June Picks

Strout, Elizabeth (2026) The Things We Never Say. Penguin Viking.

Artie Dam is becoming increasingly isolated from the world around him when a long held secret threatens all that he holds dear. A popular teacher of high schoolers, a steady husband and father, a reliable friend and a man of strong commitments he is struggling to find meaning in an incomprehensible world and in those around him. “What are we going to do now?” Stout is at her brilliant best chronicling the endless mysteries of relationships and our interior lives. Wonderful.

Rating: 5/5

Dunham, Lena (2026) Famesick: A Memoir. Random House.

Award-winning American writer, director, and actress Lena Dunham in her raw second memoir takes us from her early life and rise to fame, behind the scenes of the HBO hit series Girls through her ongoing struggle with chronic illness, celebrity and identity, to her fertility journey and London. She shares her vulnerability and resilience as she contends with her mental health, reliance on drugs, her creativity and ambition. Public judgement has been her bête noire as she comes to terms with her life in the public eye. Fame does not keep you safe. Self-absorbed, hectic, emotive storytelling and a who’s who. For fans and millennials.

Rating: 3/5

Kent, Hannah (2025) Always Home, Always Homesick. Picador.

Australian author Hannah Kent has viewed Iceland as her second home since her Rotary exchange as a seventeen-year-old in 2003. We follow Kent from her time as a student in Iceland through to her return to undertake research for her award-winning novel Burial Rights, and subsequent literary tours. Burial Rights, her debut novel, is the story of Agnes Magnusdottir, the last women executed in Iceland. This memoir is a love letter to storytelling and Iceland. It provides an atmospheric picture of a country, its landscape, its culture and history. Perfect background read for travellers to this popular destination. A soulful literary adventure.

Rating: 4/5

Patchett, Ann (2026) Whistler. Bloomsbury.

Daphne’s surprise encounter with Eddie, her beloved former stepfather, at the Met after 40 years is set to change the course of both their lives. Eddie’s brief marriage to her mother, then sudden departure, had left Daphne bereft so the joy of meeting him again revives childhood devotion, secrets and memories. They are kindred spirits sharing a love of books and a fateful night. As they gently reconnect they revisit past sorrows and commit to facing the future together. A warm intimate story of family, friendship and the impermanent and consequential moments in our lives. A gem.

Rating: 5/5

India, Freya (2026) Girls®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything. Henry Holt.

Freya India investigates how this generation of girls are being remade, from people into products utilising the insecurities of girlhood. For something to be remade it must first fall apart. Modern digital technologies and algorithms have amplified the age-old anxieties of adolescence by capitalising on fears and vulnerabilities to constantly sell products and services. What began as tools to improve a sense of self has become an obsession with self and finding fulfillment. Friendship has become virtual leading to disconnection, relationship anxiety and loneliness. By constantly displaying their lives on social media and dating apps, building personal brands, seeking to be perfect and limiting personal interaction we now have a mental health crisis amongst girls. Mental health has become a market with influencers, therapy apps and beauty and medication companies profiting from pain. India assets our current generation girls have lost a sense of belonging to a community, lost moral guidance as the world moves away from wisdom, and lost themselves in the never-ending stream to sell them someone else to be. Although the book ends with a message of hope its tenet is very unsettling.

Rating: 4/5