Summer reading recommendations from Sandstone authors

Nikky Smedley, author of Over the Hills and Far Away

Summer can be a chance to catch up. I read Wise Children by Angela Carter for the first time this year and wished I’d got there sooner. She mixes an intangible world with a recognisable South London humanity in a way that's magical but streetwise. Last year my big hitter was Lolita. Having seen the film and read all kinds of people expounding Nabakov's brilliance (including George Saunders’ wonderful but wintery A Swim in a Pond in the Rain) I finally got round to experiencing his words on the page. It’s all true. It might not seem like a summer read, but there’s a fire in the language and a heat within that is exciting and destructive, beautiful and appalling - like lots of holidays!

Mark Woolhouse, author of The Year the World Went Mad

I love Fiona Fox's Beyond the Hype: The Inside Story of Science's Biggest Media Controversies. She covers two decades' worth of debate about GM crops, climate change and much more. Every story she tells is an object lesson in why we all need to understand science better.

Niall Ferguson's Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe puts pandemics, wars and financial crises firmly in their proper historical context. It won't cheer you up though, not unless you find some comfort in the thought that things could be worse; much worse.

To my own holiday destination in the Scottish islands I shall take Marram: Memories of Sea and Spider Silk by Leonie Charlton. There's a special poignancy in looking at the landscape around you through someone else's eyes."

Lucy Banks, author of Caged Little Birds

Kings of a Dead World by Jamie Mollart (Sandstone) really taps into the current zeitgeist, I think; it's a dystopian book with bite, and the notion of all humans being forced to sleep to conserve resources is a chilling one. As for non-fiction, Stu Hennigan's Ghost Signs (Bluemoose) is a real eye-opener, highlighting the devastating impact of poverty and repeated lockdowns in parts of Leeds. Finally, an old favourite that I've returned to recently is The Clocks in this House All Tell Different Times by Xan Brooks (Salt). It's dark, lyrical and completely unique - and really highlights the benefits of books published by indie publishers; they're often the ones that worm their way into your memories and refuse to let go.

Paul Braddon, author of The Actuality

I’ll be rereading John Fowles’ post-modern classic - The French Lieutenant’s Woman on the undercliff at Lyme Regis this August. We’re even staying in the hotel featured in the film. The story, elegant and scholarly, explores the odious hypocrisy of the Victorian age while providing many insights for our own. Fowles is an obsession and for anyone finding themselves in a sunnier location, you can’t do better than his compulsive, richly inventive, eerie, provocative masterpiece of psychological manipulation - The Magus, if for no other reason than it is set on a Greek Island. On a lighter and more recent note, Dan Brotzel’s Hotel du Jack is a laugh-out-loud collection of stories that works in any climate and makes the perfect beach companion.