Your spring summer reading list is here, and it’s set to be a sizzler. We’ve got a signature Beth O’Leary romance (swoon), a heart-wrenching and profound exploration of racial injustice and a searing YA memoir-manifesto from LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson.
Here’s a look at the next book club picks in more detail.
April – The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
Nancy Johnson’s The Kindest Lie is one of the most buzzed about books of the season. A complex exploration of race, class, family and forgiveness and what it means to live the American dream – we can’t wait to finish this in one spring sitting. Check out the blurb below, and purchase the book from bookshop.org here!
A promise could betray you.
It’s 2008, and the inauguration of President Barack Obama ushers in a new kind of hope. In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle, an Ivy-League educated Black engineer, is married to a kind and successful man. He’s eager to start a family, but Ruth is uncertain. She has never gotten over the baby she gave birth to-and was forced to leave behind-when she was a teenager. She had promised her family she’d never look back, but Ruth knows that to move forward, she must make peace with the past.
Returning home, Ruth discovers the Indiana factory town of her youth is plagued by unemployment, racism, and despair. As she begins digging into the past, she unexpectedly befriends Midnight, a young white boy who is also adrift and looking for connection. Just as Ruth is about to uncover a burning secret her family desperately wants to keep hidden, a traumatic incident strains the town’s already searing racial tensions, sending Ruth and Midnight on a collision course that could upend both their lives.
Powerful and revealing, The Kindest Lie captures the heartbreaking divide between Black and white communities and offers both an unflinching view of motherhood in contemporary America and the never-ending quest to achieve the American Dream.
May – The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary
We’re so excited to read Beth O’Leary’s third novel The Road Trip. Beth has cemented herself as one of our all-time favourite authors with her charming, heartfelt and hilarious literary voice. Her writing is like comfort food for the soul and we’re predicting her latest novel is going to be one hell of a ride. Check out the blurb below, and purchase the book from bookshop.org here!
Addie and her sister are about to embark on an epic road trip to a friend’s wedding in rural Scotland. The playlist is all planned and the snacks are packed.
But, not long after setting off, a car slams into the back of theirs. The driver is none other than Addie’s ex, Dylan, who she’s avoided since their traumatic break-up two years earlier.
Dylan and his best mate are heading to the wedding too, and they’ve totalled their car, so Addie has no choice but to offer them a ride. The car is soon jam-packed full of luggage and secrets, and with four hundred miles ahead of them, Dylan and Addie can’t avoid confronting the very messy history of their relationship…
Will they make it to the wedding on time? And, more importantly… is this really the end of the road for Addie and Dylan?
June – All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
From having their teeth kicked out by bullies at age five to their first sexual relationships, All Boys Aren’t Blue is a series of unflinching personal essays chronicling George M. Johnson’s experience growing up under the duality of being black and queer. Check out the blurb below, and purchase the book from bookshop.org here!
This powerful YA memoir-manifesto follows journalist and LGBTQ+ activist George M. Johnson as they explore their childhood, adolescence, and college years, growing up under the duality of being black and queer.
From memories of getting their teeth kicked out by bullies at age five to their loving relationship with their grandmother, to their first sexual experience, the stories wrestle with triumph and tragedy and cover topics such as gender identity, toxic masculinity, brotherhood, family, inequality, consent, and Black joy.
