By Anna Robinson, Jaime Butler, Georgia Wells and Maisy Twaddle
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
13 April 2023, Cornerstone
A powerful novel of class, money and love, Jenny Jackson’s debut novel Pineapple Street follows three women in an established Brooklyn Heights family: one who was born with money, one who married into it and one who wishes to give it all away.
The eldest Stockton daughter, Darley, never had to worry about money. She followed her heart and traded her job and inheritance for motherhood. Her sister-in-law, Sasha, on the other hand, comes from a more reserved family and has caused concern in the family with her hesitancy to sign her pre-nup. Georgiana, the youngest girl, has fallen in love with someone she can’t have and has to decide who she wants to be.
In a Gossip Girl-esque look into the lives of New York’s elite that is littered with parties, country homes and fine dining, Jackson delves into the super-rich with humour and wit, creating a novel that charts three women nobody really knows below the surface. Her novel is filled with recognisable characters and explores the unknowability of others, the things one might never find out and the vast separation between classes in New York and beyond.
Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune
2 May 2023, Berkley
Ten years ago, in her early twenties, Fern spent an enchanting twenty-four hours with Will Baxter, adventuring around the city and sharing every secret and dream free from judgement. The timing wasn’t right but Fern felt a memorable connection, and she thought Will did too. That day they made a pact to meet up again exactly one year later. Fern showed up, but Will didn’t, and she hasn’t heard from him since.
Since that day, Fern can’t help thinking about Will. How he saved her and what could’ve been between them. Her life has turned out completely different from what twenty-two-year-old Fern had expected. She’s back at home running her mother’s lakeside resort even though she’d promised herself she’d be living in the city and that she’d never get stuck in this role. To make things worse, the place is currently in shambles and managed by her ex-boyfriend. She needs hope and motivation to get her life back in order.
Then, the unexpected happens. Will of all people shows up offering to help. Fern doesn’t know what to think – except that he’s too late. Fern and Will have been brought together again after ten years and this time secrets aren’t so easily revealed and trust is not so easily given. But Will has changed too, and this time he might actually be more in need of her help. This latest romance from Fortune will pull you in and put you in the perfect summer mood.
Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley
4 May 2023, Rock the Boat
The number of missing indigenous women is on the rise, and Perry Firekeeper-Birch can’t keep her thoughts away from the atrocities. Of the two twins, Perry is the relaxed, easy-going one. However, that all changes when her family find themselves caught up in a high-profile murder case in connection to the missing women. And as the Anishinaabe tribe fall victim to grave robbers, Perry begins to question everything she once knew about her home on Sugar Island.
Desperate for answers, Perry recruits her twin sister, some friends and a new boy in town to join her to help unravel the mystery. The story of the missing women unfolds and the twins discover that the truth of it all was far darker than they could have ever anticipated.
The Guest by Emma Cline
18 May 2023, Vintage Publishing
New from the bestselling author of The Girls comes this searing new story of a girl pretending to be someone she is not. A long and heady summer spent on Long Island is coming to its end and Alex is no longer welcome. After a misstep at a dinner party, the older man that she’s been staying with sends her away with a taxi ride and a train ticket back to the city.
Alex has few resources to her name but does have the advantage of being able to navigate other people’s desires. She stays on the island and drifts through gated communities and sun-blasted dunes, leaving a trail of destruction in her wake. Shimmering with danger and strange beauty, The Guest is a dissection of deception and desire which examines the decisions we make and how they can help us to either sink or swim.