Book recommendations for summer

Simon Church of Book Stop, Tavistock, shares his top summer reads...

Redhead by the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler 

In this latest novel by American literary giant, Anne Tyler, we follow a few days in the life of Micah, a middle-aged janitor-cum-computer fixer who would barely merit a glance from a passing stranger, but whose outwardly mundane existence disguises a person, a life and a soul as unique and complex as any other. With wit, style and pathos, Tyler's simple prose brings Micah's real depths, weaknesses and strengths to the surface as he encounters challenges variously thrown up by his difficulty in reading girlfriends past and present (or their difficulty in reading him?), his crazy family, his neighbours' plumbing, the customers of his modest tech business and a teenager claiming to be his long lost son... Tyler's novel mirrors its main protagonist - on the surface slim and modest, but dig deeper and you will find real treasure.

Publisher: Vintage, £8.99

More recommended reads from Book Stop:

The River Between Us by Liz Fenwick: Love story set in the Tamar Valley, £8.99

Love After Love by Ingrid Persaud: Costa and now Indie Book Awards-winning novel, following loves and losses in an unconventional household, £8.99

Woodston: The Biography of an English Farm by John Lewis-Stempel: Brand new history of a quintessentially-English farm, £20.00

Maria's Island by Victoria Hislop: Illustrated retelling of a Hislop classic for children, set on a Cretan island, £10.99

Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé: Anonymous texter 'Aces' wreaks havoc in this YA thriller set in Niveus Private Academy, £8.99