Summer Reads

Thirteen sizzling summer books to sink into.

Whenever you are this summer—beach, forest, mountains, poolside—a book is always happy to help you further the escape. 


Panther Gap by James A. McLaughlin (Flatiron Books)

Before they can inherit their family’s fortune, two siblings must navigate drug cartels, shady businessmen, and family secrets.

See our interview: Here.


A Line in the Sand by Kevin Powers (Little Brown and Company)

The latest from this National Book Award finalist opens with Arman Bajalan, an Iraqi interpreter, who discovers a body on a Norfolk beach. This stylish, sophisticated thriller will keep you reading late into the evening.

See our interview: Here


All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron Books)

This “grab-you-by-both-ears” Southern noir writer (The Washington Post) pens a thriller about a murder in small-town Virginia and the brouhaha that erupts after the gruesome discovery.


The Displacements by Bruce Holsinger (Riverhead Books)

After their home is destroyed by a hurricane, life is upended for the Larsen-Hall family. With two members missing and their finances cut off, they grapple with a new normal. 


Be Mine by Richard Ford (Ecco Press)

Over four celebrated works (including The Sportswriter and Independence Day) and almost forty years, Pulitzer Prize-winner Richard Ford has crafted an ambitious, incisive, and singular view of American life. Once again, Frank Bascombe is our guide to the great American midway and what awaits us as we age.


What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman (Penguin Press)

Ackerman curates all this fascinating research, making it breathe with life through her own observations about owls, further examining why these birds beguile us so. What An Owl Knows is a terrific and joyful look at owls across the globe and throughout history. 

See our interview: Here


Loot by Tania James (Knopf)

Spanning 50 years and two continents, this rich, compelling novel offers transportive storytelling and serves perceptive truths about circumstance and hubris, love and sacrifice, as well as the effervescence of success.

See our interview: Here


Onlookers by Ann Beattie (Scribner)

Award-winning short story writer Ann Beattie returns with an astute new story collection about people living in the same Southern town (Charlottesville) whose lives intersect in surprising ways. The characters grapple with complex inheritances that are both historical and personal and the realities of their lives interact uneasily with the past.

See our interview: coming July 21


Without Warning by Jim Minick (Bison Book)

On the night of May 25, 1955, an F5 tornado struck the small town of Udall, Kansas, without warning. Jim Minick’s nonfiction account relays the story of this disaster, scene by scene, from the perspectives of those who survived in a spellbinding narrative. 


The Peacock & The Sparrow by I.S. Berry (Simon & Schuster)

Written by a former CIA officer, this book takes place during the Arab Spring. When an American spy’s final mission goes dangerously awry, troubles abound in this explosive and exciting debut.


Crow Mary by Kathleen Grissom (Atria Books)

Inspired by the life of Crow Mary—an Indigenous woman in 19th-century North America—Kathleen Grissom’s latest novel is a fantastic voyage into her life and the struggles endured. Illuminating an aspect of American history that few know, every page engulfs the reader and rushes them onward.

See our interview: Here


Life Dust by Pam Webber (She Writes Books)

Part The Things They Carried, part The Good Doctor, get ready for vengeful nurses, freedom fighters, and two lovers struggling to reunite.


The East Indian by Brinda Sharry (Scribner)

Kidnapped and transported from the British East India Company’s outpost on the Coromandel Coast to the teeming streets of London, Tony finds himself in Jamestown, Virginia. And though not everything goes right for our protagonist, 

September 13, 2024

Wine & Brine

Williamsburg Winery
September 20, 2024

Wine & Brine

Williamsburg Winery