Books to Look Out For in July 2026: Part Two  

The second part of July’s preview begins with a book by an author whose bestseller I still haven’t got around to. Daniel Mason’s Country People is set in Vermont where a Californian family is spending a year, Miles ostensibly to finish his thesis which he’s continually chopping and changing, Kate as a visiting professor. When Kate takes up her post and the children start school, Miles explores his new surroundings, flitting from enthusiasm to enthusiasm, anything but sitting down to write. Meanwhile their dog’s increasingly interested in what’s under the carpet of their rented house. Mason pokes gentle fun at both rural small-town life and academia, unfolding events from the engaging if exasperating Miles’s perspective while giving conspiracies theories a welcome bashing. Review soon…

I’m in two minds about Calla Henkel’s Four Terrible Parents which sees a once famous, middle-aged rock band decide to have a child whose upbringing will be shared between them. When Valentine inherits a hotel, she convinces the other three to renovate the crumbling pile into a home for their unconventional family but the arrival of their daughter tilts the balance in this precarious setup. When August disappears the night of the hotel’s grand reopening, all hell breaks loose. ‘Four Terrible Parents is a story of love, jealousy and the curse of trying to have it all’ according to the blurb. I enjoyed Henkel’s Other People’s Clothes so will probably give this one a go.

Spanning fifty years, Sheila Armstrong’s The Red Mouth follows four people whose lives are influenced by the discovery of a preserved corpse in an Irish peat bog in the 1970s, and a pair of enormous antlers decades later. Full of the gorgeous, poetic descriptions of the natural world that I remember from Falling Animals, Armstrong’s novel follows an annual cycle, switching between the main protagonists, unfolding their back stories within the framework of the peat bog excavations, each of them changed by what was found there. A striking, immersive novel which I hope to see on this year’s literary prize lists. Review shortly….

Set in 1970s Leeds, Bill Broady’s There’s No ‘F’ in Wonderful explores the world of Northern Soul through the eyes of a disillusioned intellectual turned croupier who encounters a host of eccentric characters through her work. ‘There’s No ‘F’ in Wonderful is at once hilariously funny and deeply unsettling, exploring the magical yet disorienting passage between adolescence and adulthood—a time when anything seems possible, even as the world insists otherwise’ says the blurb which makes me feel a little tired but keen to give it a try.

Charlotte Edwardes’s Trouble Was is also set in the 1970s when nine-year-old Frank and his little sister are being taken to stay with their aunt in North Devon while their father is supposedly at sea, much to their cousins’ annoyance. As spring turns to summer, their mother seems increasingly distracted. Secrets begin surface threatening to poison the already uneasy household. ‘Trouble Was is a raw and tender story of growing up too soon, betrayal and resilience, love and survival – and a dazzling exploration of toxic family politics, buried secrets and the power of the imagination’ says the blurb of a novel much praised by both Samantha Harvey and Hari Kunzru.

July’s short story collection is by a favourite author for many of us: Sigrid Nunez’s It Will Come Back to You comprises thirteen stories spanning three decades. ‘Moving from an inappropriate teenage crush to a therapist’s second chance at love, in this collection Nunez maintains her irrepressible humour, bite, and insight, while exploring the philosophical questions we have come to expect from her writing’ promises the blurb. Keen to read this one.

That’s it for July’s new fiction. As ever, a click on a title will take you to a more detailed synopsis should you want to know more, and if you’d like to catch up with part one it’s here. Paperbacks soon…