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July 2020 | REDONLINE.CO.UKNEVER HAS THERE BEEN A BETTER TIME TO LOSE YOURSELF IN
A GREAT READ, SAYS RED’S LITERARY EDITOR SARRA MANNINGThis month’s
best books
Island Of
Secrets
by Rachel
Rhys
(Black Swan, £7.99,
out 25th June)
Havana feels
a long way from
Hemel Hempstead
when Iris Bailey gets
a gig as an artist-
in-residence for a
glamorous wedding
in the Cuban capital,
which is on the brink
of revolution. Despite
the exotic location,
Hollywood film director Hugh Hardman and
his fiancée Lana are hardly a happy couple
and there are secrets and dangers lurking
behind every door. Iris is a heroine you’ll
absolutely root for in this escapist tale of
murder, intrigue and romance.
The Vanishing Half
by Brit Bennett
(Dialogue, £14.99, out 25th June)
Desiree and Stella, the Vignes twins, run
away from their small, suffocating black
Southern community
when they’re 16.
Years later, Desiree
returns with her
daughter but Stella,
passing as a white
woman, has carved
out a new life as the
perfect wife and
mother and can never
go home again.
Spanning 40 years,
The Vanishing Half
is an immersive story
about family, identity
and belonging.The Other Passenger
by Louise Candlish
(Simon & Schuster, £14.99, out 25th June)
The queen of the urban thriller returns
with her winning blend of whodunnit
and thoroughly unreliable narrators.
Jamie has quit the rat race for an easier
life with a riverboat commute on the
Thames in the company of his younger,
brasher neighbour, Kit. But when Kit
goes missing, Jamie is the prime suspect,
even though he had nothing to do with
his friend’s disappearance. Or did he?The Golden Rule
by Amanda Craig
(Little Brown, £16.99, out 2nd July)
When Hannah meets Jinni on a train to
Cornwall, she finds herself agreeing to
murder Jinni’s husband Stan, if Jinni will
kill Jake – Hannah’s abusive ex. But the
broken man she finds in his crumbling
stately home is not the person Jinni
described and Hannah is soon trapped
in a deadly pact. Clever and compelling,
The Golden Rule is a modern mash-up
of Rebecca and Strangers On A Train.The Sight Of You
by Holly Miller
(Hodder & Stoughton,
£12.99, out 11th June)
Big ugly cry incoming! You’d
have to be made of stone not
to fall for this love story. Joel
has a terrible gift: he has
prophetic dreams about people
he loves, dreams which always
come true, sometimes tragically.
So when he meets Callie, who
is haunted by the past rather
than looking to the future, he
is determined to ignore his
feelings. However, love has
a way of creeping up on you.
Fans of The Time Traveler’s Wife
will adore The Sight Of You.