Photo: godadex/Getty Images
> Novel Encounters
Fully Booked: 12 Great Books to Read in June
Kick off the summer reading season with the latest from Deborah Levy, Tom Rachman, Ashley Audrain and Will Ferguson / BY Nathalie Atkinson / May 30th, 2023
Historical drama, sibling rivalry, playful romance and the complexities of longtime friendships are just some of the themes in our June fiction picks.
Obsessive Book Buyers: Zoomer editors have carefully curated our book coverage to ensure you find the perfect read. We may earn a commission on books you buy by clicking on the cover image.
1EVERYTHING'S FINECurtis Sittenfeld, Nick Hornby and Zakiya Dalila Harris (The Other Black Girl) have all been praising this sharply funny first novel by San Francisco-based Rabess, a former Google data scientist (and ex-Goldman Sachs associate), about a Black woman and white man working in finance in the shifting cultural landscape of the Obama-to-Trump years who fall passionately but reluctantly in love. It’s equal parts astute social commentary and complex enemies-to-lovers romance. (June 6)
Curtis Sittenfeld, Nick Hornby and Zakiya Dalila Harris (The Other Black Girl) have all been praising this sharply funny first novel by San Francisco-based Rabess, a former Google data scientist (and ex-Goldman Sachs associate), about a Black woman and white man working in finance in the shifting cultural landscape of the Obama-to-Trump years who fall passionately but reluctantly in love. It’s equal parts astute social commentary and complex enemies-to-lovers romance. (June 6)
2AUGUST BLUEThe idiosyncratic latest from the British Booker finalist for Hot Milk and Swimming Home is among the most hotly anticipated novels of the summer. The mesmerizing novel is narrated by a world-famous concert pianist who is contending with stage fright and a mental unravelling, and probes the construction of self-identity through Elsa’s surrealist journey across a Europe that’s peppered with her imaginary doppelgänger. (June 6)
The idiosyncratic latest from the British Booker finalist for Hot Milk and Swimming Home is among the most hotly anticipated novels of the summer. The mesmerizing novel is narrated by a world-famous concert pianist who is contending with stage fright and a mental unravelling, and probes the construction of self-identity through Elsa’s surrealist journey across a Europe that’s peppered with her imaginary doppelgänger. (June 6)
3LET IT DESTROY YOUThis tale of idealism, creation and impossible love is inspired by the life (and letters) of Leo Szilárd, the physicist who discovered the nuclear chain reaction; a process that would lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. In alternating husband-and-wife points of view, Toronto writer Lye looks at the broken family life of a man who lived on both sides of the arms race — first, inventing technology in an attempt to cure his daughter’s cancer then variously working to prevent, hasten and finally outlaw nuclear weapons. Read it ahead of Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming Manhattan Project period drama Oppenheimer. (June 6)
This tale of idealism, creation and impossible love is inspired by the life (and letters) of Leo Szilárd, the physicist who discovered the nuclear chain reaction; a process that would lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. In alternating husband-and-wife points of view, Toronto writer Lye looks at the broken family life of a man who lived on both sides of the arms race — first, inventing technology in an attempt to cure his daughter’s cancer then variously working to prevent, hasten and finally outlaw nuclear weapons. Read it ahead of Christopher Nolan’s forthcoming Manhattan Project period drama Oppenheimer. (June 6)
4THE WHISPERSThe Canadian publishing executive, writer of smash debut The Push, follows up with an exploration of the simmering anger that lurks in suburbia. A mother sits vigil at the bedside of an injured child who has fallen from a window. Did he jump or was he pushed? The shifting perspectives of several neighbourhood women as they make up their minds about what happened unfurl over three tense days. (June 6)
The Canadian publishing executive, writer of smash debut The Push, follows up with an exploration of the simmering anger that lurks in suburbia. A mother sits vigil at the bedside of an injured child who has fallen from a window. Did he jump or was he pushed? The shifting perspectives of several neighbourhood women as they make up their minds about what happened unfurl over three tense days. (June 6)
5THE SAY SOAtlanta author Franks contrasts the entwined tales of two young women who become pregnant in North Carolina 25 years apart — one in the 1950s before Roe v. Wade and one after, in the 1980s (the latter based on her own experience as a pregnant college student). It’s a frank exploration about the heartbreak of unplanned pregnancy in different eras, as well as a look into relationships between mothers and daughters, reproductive choice and the bonds of old friendships. (June 6)
Atlanta author Franks contrasts the entwined tales of two young women who become pregnant in North Carolina 25 years apart — one in the 1950s before Roe v. Wade and one after, in the 1980s (the latter based on her own experience as a pregnant college student). It’s a frank exploration about the heartbreak of unplanned pregnancy in different eras, as well as a look into relationships between mothers and daughters, reproductive choice and the bonds of old friendships. (June 6)
6THE MEMORY OF ANIMALSBritish novelist Fuller returns to her study of isolated characters in this tense dystopian character study that takes place in the near future. Following a deadly pandemic, a controversial memory retrieval device called a revisitor enables users to intensely relive past experiences; a young marine biologist who’s part of vaccine trials makes use of it to dive into and confront her own past. (June 6)
British novelist Fuller returns to her study of isolated characters in this tense dystopian character study that takes place in the near future. Following a deadly pandemic, a controversial memory retrieval device called a revisitor enables users to intensely relive past experiences; a young marine biologist who’s part of vaccine trials makes use of it to dive into and confront her own past. (June 6)
7I AM HOMELESS IF THIS IS NOT MY HOMEA ghost story that spans three centuries features in this slim but powerful novel about life and death by acclaimed Tennessee critic and writer Moore (Birds of America). Between grief and passion, Moore creates a reverie that connects the letters of a 19th century Southern woman to the present-day story of a man who leaves his dying brother in a New York hospice to embark on a road trip with a corpse, and what it means to be haunted by the past. (June 20)
A ghost story that spans three centuries features in this slim but powerful novel about life and death by acclaimed Tennessee critic and writer Moore (Birds of America). Between grief and passion, Moore creates a reverie that connects the letters of a 19th century Southern woman to the present-day story of a man who leaves his dying brother in a New York hospice to embark on a road trip with a corpse, and what it means to be haunted by the past. (June 20)
8 WATCH US DANCEAt the end of French colonial rule, Morocco had its own ‘summer of love.’ The winner of France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt (for The Perfect Nanny) draws on her family history and takes readers into ’60s Casablanca shortly after independence to chart the counterculture rebellions of biracial siblings: each embodying youthful idealism and authoritarian repression, respectively — as they and the country’s new freedom come of age. (June 20)
At the end of French colonial rule, Morocco had its own ‘summer of love.’ The winner of France’s prestigious Prix Goncourt (for The Perfect Nanny) draws on her family history and takes readers into ’60s Casablanca shortly after independence to chart the counterculture rebellions of biracial siblings: each embodying youthful idealism and authoritarian repression, respectively — as they and the country’s new freedom come of age. (June 20)
9THE IMPOSTERSAs she struggles to write her final novel from her home in London, minor Dutch novelist Dora Frenhofer, 73, is losing her faculties and becomes the unreliable narrator of her own existence. London-based Canadian novelist Rachman (The Imperfectionists) layers diary entries and snippets of Dora’s notebook into the interlinked episodes of her life, exploring the act of writing in parallel with the mechanics of failing cognition. (June 27)
As she struggles to write her final novel from her home in London, minor Dutch novelist Dora Frenhofer, 73, is losing her faculties and becomes the unreliable narrator of her own existence. London-based Canadian novelist Rachman (The Imperfectionists) layers diary entries and snippets of Dora’s notebook into the interlinked episodes of her life, exploring the act of writing in parallel with the mechanics of failing cognition. (June 27)
10THE APARTMENTThe expression ‘If these walls could talk’ is brought to life in this novel about decades of residents at The Helena — an art deco apartment complex in south Miami Beach. Interweaving the stories of 2B’s various tenants over the course of 70 years, the Florida-based author (an award winning reporter and child of Cuban exiles) explores displacement, homesickness and the crucial role of community. (June 27)
The expression ‘If these walls could talk’ is brought to life in this novel about decades of residents at The Helena — an art deco apartment complex in south Miami Beach. Interweaving the stories of 2B’s various tenants over the course of 70 years, the Florida-based author (an award winning reporter and child of Cuban exiles) explores displacement, homesickness and the crucial role of community. (June 27)
11LITTLE MONSTERSVarious family traumas are laid bare in this engrossing generational saga that revolves around a Cape Cod clan. Brodeur (of bestselling memoir Wild Game) also lives there, and writes knowingly and lyrically of both the coastal area and the casual privilege of its denizens. Featuring prominently is the alternating loyalty, rivalry and estrangement between siblings Ken, a successful developer, and emerging artist Abby (Cain and Abel, anyone?) as they orbit around their ailing father and his delusions of grandeur. Prepare for an emotional gut punch. (June 27)
Various family traumas are laid bare in this engrossing generational saga that revolves around a Cape Cod clan. Brodeur (of bestselling memoir Wild Game) also lives there, and writes knowingly and lyrically of both the coastal area and the casual privilege of its denizens. Featuring prominently is the alternating loyalty, rivalry and estrangement between siblings Ken, a successful developer, and emerging artist Abby (Cain and Abel, anyone?) as they orbit around their ailing father and his delusions of grandeur. Prepare for an emotional gut punch. (June 27)
12I ONLY READ MURDERThe Canadian humorists (based in Victoria and Calgary) and brothers launch a new comedic crime series set in a small town that’s described by the publisher as Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club meets Schitt’s Creek. An aging actress who once played a popular crime-solving amateur sleuth on TV gets conscripted to solve a death that happened onstage during an amateur theatre production. Sounds perfect for murder aficionados (and a lot like Waiting for Guffman meets Murder She Wrote). Sign us up! (June 27)
The Canadian humorists (based in Victoria and Calgary) and brothers launch a new comedic crime series set in a small town that’s described by the publisher as Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club meets Schitt’s Creek. An aging actress who once played a popular crime-solving amateur sleuth on TV gets conscripted to solve a death that happened onstage during an amateur theatre production. Sounds perfect for murder aficionados (and a lot like Waiting for Guffman meets Murder She Wrote). Sign us up! (June 27)