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by Amina Moustapha

Summer is here! So whether you’ll be lounging at the beach or poolside during your next vacation, you’ll need a good book to keep you company, and entertain your imagination.

My Mamma Mia Summer by Annie Robertson

Who didn’t daydream of dusting off their passport, packing their best dancing shoes, and escaping to Greece on their own Mamma Mia adventure? In this novel, Laurel made this dream come true. Although she never took a risk her whole life, this summer she’s going to do something that nobody expects of her. Just like she used to do with her grandma, Laurel turns to her ABBA albums and her favorite film, Mamma Mia! She grabs her passport, and jets off to Skopelos for her own adventure. She explores the island’s famous sites and finds herself feeling strangely at home. So would she return to her life in London, or could this be where she truly belongs?

Something to Live For by Richard Roper

In this book you will find one of the most interesting protagonists ever. Andrew. Andrew works with death for a living. His job consists of finding the next of kin for those who die alone, searching their home for valuable possessions that will help pay for their funeral, and then even though it’s not compulsory Andrew attends the funerals of these people who have no one in their lives to say goodbye. Which is fine, because he has the perfect wife and children waiting at home for him after a long day. At least, that’s what he has told people. The novel sheds a light on where the need to create a perfect life can lead you. In an attempt to fit in, Andrew has forgotten one important thing: how to really live. And maybe, it’s about time for him to start.

Claire Lombardo’s debut novel will take us into the world of four radically different sisters, Wendy, widowed young, finds comfort in alcohol and dating younger men; Violet, a lawyer who turned into a stay at home mom, battles anxiety and self-doubt; Liza, a professor, who finds herself pregnant with a baby she’s not sure she wants by a man she’s not sure she loves; and finally Grace, the youngest daughter, begins living a lie that no one in her family even suspects. Most importantly, the daughters share the lingering fear that they will never find a love quite like their parents’. The novel will take us on a rollercoaster trip where we will explore the triumphs and burdens of love, parenthood, but above all sisterhood.

Just Another Mountain: A Memoir by Sarah Jane Douglas

Our favourite from the list, and also based on a true story! Our protagonist, Sarah lost her mother to breast cancer. The only thing that kept her from giving up was a promise she’d made to her mother that she would keep going no matter what. Sarah used this promise as a fuel to mountain walk the beautiful, dangerous, forbidding mountains of her native Scotland. Just Another Mountain is a story of hope and redemption, of a mother and a daughter, and of how we can learn both to live and to love. Sometimes all you can do is put one foot in front of the other ... and just keep walking.

Close to Where the Heart Gives Out by Malcolm Alexander

When the author of this memoir, Malcolm Alexander, decided to give up his job in suburban Glasgow, followed his gut when he saw the job advert, ‘urgent: island doctor needed’ and applied immediately, his life has literally and completely changed. It is an unflinchingly honest and moving memoir of rural life in Orkney island, from the only doctor on the island. Throughout Alexander’s narration you will fall in love with the islanders, the island itself, Alexander’s family, and of course Malcolm Alexander himself. In the islanders’ stories that ranged from the humorous to the deeply moving, Malcolm describes what it’s like adjusting to life without modern conveniences.