Browns Best New Books for August 2024
1st August 2024
Every month we carefully select our favourites from the fabulous new titles on offer. August! Exams are finally over, summer is well and truly here (we hope – summer so far has felt somewhat damp and autumnal) and school holidays have begun. Hopefully anyone who was disappointed by the Euros result has now recovered enough to enjoy the glorious spectacle of sport that is the summer Olympics. Here at Browns, one of our summer highlights is always The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge – this year’s theme is ‘Marvellous Makers’ and celebrates creativity and imagination; sign up to take part at your local library or online. If you’re looking for a new summer read to keep you entertained whatever the weather, then read on for our picks of new books published in August.
Check back next month for our picks of the new books September has to offer.
Adult Non-Fiction
A Voyage Around the Queen
Brown, Craig
Hardback
She was the most famous person on earth, photographed near-constantly throughout her life, written and speculated about extensively throughout her 96 years. Yet Queen Elizabeth II was often reserved and unassuming, leaving only a vague but positive impression on the many, many people she met. This portrait of one of the most omnipresent and elusive people on earth for the best part of a century is a mix of biography, anecdotes, essays, satire and cultural history, looking at its subject through a variety of lenses.
Craig Brown is a journalist, critic and satirist, his acclaimed biography of The Beatles – One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time won the 2020 Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. This new look at Queen Elizabeth II is much more than a straightforward biography and is at times thought-provoking, charming and moving. A look not only at a remarkable woman but a social history and a study of the effect our longest-serving monarch had on others.
More DetailsAdult Fiction
The Life Impossible
Haig, Matt
Hardback
When retired maths teacher Grace is left a run-down house on a mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her and she sets off for Ibiza with no plan or guidebook. Convinced that her friend’s death is not as it seems, Grace must face her own past and uncover strange truths as she searches for answers.
Matt Haig’s writing is always beautiful, lyrical and at times inspiring and this new novel will not disappoint his many, many fans. Haig’s books often weave elements of magical realism into the narrative and The Life Impossible is an enchanting and moving story that stays with the reader for a long-time after the last page has been read. With wonderfully drawn characters and beautiful descriptive passages this is an immersive, hopeful and life-affirming read that will move and inspire readers.
More DetailsChildren’s Non-Fiction
Science is Lit
Manny, Big
Paperback / softback
Since first creating videos in 2021, social media science sensation Big Manny has managed to make chemistry cool whilst educating his fans on fundamental theory. A secondary school science technician, Big Manny originally wanted to help students with remote learning during the Covid-19 lockdowns and now has millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok where he shares short videos that are based on England’s National Curriculum and are often filmed in his back garden.
In this fantastic book, Big Manny introduces us to some basic (and not so basic) chemistry with fun and accessible experiments that can be done at home. The book teaches readers about the elements, shows how to create amazing mixtures and conduct some fun experiments with basic ingredients. Perfect for readers 8+, this book will inspire the next generation of scientists and may also show older readers that chemistry is much more exciting than they remember.
More DetailsChildren’s Fiction
Not for the Faint of Heart
Croucher, Lex
Paperback / softback
Mariel is desperate to live up to the legacy of her grandfather – the legendary Robin Hood. Clem is a healer who just wants to help people with her new-fangled cures. When Mariel and her bandit gang kidnap Clem all seems to be going well until Mariel’s father, commander of the Merry Men, is taken in an ambush. Seeing a chance to prove herself, Mariel sets off to attempt a rescue with the annoyingly cheerful Clem in tow…
Lex Croucher’s Gwen and Art Are Not in Love has been a huge hit this year – shortlisted for the Café Nero Book Awards 2023 and the YA Book Prize 2024 and winning the Books Are My Bag Reader’s Awards for Young Adult Fiction as well as countless fans on TikTok and beyond. Fans of Gwen and Art and new readers alike will love this new book from Croucher – a rip-roaring LGBTQ+ Enemies-to-Lovers adventure that reimagines the Robin Hood myth wonderfully. With snappy, funny writing, a pacy plot and characters readers won’t be able to help falling for, Not For The Faint of Heart is the perfect, joyous summer read.
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