10 great autumn reads
The Guest List by Lucy Foley (HarperCollins, out now, €9.99)
On an island off the windswept Irish coast, guests gather for the wedding of the year – the marriage of Jules Keegan and Will Slater. The wedding cake has barely been cut when one of the guests is found dead. And as a storm unleashes its fury on the island, everyone is trapped. All have a secret. All have a motive. One guest won’t leave this wedding alive … A gripping, twisty murder mystery thriller from the No.1 bestselling author of The Hunting Party.
The Gift: 12 Lessons to Save Your Life by Edith Eger (Penguin, out now, €14.99)
Celebrated therapist and Holocaust survivor, Dr Edith Eger, provides a hands-on guide that gently encourages us to change the imprisoning thoughts and destructive behaviours that may be holding us back. Accompanied by stories from Eger's own life and the lives of her patients, her empowering lessons help you to see your darkest moments as your greatest teachers and find freedom through the strength that lies within. This practical and inspirational guide to healing from the bestselling author of The Choice shows us how to release self-limiting beliefs and embrace our potential.
House of Correction by Nicci French (Simon & Shuster, out now, €12.99)
She’s a murderer. Everyone knows she killed Stuart Rees – why else would his dead body be found in her shed? So now Tabitha is in prison, awaiting trial. Coming back to the remote coastal village where she grew up was a mistake. She didn’t fit in then, and she doesn’t fit in now. That day is such a blur, she can’t remember clearly what happened. There is something she is missing, something important… She only knows one thing. She is not capable of murder. And the only one she can trust to help her out of this situation is herself.
So she must fight. Against the odds. For her life. Beautifully written about prejudice, loneliness and fighting spirit, this new book by Nicci French is shocking, twisty and utterly compelling.
The Wild Silence by Raynor Winn (Penguin, out now, €12.99)
Following the hugely successful The Salt Path, Raynor Winn returns with her second brilliant book. After walking 630 miles homeless along The Salt Path, with her husband Moth, the windswept and wild English coastline now feels like Raynor Winn’s home. And despite Moth's terminal diagnosis, against all medical odds, he seems revitalised by nature - outside, they discover that anything is possible. As they return to four walls, the sense of home is elusive and returning to normality is proving difficult – until an incredible gesture by someone who reads their story changes everything: The Wild Silence is about readjusting to life after homelessness, but also about recovering trust and self-belief after a traumatic event – feelings that can translate to many episodes in the life of any of us.
Love by Roddy Doyle (Jonathan Cape, out 15 Oct, €13.99)
Roddy Doyle’s new novel is the story of two old friends, Joe and Davy, who meet up one night in a Dublin restaurant. Neither knows what the night has in store for them, but Joe has a secret he wants to tell Davy and Davy has a grief he wants to keep hidden from Joe. As the drinks flow, the pair revisit and try to reconcile their versions of the past, from bungled affairs and broken hearts to what eventually drove them apart. Love offers up a delightfully comic, yet moving portrait of the many forms love can take throughout our lives.
One August Night by Victoria Hislop (Headline, out Oct 29, €14.99)
In this highly anticipated sequel to her bestselling novel The Island, Hislop returns to the unforgettable isle of Spinalonga in Crete. The promise of freedom dawns to its residents, as the cure for leprosy has been discovered, but then tragedy strikes. Nuanced, passionate and absorbing, One August Night proves once again Hislop’s immense talent for telling a devastating story with utmost tenderness and grace.
Ghosts by Dolly Alderton (Penguin, out Oct 15, €12.99)
The first novel from the award-winning author of Everything I Know About Love.
32-year-old Nina Dean is a successful food writer with a loyal online following, but a life that is falling apart. When she uses dating apps for the first time, she becomes a victim of ghosting, and by the most beguiling of men. Her beloved dad is vanishing in slow motion into dementia, and she's starting to think about ageing and the gendered double-standard of the biological clock. On top of this she has to deal with her mother's desire for a mid-life makeover and the fact that all her friends seem to be slipping away from her… Alderton's debut novel is funny, tender and painfully relatable, filled with whip-smart observations about relationships and the way we live today.
The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult (Hodder & Stoughton, out Oct 20, €14.99)
Who would you be, if you hadn't turned out to be the person you are now? Picoult’s latest novel explores life, death, and missed opportunities. Dawn is a death doula, and spends her life helping people make the final transition peacefully. But when the plane she's on plummets, she finds herself thinking not of the perfect life she has, but the life she was forced to abandon 15 years ago – when she left behind a career in Egyptology, and a man she loved. Against the odds, she survives, and the airline offers her a ticket to wherever she needs to get to – but the answer to that question suddenly seems uncertain. As the path of her life forks in two very different directions, Dawn must confront questions she's never truly asked: What does a well-lived life look like? What do we leave behind when we go? And do we make our choices, or do our choices make us?
Just Like You by Nick Hornby (Viking, out Sep 17, €12.99)
Hornby's new novel is a tender and funny look at love. What happens if the person you're with is just like you, your perfect match, but it's a disaster? And then what happens if you meet someone new, someone you have nothing in common with, and it feels totally right? This brilliantly observed, tender but also brutally funny book gets to the heart of what it means to fall surprisingly and headlong in love with the best possible person - someone who is not like you at all.
Snow by John Banville (Faber & Faber, out Oct 1, €12.99)
Following the discovery of the body of a highly respected parish priest at Ballyglass House – the Co Wexford family seat of the aristocratic, secretive Osborne family – Detective Inspector St. John Strafford is called in from Dublin to investigate. Strafford faces obstruction from all angles, but carries on determinedly in his pursuit of the murderer. However, as the snow continues to fall over this ever-expanding mystery, the people of Ballyglass are equally determined to keep their secrets.