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Five new books to read this week

Five new books to read this week
Posted on | Posted on Theodore

From political memoirs to romantic comedies, there are a whole host of new releases on offer this week…

fiction

1. Wife by Charlotte Mendelson is published in hardcover by Mantle. Available now

Charlotte Mendelson returns with her latest novel, Wife, a smartly written story that takes readers right into the making and breaking of a marriage. When young classicist Zoe Stamper meets the beautiful and mature Dr. Penelope Cartwright, she is instantly smitten and the two begin a passionate affair that leads to a loving marriage. But as one of the couple’s careers blossoms and children (as well as complex relationships with the daughter’s father) arrive, things become strained. Or has it always been this way? In a fascinating format that takes us back and forth between “then” and “now,” Wife analyzes gay marriage in the 1990s, the legal rights of parents, coercive relationships, and motherhood. It’s insightful, engaging, and thoroughly entertaining.
8/10
(Review by Holly Cowell)

2. The Rich People Have Gone Away by Regina Porter is published in hardcover by Jonathan Cape. Available now

The Rich People Are Gone by Regina Porter
(Jonathan Cape/PA)

Although it starts off a little slow and confusing, The Rich People Have Gone Away quickly picks up pace and becomes a restless, fascinating novel about a large group of diverse New Yorkers grappling with the disappearance of a young, pregnant woman at the height of the Covid pandemic in 2020. After a heated trek upstate with his pregnant wife Darla, Theo becomes the prime suspect in a high-profile police search for the perfect missing woman, and so the cast come together in an original and complex novel. The Rich People Have Gone Away also raises debates about race and class – underlined by a gripping ending. It’s worth getting into because it’s interesting and different – and it’s worth wading through the convoluted beginning, which leads to the introduction of a wide range of characters once the story starts to unravel.
7/10
(Review by Carla Feric)

3. “The Pairing” by Casey McQuiston is published in hardcover by Macmillan. Available now

Theo is still struggling with a broken heart four years after an abrupt split from his best friend and eventual lover, Kit. The couple had booked a wine and gourmet tour of Europe. Rather than waste the tickets, Theo decides to go alone, only to discover that Kit is on the same bus. This rather unlikely coincidence forces the couple to confront their past and, in Theo’s case, any assumptions they may have about their ex’s new life. McQuiston’s latest novel starts off a little slow, but the characters become more compelling the more the author tells their backstory as they travel, eat, drink, and get to know each other again. A flirting competition adds tension to the story, but the real plot revolves around whether Theo and Kit can rekindle their romance.
7/10
(Review by Beverly Rouse)

Non-fiction

4. Let’s Be Honest: Truth, Lies And Politics by Jess Phillips is published in hardback by Gallery UK. Available now

Jess Phillips, newly re-elected MP for Birmingham Yardley, is releasing her new book just weeks after a landslide Labour victory that she hopes will alleviate many of the problems plaguing politics, which she picks apart with razor-sharp wit in Let’s Be Honest. In her nine years as an MP, Phillips has railed loudly against the state of affairs under the Conservatives, and nothing and no-one is safe from her tirades: for her, short-lived Prime Minister Liz Truss is a “dangerous madwoman”, while Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are deeply criticised for what she sees as allowing culture wars to hijack the good work that government should be doing. It’s not all venom and bile, however, as Phillips also offers emotional first-hand accounts of how some national structures have seemed to crumble in recent years, with the first chapter offering a nightmarish account of a late-night visit to the emergency department.
8/10
(Review by James Cann)

Children’s book of the week

5. “The Blonde Dies First” by Joelle Wellington is available in paperback from Penguin. Now available

Joelle Wellington’s second novel is a dark yet hilarious coming-of-age story woven with some of the most classic horror cliches. It’s Drew’s last summer at home before she heads out into the big wide world and goes to college, and her sister Devon is determined to make it the best summer ever. The summer begins with Drew taking Devon and her group of friends to a get-together where the main party object is a Ouija board. Devon is not happy, and everyone else dismisses it as a prank—but then things get scary and murderous. Can Devon keep everyone alive? Wellington has created a world where Goosebumps meets Scream, with a touch of Gilmore Girls. Pop culture, classism, racial tension, and LGBTQIA+ issues are interwoven, but it never gets heavy or didactic. The self-awareness of kitsch horror means it never veers into the gory, and the story is entirely engaging and entertaining.
9/10
(Review by Rachel Howdle)

BOOK CHARTS FOR THE WEEK END OF AUGUST 3

HARDCOVER EDITION (BELLEKTION)
1. Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon
2. Witness 8 by Steve Cavanagh
3. A Darkness Returns by Raymond E. Feist
4. You Are Here by David Nicholls
5. When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker
6. The Book Of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville
7. Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
8. Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron
9. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
10. The Story Spinner by Barbara Erskine
(Compiled by Waterstones)

HARDCOVER BOOK (NON-FICTION)
1. Pinch Of Nom Air Fryer by Kay & Kate Allinson
2. So Good by Emily English
3. Autocracy, Inc. by Anne Applebaum
4. There’s much more to come from Eleanor Mills
5. Lochs And Legends by Andy the Highlander and Lilly Hurd
6. Catherine, Princess of Wales: The Biography by Robert Jobson
7. Dinner by Meera Sodha
8. Paris ’44 by Patrick Bishop
9. Don’t Ask: The Kennedys and the Women Who Destroyed Them by Maureen Callahan
10. Jane’s Patisserie Easy Favorites by Jane Dunn
(Compiled by Waterstones)

AUDIOBOOKS (FICTION AND NON-FICTION)
1. Message deleted by KL Slater
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear
3. Killers Of The Flower Moon by David Grann
4. The Square of Sevens by Laura Shepherd-Robinson
5. None of this is true by Lisa Jewell
6. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
7. The Book Of Elsewhere by Keanu Reeves and China Miéville
8. MILF by Paloma Faith
9. A Game Of Thrones by George RR Martin
10. Unruly by David Mitchell
(Compiled by Audible)

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