Sexual discovery, marital confusion, kidnapping and an audacious art fraud: 20 books to lift your summer

The best reads across every genre, no sunshine required

Whether it's picnic-for-one in the park or downtime at the beach, a good book makes summers sweeter

Emily Hourican

There was a time when “beach read” also, usually, meant “easy read”; the kind of book that signalled its intentions with bright pastel covers, often depicting some combination of girl plus swimming pool. Plot-driven, twisty or romantic, the kind of thing that could be carted around, covered in sand, made damp by the pool, then left behind at the end of the holiday without regret.

There wasn’t a thing wrong with them but it has been exciting to see the broadening of what we mean by summer books.

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