June Bookshop Chat - Books With Buzz June 2023

Traditionally the time of year when publishers unleash all their summer blockbusters, this month’s Books with Buzz brings you an island-set beach read with a gripping difference, a beautiful memoir we’d like to highlight for the 75th anniversary of Windrush, along with other treasures that have been attracting attention and deserve to be added to your reading list. Enjoy!

After Paris by Nicole Kennedy 

Published in paperback a couple of months ago, we wanted to highlight Nicole Kennedy’s After Paris as moving, smoothly readable, life-affirming story to sink into this summer. Warm and uplifting, with more than soupcon of Parisian chic (and champagne), it sees three female friends reconnect in the city that first brought them together. 

Yellowface by Rebecca F Kuang

Chances are, if you follow bookish social accounts or work in the book industry, you’ll have already heard of Rebecca Kuang’s Yellowface and seen the justifiably almighty buzz it’s generating. 

Surely set to be THE novel everyone is talking about over the coming months, Yellowface unpacks contemporary culture with sharp and witty aplomb, from cultural appropriation, cancel culture, personal ambition and envy, to issues from the publishing world that spill over into all aspects of life.

The Guardian deemed it a “wickedly funny publishing thriller… I probably wolfed this down more avidly than anything I’ve read this year”, while the New York Times hailed it “a breezy and propulsive read, a satirical literary thriller that’s enjoyable and uncomfortable in equal measure”.

The Girls of Summer by Katie Bishop

If you’re looking for a sun-drenched summer page-turner with punch, might we suggest Katie Bishop’s The Girls of Summer? It sees a woman deal with long-buried trauma and truths about the momentous summer she spent on a Greek island as a seventeen-year-old.

One of our recent faves, The Times described it as a “startling debut” that “packs an incredible punch”. If that wasn’t enough, Glamour declared, “this debut should be on every summer reading list... a gripping read that is visceral and raw. Buy it”. We wholeheartedly agree.

Windward Family by Alexis Keir

With June being Read Caribbean month, and 22nd June 2023 being the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush, now seems a timely moment to re-state the wonders of Alexis Keir’s Windward Family, a personal favourite that was published earlier this year.

Relating the experiences of a Black British family of our times alongside enlightening accounts of historic figures, it sees the author share his experiences with warmth, wit and wisdom, from being born on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, through to his return visit to the island some twenty years later. 

For related reading ideas, browse our Collection of brilliant books about the Windrush generation, and our Collection of books by writers from the Caribbean — a fine feast of reading awaits in both.