Our Top Summer Reads

With a little more time to enjoy the slower pace of summer, there's no better opportunity to lose yourself in a good book. Whether you're reading in the garden, beside the sea or on holiday, Philip, our Reading Room Manager and Buyer, has selected ten wonderful titles to accompany you through the season - each one offering the chance to escape into a completely different world.

Winner of the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction, Virginia Evans’ touching and tender novel, ‘The Correspondent’, offers the perfect choice for packing into your holiday suitcase. The story follows Sybil, a fervent letter writer, through the reading of which we begin to piece together the threads of her life, from her early adoption to her burgeoning love life at the tender age of 73. Both heart-warming, and darkly comic at times, this novel teaches us about the complexity of a life lived and the reality of difficult emotions exposed in fractured families, and has rightly earned an affectionate place in the hearts of its readers.

At a time when our entire ecosystem is under threat, Jackie Morris and Robert McFarlane’s collaborative works continue to be beautiful reminders of the nature we still have and why it matters so much to preserve it. Functioning as both poetry collection and guide, in ‘The Book of Birds’ we are taken from avocet to yellowhammer via McFarlane’s richly lyrical prose, each entry accompanied by the rich and detailed beauty of Morris’s illustrations.

An evocative summer novel, this story explores the quiet fractures of a marriage and the shifting dynamics of a family in disarray, displayed over a weekend at a luxurious all-inclusive resort where long-held resentments begin to surface. Tender, perceptive, and gently humorous, the character-driven narrative reveals a portrait of family life in all its complexity - a compelling book that’s hard to put down.

Elisa Sunga had the idea of sharing her passion for sweet treats with other bakers around the world by hosting CAKE PICNIC, a series of gatherings in parks, where every attendee brings a whole cake to share. Something a little bit different, this cookbook not only shares 50 of her imaginative recipes but also includes a guide to hosting your own event, so that you too can spread some moments of summery sweetness in your own corner of the globe.

If you are looking for escapism, Ben Miller’s ‘A Very Dangerous Pursuit’ is a gloriously old-fashioned adventure romp, packed with spies, secrets, exotic locations, narrow escapes and just the right amount of silliness. It’s 1912 and Richard Hannay is in Constantinople, armed with a mysterious washbag and absolutely no idea quite what he’s got himself into. Cue the Orient Express, Paris, the Titanic, sinister villains and a race across Europe to prevent disaster. Pacy, funny and thoroughly entertaining, this is a holiday read with the engine permanently stuck on full throttle.

An accessible collection of Greek legends aimed at young classicists in the making, Roger Lancelyn Green’s ‘Tales of the Greek Heros’ brings together many of the greatest and most engaging stories from Greek mythology. Filled with the perfect mix of gory and dramatic detail, humour and wonder, this book is a perfect way to inspire a love of classical literature in young readers over the summer holidays.

Caro Claire Burke’s brilliantly mischievous debut novel ‘Yesteryear’ takes aim at social media, the tradwife fantasy and our increasingly strange relationship with the past. Natalie has built an online empire from her picture-perfect life as a traditional Christian wife and mother. There’s just one problem: almost none of it is as authentic as it looks. When she wakes up apparently transported to the very past she romanticises, gone are the modern conveniences, the curated image and the adoring followers. Instead, she faces hard labour, a brutal husband and the realities of a world in which women have little control over their own lives.

Created by Belgian cartoonist Hergé in 1929, Tintin has endured for generations, thanks to a timeless blend of simple line drawings, fast-moving mystery and humour, coupled with strong supporting characters and real-life locations. Its long-lasting appeal lies partly in the openness of the characters, whose simplicity invites readers to see something of themselves, and in the quiet optimism that everything will work out well in the end. 'Destination Moon' (highly researched by Hergé at the time for accuracy) takes the reader on an exciting journey to space, offering the reader some cosmic escapism over the summer holidays.

Tom Stuart-Smith's ‘Drawn from the Land’ offers a rare glimpse into the creative world of one of Britain’s most influential garden designers. Moving between sketchbook and finished garden, he reveals how ideas begin as loose pencil lines and evolve into living breathing spaces shaped by light texture and time. Perfect for a slow afternoon in the shade, this is a book to dip into and linger over.