Holiday reads 2026: the best books for summer

This is the life-affirming new read from the author of Confessions of a Forty-something F**k Up. Despite discovering that the man she thought was her soulmate has stolen her life savings, her home, and her confidence, Maggie refuses to be anyone’s victim. When she meets Flick, a young reporter eager for her big break, the two set off on a wild chase across Europe to find the man who deceived her. Along the way, amid mischievous adventures and an unlikely friendship, Maggie begins to realise that revenge isn’t the only thing worth chasing. 

Dream Harbor fans, welcome to your new obsession (which may become more than just a holiday fling). Sasha Lee is a matchmaker, helping her customers find love over a good cup of matcha. She, however, is not interested in such a commitment. Until she meets 'unmatchable' Ben, who challenges her to find someone for him. As their daily banter becomes the highlight of her day, Sasha must confront the possibility that her own love story might be brewing. Will she embrace the unexpected romance, or let her past fears keep her from true love?

Now you've read Heart the Lover, it's time to go back to the original. . . Casey is lost. She is mourning the death of her mother, the novel she has been writing for six years isn’t going anywhere, and her debt is soaring. Surely at thirty-one, when all her friends are getting married and having kids, she is too old for things to be this way. Then she meets Silas. He is kind, handsome, interested. But only a few weeks later, Oscar – older, fascinating, complicated – walks into her life, his two boys in tow. Suddenly Casey finds herself at the point of a love triangle, torn between two very different futures. 

Los Angeles, 1964. Del and Dinah Newman and their two sons, Guy and Shep, have been America's Favourite Family for two decades. Every week, they play perfect, monochrome versions of themselves on TV for an adoring public. But now the Sixties are in full swing, and the Newmans’ perfection is starting to feel embarrassingly out of touch. And with car crashes, explosive secrets and very real life troubles all in the mix, it's not just their ratings that are in free fall. . . Dinah decides to take control and hires a young reporter to help them go out on a high with a brilliant final episode. But the two women have starkly different views on what it means to be a woman, and a family, in 1960s America. This glamorous and nostalgic read is perfect for fans of Lessons in Chemistry and The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

This uplifting book about friendship and hope is perfect for relaxing with by the pool. When a birthday lunch takes a shocking turn, it proves a catalyst for change amongst four friends. For Laura, it's a wake-up call. For sensible Jo, it's a sign to throw caution to the wind. For Eve, it's a push in a needed direction. And for India, it's a reminder of long-buried secrets. 

Hopefully the only storms we get this summer will be the fictional ones that force these two leads together. Quincy Monroe and Sebastian Dunn are academic and professional rivals working on a record-breaking Florida hurricane season. Both meteorologists, Sebastian is a flashy weatherman from NYC, who also happens to be the brother of Quincy's best friend, while her equal success has been much harder to achieve in their male-dominated field. Still, now the two of them must set aside their grudges to chase storms and stay alive. Will lightning strike?

University friends Dora, Penny, Nell, and Moira venture back to a Greek island they once explored years ago, seeking sun, sand, and sea. Yet they are hoping for more than just a nostalgic trip – they're also all looking for something to help them through difficult times in their lives. However, what unfolds in Kyri is far greater than anticipated: an opportunity to reinvent themselves, to contribute meaningfully to a community, to find joy, and perhaps even love. But crucially, they discover the most valuable lesson of all – understanding the true importance of female friendship.

As childhood neighbours Theo and Magdalen reunite for a summer wedding in the tiny Italian village they grew up in, neither can deny the connection they feel for each other even after years apart. As the pair reminisce and get to know each other all over again, long-buried secrets threaten to stop their love from blossoming for good. Perfect for the beach, the garden or your sofa, I’ll Look for You, Everywhere is a feel-good romantic novel set in sun-kissed Italy. 

Stella Baldwin’s world has recently fallen apart. Left at the altar and humiliated online, she’s trying to piece her life back together. Meanwhile, Formula 1 driver Thomas Maxwell-Brown is struggling with career pressure and his newfound reputation as the most hated man on the grid. When their paths cross in Las Vegas, a spontaneous marriage of convenience seems like the perfect solution. But as they navigate their new reality, sparks fly, and the line between convenience and something deeper begins to blur.

The Seven Sisters, the first book in Lucinda Riley’s internationally bestselling series, introduces readers to the D'Aplièse sisters, six adopted women raised by the man they call Pa Salt. Upon his sudden death, the sisters are each given a clue that leads them on a journey to uncover their true heritage. Maia, the eldest, follows her clue to Brazil, where she uncovers a deeply hidden family secret and begins to put together the pieces of where her story began. This new 10th anniversary edition is complete with a new foreword from Lucinda's son, Harry Whittaker, and additional reading group material.

Jane Harper’s thrillers are true page turners, and Exiles is no exception. When investigator Aaron Falk searches for missing woman Kim Gillespie, who vanished without a trace on a busy summer night, he soon realises that the case is not as simple as it may seem. Uncovering secrets that her community doesn’t want to be revealed, Falk has his work cut out to find Gillespie and discover the truth at the heart of the case. 

Dive into the high-stakes world of Walter Nash, a successful, mild-mannered businessman whose life is turned upside down when the FBI reveals the company he works for is actually a criminal organisation that they want him to help bring down from the inside. To join this quest for justice (and revenge), he must transform himself into a man he barely recognises. But can he actually do it? 

Instant Sunday Times bestseller Beautiful Ugly is a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage and revenge. When Grady Green finds his wife’s car by a cliff edge, the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there . . . but she is nowhere to be seen. A year later, still in the depths of grief and on a trip to a remote island in search of a fresh start, he sees the impossible: a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. Prepare for a tense, atmospheric read with a chilling twist.

Her earpiece has been hacked. She’s live on air in the middle of the interview. They tell her they have kidnapped her family. In Deadline, the debut thriller from award-winning broadcaster and journalist Steph McGovern, a high-stakes, nightmare scenario turns a TV reporter's dream opportunity into a terrifying hostage situation. This must-read thriller masterfully builds suspense to keep you on the edge of your seat.

Following the success of The Lamplighters, Emma Stonex returns with a taut, emotionally charged thriller set in January 1989. Birdie has waited eighteen long years for this moment: the man who killed her sister is out of prison. With a gun in her bag and vengeance on her mind, she sets off for London. But as she closes in, secrets from the past begin to surface . . .

Snap this up in hardback before you can hear any spoilers! A dead judge. A defendant who refuses to speak. And a case that may be unwinnable by design. When junior barrister Leila Reynolds is thrust into a high-profile murder trial, she is chosen by the accused for reasons she does not understand. As the courtroom battle intensifies, Leila must persuade a jury without testimony, evidence that won’t cooperate, and while concealing secrets of her own. Every argument cuts both ways, and the truth threatens to dismantle everything she is trying to protect.

The Cut Throat Trial is the first legal thriller from the million-copy bestselling Secret Barrister. From an author with incomparable insider’s knowledge, this page-turner follows a trial billed as the ‘biggest of the year’, as three seventeen-year-old boys are accused of the brutal murder of an elderly teacher on New Year's Eve. Each boy denies it. Each points the finger at the other two. But they can’t all be innocent.

Tense and atmospheric, if you love a thriller that carefully weaves multiple mysteries together (and is also set on a holiday), A Beautiful Family is a must-read. Ten-year-old Alix is left to her own devices during a summer holiday as her parents become unusually distracted. When she meets a new friend, they decide to investigate a local mystery: a girl who vanished two years earlier. But when their search soon uncovers secrets they wish they’d left alone.

Fans of YA crime like The Reappearance of Rachel Price should snap this up. Sarah has got a fair few people's backs up over the years, in her voluntary role as high school amateur detective and part-time vigilante. And now she's disappeared, leaving behind a binder labelled 'In case I go missing.' Her friend Fenny knows Sarah was mid-major investigation, and there must be foul play involved. So she decides to pick up the case.

The ideal read when you have a destination holiday planned (or even when you don't)? A destination thriller. On a sun-soaked voyage around enchanting French Polynesia, three rising stars, their CEO and their partners are living the dream: cocktails, coral reefs, and the promise of reward after a year of hard work. But as the tight quarters of their luxury superyacht close in, tensions emerge - not just between the guests, but the jaded crew serving them. Soon, secrets surface, marriages crack, and danger stalks guests below the deck. And when a passenger is found dead, it's clear the glossy facade has shattered forever.

The rafting trip was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. But Kaia’s starting to think she made a mistake. The incidents start small – a flipped raft, missing supplies, and screams in the night – but with eighty-four miles of whitewater until any sign of civilization, safety has never felt so far away. Kaia suspects that one of the guides is lying. One of the guests knows more than she’s saying. And somewhere on this river, someone is planning to finish what they've started.

What actually happened when Eilis returned to New York? Long Island is the long-awaited sequel to Colm Tóibín's prize-winning, bestselling novel Brooklyn. Eilis and Tony have built a secure, happy life; twenty years married and with two children looking towards a good future. But then a man with an Irish accent knocks on their door, and everything changes. Did Eilis make the wrong choice marrying Tony all those years ago? Is it too late now to take a different path? 

Beginning with a foundling on a windswept Irish shore, Carr’s novel unfolds into a rich portrait of community, rivalry and belonging. It takes us to Ireland's west coat in the 1970s, where a baby is found alone on the beach. Adopted by fisherman Ambrose Bonnar, the boy captivates Bonnar's family and the close-knit town immediately, through love, worry and envy. Set over twenty years, this is a tale of ordinary lives made extraordinary, and a quiet community attempting to adapt in a fast-changing world.

Maggie, Harley and Róise are friends on the brink: of triumph, catastrophe, or maybe just finally growing up. Their crumbling Belfast house share has been witness to their roaring twenties, but now fault-lines are beginning to show. The three girls are still grieving the tragic death of their friend, Lydia, whose room remains untouched. Their last big fight hangs heavy over their heads, unspoken since the accident. And now they are all beginning to unravel.

Moss moves between 1960s Italy and contemporary Ireland in a novel that is quietly exacting about secrecy, womanhood and the stories families live inside. Teenager Edith has been sent by her mother to rural Italy. She must find her sister Lydia, a ballet dancer, help as she gives birth, then make a phone call which will seal all their fates. Decades later, another phone call changes the course of Edith's best friend Maebh's life, as an American man claiming to be her brother asks to meet.

A love story shaped as much by absence as presence, Almost Life follows two women across decades of near-misses and charged reunions. Beginning in 1970s Paris, Millwood Hargrave builds a sensual, restless narrative about the lives we defer and the selves we never quite inhabit. Erica is a student, relishing her first summer abroad before beginning university at home in England. Laure is studying for her Ph.D. at the Sorbonne, drinking and smoking far too much, and sleeping with a married woman. When they meet on the steps of the Sacré-Cœur, they form an undeniable connection that will determine the course of their lives – almost. This is a novel that asks what it means to choose, and what it costs not to.

Among Friends begins in the polished world of old loyalties and inherited privilege, then coolly strips away its certainties, as a shocking act of violence brings long-held resentments and rivalries to the surface. Amos and Emerson have had an unbreakable friendship for over thirty years. Their wives are close. Their daughters grew up together. They're enjoying a wealthy middle age. But now their worlds have been shattered and each must choose whom and what they love most. Elegant, psychologically acute and edged with menace, it is the kind of social novel that leaves a bruise.

Soon to be a major motion picture, The Nightingale is a multi-million copy bestseller across the world. It is a heart-breakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the endurance of women. This story is about what it was like to be a woman during World War II when women’s stories were all too often forgotten or overlooked . . . Vianne and Isabelle Mauriac are two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals and passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path towards survival, love and freedom in war-torn France.

Frankie McGrath, a nursing student in 1965 California, has her world transformed when she's told 'women can be heroes, too.' Joining the Army Nurses Corps to follow her brother to Vietnam, Frankie faces the harsh realities of war and its aftermath. Amidst chaos and heartbreak, she finds strength in female friendship and learns the value of sacrifice and commitment. This emotionally charged novel illuminates the often-forgotten stories of women who bravely served their country.

Autumn, 1895. An anarchist boards the ill-fated Granville to Paris express train, determined to make her mark on history. Aboard the train are others from across the globe: the railway crew who have built a life together away from their wives, a little boy travelling alone for the first time, an artist far from home, a wealthy statesman and his invalid wife, and a young woman with a secret. This is a historical thriller you won't be able to put down. 

Now a major BBC One series, Janice Hadlow's novel gives life to Mary Bennet, cast aside amidst the glory of her sisters in Pride and Prejudice's Bennet family. In The Other Bennet Sister, we see Mary as a person fighting for validation in a family where she feels she doesn’t belong, but for whom there might be a happy ending after all.

Portal fantasy meets razor-edged political intrigue in this addictive new epic from No. 1 New York Times bestselling duo Ilona Andrews. When Maggie wakes up in Kair Toren – the brutal city from her favourite unfinished fantasy series – she realises two things: she knows how the story ends, and she cannot die. Armed only with her encyclopaedic knowledge of rival warlords, scheming nobles and looming catastrophe, Maggie dives headfirst into a world of assassins, duelling princes and dangerously alluring allies.

Magical mysteries, unlikely friendships, and spellbinding romance are all abundant in The Spellshop, Sarah Beth Durst’s cosy, cottagecore fantasy novel. Librarian Kiela is quite happy with her solitary life, looking after the dusty tomes in the Great Library of Alyssium with Caz, her sentient spider plant, in tow. When the library erupts in flames and the pair are forced to flee from the empire’s vicious takeover, they find themselves on a faraway island and in the company of a handsome and overfriendly new neighbour. Will Kiela be able to make a new life for herself, or will she find it too difficult to let down her guard? 

Cosy fantasy with cinnamon-bun softness and real emotional depth, Uncharmed explores what happens when perfection begins to crack. Andromeda Wildwood runs a magical London bakery and prides herself on doing everything flawlessly – even if it drains her powers. When she’s tasked with mentoring a troubled teenage witch and forced into close quarters with a gruff cottage owner, Annie’s carefully controlled world begins to unravel. As outside threats close in, she must decide whether perfection is worth the cost. Brimming with baked goods, woodland charm and hard-won self-acceptance, this is a tender story about embracing the messiness of life.

A house full of artificial intelligence isn't uncommon, even now. A house that is an artificial intelligence is, however, is rather more unusual. However, this house is locked at the behest of its now dead architect, Basit Deniau, and only Dr. Selene Gisil, a former protégé, is permitted to enter, once a year. Now, there is a dead person in the house. It is not Basit Deniau, and it is not Dr. Gisil. It is someone else. But the house won’t communicate any further.

Humanity's final hope lies in a terraformed planet, once designed to be a new home for mankind. But when the last remnants of humanity arrive, they find a world ruled not by humans, but by an advanced civilisation of hyper-intelligent spiders – the result of a long-abandoned experiment. As two civilisations prepare to clash, humanity hangs in the balance. Who will emerge as the rightful heirs of this new Earth? Children of Time is the first book in Adrian Tchaikovsky's acclaimed space opera series, followed by Children of Ruin and Children of Memory.

Now out in luggage-friendly paperback, this is the perfect time to catch up with the book that's made headlines around the world. Careless People pulls back the curtain on one of the most powerful companies of our time: Facebook. A young diplomat from New Zealand, Sarah Wynn-Williams believed in the platform's potential to change the world for the better. But as she ascended the company’s ranks, she discovered a vastly different reality – one in equal parts absurd, maddening, and jaw-dropping. From wild schemes hatched on private jets to narrowly avoiding prison abroad, her memoir is both darkly funny and deeply unsettling. But Careless People isn’t just a story about tech – it’s a warning about what happens when responsibility is outsourced and ambition goes unchecked.

Another deserved headline-grabber, this is a gripping true story that exposes the hidden forces shaping modern London, and the latest compelling read from the bestselling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing. When teenager Zac Brettler falls to his death from a luxury riverside apartment, his parents uncover a secret double life and are drawn into a world of extreme wealth, deception and danger. Patrick Radden Keefe blends forensic reporting with emotional depth, revealing how a global city’s glittering surface can conceal darker truths about power, identity and inequality. It’s both a heartbreaking family story and a sharp portrait of a city in flux.

Yes, this is a personal finance book that you will actually want to read on holiday. Shifting the focus from numbers to behaviour, The Psychology of Money uses a series of engaging, story-driven chapters to reveal how emotions, habits and personal history shape the way we earn, spend and invest. Rather than offering rigid rules, Morgan Housel provides timeless insights that help you think more clearly about risk, wealth and long-term success. Accessible, thought-provoking and immediately useful, it’s essential reading if you want to make smarter decisions with money.

A lively, no-holds-barred memoir from one of Britain’s most influential comic voices, this is as entertaining as you’d expect – and more revealing than you might anticipate. Ben Elton takes readers behind the scenes of landmark shows like Blackadder and The Young Ones, while reflecting on the creative risks, friendships and controversies that shaped his career. Packed with sharp humour and candid insight, it’s also a portrait of how comedy evolved over decades of cultural change. A must-read if you want to understand what makes great comedy – and the people behind it. Plus, of course, a ‘little bit of politics’.

If for you a break from work offers the chance to get refreshed and inspired so you can bring your best self to what comes next, this is the holiday read for you. The bestselling author of Range returns with a book on how to do more with less, and use limits to encourage creativity and innovation. In a world of apparently limitless possibilities and the constant option to keep our options open, David Epstein makes the case for the opposite approach. Through storytelling and cognitive science, he shows that rather than finding endless alternatives, we need to choose the right limits.