From juicy tales of high society, to gripping thrillers and riveting memoirs, a good tome has the ability to transport you from the realities of everyday life—something that's especially therapeutic when enjoyed with a spritz in hand, the sun above and the sea by your side (or, you know, relaxing at home like Kate Middleton while in self-isolation).
The Best Beach Reads Of 2020 (That Are Just As Good At Home)
If you loved: Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
Read: Polite Society by Mahesh Rao
If you loved the scandal and grandeur of Crazy Rich Asians, Mahesh Rao's witty, observational look at India's high society and modern maharajahs is sure to satisfy. Based on Jane Austen's Emma, Polite Society centres around Delhi 'It'-girl Ania Khurana, whose well-intentioned matchmaking attempts for her best friend go awry. And when a handsome suitor from America arrives on the scene, Ania soon realises that when it comes to love, things rarely go to plan.
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If you loved: The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
Read: Park Avenue Summer by Renée Rosen
Described as Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada, this delightful novel invites readers into the glitz and glamour of 1965 New York through the lens of Cosmopolitan magazine. The book follows single girl Alice Weiss, who leaves her small town for big city dreams in Manhattan, where she unexpectedly lands the job of a lifetime working for Helen Gurley Brown, the first female editor-in-chief of a then-failing Cosmopolitan magazine. But, despite her passion for the job, nothing could have prepared Alice for the scandals and schemes that follow.
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If you loved: Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
Read: City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
This little number goes down as easily as a Bellini by the beach. Set in 1940s New York, City of Girls is the beautifully told story of 19-year-old Vivian Morris, who's been kicked out of college and sent to live with her theatre-owning aunt in Manhattan. There, she dives head first into the alluring world of show girls, sex and glamour before a grave mistake turns her world upside down.
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If you loved: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty.
Read: A Beautiful, Terrible Thing by Jen Waite
A Beautiful, Terrible Thing commences with author Jen Waite receiving a disturbing email that leads her to believe her husband is having an affair. In an attempt to unveil the truth and rebuild the trust in her marriage, she undertakes a zealous investigation to find a single moment from their five years together that isn't steeped in lies, discovering more betrayal than she could've ever imagined. Jumping between past and present, it's gripping, suspenseful and brilliantly written, making for a summer read you won't put down.
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If you loved: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Read: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
From the outside, former architect Bernadette Fox seems to have it all. A doting husband, a beautiful home in Seattle and a clever teenage daughter who's about to head off to boarding school. Then, Bernadette suddenly vanishes without a trace before a family trip to Antarctica, and her worried family delves into a thrilling and often-hilarious adventure to track her down.
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If you loved: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Read: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
If suspenseful thrillers are more your speed, look no further than Lisa Jewell's best-selling The Family Upstairs. Soon after protagonist Libby Jones' 25th birthday, she returns home from work to discover the letter she's been waiting a lifetime to receive. Opening it, she not only finds out the identity of her birth parents, but that she has inherited their abandoned London mansion, worth millions. Libby's entire world is about to change, as her inheritance drags up a 25-year-old murder that will put her on a collision course ravaged with secrets.
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If you loved: Under The Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
Read: The Designer by Marius Gabriel
A dreamy tale that will take you back in time, The Designer is the fictional story of the newly married Copper Reilly, who arrives in 1944 Paris just after the liberation. Stuck in an unhappy marriage, she soon makes an unexpected new friend, a timid middle-aged designer by the name of Christian Dior. Recognising his brilliance, Copper encourages and helps Dior to strike out on his own, only to find herself torn between two very different suitors, questioning who she is and what she really wants.
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If you loved: Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty
Read: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
This New York Times best-selling thriller is all set to become a movie starring Scandal's Kerry Washington, and it's well worth a read before the film comes out. It begins with a group of new mothers, Francie, Nell, Collette and Winnie, all of whom gave birth in the same month and call themselves the 'May Mothers'. Things start to unravel one Fourth of July night, when Winnie's son Midas is abducted from his crib while the May Mothers were out at a bar. As the police investigation hits a dead end, the other mothers make it their mission to find Midas, but with Winnie's life becoming media fodder, damaging secrets begin to surface and friendships are pushed to the limits.
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If you loved: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
Read: Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Tail by Cheryl Strayed
If you have a penchant for tales of travel and self-discovery, this memoir is sure to pique your interest. At 22, Cheryl Strayed believed she had lost everything. Not long after her mother's death, her family scattered and her marriage soon fell apart. With nothing left to lose, Strayed made the most impulsive decision of her life—to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it solo. Filled with humour, suspense and warmth, it's an incredible journey in the truest sense of the word.
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If you loved: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Read: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides
Alicia Berenson, a famous painter, appears to have the perfect life. She's wealthy, married to a renowned fashion photographer and lives in a mansion in one of London's most desired neighbourhoods. One night her husband returns home late from a photo shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face—and then never speaks another word. Her refusal to talk bolsters her intrigue in the public's imagination and the price of her art soars. She soon becomes an object of obsessive fascination for Theo Faber, a criminal psychotherapist who is determined to make her talk and reveal the truth—before it consumes him. Described by Entertainment Weekly as a mix of "Hitchcockian suspense, Agatha Christie plotting, and a Greek tragedy", it will have you hooked from start to finish.
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