It’s that time of the year again, when all the summer reading lists are published in full force. This summer may not be entirely back to normal – with many of us perhaps destined for grey-skies staycations – but we are nonetheless overjoyed to see eleven of our books chosen as the page turners to add to your suitcase. From a middle-grade maritime adventure, to exquisite meditations on the nature of love and a novel that will transport you to 1940s Delhi, this year promises a phenomenal season for books. Below, we round up the FBA titles on summer reading lists so far, which can all be purchased through Bookshop.org by clicking the title.

Fiction

The Coldest Case, Martin Walker (Quercus, 27 May)

‘It’s part of a wonderful mystery series set in southwest France and the plots are as much foie gras as foul play. Line up a chilly bottle of Bergerac sec and I’ll be set’ – Publishers Weekly, ‘Summer Reads 2021: Staff Picks’

The Promise, Damon Galgut (Chatto & Windus, 17 June)

‘A white South African family’s blinkered life and tragic fate unspools over four decades, beginning in the late 1980s, in this magnificent new novel. Galgut sweeps his ruthlessly forensic gaze over each of the protagonists, exposing the poison within the Swart family itself as well as the country at large’ – The Financial Times, ‘Summer Books of 2021: Fiction’

‘This stylish and immensely affecting South African saga, centred on a white woman’s promise to hand her house over to her black nurse, packs a huge amount into its 300 pages’ – The Sunday Times, ‘100 Best Books to Read for Summer 2021’

Moth, Melody Razak (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 24 June)

‘A British-Iranian writer, Razak is also a pastry chef, who ran a cake shop in Brighton for eight years before embarking upon an MA in creative writing. She also wrote Moth, a powerful family narrative set in partition India and Pakistan, while on long train journeys travelling through India’ – Harper’s Bazaar, ‘Five Debut Female Authors to Read This Summer’

Non-Fiction

Putin’s People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took on the West, Catherine Belton (William Collins, 15 April)

 

‘Putin’s People is an extraordinary piece of reportage’ – The Times, ‘100 Best Books to Read for Summer 2021’

How to Love Animals: In a Human-Shaped World, Henry Mance (Jonathan Cape, 29 April)

 

‘In this urgent and probing new book, the FT’s chief features writer – himself a vegan – explores the dilemmas and contradictions that define our relationship with other animals’ – The Financial Times, ‘Summer Books of 2021: From Our Stable’

How to Make the World Add Up: Ten Rules for Thinking Differently About Numbers, Tim Harford (Little, Brown, 6 May 2021)

‘As a presenter of Radio 4’s More or Less, Harford is a calm voice in the often confusing and clamorous world of statistics’ – the Guardian, ‘Summer Reading: The 50 Hottest New Books Everyone Should Read’

The Frontiers of Knowledge: What We Know About Science, History and The Mind, A.C. Grayling (Viking, 6 May)

‘The British philosopher gives a brilliant survey of state-of-the-art science, history and psychology, showing that the more we learn the more we realise we don’t know’ – The Daily Telegraph, ‘Summer Reading: 75 Best Books To Take on Holi

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Conversations on Love, Natasha Lunn (Viking, 15 July)

‘Life affirming… I found it immensely moving and immediately passed it on’ – The Observer, recommended by Stacey Halls in ‘Summer Reads To Get Lost In’

Children’s and YA

Bone Music, David Almond (Hodder Children’s Books, 1 April)

‘This lyrical novel illustrates his exceptional capacity to combine the ordinary and the visionary’ – The Sunday Times, ‘Best Children’s Books for Summer 2021’

The House of Hollow, Krystal Sutherland (Hot Key Books, 6 April)

‘A gorgeous, grisly modern fairytale’ – the Guardian, ‘Summer Reading: The 50 Hottest Books Everyone Should Read’

Wave Riders, Lauren St John (Macmillan Children’s Books, 10 June)

‘A rippingly told adventure involving peril at sea, villainous millionaires, family mysteries, a contested inheritance, cruel separations, a pair of intrepid orphan twins and a dog’ – The Times, ‘Best Children’s Books for Summer 2021’