Brilliant contemporary novels to read this summer: Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams, Food
Bitter Sweet by Hattie Williams (Orion £16.99, 400pp)
Charlie is 23 and newly employed as a junior publicity assistant at a leading London publishing house.
Although this is the job of her dreams, Charlie’s self-esteem is non-existent. Her mother died when she was 16 and the grief and shock stole her confidence, throwing her way off course.
It’s taken until now for her to find her feet, make friends and feel good about building a new life. Charlie’s primary excitement is the fact that her new place of work publishes her – and her mother’s –favourite author, a literary giant called Richard Aveling.
When Charlie meets 56-year-old Richard in the flesh she is immediately infatuated with him and they soon begin an affair. Charlie wants Richard to see her as low maintenance so hides her many anxieties and agrees to all his plans. She tells none of her friends and quickly becomes isolated.
It’s brilliant on power and control and heartbreaking to witness Charlie’s diminishment as their relationship progresses.
Food Person by Adam Roberts (Hutchinson Heinemann £16.99, 320pp)
Protagonist Isabella is obsessed with food and is a brilliant cook. She longs to become a professional food writer but is aware that she needs to build up years of experience and the road ahead seems hard as well as long.
So when Isabella is offered the chance to ghost write a cookbook for Molly, an actress mired in scandal, she takes the job.
Molly hopes the book will make people take her more seriously and Isabella hopes it will help her break into the industry.
However, it soon becomes clear that Molly is a mess and couldn’t care less about food or cooking. A fun summer read.
The Greatest Possible Good by Ben Brooks (Scribner £16.99, 416pp)
The Greatest Possible Good is available now from the Mail Bookshop
Yara and Arthur Candlewick live in a beautiful Cotswolds house with all mod-cons and two expensive cars in the drive. Despite their wealth, Yara exists in a state of anxiety about running out of money.
Arthur wants to take early retirement but his wife won’t allow it. Emil and Evangeline are their privileged teenagers who attend the excellent local private school, each rebelling in their own way.
Drugs are Emil’s hobby while organising protests against perceived injustice is Evangeline’s.
When Arthur falls down a mineshaft when out on a late-night walk, he is not found for four days and when he comes home from hospital with casts on both legs it’s obvious to Yara that the incident has changed him profoundly. Arthur begins to give away his money to charity and Yara can’t get through to him. I raced through it.