Must Read Fiction For August 2025

Sometimes people just…click.

Thirty-something Girlie Delmundo works a day job as a content moderator, flagging and removing the very worst that makes it on to the internet. She’s one of the best at it, too – dispassionate, unflinching, maybe because she learned by necessity to wall off all her emotions when she was still a kid – so it’s no surprise to anyone when the social-media company for which she works offers her a big salary rise and an office to start moderating its new venture: virtual-reality theme parks, lush and near-perfect simulations of civilizations long since dead.

Girlie takes the job, and getting paid to spend her days wandering the crowds of medieval jousts or exploring romantic Left Bank Paris seems too good to be true. Almost. Sure, she signed up for having to deal with the sordidness of pretty much any virtual space, but as she begins to explore the intricate worlds that she moderates, she notices two deeply troubling things: that there might be something much darker built into the very code of the company, and that William, technically her new boss, a man whose barriers are as mighty as her own, might just be that long-forgotten thing… Girlie’s type.

A deliciously entertaining story about sushi, serendipity and making every second count – from the award-winning writer and comedian, MARK WATSON

That’s three sashimi rolls. Two vegetable dumplings. One life-changing encounter. Your delivery is on its way …

For delivery rider Damir, time is money.

He races through cycle lanes next to Uber drivers and grocery vans, delivering your every desire. He arrives with your sushi rolls and pizzas and disappears into the night – Ping! Onto the next drop.

He is invisible: one player in the boardgame of the city.

But one summer’s evening, in a postcode that could be another universe, Damir arrives on Decca’s doorstep and there’s an immediate connection between them.

The man on the bike crosses the divide – suddenly fully seen. And a throwaway delivery sparks a chain of events that will change all their lives, forever.

The trip was supposed to be fun.

When Kit’s best friend gets dumped by his boyfriend, he begs her to ditch her family responsibilities for a quick, idyllic weekend away. They’ll soak in hot springs, then drink too much, like old times. Instead, their getaway only reminds Kit of everything she’s lost lately: her wildness, her independence and – most heartbreakingly of all – her sister, Julie, who died a few years ago.

When she returns home, Kit tries to settle the routine of caring for her irrepressible young daughter. But in the secret recesses of Kit’s mind, she’s fantasizing about the hot playground mum and reminiscing about the band she used to be in with her sister – and how they’d go out to the desert after shows and drop acid.

Keyed into everything that might distract her from her surfacing grief, Kit begins to spiral, and as her already thin boundaries between reality and fantasty blur, she starts to wonder: is Julie really gone?

From the International Booker Prize–shortlisted author of What I’d Rather Not Think About comes a darkly humorous novel about multigenerational family dynamics and individuality in Dutch suburbia.

An unnamed narrator grows up overshadowed by her unconventional mother, an ex–Jehovah’s Witness and former television star with an inferiority complex. Her father is the head of a psychiatric institution, whose only form of parenting is to offer his daughter the same life advice he dispenses to his patients. Reserved and somewhat aloof, he chooses not to intervene when his wife obsesses about charisma, calorie counting, and turning their daughter into a child prodigy.

Their daughter strives to meet her mother’s expectations and bond with her father while secretly worrying she lacks the drive or charisma to do anything significant with her life. When her mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she begins to address their generational trauma, forge a new relationship with her father, and discover life on her terms. In twelve chapters ― each reflecting a different phase of life ― Posthuma expertly dissects a fraught family history, exposing the absurdity that often lies at the heart of life’s most poignant and challenging moments.

As the daughter of Korean bodega owners, Jia Song promised herself that she would have every luxury when she grew up. Now she’s made junior partner at her prestigious law firm, and it’s all finally within reach. So when her boss asks her to sit in on the hush-hush family implosion of a client, she accepts without hesitation – only to find out that it is one of the most famous Korean families in the world.

The Parks and their mega successful Korean beauty brand are worth a billion dollars. But the father is filing for divorce while his wife is dying, and the children can’t stop fighting. With both the family fortune and their legacy under threat from the worst kind of scandal, it’s up to Jia to set things right – and she only has a month to do it.

As Jia chases the truth across the globe, she finds herself falling for this broken family, though it’s clear they’re hiding dark secrets. Can she find the truth in time to protect their fortune and secure her success at the firm? And can she hold on to what’s most important, even if it means admitting that what she’s always wanted isn’t what she actually needs?

A powerful novel of fate, resistance, and family by an international bestselling author.

War has torn them apart . . . Can fate bring them back together?

When newlywed Ruby Henderson Benoit arrives in Paris in 1939 with her French husband Marcel, she imagines strolling arm in arm along the grand boulevards, awash in the golden afternoon light. But war is looming on the horizon, and as France falls to the Nazis, Ruby’s marriage begins to splinter, too.

Charlotte Dacher is eleven when the Germans take over the French capital and her parents are suddenly deported, tearing her life apart. Her kind neighbour, Ruby, offers to step in and look after her. But can they work together to mend their broken hearts – and summon the courage to defy the Nazis – as they fight to survive?

A captivating coming-of-age novel about love, sisterhood, secrets and betrayal.

From the author of Hideous Kinky comes a captivating novel about sisterhood, secrets, betrayal and love.

For as long as Lucy can remember, she’s been caught between loyalty to her rootless, idealistic mother and devotion to her fierce and exacting sister, Bea. From her unsettled childhood to her turbulent teenage years, she’s been forced to make a choice.

But as the sisters come of age and embark on their own experiments – in love, drugs, work, motherhood – they find their lives, and their relationships, increasingly in turmoil.

Can the love they have for each other transcend the damage of the past? Or is the past too dangerous to examine?

On an ordinary morning in an ordinary house, a woman discovers a secret her husband has been keeping. It is a secret that explodes their marriage.

As Dolores grapples with her new reality, she unwillingly delves into her past to work out how she got here, unpicking the seams of the relationships that have built her. She’s a sister, a daughter, a wife, a teacher. How much does her past have to influence her present? Can’t she just forgive and forget?

And most importantly: what is a woman for, anyway?

We want to live. Drink gin. Squeeze into the front of big cars and drive up outside big hotels. We want to go places.

Caithleen is a romantic: she dreams of finding a handsome man who will sweep her away and look after her. Her friend Baba thinks this makes her a right-looking eejit. What she wants is money and glamour. Life. As much of it as she can get.

But neither love nor excitement seem possible in their small village, or their convent school. And when they finally make it to Dublin, they find that home isn’t as easy to escape as they thought.

Harlow Hayes: the pop star.
I’m a global sensation adored by millions, and my star only seems to keep rising.

The icon.
My fans say I speak directly to them through my music, that I know who they are. How else could I write such visceral, personal lyrics? They love me, and I love them right back.

The murderer.
Then, at the height of my fame, I was arrested on suspicion of murder.

The world thinks they know who I am.

But they have no idea.

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Told from the perspective of Naomi Barnes, an investigative journalist with a personal interest in the case, this exhilarating thriller is perfect for fans of Ellery Lloyd and Holly Jackson.