Wherever you’re off to, holidays are the perfect time to catch up on your reading. Juanita Coulson picks her recent favourites
THE SUMMER SKIES
by Jenny Colgan (Sphere, £14.99)
The remote, northernmost Scottish islands are the wild and evocative setting for this stirring tale of attachment to place, complete with a plucky pilot heroine. Morag flies her grandfather’s one-prop plane delivering mail and other essentials, until a bumpy landing sees her marooned on Inchborne (population: one) and forced to face life-changing decisions.
HIGH TIME
by Hannah Rothschild (Bloomsbury, £16.99)
Ayesha, married to a much older, oafish banker, lives an indulgent life of private planes, yachts and fine jewels. She is restoring crumbling Trelawney Castle, where octogenarian countess-turned-reality TV presenter Clarissa still lives, now engaged to an Italian count. But is her dashing fiancée all he seems to be? A delicious, riveting novel, with echoes of Jilly Cooper. It had me in stitches.
THE CYPRESS MAZE
by Fiona Valpy (Lake Union Publishing, £8.99)
Villa delle Colombe in Tuscany, with its walled garden and elaborate maze, is the glorious setting for the life stories of two women: Beatrice, who became stranded there in 1943 as war encroached, and Tess, who arrives in 2015, grieving from the loss of her husband. The house becomes a refuge and a beacon of hope for both of them.
THE VINTAGE DRESS SHOP IN PRIMROSE HILL
by Annie Darling (Hodder & Stoughton, £8.99)
Sophie, who has just turned 30, is single and out of a job. She is considering emigrating to Australia if she can save enough money for the flight. As a start, she takes a job in a vintage-clothing store, where among the fabulous frocks she finds the dazzling Charles Radley - and the possibility of love. Best laid plans and all that. It’s an utterly uplifting read.
