From John Boyne, to Claire Gleeson- Richard Osman and more… some of this summer’s most eagerly awaited books are hot off the press.

Dymphna has been chatting with the fabulous staff in The Book Centre, Waterford to bring you the must-read titles this month.

Getting things underway is a book which is sadly dealing a topic in every headline this week.

Show Me Where it Hurts by Claire Gleeson.

How do you survive the unsurvivable?
Rachel lives with her husband Tom and their two children. It’s the comfortable family life she always thought she’d have. All of that changes in an instant – when one action by Tom destroys the life they’ve built. It leaves Rachel to pore over the wreckage to try and understand what happened, to try and find a way to go on living afterwards. What emerges is a snapshot of what it’s like to live alongside someone who is suffering. Further to that is how you keep yourself afloat when the person you love is drowning – and how you survive irreparable loss. Familicide is a term being heard more and more in Irish society. As a reader, this is a deeply uncomfortable read as we see Rachel mourn her beloved children, knowing that the man who took their life was their whole world. It faces head on the question of forgiveness and more than ever, it reminds us of why we read.

Show Me Where It Hurts is utterly compelling, heartbreaking, and difficult to turn away from.

We Solve Murders by Richard Osman

Solving murders. It’s a family business. Steve Wheeler is enjoying retired life. He still does the odd bit of investigation work, but he prefers the pub quiz and afternoons at home with his cat Trouble. His days of adventure are over – that’s his daughter-in-law Amy’s business now.

Amy Wheeler is currently on a remote island keeping world-famous author Rosie D’Antonio alive. Then a dead body, a bag of money and a killer with their sights on Amy have her sending Steve an SOS… As a breakneck race around the world begins, can they stay one step ahead of a deadly enemy?

We loved The Thursday Murder Club series, and the Osman gods have heard us, because a brand new series to sink our teeth into is exactly what we needed. This is clever, witty, engaging, and light enough to be a page turner on a sandy beach- or just in the front sitting room. Ideal escapism.

Air by John Boyne

Being in limbo, 30,000 feet in the air, offers time to reflect and take stock. For Aaron Umber, it’s an opportunity to connect with his 14-year-old son. They travel halfway across the world to meet a woman who isn’t expecting them.

Unsettled by his past, and anxious for his future, Aaron is at a crossroads in life. The damage inflicted upon him during his youth has made him the man he is, but now threatens to widen the growing fissures between him and his only child.

This trip could bind them closer together, or tear them further apart.

This is a penetrating examination of action and consequence, fault and attribution, acceptance and resolution. John Boyne gives us a redemptive story of a father and a son on a moving journey to mend their troubled lives.

This is the final instalment in this series of books- all relatively short and very easy to read. This is Boyne at the best he has been for years, creating relatable characters with relatable challenges. He has written people who could be any one of us.

You Are Here by David Nicholls

Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way.

Marnie is stuck. Stuck working alone in her London flat, stuck battling the long afternoons and a life that often feels like it’s passing her by. Michael is coming undone. Reeling from his wife’s departure, increasingly reclusive, taking himself on long, solitary walks across the moors and fells.

When a persistent mutual friend and some very English weather conspire to bring them together, Marnie and Michael suddenly find themselves alone on the most epic of walks and on the precipice of a new friendship.

But can they survive the journey? A new love story by beloved bestseller David Nicholls, You Are Here is a novel of first encounters, second chances and finding the way home.

Dymphna has admittedly got a ‘penchant’ for selecting titles which tackle heavy issues and can sometimes be triggering or emotionally taxing. A David Nicholls book will ALWAYS restore joy, hope, and faith in the way forward. This book reminds us that sometimes we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

Gone by Michael Grant

Welcome to the FAYZ.

In the blink of an eye all the adults disappear in a small town in southern California and no one knows why.

Cut off from the outside world, those that are left are trapped, and there’s no help on the way. Sam Temple and his friends must do all they can to survive. Chaos rules the streets. Gangs begin to form. Sides are chosen – strong or weak. Cruel or humane.

And then there are those who begin to develop powers …

The GONE series is Lord of the Flies for the 21st century. In turns breathtaking, harrowing, and utterly terrifying.

Its complex characters and moral dilemmas will delight fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Maze Runner.

This is dystopian fiction at its best. And if your teenagers are reluctant to read, this is the series for them!

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