On Saturday evening my nearest indie, Hungerford Bookshop, hosted a Summer Reading celebration with five authors, some of them local, introducing their novels. It was such a delight to be invited! The rain just about held off for the duration of the outdoor event, and it was fun to learn more about new-to-me books over Pimm’s and canapes and pick up some proof copies.

Veronica Henry usually writes English countryside and coastal stories, but this time it’s Thirty Days in Paris, about Juliet, a woman of a certain age who takes a one-month rental in the city to write a novel, having amicably separated from her husband. Henry based the flat on one she stayed in in Paris, and called this novel a wish fulfilment for her.

Ruth Kelly, a ghostwriter (The Prison Doctor, etc.) based in Kintbury, has written her first novel, The Villa, a thriller about a reality TV franchise. The main character is a journalist and the other two POVs are the producer and viewers collectively. She said the book starts with the body and moves backwards.

Jane Dunn is a biographer (of Daphne du Maurier, Antonia White et al.) who pivoted to writing Regency romances, having been inspired by a newfound love of Georgette Heyer. Her books, including An Unsuitable Heiress, feature women who are slightly on the periphery: a widow, illegitimate children, a male impersonator, and so on.

Victoria Gosling was a last-minute fill-in for an author who couldn’t make it. She moved back to Marlborough from Berlin, where she was living when she wrote her book set in Marlborough, Before the Ruins. She called it a slow-burn (Secret History-type) thriller about four people who spent the summer they were 17 squatting in a derelict manor house and have been dealing with the fallout ever since. I’ll get this one out from the library soon.

Lucy Barker’s debut novel, The Other Side of Mrs Wood, is about two warring mediums in 1873. Since I love most things set in the Victorian period, this was the one I’d already heard about and placed an order on through the library. It’s based on real-life mediums Agnes Guppy and Florence Cook and sounds like great fun! The summer reading choices are usually paperbacks, but an exception was made for this one still in hardback.

Which of these take your fancy?

There was also bookshop news and bookseller recommendations. The big announcement was the opening of a new branch in Wantage, taking over a closing-down shop.

Bookseller recommendations:

Hilary: Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens (I’d second that one; here’s my review)

Tessa: The Redemption of Isobel Farrar by Alan Robert Clark

Alison: Shrines of Gaiety by Kate Atkinson

Emma: Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter (I’ve long been interested in this one)

Alex: The Sanctuary by Andrew Hunter Murray (& Lessons by Ian McEwan in paperback)

Imogen: Little Wing by Freya North (my ears pricked up to hear it’s set on the Isle of Harris)