Beach Reads
Beach days may be winding down, but summer isn’t over just yet. In fact, with the crowds thinning and the beach a little quieter, this might be one of the best times of year to settle into the sand with a good book. And while I’m never quite ready to say goodbye to summer, a fresh stack of September releases certainly makes the arrival of fall a little easier to embrace. Here are a few new books that are worth making room for in your beach bag and on your fall reading list.
“Hollow Bones”by Jodi Picoult
On Sept. 11, 2001, Molly Fitzgerald was just 2 months old when her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Molly was raised by a loving father and stepmother, but growing up with that kind of loss left its mark, especially when it comes to her fear of the unexpected. As an adult, Molly has made a career out of preparing for the worst. She runs Rhode Island’s Department for Emergency Preparedness, where she plans for everything from hurricanes and epidemics to plane crashes. She’s also happily married to Jesse, a police polygraph expert who understands a thing or two about living through a crisis himself. Something completely unexpected shakes their new marriage, Molly and Jesse are forced to question what they thought they knew about each other and themselves.
“Paper Ghosts” by Sarah Addison Allen
For years, the women of Wester House have been a source of curiosity in their small North Carolina town. Their old family home is filled with secrets, memories, and just enough mystery to make people wonder if there’s something a little unusual about the Wester women. When Willamena Wester reaches out to the granddaughter she once pushed away, some long-buried family secrets finally begin to surface. The story moves between two timelines. In 1976, a young Willamena falls for a stranded musician who offers her a glimpse of a life beyond the one her family has mapped out for her. In the present day, Bailey Wester reluctantly returns home and reconnects with Willamena, the grandmother she has always feared. As Bailey learns more about her grandmother’s past, she begins to see the heartbreak, love, and difficult choices that shaped the generations of women who came before her.
“Every Story Is a Love Story” by Imbolo Mbue
Three years ago, Wolo lost his wife in a tragic car accident. Since then, he’s slowly figured out how to keep going. He works, spends time with a small group of friends, and does his best to dodge the match making attempts of the older women in his family. His grief hasn’t disappeared, but it has finally started to feel a little less overwhelming. Then a letter arrives from the last person he ever expected to hear from: Victoria, the woman who was driving the car that killed his wife. Everyone in Wolo’s life has an opinion about what he should do with it. His pastor thinks the letter is trouble, his mother wants him to forget it ever arrived, and his father’s second wife calls from Cameroon to tell him to destroy it. But Wolo can’t quite let it go. Eventually, he agrees to meet Victoria and finds himself surprised by her genuine remorse and by the compassion he begins to feel for her.
“Proof of Progress” by Elizabeth Castellano
At 65, Maria Astorini is having a comeback. The once-popular character actress and late-night talk show favorite has been through just about everything: deaths, divorces, a famous mother, a Hollywood blacklist, public embarrassments, money troubles, an empty nest, a complicated best friend, and even a pandemic. But thanks to one small, unexpected role, Maria suddenly finds herself back in the spotlight and more popular than ever. And then comes the phone call she’s been avoiding for nearly 40 years: Her publisher wants the memoir she promised to write decades ago. Maria is pretty sure the world doesn’t need another celebrity tell-all, but a contract is a contract. So, she finally sits down to write, or at least attempts to, and what emerges is a collection of funny, candid stories about the big moments, little moments, mistakes, relationships, and surprises that have made up her very unpredictable life.
“The Thoroughbreds” by Elin Hilderbrand
September at Tiffin Academy means one thing: the pressure is on. For the school’s senior class, or “sixth formers,” as they’re called at Tiffin, it’s a whirlwind of college applications, parties, last hurrahs, and trying to figure out what comes next. But beneath all that back-to-school excitement, there are plenty of secrets waiting to come out. The school’s “It Couple,” Charley and East, may be falling apart. Football star Dub is suddenly at odds with his best friend, Hakeem. Posh day student Pippa Sacks seems ready to shake up Tiffin’s carefully balanced social scene. And Head of School Audre Robinson is trying to save both her job and the school after a major financial mistake. Then there’s the biggest mystery of all: What was in the e-mail attachment Cinnamon Peters sent to Dub before she died?
“Sophie, Standing There” by Meg Mason
Sophie Pattison is a book lover with what sounds like a great life: She has a dream job at a local book festival, a husband she adores, a lifelong best friend, Emma, and a brother she’s always been close to. So how did she end up living alone, not speaking to Emma, avoiding her brother, and on the verge of losing her job? With the rest of her life seemingly falling apart, Sophie turns to the one thing that has always been there for her: books. When she rediscovers an author she first loved in her 20s, the novels hit differently this time around. She reads everything the author has written, finding comfort and companionship in her words and eventually becoming a little obsessed with the idea of meeting her.
