New Releases in July 2022

 

Casting my eye about for royalty free pictures for the header of this post I came across this gorgeous photograph. Details of the photographer are below, and I am sure you will agree that it is perfect for July.

Here are my favourite top ten new releases and I hope that you will find a book that tickles your reading fancy from this list of books being released in July, and with school holidays looming there are a couple for our younger readers. 

Happy summer reading to you all.

The Lost Song of Paris by Sarah Steele

1941. Darkness descends over London as the sirens begin to howl and the bombs rain down. Devastation seeps from every crack of the city. In the midst of all the chaos is a woman gripping a window ledge on the first floor of a Baker Street hotel. She is perched, ready to jump. And as flames rise around her, she is forced to take her chances.

1997. Amy Novak has lost the two great loves in her life: her husband, Michael, and her first love, music. With the first anniversary of Michael's death approaching, Amy buries herself in her job as an archivist. And when a newly declassified file lands on her desk, she is astonished to uncover proof that Agent 'Colette' existed - a name spoken only in whispers; an identity so secret that it has never been verified.

Her discovery leads her to MI6 'godmother' Verity Cooper - a woman with secrets of her own - and on to the streets of Paris where she will uncover a story of unimaginable choices, extraordinary courage and a love that will defy even the darkest days of World War Two . . .

Blind Dates by Gordon Macmillan

Is true love just a few dates away ... or even closer than you think?

Tom has always been a hopeless romantic: but now he's just hopeless. After lockdown in particular made the millennial a reclusive introvert, it was finally time to get back 'out there' - at least according to his best friends Adam, Allison, Josh and sister Sarah.

As the group sets up ten miracle dates to rejuvenate Tom's love life, he soon realises how difficult the dating scene has become, along with juggling his Shakespearean-themed café on the side and a hobby of romantic mixtape making.

As the dates continue to turn into disasters, an old flame keeps reappearing in Tom's sight - along with bittersweet memories. Fearing it may be too little too late, Tom must decide whether he can date his way to happiness, or find his true match was under his nose the whole time...

Deception by Lesley Pearse

What happens when the person closest to you has led a life of deception?

After the funeral of her mother, Sally, Alice Kent is approached by a man named Angus Tweedy. He claims to be her father and tells her that he served time in prison for marrying Sally bigamously.

What does he hope to gain by telling her this now, thirty years on? How can her adored dad Ralph not be her true father? And why did her mother betray her so badly?

She had accepted Sally's many faults, and her reluctance to ever speak of the past. But faced with this staggering deception, Alice knows she must uncover the whole truth about her mother.

Whatever the cost.

As Alice journeys into the past she discovers her mother may never have been the woman she claimed to be . . .

The Extraordinary Voyage of Katy Willacott by Sharon Gosling

Living among the flowers and ferns of Kew Gardens, Katy has always dreamed of more – of the sky and the stars and the sea. Unfortunately for Katy, her father doesn’t understand. He says young girls should be content to stay at home, not go off gallivanting around the world.

So when news reaches London of a meteorite falling in the faraway land of Brazil and an expedition being put together to find it, Katy knows it’s her chance to follow her dreams and prove her father wrong. And winning a place on the trip is just the start of her extraordinary voyage on the trail of a fallen star…

A thrilling historical adventure from the author of THE HOUSE OF HIDDEN WONDERS, perfect for fans of Katherine Woodfine, Lucy Worsley, Jennifer Bell and Robin Stevens.

The Woman Underwater by Penny Goetjen

No one disappears without a trace....

Don't try to tell Victoria Sands that time heals all wounds. It doesn't work that way for a woman who's lost her husband the way she did. She was never able to say goodbye. Never able to arrange a memorial. Receive friends at the service. Write thank-you notes for the flowers and donations sent in his name. Because it didn't happen that way.

Victoria's husband never returned home at the end of a work day. And no one seems to know what happened to him.

In the seven years since his disappearance, no witnesses have stepped forward and no credible evidence has been collected-not even his car. The few tenuous leads the police had are now ice cold. He simply vanished on a field trip with the private boarding school where he taught behind stone walls-the same school their son now attends.

But someone has to know what happened. And that someone may be closer to Victoria than she realizes.

The Misunderstanding of Charity Brown by Elizabeth Laird

Inspired by award-winning author's Elizabeth Laird's own childhood growing up in post-war London, The Misunderstandings of Charity Brown is a classic coming-of-age story, perfect for fans of The Skylarks' War and I Capture the Castle.

Charity Brown’s life is about to change – her family have been left a huge, rambling house by a mysterious benefactor, and her parents want to move in and throw open its doors to the needy.

Only recently back from hospital after months of isolation with polio, Charity is over-protected and lonely as the only child still at home. Her family are very religious – her sisters are called Faith and Hope, and her brother Ted is studying to be a preacher – so she's both excited and nervous at the thought of sharing her family and new home with strangers.

It’s a recipe for confusion, joy and endless misunderstandings, including with the new neighbours, an Austrian family with a daughter just Charity’s age . . .

A Mother's Fight by Libby Ashworth

Will love be enough to protect her children?

After her husband Jack is transported to Australia as a convict, Hannah and her children are sent to the workhouse. Hearing nothing from Jack and believing he’s dead, Hannah reluctantly agrees to marry widower Ellis Duxbury.

But her children must remain in the workhouse, and when they are sent away as apprentices, it’s up to Hannah to track them down.

On Christmas Eve, Hannah is blessed with a miracle when Jack returns to the village. Yet more trouble lies ahead as Hannah is arrested, accused of bigamy and threatened with deportation herself. Having fought so long for her and her children’s freedom, Hannah must once more dig deep to keep her family together.

 

Beyond a Broken Sky by Suzanne Fortin

Some secrets are better left buried...

2022. Stained-glass expert Rhoda Sullivan is called to Telton Hall to examine a window designed by an Italian prisoner of war during WW2. It should be a quick job but when she and the owner's son, Nate Hartwell, discover a body underneath one of the flagstones in the chapel, Rhoda cannot let the mystery go. She knows what it's like to miss someone who is missing – her twin brother disappeared just before their eighteenth birthday, and she has been looking for him for nearly a decade. But when the threats start, it's clear someone doesn't want the secrets of Telton Hall to come to light.

1945. Alice Renshaw is in trouble. Pregnant and alone she is sent away to hide her shame and taken in by Louise Hartwell who has a farm in Somerset worked by prisoners of war. As the weeks pass, Alice finds solace in new friendships, but not everyone at Telton Hall is happy about it. And even though peace has been declared in Europe, the war at home is only just beginning...

Four Treasures of the Sky by Jenny Tinghui Zhang

A propulsive and dazzling debut novel set against the backdrop of the Chinese Exclusion Act, about a Chinese girl fighting to claim her place in the 1880s American West

Daiyu never wanted to be like the tragic heroine for whom she was named, revered for her beauty and cursed with heartbreak. But when she is kidnapped and smuggled across an ocean from China to America, Daiyu must relinquish the home and future she imagined for herself. Over the years that follow, she is forced to keep reinventing herself to survive. From a calligraphy school, to a San Francisco brothel, to a shop tucked into the Idaho mountains, we follow Daiyu on a desperate quest to outrun the tragedy that chases her. As anti-Chinese sentiment sweeps across the country in a wave of unimaginable violence, Daiyu must draw on each of the selves she has been-including the ones she most wants to leave behind-in order to finally claim her own name and story.

Perfectly Ordinary People by Nick Alexander

In occupied France, two people sacrificed everything. Now their granddaughter has come looking for the truth…

Ruth’s childhood was a happy one, and her family—on her mother’s side—large and loving. But her father’s French origins have always remained a mystery. Now, with aged relatives beginning to die, Ruth decides to research her father’s family before it’s too late.

When she discovers a series of long-lost cassettes, everything she thought she knew about them shatters. The tapes expose an unimaginable truth – an epic wartime story of hidden love and sacrifice, stretching back to occupied France.

These long-buried confessions will rock Ruth’s family—and finally piece together the puzzle of her father’s heritage. But are any of them ready for the truth?

     

(header image courtesy of @iriser/unsplash)