{"title":"British Library Staff Picks: Summer Reads","description":"\u003cp\u003e9 sizzingly hot reads, hand picked by British Library staff, to make your trip one to remember.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"i-capture-the-castle-vintage-quarterbound-classics","title":"I Capture the Castle (Vintage Quarterbound Classics)","description":"\u003cp\u003eCassandra Mortmain lives with her bohemian and impoverished family in a crumbling castle in the middle of nowhere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHer journal records her life with her beautiful, bored sister, Rose, her fading glamorous stepmother, Topaz, her little brother Thomas, and her eccentric novelist father who suffers from a financially crippling writer's block.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, all their lives are turned upside down when the American heirs to the castle arrive and Cassandra finds herself falling in love for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eVINTAGE QUARTERBOUND CLASSICS: Bound to be beautiful\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Vintage Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54390067659137,"sku":"9781784878702","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/castle.png?v=1750169307"},{"product_id":"the-safeekeep-indie-exclusive-edition","title":"The Safekeep","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Women's Prize for Fiction 2025\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn exhilarating tale of twisted desire, histories and homes, and the unexpected shape of revenge - for readers of Patricia Highsmith, Sarah Waters and Ian McEwan's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eAtonement\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is fifteen years after the Second World War, and Isabel has built herself a solitary life of discipline and strict routine in her late mother's country home, with not a fork or a word out of place. But all is upended when her brother Louis delivers his graceless new girlfriend, Eva, at Isabel's doorstep - as a guest, there to stay for the season…\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the sweltering heat of summer, Isabel's desperate need for control reaches boiling point. What happens between the two women leads to a revelation which threatens to unravel all she has ever known.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54390070804865,"sku":"9780241999776","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/safekeep.png?v=1749811533"},{"product_id":"our-infinite-fates-special-edition","title":"Our Infinite Fates (Special Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA star-crossed lovers romance that spans a millennia, for fans of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe Invisible Life of Addie LaRue\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThey Both Die at the End\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eOne Day\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003e‘Maybe that’s all love is, in the end. An endless tempting of fate.’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eEvelyn can remember all her past lives. She can also remember that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eThe problem is that she’s quite fond of the one she’s in now, and more importantly, her sister needs her for bone marrow transplants to stay alive. So now she has to:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003col class=\"a-ordered-list a-vertical\"\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003efind the centuries-old enemy who hunts her through each life and destroy them forever\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003efigure out exactly why she’s being hunted in the first place,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-list-item\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003etry quite hard not to fall in love with them\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ol\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e…again.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Random House Children's UK","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55369040855425,"sku":"9780241671115","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/8_21d4b376-52b2-401a-aafb-0dabf5750923.png?v=1772115477"},{"product_id":"cursed-daughters-signed-edition-botm-july","title":"Cursed Daughters (Signed Edition) - BOTM July","description":"\u003cp\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE NERO AWARD 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour daughters are cursed. They will pursue men, but the men will be like water in their palms. Your granddaughters will love in vain. Your daughters, your daughter's daughters, and all the women to come will suffer for man's sake...\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEniiyi has heard about the family curse her whole life. She's never believed in it. She's also heard, her whole life, that she is the reincarnation of her dead aunt, Monife. Same eyes, same left hand, same scar in the same place. She's never believed in that, either.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen she falls in love with a handsome local boy, and Monife begins to appear to Eniiyi: in her dreams, on the beach, in the mirror, pulling her, it seems, towards the same terrible fate. Can Eniiyi live her life on her own terms, or is history - and the curse - repeating itself?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atlantic Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55810250867073,"sku":"9781805463382","price":7.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/curseddaugterssigned.png?v=1783006376"},{"product_id":"queenie-is-working-on-it-signed-edition","title":"Queenie is Working on It (Signed Edition)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eHow is it possible for one woman to hold it together when she's:\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eConfronted with a racing biological clock when she doesn't even know if she wants kids.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTrying to act normal when her heart is smashed into a million pieces.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTen times smarter than the people she's working for.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePriced out of the housing market in the place she grew up.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eStuck in a situationship when all she wants is the love of her life back . . .\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBigger. Not better. Older. Not wiser. Queenie Jenkins is working on it.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAward-winning author Candice Carty-Williams returns with a scalpel-sharp, poignant and hilarious new book that shines a dazzling light on the realities of modern womanhood.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Orion Publishing Co","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55863040016769,"sku":"9781409198970","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/queenieisworkingonit.png?v=1783003120"},{"product_id":"so-good-to-see-you","title":"So Good to See You","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2004. Serge, Rosie and Daniel are enjoying their final weeks of university. They are young, inseparable and full of optimism.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFifteen years later, they are guests at a lavish four-day wedding in Provence - and no longer friends.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLife has not turned out quite as planned since their heady days at Oxford. Film-maker Serge is winning awards, but hiding a huge debt and a fractured relationship. Behind Rosie's social ease, she is heartbroken. And with Daniel's fame has come spiralling anxiety.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNow, with four days of organised fun ahead, all three are armed with their best conversation and brightest smile. At least everyone is following the same script: do not bring up the past. But as the Champagne flows, appearances slip and true feelings emerge.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Little Brown Book Group","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55924455440769,"sku":"9780349415642","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/sogoodtoseeyou_9780349415642.png?v=1784283402"},{"product_id":"glorious-exploits","title":"Glorious Exploits","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAncient Sicily. Enter GELON: visionary, dreamer, theatre lover. Enter LAMPO: lovesick, jobless, in need of a distraction.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eImprisoned in the quarries of Syracuse, thousands of defeated Athenians hang on by the thinnest of threads.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThey’re fading in the baking heat, but not everything is lost: they can still recite lines from Greek tragedy when tempted by Lampo and Gelon with goatskins of wine and scraps of food.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd so an idea is born. Because, after all, you can hate the invaders but still love their poetry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt’s audacious. It might even be dangerous. But like all the best things in life – love, friendship, art itself – it will reveal the very worst, and the very best, of what humans are capable of.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhat could possibly go wrong?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55924456358273,"sku":"9780241998007","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/GloriousExploits_9780241998007.png?v=1784815950"},{"product_id":"my-phantoms","title":"My Phantoms","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e'What a phenomenal ear she has, and how remorselessly funny she is -\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eMy Phantoms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis unmissably good' Kevin Barry, author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eNight Boat to Tangier\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHelen Grant has always been a mystery to her daughter. A twice-divorced mother-of-two she has sought intimacy in all the wrong places. Her daughter Bridget sees her once a year and considers the problem contained. But as she looks back over their fractious relationship, she is forced to confront cruelties inflicted on both sides.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eMy Phantoms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an insightful and painfully funny account of a family strained to breaking point, and a reckoning with the damage we do over the course of a life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eMy Phantoms\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was a Book of the Year in the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eObserver\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eDaily Telegraph\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eIrish Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eGuardian\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eThe White Review\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eEvening Standard\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eBig Issue\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eTLS\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eWeek\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003eNew Statesman\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Granta Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55924456915329,"sku":"9781783783274","price":9.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/myphantoms_9781783783274.png?v=1784279812"},{"product_id":"is-a-river-alive","title":"Is a River Alive?","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eFrom celebrated writer Robert Macfarlane comes this brilliant, perspective-shifting new book – which answers a resounding\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eyes\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eto the question of its title.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt its heart is a single, transformative idea: that rivers are not mere matter for human use, but living beings – who should be recognized as such in both imagination and law.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-italic\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eIs a River Alive?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e takes the reader on an exhilarating exploration of the past, present and futures of this ancient, urgent concept.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe book flows first to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003enorthern Ecuador\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, where a miraculous cloud-forest and its rivers are threatened by goldmining.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThen, to the wounded rivers, creeks and lagoons of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003esouthern India\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, where a desperate battle to save the lives of these waterbodies is under way.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd finally, to \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003enorth-eastern Quebec\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, where a spectacular wild river – the Mutehekau or Magpie – is being defended from death by damming in a river-rights campaign.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003eAt once Macfarlane’s most personal and most political book to date,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold a-text-italic\"\u003eIs a River Alive?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"a-text-bold\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewill open hearts, spark debates and lead us to the revelation that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55924457046401,"sku":"9780241998212","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0244\/8444\/6286\/files\/IsaRiverAlive_9780241998212.png?v=1784279665"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.bl.uk\/collections\/british-library-staff-picks-summer-reads.oembed","provider":"British Library Online Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}