What to read in June – the best new books this month
This month’s new book releases take us to rural Ireland, New York and even into Charles Dickens’ household.
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This month’s new book releases take us to rural Ireland, New York and even into Charles Dickens’ household.
(RRP £25, Tinder Press)
In 1865, in the wake of famine, gruff and taciturn Tomás, assisted by his reluctant ten-year-old son Liam, is mapping a peninsula in the west of Ireland for the British army – as did O’Farrell’s own great-great-grandfather.
In a windswept, rain soaked landscape steeped in myth, Tomás steps into a wood and emerges deranged by whatever he saw. Mixing mysticism and brutal reality, exploring themes of Church, community and colonialism, straying into pre-history, spanning lifetimes and crossing continents, this stunning novel follows the fortunes of Tomás, his wife and their four children.
Despite heart-rending ironies and missed life chances, the ending brings a curious solace. Brilliant.
(RRP £20, Phoenix)
He was the driven, mercurial genius, greatest novelist of the Victorian age. She was the myopic, abiding, docile wife who bore him ten children.
Dickens’s cruelty to his wife, Catherine (‘Kate’) Hogarth, is well known, but Howes draws us right into the household to live out the best of marriages, the worst of marriages, witnessed by Anne Brown, East End slum child, servant and Kate’s comforter.
(RRP £20, Bloomsbury Publishing)
On a visit to New York's Museum of Modern Art, English teacher Daphne, 53, runs into Eddie, who was long ago and too briefly her adored stepfather.
For this infinitely subtle, gentle, slow-burn story of a bond formed in extremis, love rekindled and a mystery resolved, Patchett draws inspiration from the true story of a mare named Whistler who rescued her owner after a catastrophic fall.
(RRP £20, Doubleday)
With an Emmy and a Wainwright Prize under his belt, wildlife cameraman Aldred works all over the world, but it is the New Forest of his childhood, above all, that calls to him.
Here, in text brimming with erudition, nature notes and observation, he describes how he meticulously restored a century-old, roofless, rotting Romani caravan and installed it in the greenwood, returning, literally, to his roots.
(RRP £9.99, Legend Press)
With an ace journalist’s rat-like cunning, former Sun reporter Coles has dispatched his fictional tabloid hack Kim to blag his way onto a film set and into Buckingham Palace for previous 'Rogue' novels.
Now, in a romcom full of tennis history and arcane Wimbledon lore, Kim becomes a linesman, plays a love game and has an unexpected influence on the result of the championships.
Game, set and matchmaker. Ace!
Saga offers escorted tours throughout Europe and as far afield as South Africa, Japan, Canada and Australia, plus hotel stays in popular European hotspots including Spain, Portugal, Croatia and Greece.
Saga’s boutique ship Spirit of Adventure will be truly living up to her name in January 2027, circumnavigating South America in all-inclusive luxury on a 73-night cruise.
Taking in vibrant cities like Rio de Janeiro, Chile’s Lake District, the Panama Canal and the Caribbean, this voyage promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.
These engrossing novels and fascinating non-fiction picks are the perfect summer escape.
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The BBC newsreader on running 23 marathons, coping with grief and why she’s still chasing new challenges at 58.
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