Looking for something fresh to read this summer? Whether you’re into messy relationships, complicated family histories, or experimental storytelling, this week’s literary lineup offers a lot to unpack.
From a wartime-inspired romance to a rekindled same-sex love story and a bold breakup memoir, these three new novels each bring something different to the table.
Grappling With History in The Scrapbook by Heather Clark
When Heather Clark stumbled across her grandfather’s old scrapbook, she found more than just mementos—she found inspiration for a novel that blends the personal with the political.
Her grandfather helped liberate the Dachau concentration camp during World War II, and his experience becomes the emotional anchor in The Scrapbook.
The novel follows Anna, a Harvard student who’s fallen hard for Christophe, an architecture student living in Hamburg.
She visits him often, and together they talk endlessly about literature, war memories, and the lingering scars left by both Nazi atrocities and Allied bombings.
But Christophe is emotionally distant—and murky about his own family’s past.
He insists his grandfather was part of the German resistance, but Anna can’t shake the feeling that something’s not being said.
Though the story structure sometimes feels a bit too deliberately constructed, the novel’s conversations—smart, probing, and uncomfortably real—raise big questions:
How much of a country’s history do we inherit? And how do we live with the weight of it?
Love Rekindled in Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski
If you’re after a summer romance that’s as delicious as a beachside cocktail, Ordinary Love might be the book to grab.
Marie Rutkoski serves up a fizzy, bittersweet story about Emily, a woman who walks away from her decade-long marriage to wealthy but possessive Jack.
Not long after, she reconnects with Gen—her first love and a world-class athlete.
They hadn’t seen each other in years, but the old spark is still there.
This time, Emily is ready to face what she once tried to bury.
As the two women try to make something real out of their reunion, Jack refuses to let go, even fighting for custody of their children.
Meanwhile, the media hounds their every move, reminding them that they’re no longer the carefree teens who once fell in love.
Rutkoski weaves themes of desire, identity, and ambition into a compelling story told in sparkling prose.
Even if the ending doesn’t entirely surprise, the journey is joyful and thoughtful, filled with moments that shimmer with emotional honesty.
Breaking the Mold in The Mobius Book by Catherine Lacey
Catherine Lacey doesn’t play by the usual rules—and in The Mobius Book, she really doubles down on form.
The novel is designed as two stories in one: you can read from either end, flipping the book to follow both a fictionalized memoir and a fictional version of that same memoir.
Both halves delve into the same event—Lacey’s real-life breakup with fellow writer Jesse Ball.
The stories unpack the rawness of grief, the strange stillness of emotional loss, and how the end of a relationship can feel oddly like losing your faith.
The Mobius-strip concept is clever, but it doesn’t quite land. While Lacey is always interesting as an experimental writer, here the form feels more like a gimmick than a necessity.
The dual narratives don’t quite connect in a satisfying way, and at times, the project feels more like literary revenge than reflection.
Still, for fans of bold and boundary-pushing fiction, Lacey’s latest will spark plenty of conversation.