What our team are reading this summer

July 20th 2021

What will you be reading this summer? We caught up with a few members of the Peters team to hear about their summer reads.

Katie Merrick, Children's Librarian

The Orphans of St. Halibut's: Pamela's Revenge by Sophie Wills

"The follow-up to an excellent debut, I'm looking forward to this tale of plucky orphans, a town full of oddballs and a very naughty goat!"

The orphans are survivors. So when St Halibut's burns to the ground, they get ready to adapt and learn some new skills.

Magpie by Elizabeth Day

"A twisted adult thriller addressing questions of jealousy, motherhood and power. This looks like a great read."

In Jake, Marisa has found everything she's ever wanted. Then their new lodger Kate arrives. Something about Kate isn't right. Is it the way she looks at Marisa's boyfriend? Sits too close on the sofa? Constantly asks about the baby they are trying for? Or is it all just in Marisa's head? After all, that's what her Jake keeps telling her. And she trusts him - doesn't she?

But Marisa knows something is wrong. That the woman sleeping in their house will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Marisa just doesn't know why. How far will she go to find the answer - and how much is she willing to lose?

Emma McElwee, Children's Librarian

No Place to Lay One's Head by Francoise Frenkel

In 1921, Francoise Frenkel - a Jewish woman from Poland - opens her first bookshop in Berlin. It is a dream come true. The dream lasts nearly two decades. Then suddenly, it ends.

End of Watch by Stephen King

Brady Hartsfield is back, and planning revenge not just on Hodges and his friends, but on an entire city. The clock is ticking in unexpected ways ... Both a stand-alone novel of heart-pounding suspense and a sublimely terrifying final episode in the Hodges trilogy, End of Watch takes the series into a powerful new dimension. 

handiwork by Sara Baume

handiwork is a contemplative short narrative from acclaimed writer and visual artist Sara Baume. It charts her daily process of making and writing, exploring what it is to create and to live as an artist. handiwork offers observations at once gentle and devastating, on the nature of art, grief and a life lived well.

Ray Dyer, Managing Director

The Defence by Steve Cavanagh

"I’m currently working my way through the Eddie Flynn novels written by Steve Cavanagh (The Hostage at the moment).  Eddie is a streetwise New York conman, turned defence lawyer and I first saw Steve’s book Fifty, Fifty recommended on Between the covers with Sara Cox."

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.

It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter, Amy. Eddie only has forty-eight hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial - and win - if he wants to save his daughter.

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiaasen

"I’ve also just finished the latest book by my favourite author, Carl Hiaasen, this one is called Squeeze Me.  It’s set in Florida near the summer HQ of the POTUS (Pres of the United States).  It is a typical Carl Hiaasen, funny, sharp and with a ecological and political message and a cast of characters both old and new.  He can do no wrong."

From the bestselling author of Bad Monkey and Razor Girl comes this hilarious new novel of social and political intrigue, set against the glittering backdrop of Florida's gold coast.

The Great (Food) Bank Heist Onjali Q. Rauf

In this new book from bestselling author of The Boy at the Back of the Class, a young boy and his friends set to stop the thieves who are stealing food from their local food bank.

Helen Rosser, Librarian - Adult Stock Developer

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

"Lots of people have recommended last year’s smash hit American Dirt, so this summer I’m going to catch up. It’s about a mother and son in Mexico escaping a drugs cartel."

An extraordinary story of the lengths a mother will go to to save her son, American Dirt has sold over a million copies worldwide. 

More than a Woman by Caitlin Moran

"I enjoy Caitlin Moran’s humorous, conversational writing style. Now More Than a Woman is out in paperback I’m looking forward to more relatable feminism, in the follow-up 10 years on from How to be a Woman."

Now with ageing parents, teenage daughters, a bigger bum and a To-Do list without end, Caitlin Moran is back with More Than A Woman: a guide to growing older, a manifesto for change, and a celebration of all those middle-aged women who keep the world turning.

Laura Hayward, Children's Librarian

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

A family head to a luxurious home they've rented for the week to escape from their life in New York, but their peace is ruined when an older couple who claim to own the home, have suddenly arrived in a panic, telling them a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter…

Splinters of Sunshine by Patrice Lawrence

After a fun Christmas Eve decorating the tree and singing along with his mum to Queen, fifteen-year-old Spey wakes up on Christmas morning to find the ex-prisoner father he's never met asleep on the sofa.

The Trial by Laura Bates

After a plane crash sees a group of teens washed up on a desert island, a terrible secret has followed them ashore - one of them has been the victim of an assault.  As danger and lies begin to take over, can the island uncover the truth about what really happened at that fateful party.

Richard Butler, Commercial Director

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi lives in the House. Perhaps he always has. In his notebooks, day after day, he makes a clear and careful record of its wonders: the labyrinth of halls, the thousands upon thousands of statues, the tides that thunder up staircases, the clouds that move in slow procession through the upper halls. On Tuesdays and Fridays Piranesi sees his friend, the Other. At other times he brings tributes of food to the Dead. But mostly, he is alone.

Messages begin to appear, scratched out in chalk on the pavements. There is someone new in the House. But who are they and what do they want? Are they a friend or do they bring destruction and madness as the Other claims?

James Morrison, Stock Editor

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

"I absolutely loved Weir’s debut novel The Martian and I’m hoping Project Hail Mary carries on his winning formula of hard science, humour and suspense that makes his writing so enjoyable."

An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could imagine it, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian -- while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.

Claire Bowles, Sales and Marketing Director

The Danger Gang by Tom Fletcher

Soon after a young boy moves to a new town, the lightning during a strange storm begins to make changes to the children on his street.

On a Beautiful Day by Lucy Diamond

On a Beautiful Day is a novel about the startling and unexpected turns life can take. It's about luck - good and bad - and about finding bravery and resilience when your world is in turmoil. Above all, it's about friendship, togetherness and hope.

Hayley Durston, Marketing Manager

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason

Everyone tells Martha Friel she is clever and beautiful, a brilliant writer who has been loved every day of her adult life by one man, her husband Patrick. A gift, her mother once said, not everybody gets.

So why is everything broken? Why is Martha - on the edge of 40 - friendless, practically jobless and so often sad? And why did Patrick decide to leave? Forced to return to her childhood home to live with her dysfunctional, bohemian parents (but without the help of her devoted, foul-mouthed sister Ingrid), Martha has one last chance to find out whether a life is ever too broken to fix - or whether, maybe, by starting over, she will get to write a better ending for herself.

Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri

The new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning, Man Booker Prize-shortlisted author: a haunting portrait of a woman, her decisions, her conversations, her solitariness, in a beautiful and lonely Italian city.