Here are some marvellous fiction picks for summer 2026! Have a browse through and see if any stories take your fancy!

The Last Love Song by Lucinda Riley

Falling in love could be the biggest risk of all . . .

A captivating tale of love and loss, set on the wild coast of Ireland and in glamorous 1960s London. From Lucinda Riley, the internationally bestselling author of the Seven Sisters series. ‘I adored it’ – Santa Montefiore, author of Shadows in the Moonlight

When Sorcha O’Donovan encounters struggling musician Con Daly – the strikingly handsome outcast in their small village on West Cork’s windswept coastline – her days will never be the same.

Con strikes gold with rock band The Fishermen in London, but their lives change beyond recognition as the dark side of fame rears its head and secrets from the past threaten to destroy everything he has worked for. Twenty years later, The Fishermen agree to re-form for the Music for Life charity concert at Wembley Stadium. But Con has been missing for more than a decade.

There’s only one person who can find out what happened; only one person who knows how vital it is to uncover the truth. Because should Con Daly reappear before the facts emerge, then history could repeat itself with even more tragic consequences . .

. ‘I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough’ – Karen Swan, author of The Stolen Hours

Lucinda Riley wrote The Last Love Song as Lucinda Edmonds, now reworked and revived by Harry Whittaker, Lucinda’s son and co-author of Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2026, A SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER, THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, OVER TWO MILLION COPIES SOLD WORLDWIDE, A TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR 2025, AN IRISH TIMES BESTSELLER, A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK.

'A warm, funny gem of a novel' LAURA HACKETT, THE TIMES

'Masterful . . . I was delighted and moved' NEW YORK TIMES

'Immensely enjoyable' GUARDIAN

Sybil Van Antwerp is seventy-three, slowly losing her sight and always writing letters... To her children. Her favourite authors. Her ex-sister-in-law. The journalist poking into her past. Her doctor. Suitors. Kindly neighbours. The infuriating gardening club. All receive Sybil’s witty, wise correspondence, rich with everyday concerns. But there is one letter that she has never sent. It concerns the darkest period of her life.

To post it, Sybil must find forgiveness within herself. The hardest letter to write is the one you’d never dare to send.

No Friend To This House by Virginia Evans

Marie Claire Best Book of 2026 Exiled daughter, abandoned wife, vengeful mother. But is that where the truth lies? This is the story of Medea as you’ve never heard it before. Jason and his Argonauts set sail to find the Golden Fleece.

The journey is filled with danger, and if Jason ever reaches the distant land he seeks, he faces almost certain death. Medea – priestess, witch, and daughter of the brutal king who jealously guards the fleece – has the power to save Jason's life. Will she betray her family and her home?Burning with desire for this stranger, as the gods intend, Medea chooses Jason over her kin.

But their love is steeped in vengeance from the beginning, and no one – not even those closest to them – will be safe when their passion is spent . . .

Based on the classic tragedy by Euripides, this is Medea as you’ve never seen her before . . .

Praise for Natalie Haynes: ‘Witty, gripping, ruthless’ – Margaret Atwood on Stone Blind

‘Fiercely feminist... a many-layered delight’ – The Guardian on A Thousand Ships

‘Passionate and gripping’ – Madeline Miller, author of Circe on The Children of Jocasta

No Friend to This House is an extraordinary reimagining of the myth of Medea from Natalie Haynes, the Sunday Times bestselling author of Stone Blind.

Isola by Allegra Goodman

A REESE’S BOOK CLUB PICK

The New York Times ‘Best Books of the Year (So Far)'A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in a deeply moving novel of love, faith and survival, for readers of Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist and Anthony Doerr’s All The Light We Cannot See

‘This made me cry on an airplane but it was worth it! A luscious, rich and moving novel, a beautiful, careful and profound book about survival and hope’ Alice Winn, bestselling author of In Memoriam

‘An extraordinary book that reads like a thriller, written with the care of the most delicate psychological and historical fiction’ Vogue ‘Best Books of 2025’ ‘A shocking story, made all the more stunning by the fact that it has its roots in true history’ Jodi Picoult, author of My Sister's Keeper 

In sixteenth-century France, as the heiress to an aristocratic fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of privilege. Then she is orphaned, and her enigmatic and volatile guardian squanders her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to the new French colonies of North America. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian’s servant and the two develop an intense attraction.

But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished, abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue. From a childhood dressed in gowns with laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she had never before needed…Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola tells the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival.

 

We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune

 

‘Like being wrapped up in a big gay blanket’ – V. E. Schwab, author of Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil.

The world is ending in thirty days.

A wandering black hole is approaching Earth, and soon, everything will be gone. For husbands Don and Rodney, forty years of marriage suddenly feels like no time at all. One last road trip.

One final chance to say goodbye.

From the Sunday Times bestselling author of The House in the Cerulean Sea comes a story about what we owe the people we love when time runs out. Don and Rodney are in a race against the clock, driving from Maine to Washington State to settle unfinished business before the sky breaks. Is it enough to burn bright, even if nothing remains of the ashes?Along the way, they encounter a world choosing how to spend its final moments—from impromptu weddings and bright bonfires to those simply sharing a final meal.

Under a kaleidoscope sky and a cracked moon, Don and Rodney must look back on a lifetime of highs and lows and ask the ultimate question: was our best good enough?A bittersweet, life-affirming masterpiece about love, legacy, and the beauty of a life well-lived.

 

The Summer Boy by Philippe Besson

The New Novel from the author of Lie With Me‘Doomed youth, simmering desire and 100-proof nostalgia is what Besson does - and he does it very well . . .

'This novel made me nostalgic for the sultry summers I never had’ The Times

On an island off the coast of France, six teenagers come together for a summer of desire and discovery until one of them vanishes forever, leaving the rest with an enduring mystery.

Tell me, do you know why the most beautiful love stories must always end badly?

 In the summer of 1985, on a scruffy resort island off the coast of France, six teenagers—five boys and one girl—band together for a final golden season before adulthood. Their days are drenched in sun and freedom, and their nights simmer with secrets, jealousy, and longing. Philippe is drawn to Nicolas, the quiet new boy who sees him in a way that no one else does.

As their bond deepens, part of Nicolas remains unreachable—until a sudden tragedy brings their summer to a brutal end. The Summer Boy is a lush and unforgettable autobiographical tale, capturing the ineffable summers of youth in amber. Celebrated novelist Philippe Besson has shaped his memories into an aching meditation on how one summer night—and one fierce connection—can echo across a lifetime.