Top Ten Reads for July
From a novel described as 'Catch-22 on speed and set in the Middle East' to a heart-rending account of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. From the haunting tale of one of the deadliest poisoning epidemics of the 20th century, to a surreal and lyrical sapphic love story from Japan. Find your must-read(s) for the month with our Top Ten Reads for July.
Vulture
Vulture
03/07/2025
Phoebe Greenwood—a writer and journalist who has written for publications including the Guardian, the Spectator and the Sunday Times—has extensively covered the Middle East throughout her career. In her debut novel, an ambitious young journalist is sent to Gaza, determined to become a star correspondent. What follows is a rip-roaring, darkly funny satire of the media industry in a war-zone, and the moral ambiguity and complicity involved in reporting crises.
It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me
It's Terrible the Things I Have to Do to Be Me
03/07/2025
How does an icon become an icon? How did Anna Nicole Smith model herself on Marilyn Monroe? What connects Lindsay Lohan with Elizabeth Taylor? How is self-made beauty Pamela Anderson like trans bond girl Caroline 'Tula' Cossey? Snow's examination of women destroyed by stardom is a thoughtful, insightful, exquisitely written exposé of misogyny in society and popular culture.
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Sanctuary
Sanctuary
03/07/2025
In a world dealing with climate change, political extremism, economic collapse and mass migration, Marina Warner seeks to define the meaning of 'sanctuary'. Partly inspired by her work with Stories in Transit—a project she set up in 2015 to inspire creative work with displaced people—Sanctuary is an ode to the power of storytelling and its central place in defining, and creating, a home.
The Women Are Not Fine
The Women Are Not Fine
10/07/2025
The haunting tale of one of the deadliest poisoning epidemics of the 20th century. Midwife Zsuzsanna Fazekas was horrified by the treatment of her patients in the village of Nagyrév, Hungary, and what transpired left up to 300 men murdered by arsenic poisoning. The Women Are Not Fine is a thrilling true crime tale, an impressive feat of research and study, and a timely warning from history on what happens when a community of women are pushed to the brink.
When the Museum is Closed
When the Museum is Closed
10/07/2025
A surreal and lyrical sapphic love story from the author of Diary of a Void. Rika works in a frozen food warehouse, but when she's offered an extra part-time job using her Latin skills to talk to a statue of Venus, her life is given new meaning. A gorgeous, passionate slice of Japanese magical realism that is beautifully translated by Yuki Tejima.
The Anti-Catastrophe League
The Anti-Catastrophe League
17/07/2025
There's been a huge amount of publishing that focuses on apocalyptic theories and conspiracies in a hopeless and pessimistic way. What a relief then to read Tom Ough's imperious study of the people looking to do everything in their power to prevent the worst from befalling us–from an economist at ALLFED (the Alliance to Feed Earth in Disasters) to a physicist who, having lost his best friend to a hospital superbug, invented a lightbulb that kills germs in mid-air.
Seascraper
Seascraper
17/07/2025
Following Tom Flett, a young man who lives a quiet life in Longferry, rising at dawn to traverse the flat beach with his horse and cart to catch shrimp and sell his haul by noon. Day after day, Thomas is out there in the mist and drizzle with just his horse for company, until Hollywood film director Edgar Acheson arrives in town needing his help scouting locations for a movie, and Thomas dares to dream that life could be better. Vivid, atmospheric and profound—Seascraper is an utterly original mini-masterpiece.
Pan
Pan
24/07/2025
Teenager Nick is fifteen when he experiences his first panic attack. What follows is a hypnotic, thrilling Bildungsroman, exploring mental illness and the interior life of a troubled adolescent. Clune has crafted a stunning fever dream of a novel, with language that evokes those difficult teenage years with rare empathy and skill—however irrational and frenzied Nick becomes, you never lose affinity with him. One that it would be criminal to leave off the prize lists.
The Bells of Nagasaki
The Bells of Nagasaki
31/07/2025
On August 9, 1945, the atomic bomb reduced Nagasaki to dust. Amid the devastation, one man stood at the intersection of catastrophe and conscience—Dr. Takashi Nagai. The Bells of Nagasaki is his unforgettable account of what it meant to survive the unthinkable, serve the wounded, and find meaning beyond the ruins. Written from his sickbed, this is a chilling and heart-rending, but ultimately humane and hopeful eyewitness statement of one of history's most horrific events.
Necessary Fiction
Necessary Fiction
31/07/2025
Grappling with fear, desire, time, death and God, the rolling cast of characters in critically acclaimed author Osunde’s remarkable second novel Necessary Fiction seek love and survival in a vividly realised portrait of contemporary Lagos. A stunning story of cross-generational queer life that, along with debut novel Vagabonds!, marks Osunde out as a vital voice in modern African literature.
