Books of the Month May 2025

Books of the Month - May

This month, we’ve chosen a poignant and witty reflection on ageing, memory, and the power of the written word by Virginia Evans and Alistair Wood's, jaw-dropping memoir of growing up in a real-life spy family. 

For fantasy fans, a reworked Arthurian legend by Jean Menzies, and thrillers by Alex North and Joanna Dodd will keep you guessing to the end. There's romance with a twist from Lauren Ford. H Critchlow takes us to dystopian London, and Jon Rance gives us a hilarious, heartfelt look at love, endings, and unexpected new beginnings.

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The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. Sybil Van Antwerp is a mother and grandmother, divorced, retired from a distinguished career in law, and an avid gardener. Her biggest passion is writing letters, and most mornings Sybil sits down to write to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books. At 73, Sybil uses her letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. But as Sybil expects her life to go on as it always has, letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life and realise that she needs to write some much-needed post-scripts before it's too late. Published by Michael Joseph. 29th April 2025. £16.99. Hardback. Order here

My Family & Other Spies by Alistair Wood.  An unforgettable memoir of life in a family like no other, and their extraordinary, eccentric role in half a century of espionage. All families have secrets, but Alistair Wood's family have more than most. Growing up within the four (very high) walls of SIS's specialist training camp, surrounded by the most senior and colourful characters in the Service's history. His mother was one of only a handful of female agents to have operated behind enemy lines in Berlin. And his father, an ostensibly heroic humanitarian who died 'in the field' in Bosnia at 82, had in fact led a highly secret double life since his summary (and still classified) expulsion from the Service forty years earlier. Published by Michael Joseph. 8th May 2025, £22. Hardback. Pre-order here

The Lady of the Lake by Jean Menzies. A luscious sapphic romantasy retelling from the award-winning writer, historian and YouTube sensation. Pulled from her lakeside home to the splendour of Camelot, the young lady Viviane is tasked with capturing the heart and hand of the prince, Arthur. But it is Arthur's sister Morgan who soon captures Viviane's eye. Fierce, headstrong and determined to carve her own path in a world built for men, Morgan is everything Viviane desires and looks up to. Under the tutelage of the court sorcerer Merlin, the pair discover powers within themselves that they never knew existed and a friendship that deepens into something more. But wherever power comes to light, danger is sure to follow. And in Camelot, eyes are everywhere. Published by Michael Joseph 15th May 2025. £20. Hardback. Pre-order here

The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North. Dan Garvie can't move on from a thing he didn't do. He saw the boy. He knew he needed help. But he ran and hid, and a terrifying serial killer got away. Years later, Dan is a successful criminal psychiatrist, unpicking the very darkest of human behaviour. Because, despite what he saw that day, Dan knows there's no such thing as a monster. But now his father, John, has disappeared. And days before he vanished, he’d found a body near his home, which might just link back to the serial killer from that fateful day. Is this a chance for Dan to save his dad and find redemption. Or is he walking straight into a trap? Published by Michael Joseph 8th May 2025. £18.99. Hardback. Pre-order here

   

She Wants You Gone by Joanna Dodd. She is the perfect child. Only you know there is something very wrong. Beth is excited to move to a remote, tiny hamlet in Suffolk with her new husband and stepdaughter, Dolly, but she quickly finds that all is not what it seems. The hamlet has a dark history and there is something odd about its tiny population. Beth tries hard to build a bond with her new stepdaughter but although Dolly is lovely to everyone else, when the two of them are alone, she is a very different child. Beth soon realises that Dolly wants her gone. For good. How far will she go to get what she wants? Published by Hera Books 20th March 2025. £9.99. Paperback. Order here

One Last Night by Lauren Ford. Agnes has run her family's restaurant, The Shark Biscuit, for the last six years. Now she's crippled with guilt because it's her fault it's closing. One more night and she's free. After years of squaring off against the infuriating, gruff and arrogant head chef Harrison, she can’t wait to see the back of him. But when her ex-boyfriend brings his entire family in for dinner, hoping to win her back, she begs Harrison for help, pretend to be her boyfriend until her ex leaves. What she hadn’t planned for was the storm of the century trapping everyone in the restaurant. As the hours pass, Agnes realises Harrison knows her better as a fake boyfriend than her real one ever did. If only they weren’t carrying secrets that could tear each other’s worlds apart. Published by Hera Books. 1st May 2025. £9.99 Paperback Pre-order here

The Tomorrow Project by H Critchlow.  In 2050s London, fear grips like a vice as a deadly virus sweeps the globe. The Prime Minister tells to remain calm, a vaccine will be available soon, and as a precautionary measure children will be whisked away to undisclosed locations, kept safe until the storm passes. Marianne, Downing Street press secretary, doesn’t realise the futility until it is far, far too late. When the truth hits her, Marianne is forced to choose: stay with her family, or do whatever she can to help the doomed survive. As London falls, seven-year-old Maia is one of the last to escape the city. In an evacuation camp, she binds herself to Finn: in the absence of everything she knew, he becomes her everything. Yet as the years roll on and hope fades, Maia sees the bubble of safety is also a prison. She realises there is only one choice: to leave the camp and find what remains on the outside. Published by Canelo 15th May 2025. £14.99 Hardback Pre-order here

Not Moving Out by Jon Rance.  Freya and Joe’s marriage has fizzled its way to the end, but for financial reasons, and to support their daughter in her final year of school, they decide they need to keep living together for six months. They know it won’t be easy, but for Joe at least, it provides creative rewards: a struggling sitcom writer, he has found his new project. Why not write about his own situation? And the network loves it. There is just one problem - Freya doesn’t know. Can Freya and Joe navigate the six months together and might they find out something new about their relationship? Published by Hera Books 15th May 2025. £9.99 Paperback. Pre-order here

   

The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner. Nautical archaeologist, Haven Ambrose arrives in Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. Hoping to find more than old artifacts beneath the azure waters and secretly search for priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. On her arrival, strange mevent begin plaguing the village hinting at something sinister. As Haven searches for the treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman forced to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever. Published by Legend Press. 1st May 2025. £18.99. Hardback. Pre-order here

One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune.  Good things always happen at the lake. After all, it's where Alice took that photo, the image that changed her life.  Alice loves her career as a photographer, but sometimes she just needs to be in that magical place, back by the lake at Barry’s Bay.  Charlie was only nineteen when Alice unknowingly took his picture. Now, Alice is faced with the man who helped make her career. Summer with Charlie is a balm for Alice’s soul. But one night, when she looks up and sees his piercing blue gaze on her, things start to feel different. But will the truth of their past drive a wedge between them, or bring them closer together? Published by Penguin. 8th May 2025 £9.99. Paperback. Pre-order here

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