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10 Books To Read By The Pool This Summer

1 / 10

The Disaster Tourist by Yun Ko-eun

Over the past year, we’ve been lamenting about our inability to go on holiday – The Disaster Tourist may make you grateful to stay at home. It tells the story of Yona, an employee at a travel company specialising in holidays to places devastated by natural disasters. Soon, Yona realises that the company plans to falsify an environmental catastrophe and in raising the alarm, puts her own life at risk. Full of wild twists and turns, this book is a unique thriller that warns readers of the dark consequences of tourism.

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2 / 10

Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd. by Jonas Jonasson

Sweet Sweet Revenge Ltd. is a hilarious tale of revenge taken on the admittedly deserving Victor Alderheim who has tricked his young ex-wife out of her inheritance and left his son to die in the Savanna. When his son and ex come across a man selling revenge services – chaos ensues, involving a goat, sex toys and an expressionist painter. Jonas’ eccentric characters and their outlandish adventures make for the perfect light-hearted poolside read – just don’t blame us if you get splashed for laughing out loud!

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3 / 10

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

Tiffy and Leon share a flat, a bed and yet have never actually met one another. Tiff needs a cheap flat on short notice; Leon works nights and needs to make quick cash. So while Tiffy’s at work during the day, Leon occupies their shared one-bed flat, and at night, Tiffy has the place to herself. Obsessive ex-boyfriends, wrongly imprisoned brothers and harsh work demands are a recipe for a complex living situation, even without having met the person you live with! This comic and endearing unexpected romance is wonderfully uplifting and is the perfect chill summer read.

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4 / 10

People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry

From the New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read comes another beguiling book bursting with holiday vibes. Poppy and Alex have nothing in common: one’s a wild child with insatiable wanderlust, the other prefers to stay at home curled up with a book. But ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they’ve been the best of friends. For 10 years straight, they’ve shared the tradition of taking a week-long vacation together each summer – until two years ago, when everything was ruined. Hoping to reconcile their friendship, Poppy convinces Alex to go on one more adventure. What could possibly go wrong?

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5 / 10

The Girls by Emma Cline

The Girls will transport you from your pool floatie to the searing heat of California in the summer of 1969. The novel follows Evie Boyd, a 14-year-old girl who’s desperate to be noticed. One day, she comes across a group of fabulous young women who are everything she hopes to be, and she slowly becomes intoxicated by the life they promise. This transfixing thriller is based on the twisted appeal of the Manson Family and is filled with cults, counterculture and psychopathy masked behind peace and love – it’s disturbing, unsettling and, most importantly, keeps you wanting more.

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6 / 10

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

If you were glued to your devices during Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview, this one’s for you. This transatlantic novel focuses on the relationship between America’s First Son and the Prince of Wales, plus all of the complicated diplomatic consequences that it entails. This escapist read follows the two men as they grow from enemies to lovers, cultivating a secret romance that could derail political campaigns and turn the two nations on their heads.

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7 / 10

Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Such a Fun Age offers a reflection on the complexities of race, privilege and gender in the 21st century. It tells the story of the complicated relationship of a black babysitter, who is wrongly accused of kidnapping the child that she was hired to babysit, and her white employer who is part of the liberal elite. When a surprising connection threatens to harm them both, the two women find themselves on a journey that changes everything they think they know.

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8 / 10

Normal People by Sally Rooney

If you haven’t yet binged the hit TV show, or read the stunning source material, the poolside is the perfect place to start this simplistic but beautiful novel. It tells the story of seemingly mismatched friends and lovers: Marianne the wealthy, intellectual wallflower and Connell, the popular boy hindered by his family’s poverty. After moving from rural Ireland to the city of Dublin, their love becomes a breeding ground for conflicts of power and class. This story is filled with longing and regret, but above all demonstrates how one person can forever alter someone else’s life.

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9 / 10

Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

A peaceful retirement village doesn’t exactly sound like the setting for investigating murders. But four unlikely friends – Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron – think otherwise. The pensioners meet up once a week at the Thursday Murder Club to investigate unsolved murders. But when a property developer dies under suspicious circumstances, the four find themselves knee-deep in a live case. They may be in their seventies, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have a few tricks of their own. This is a murder mystery that just might kill you with laughter before you can reach the final page.

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10 / 10

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet does not fall short when it comes to literary praise. It was the Waterstones Book of the Year 2020, winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020, and has been shortlisted for the British Book Awards Fiction Book of the Year 2021 – and all for good reason. A tale of sacrifice, love and heartbreak, the novel is based on the devastatingly short life of William Shakespeare’s only son. It is a heart-wrenching reimagining of a life that we know almost nothing about that inspired one of the most celebrated plays of all time.

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