With its long, sun-soaked days and lingering heat, summer invites us to drift — to lose ourselves in stories that whisk us far beyond our everyday lives. It’s the time of year when the best kind of reading happens: not for purpose or productivity, but for pure escape…and in some cases, for eye-opening intrigue.
We’ve curated a reading list that delivers on that promise. From Facebook’s global war rooms to the neon swirls of Shanghai, from war-ravaged Chile to the hushed salons of Surrealist Paris, these books open doors to deeply engaging worlds far beyond your deck chair or beach towel.
So choose your adventure, and let these women authors do the rest.
"Dream Count" (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”Dream Count” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This long-awaited novel offers a powerful portrait of four Nigerian women navigating love, ambition and the weight of societal expectations. Chiamaka, a travel writer living in the United States during the pandemic, reflects on past lovers and lingering regrets. Her best friend, Zikora, faces emotional collapse beneath a carefully maintained exterior. Omelogor, a bold and successful cousin, begins to question the foundations of her identity. And Kadiatou, a housekeeper raising her daughter in the U.S., is forced to confront a life-altering crisis. With lyrical prose and piercing insight, “Dream Count” captures the universal sacrifices women make in pursuit of family, belonging and love.
"Careless People." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”Careless People” by Sarah Wynn-Williams
In this gripping memoir, Sarah Wynn-Williams pulls back the curtain on her years inside Facebook, offering a front-row view of how the tech giant’s unchecked power and toxic culture have shaped global politics and personal lives. From jet-setting with world leaders to confronting misogyny in the workplace, Wynn-Williams lays bare the absurdity and danger of a company where a handful of people wield extraordinary influence — with little accountability. Both searingly personal and politically urgent, “Careless People” is a fearless account of Silicon Valley’s recklessness and the real-world consequences it leaves in its wake.
"Friends of the Museum" (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”Friends of the Museum” by Heather McGowan
Set over the course of a single chaotic day, this novel follows the staff of a crumbling New York City museum as they navigate personal crises, institutional dysfunction and the high-stakes pressure of the annual gala. At the center is Diane Schwebe, the museum’s embattled director, who wakes to a legal crisis that threatens to unravel everything she’s fought to preserve. As tensions rise among a cast of eccentric employees, the ticking clock builds to a shocking climax: by dawn, someone will be dead. Witty, sharp and laced with tragedy, this satirical ensemble novel echoes The White Lotus in its look at ambition, loyalty and the fine art of (barely) holding it together.
"The Bombshell." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”The Bombshell” by Darrow Farr
During a sultry 1993 summer in Corsica, 17-year-old Séverine Guimard — a glamorous, reckless daughter of a French politician — is kidnapped by a group of young militants fighting for independence. Séverine flips the script, however, seducing her captors and becoming the unlikely face of their cause as a media frenzy grows. Fueled by political awakening, first love and a taste for notoriety, she transforms from hostage to rebel in a summer of passion and upheaval. “The Bombshell” is a provocative debut about youthful idealism, dangerous charisma and the blurred line between performance and belief.
"The Persians." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”The Persians” by Sanam Mahloudji
“The Persians” introduces the Valiat family, once prominent in Iran but now struggling for identity in the U.S. Elizabeth, the proud matriarch, stayed in Tehran during the revolution. Her daughters, Shirin and Seema, are navigating new lives in Houston and Los Angeles. After a disastrous vacation in Aspen ends with Shirin in jail, the illusion of the family’s well-heeled respectability is shattered. As Shirin attempts to piece together their fractured legacy, one question haunts her: in a country that never recognized the family’s standing to begin with, what is there to restore? And what might be lost in their desperate pursuit of belonging?
"Surreal." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”Surreal” by Michèle Gerber Klein
In this richly detailed biography, Michèle Gerber Klein reclaims the legacy of Gala Dalí — the formidable, often overlooked woman at the center of the Surrealist movement. Drawing on newly uncovered sources, “Surreal” follows Dalí from her modest beginnings in pre-Revolutionary Russia to her role as muse and partner to Paul Éluard, Max Ernst and ultimately Salvador Dalí. But Gala was far more than a muse: she was a strategist, an impresario and the driving force behind Dalí’s fame and fortune. Spanning wars, revolutions and continents, Klein tells the story of a woman who reshaped her life over and over.
"Rabbit Moon." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”Rabbit Moon” by Jennifer Haigh
In this intense family drama, divorced parents Claire and Aaron reunite after their daughter Lindsey is critically injured in a hit-and-run during her gap year in Shanghai. As they wait by her hospital bedside, old wounds and long-held secrets come back to the surface — including the traumatic event that broke up their marriage and turned Lindsey against them. Estranged from her parents, Lindsey has trusted only her younger sister Grace, who was adopted from China as a baby. Now, as Claire and Aaron are stuck together in Shanghai, they uncover troubling uncertainties about Lindsey’s life there. “Rabbit Moon” weaves a tense, compelling story of family ties that even divorce can’t break.
"Matriarch." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”Matriarch” by Tina Knowles
Long before the world knew her as the mother of Beyoncé, Solange Knowles and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, Tina Knowles was a spirited girl growing up in 1950s Galveston, Texas, the youngest of seven children. This memoir traces her journey from a lively childhood in a close-knit Black community to the heartbreaks, risks and resilience that shaped her into a force of her own. Though motherhood is at its core, this memoir is equally a story of vision, transformation and the quiet strength passed down from woman to woman. With candor and charm, “Matriarch” is a portrait of a woman who turned the raw material of her life into something lasting — a legacy built on reinvention, courage and love.
"My Name Is Emilia del Valle." (Credit: Barnes & Noble)
”My Name Is Emilia del Valle” by Isabel Allende
The latest novel by beloved author Isabel Allende follows Emilia del Valle — born in 1860s San Francisco to an Irish nun and a Chilean aristocrat — as she comes of age determined to make her mark on the world. After publishing pulp fiction under a male pseudonym, she reinvents herself as a journalist, landing a job at The Daily Examiner. When civil war breaks out in Chile, Emilia seizes the chance to report from the front lines alongside a fellow reporter — and unexpected love interest — Eric Whelan. But as she journeys into the heart of a country she barely knows, Emilia must confront her estranged father, mounting danger, and what it means to claim both her story and her past.
"Intersections." (Credit: Simon & Schuster)
”Intersections” by Karen Uhlmann
Inspired by a scene she witnessed in her own neighborhood — an officer keeping vigil at the site of a fatal hit-and-run — Karen Uhlmann’s debut novel explores the quiet devastation and moral complexity of shared grief. Suspended police officer Ed Kelly returns daily to the street corner where a young child was killed, determined to identify the driver. Charlotte Oakes, a glamorous lifestyle guru and fellow witness, visits the same site — haunted by a terrible suspicion that her own daughter may be responsible. As their unlikely bond deepens, Charlotte must make an unbearable choice between protecting her child and facing the truth.
