What the CBC team are reading this summer
BY Maya Fernandes
16th Jul 2026
Summer is in full swing in London, so we asked the CBC team to share the books keeping them company in the sunshine. From exciting new releases and prize-winners to old favourites, here’s what we’re enjoying right now.
Whether you’re heading to the beach, unwinding in the garden or staying cool indoors, we hope you find a brilliant read to take along with you.
Jack Hadley, Senior Courses Manager
The Wedding People by Alison Espach
Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn alone, expecting to blend in as one of the wedding guests. But while everyone else has come to celebrate a new beginning, Phoebe is there to make peace with an ending. Over the course of the weekend, an unlikely friendship with the bride challenges both women to reconsider the lives they thought they wanted and the possibilities they never imagined.
Anna Davis, Founder & Managing Director
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Sybil Van Antwerp has always turned to letters to make sense of the world and her place within it. A retired lawyer, mother, grandmother and lifelong reader, she writes every day to the people she loves – as well as to one person whose letters remain forever unsent. But when a message from her past brings old pain back to the surface, Sybil must decide whether facing the truth might finally allow her to let go.
Katie Smart, Senior Marketing & Sales Manager
Little Wild by Laura Evans
Suffolk, 1937. Margaret has always been part of the Winther family, but when she and Joanie, their only daughter, dream of escaping the lives mapped out for them and building a future together, their secret is discovered. Sent away to the woods and separated from the person she loves most, Margaret is forced to confront the darkness within her.
Laura was a student on London Writing Your Novel – Six Months course in 2014. Read our interview with Laura here. Little Wild is out now with Mantle (Pan Macmillan).
Lyndsey Ng, Courses Manager
The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe
Five young women working at a publishing company in 1950s New York are determined to build lives beyond the expectations placed upon them. From career ambitions and romantic entanglements to questions of identity and independence, their stories reveal the excitement and challenges of making a life on their own terms in the city that promises everything.
Felix Morrison, Team Assistant
No Ghosts by Max Lury
After reconnecting at their friend Annie’s memorial, Harlow and Kieran set out on separate quests to uncover what happened to her, whilst also trying to repair their fractured friendship. As Harlow discovers traces of the dead hidden in AI-generated videos and Kieran becomes involved with a mysterious community searching for lost ghosts, they are drawn into a world where memory, grief and reality begin to blur.
Maya Fernandes, Marketing Assistant
The Carrier by Ruth Newton
In a world where a revolutionary company can remove pain, grief and despair, the wealthy no longer need to experience their darkest feelings. Instead, women known as Carriers are paid to take that suffering on for them. But as the reality behind this seemingly perfect solution begins to emerge, the entire system starts to unravel.
Ruth was a student on our online Writing Your Novel – Six Months course in 2021 and The Rewrite Doctor in 2022. Read our interview with Ruth here. The Carrier is out now with Bantam (Penguin, UK).
Jennifer Kerslake, Head of Courses
Paradise by Edna O'Brien
While holidaying with her wealthy new lover and his privileged circle, an unnamed woman finds herself increasingly out of place. As she is pushed beyond her comfort in an effort to meet their expectations, the cracks beneath the group's polished surface begin to show, revealing a world shaped by class, desire and control.
The books linked in this blog can be found on our Bookshop.org shop front. Curtis Brown Creative receive 10% whenever someone buys from our bookshop.org page.