ago, after all, featuring those three gorgeous, carefree teens on that yellow boat. Now Alice is back in Barry’s Bay… and this time Charlie, who she captured in that picture all those years ago, is looking right back.
Nostalgic, escapist, and blissfully romantic, One Golden Summer is the perfect read for sunlit days and long evenings – a must read for fans of Emily Henry! – Liv
Red Pockets by Alice Mah
This thought-provoking memoir begins with Alice’s visit to her ancestral home in rural China. She traces a tenuous and conflict-torn family tree back to a place of ghosts: ambiguous community memories and the obligation of untended tombs. Upon returning to England, moving to Scotland and speaking with her parents in Canada, she feels increasingly untethered. She is uncertain of the truth and alienated by language and cultural barriers.
As wildfires, environmental pollution and pandemic dangers increase, she recognises the complexity of our relationship with the world and our planet’s future. Her own petrochemical research is fascinating and tells its own stories of the places she travels to. Enduring inevitable environmental and climate anxieties, for the sake of her own family and her son’s future, Alice discusses how recognition of the past is vital to honouring a future. – Katrina
The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
Joe Abercrombie is back with a brand new (and very ancient) world. Alex is a petty thief, up to her skinny neck in debt, until one day she’s informed that she’s first in line to the throne. The problem is, said throne is halfway across a fractured Europe, she’s not particularly keen on the job, and four of her noble-born siblings are more than willing to kill her for it. She’s going to need a lot of help if she’s going to survive the journey, let alone know what she’s doing when she gets there.
Enter: The Devils. A band of heretic misfits condemned into service by The Church. They’re not too keen on the job at hand either, but under the coercion of the child Pope, they’re left with no choice but to get the job done, one way or another. Will an unkillable arthritic knight, a dilettante necromancer, a misunderstood elf, a nymphomaniac werewolf, dashing pirate and a persuasive vampire be able to put aside their differences for the greater good?
The Devils is an explosive start to an exciting new series with some of Abercrombie’s most memorable characters to date. – Tom B