6 Fiction Titles to Look for in July

Vacation time is here, are you making a dent in your summer reading yet? I'm afraid I'm not about help with your progress, as here are a few more you might want to add to your list.

Letters from Skye (M)
by Jessica Brockmole (July 9)

This debut novel—told in letters, a remote island setting and war backdrop—seems ripe for comparisons to Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

"March 1912: Twenty-four-year-old Elspeth Dunn, a published poet, has never seen the world beyond her home on Scotland’s remote Isle of Skye. So she is astonished when her first fan letter arrives, from a college student, David Graham, in far-away America. As the two strike up a correspondence—sharing their favorite books, wildest hopes, and deepest secrets—their exchanges blossom into friendship, and eventually into love. But as World War I engulfs Europe and David volunteers as an ambulance driver on the Western front, Elspeth can only wait for him on Skye, hoping he’ll survive. June 1940: At the start of World War II, Elspeth’s daughter, Margaret, has fallen for a pilot in the Royal Air Force. Her mother warns her against seeking love in wartime, an admonition Margaret doesn’t understand. Then, after a bomb rocks Elspeth’s house, and letters that were hidden in a wall come raining down, Elspeth disappears. Only a single letter remains as a clue to Elspeth’s whereabouts. As Margaret sets out to discover where her mother has gone, she must also face the truth of what happened to her family long ago."

Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger (M)
by Beth Harbison (July 9).

Even if this book ends up being really terrible, I think it deserves the award for title of the year: it's been making me giggle pretty much constantly since first hearing about it in April. Let me clear, there is nothing to indicate that this book will be terrible, it actually seems like perfect summer fare.

"Ten years ago, Quinn Barton was on her way to the altar to marry Burke Morrison, her high school sweetheart, when something derailed her. Rather, someone derailed her—the Best Man who at the last minute begged her to reconsider the marriage. He told her that Burke had been cheating on her. For a long time. Quinn, stunned, hurt, and confused, struggled with the obligation of fulfilling her guests’ expectations—providing a wedding—and running for her life. She chose running. With the Best Man. Who happened to be Burke’s brother, Frank."

Visitation Street (M)
by Ivy Pochoda (July 9)

I've been reading pre-release buzz for this thriller—another release from author Denis Lehane's new publishing house, which also published last year's hit The Cutting Season by Attica Locke—for months.

"It’s summertime in Red Hook, Brooklyn, a blue-collar dockside neighborhood. June and Val, two fifteen-year-olds, take a raft out onto the bay at night to see what they can see. And then they disappear. Only Val will survive, washed ashore; semi-conscious in the weeds." Starred reviews already in a number of sources, Kirkus called it "A terrific story in the vein of Dennis Lehane's fiction."

House of Tides (M)
by Hannah Richell (July 16).

"The Tides are a family with many secrets. Haunted by the events of one tragic day a decade ago, they are each, in their own way, struggling to move forward with their lives. There is Dora, the family's youngest daughter, who lives in a ramshackle London warehouse with her artist boyfriend. She is doing a good job of skating across the surface of her life, but when she discovers she is pregnant, she finds herself staring back at the darkness of a long-held guilt. Dora's mother, Helen, is a complicated woman whose relationship with her family has always been turbulent, while her father Richard has cobbled together a life that bears little resemblance to his boyhood dreams. And Cassie, Dora's long-estranged sister, has cut off her family entirely, it seems. When Dora arrives at Clifftops, her family's rambling home on the Dorset coast, it seems that Helen might finally be ready to make amends for her own part in the tragedy. But what Dora soon discovers is that the path to redemption does not rest solely with her mother. Can family crimes this damaging ever really be forgiven?"

I've seen comparisons to Rosamund Pilcher's classic The Shell Seekers and more recent favourite author Kate Morton.

The Highway (M)
by C.J. Box (July 30)

Since publishing his first novel featuring game warden Joe Picket (2001's Open Season), American author Box has become more and more of a household name. The 10th Joe Picket novel Breaking Point was released earlier this year, but Box is keeping his fans reading with a standalone novel this summer.

"When two sisters set out across a remote stretch of Montana road to visit their friend, little do they know it will be the last time anyone might ever hear from them again. The girls—and their car—simply vanish." If you enjoy gritty, suspenseful novels, this is a great summer read for you!

Hellgoing: stories (M)
by Lynn Coady (July 27)

We'll finish this month's list with a new book from a favourite Canadian author with local ties, Hellgoing will see release at the end of the month. After a few popular and acclaimed novels, Coady returns to short stories with 8 tales,

"...equally adept at capturing the foibles and obsessions of men and of women, compassionate in her humour yet never missing an opportunity to make her characters squirm, fascinated as much by faithlessness as by faith, Lynn Coady is quite possibly the writer who best captures what it is to be human at this particular moment in our history."