We asked some of our booksellers about the books they can’t wait to finally read! Some are yet-to-be-released but sure-to-be-excellent gems, while others have recently clawed their way from the bottom of the TBR to claim the top spot.

Here’s what three of our staff can’t wait to read:

Joanna Di Mattia can’t wait to read Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz by Gail Crowther

I’ve said it before on this website, but I’ll say it again: I love a good group biography. I also love Sylvia Plath, so I made some rather loud noises when I saw the marketing copy for Three Martini Afternoons at the Ritz when I was proofreading the Readings Monthly last month. Here is a book that explores the relationship between Plath and the great Anne Sexton, who, for a brief moment in time, met for weekly martini meetings. Oh, to have been the barman at the Ritz-Carlton in Boston on those afternoons, listening in on their intense, expansive, smart chats. But I’ll suffice myself with this fascinating looking book. I can’t wait to pour myself a martini and dip in!

Mike Shuttleworth can’t wait to read The Swallow’s Flight by Hilary McKay

The Swallow’s Flight is the new novel for children by Hilary McKay. Whether in comic or dramatic mode McKay gets inside the lives of her characters like few can. She won the Costa Prize for The Skylark’s War which followed the lives of a group of children as the lives changed against the backdrop of World War One. The new book portrays families and friends divided by World War Two.

The Swallow’s Flight is published 17 July 2021. Pre-order .

Lucie Dess can’t wait to (finally!) read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This book has been sitting patiently on my shelves for over a year. A friend bought it for me after I told her how much I adored Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel, Daisy Jones and the Six. Now, after reading Reid’s latest work, Malibu Rising and finding out one of the main characters from this story is one of Evelyn’s seven husbands, the book has risen to the top of my TBR pile again! The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo follows a reclusive Hollywood starlet and tells the story of her rise to fame as well as the secrets she’s kept to stay there.