Ten of the Best Books of Summer 2016

Summer used to feel like a slow time in the publishing calendar, at least for those of us who look for substance in our reading. But not any more. This summer is awash with excellent books, among the most notable of which are our Ten BookBrowse Buzz Novels for Summer 2016, half of them debuts. Read about them below!

For more recently and soon to publish books see our "What's New" section.

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Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

Jun 7, 2016. 320 pages, hardcover & ebook. Simon & Schuster

Keep the tissues handy for this debut novel about Ted; his beloved 12-year-old dachshund, Lily; and the ominous "octopus" that confronts them. With rights sold in 15 countries, dog lovers across the world are going to be sobbing this summer over this sad but uplifting story.
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Barkskins by Annie Proulx

Jun 14, 2016. 736 pages, hardcover & ebook. Scribner

In this substantial work of historical eco-fiction Annie Proulx transports us to 17th century Canada where two young Frenchmen serve as indentured wood-cutters in the seemingly endless forests that spread across the vast continent. We follow their quickly diverging lives, and those of their descendants traveling across North America and the world. Each generation grabs a piece of nature's seemingly infinite bounty - until the present day when faced with an environment on the edge of collapse.
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Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

Jun 7, 2016. 320 pages, hardcover & ebook. Knopf

Another sweeping tale in which two half-sisters are born into different lives in 18th century Ghana. One will live comfortably married to an Englishman, the other will be shipped to America as a slave. Twenty-six year-old debut novelist Yaa Gyasi (born in Ghana, raised in Alabama) tells the story of the sisters and their descendants through two centuries of Ghanian and American history, right up to twentieth-century Harlem. Expect to see Homegoing on many best-of-year lists.
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I'm Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

Jun 14, 2016. 224 pages, hardcover & ebook. Gallery Books

The sun might be shining but you'll be feeling chills by the end of this debut literary thriller which melds psychology, suspense and a good old-fashioned dose of horror in a dark and twisty tale that will leave many readers in stunned appreciation.
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As Good as Gone by Larry Watson

Jun 21, 2016. 352 pages, hardcover & ebook. Algonquin Books

It's 1963 and Calvin is one of the last of his kind, an old-style cowboy living by himself out on the prairie. When his estranged son asks him to look after his grandchildren for a week, Calvin returns to his old home in the town where was he was a legend. Western family drama doesn't get much better than this from a long-time master of his craft.
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Underground Airlines by Ben Winters

Jul 5, 2016. 336 pages, hardcover & ebook. Mulholland

It's the present day, recognizable in many ways but unthinkable in others - the Civil War never happened and three million are still enslaved in the "the Hard Four" states. Ben Winters defies genres in this impressive literary thriller that should be required reading this political season.
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Hot Milk by Deborah Levy

Jul 12, 2016. 224 pages, hardcover & ebook.Bloomsbury USA

Family dynamics, long-kept secrets and a mother-daughter relationship drive this novel set against the sweltering landscape of southern Spain. But don't be mistaken into thinking this slim book is a lightweight "beach read." Levy's lean, poetic style (last seen in her Booker shortlisted Swimming Home) delivers considerable heft.
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Miss Jane by Brad Watson

Jul 12, 2016. 224 pages, hardcover & ebook.W.W. Norton & Company

Inspired by his own great-aunt, Brad Watson brings us the life of Jane Chisolm - a woman born in early-twentieth-century rural Mississippi with a genital birth defect that stands in the way of the central "uses" for a woman. Set against the backdrop of The Great Depression, this uplifting story about what it means to choose your happiness and be true to yourself, is a huge hit with the BookBrowse members who reviewed it for First Impressions.
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All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood

Aug 9, 2016. 352 pages, hardcover & ebook.Thomas Dunne Books

The daughter of an abusive mother and a cruel meth-dealing father, eight-year old Wavy knows not to trust people, but she does find some peace under the Midwestern night sky and her friendship with an ex-con who is one of her father's thugs. Some will be shocked by this story, but the majority of BookBrowse members who reviewed it for First Impressions had only wonderful things to say about this dark tale of childhood, abuse and unconventional love.
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The Invisible Life of Ivan Isaenko by Scott Stambach

Aug 9, 2016. 336 pages, hardcover & ebook.St. Martin's Press

Seventeen-year-old Ivan's a life-long resident of the Mazyr Hospital for Gravely Ill Children in Belarus (just a few miles from the border with Ukraine and the infamous Chernobyl reactor that melted down the year Ivan was conceived.) You might pity him when you first meet him but you won't love him. But by the end of this devastating book you'll be rooting for Ivan every inch of the way, and for the beautiful Polina and Nurse Natalya.
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