A medical emergency exposes a family secret, a new friendship begins in unlikely circumstances and a murder investigation leads into the lives of a powerful family. This week’s books move between literary fiction, suspense and crime, with a new Gruffalo story to share with the grandchildren.
Emily St. John Mandel has made a name for stories that move across time and follow connections between people who may never realise how closely their lives are linked. Her new novel, Exit Party, brings together crimes committed and loves lost across space and time.
There is little plot detail in the book’s description, which may suit readers who enjoyed discovering the shape of Station Eleven or The Glass Hotel as they went. Its promise of a story spanning different places and times makes this one for readers who enjoy piecing things together as they read.
The verdict: Put this on your list if you like ambitious fiction that asks you to trust the author and follow the threads.
Molly Fitzgerald and her husband Jesse have each built careers shaped by painful family histories. Molly, whose mother disappeared on 9/11, now leads a disaster response unit. Jesse works as a police polygraph expert after a court case divided his own family. They have found a way to live with their pasts, until a medical emergency brings a secret into the open.
It is a setup that plays to Jodi Picoult’s strengths: an ordinary family facing an extraordinary situation, with no easy answer to the question at its centre. How well do Molly and Jesse know the people closest to them, and what might they risk to protect those they love?
The verdict: Choose this if you want a family drama with a mystery at its centre and plenty to talk about once you’ve finished.
In a remote Pyrenees valley, Miquel lives uneasily with his father in the house his mother was returning to when she died. A new bridge is nearly complete, promising to connect their isolated home to a changing world. Miquel’s father sees opportunity in it; Miquel fears what that new access might bring.
The bridge also throws the differences between father and son into sharper focus as they continue to live with the loss of Miquel’s mother. Colm Tóibín’s short novel looks to be a closely observed story about grief, connection and the difficulty of leaving an old way of life behind.
The verdict: A good pick when you’re in the mood for a brief literary novel that gives you plenty to think about after the final page.
After a bitter divorce costs Tina Lamb her family home, she moves into a caravan on the city’s outskirts. She has raised four children and cared for her dying mother, but finding work and starting again alone prove harder than she expected. A job caring for Mrs Bell, a wealthy older woman with a sharp tongue, offers some relief, though their relationship gets off to a challenging start.
The friendship that develops between them is at the heart of People Like Us. Tina and Mrs Bell come from very different circumstances, yet both have reason to reconsider what security and independence mean. Tina’s struggle to find housing and work also grounds the promise of a new beginning in the realities of money and ageism.
The verdict: For readers who enjoy stories about women finding friendship in unexpected places, with a fresh start that feels hard won.
Detective Matthew Venn is called to Tide House, a luxurious holiday home in North Devon, after a young woman is found dead in its swimming pool. Her friend Hannah, the daughter of the home’s owner and rising politician Paul Armstrong, is missing. With the case attracting media attention, Venn and his team must work out what happened to both women.
A nearby music festival has brought locals and visitors together, and some may have closer ties to the Armstrong family than they first admit. As a heatwave bears down, Venn finds himself investigating a powerful family while navigating tensions in the community around them.
The verdict: One for Matthew Venn fans and readers who like a murder mystery built around family secrets and the things people leave unsaid.
The Gruffalo’s daughter is about to meet another member of the family: Gruffalo Granny is coming to stay. More than 20 years after the last new Gruffalo story, Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler return to the deep dark wood with a tale to read aloud and pore over together.
For grandparents who know the original by heart, the arrival of Granny makes this an especially tempting addition to the bookshelf. Donaldson’s rhymes and Scheffler’s expressive illustrations have long made these books a pleasure to revisit, often at the request of the youngest reader in the room.
The verdict: Save this one for a visit from the grandchildren, particularly if The Gruffalo is already part of your reading routine.
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