If you’re located in the Northern Hemisphere as I am, you’re currently enjoying the thick of summer. That’s prime travel and reading season for many people, myself included. Since book recommendations have been flying around in my various group chats, I figured I’d share a few here that could transport you to some interesting time periods and/or locations:
- The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict: A number of my friends (and some of their mothers!) have loved this work of historical fiction based on the glamorous Hollywood icon Hedy Lamarr’s early life. Who knew Lamarr had escaped Nazi Austria AND was the innovative scientist whose collaborative work became the basis for cell phone technology? It’s a wild ride about a fascinating and brilliant woman at a turbulent historical moment. This is one I listened to on Audible and was completely enrapt by it.
- This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub: This light but thoughtful story revolves around Alice, a woman who dozes off on her 40th birthday only to awaken as her 16-year-old self in her childhood bedroom. If you’ve ever thought about what might happen if you could go back and re-live certain moments of your past, you might really enjoy this adventure.
- The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller: Set in Cape Cod (one of our favorite places) on a single summer day, this story follows a woman’s struggle to make a life-altering decision that has been in the works for decades and could set her comfortable life with her family on a radically new course.
- The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley: Full of intrigue and suspense, this novel begins with Jess fleeing London to arrive at her brother Ben’s swank Paris apartment building just as he disappears. The chapters shift perspective, each following a different character living in the apartment building as Jess tries to unravel the dark mystery of what’s happened to Ben.
- This Close to Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith: One rainy Friday evening on her way home from work in Kentucky (another of our favorite places, and one we’re praying for right now), a therapist notices a man about to jump from a bridge. She pulls her car over to try to persuade him not to jump, and they end up spending a weekend together in which they are both forced to confront their demons.
Happy Reading! And Happy National Friendship Day! We always enjoy sharing books with friends and hope you do too. Feel free to pass along our recommendations to all of your reading BFFs.
Language of Friendship 
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