Books by Moriarty, Hawkins, Follett named among Richard and Judy Book Club picks

New books by Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins and Ken Follett are among Richard Madeley and Judy Finnegan’s latest W H Smith Book Club recommendations, with Lucy Clarke, Rose Tremain and Lexie Elliott making up the list of six summer picks. 

Kicking off the list is Moriarty’s Apple’s Never Fall (Penguin Michael Joseph), a thriller exploring marriage, siblings and family secrets that tells the story of Joy and Stan Delaney who have four grown-up children, a successful family business and their golden years ahead of them, until Joy vanishes. Moriarty is the author of several other books including Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers (PMJ). 

Next up is A Slow Fire Burning (Doubleday) by The Girl On the Train (Black Swan) author Hawkins. In this latest whodunnit, three women connected by one brutal crime are determined to right the wrongs done to them, but when it comes to revenge, even good people are capable of terrible things. Finnegan said of this title:  “I loved this novel from page one. The fire burns slowly, but it finally erupts and explodes in death.” 

Also making this season’s book club with his new title, Never, is Follett, author of the Kingsbridge series of books (Pan). Madeley said: “Never is an extraordinarily well-timed work … a timely and gripping read."

The synopsis reads: “When those in charge disagree and refuse to back down, an international chain reaction kicks off with potentially catastrophic consequences: a world edging closer to war. Now three people must work with the utmost skill to stop that from happening.”

Clarke’s novel One of the Girls (HarperCollins), which tells the story of  six young women who arrive on a beautiful Greek island dreaming of sun-drenched beaches and blood orange sunsets, ready to lose themselves in the wild freedom of a weekend away with friends, but one of whom won’t leave alive, has also been recommended. Madeley said: “Lucy Clarke has penned a pretty-much perfect summer holiday read here. We loved it.”

Tremain’s “delicious” thriller, Lily, also makes the list. The synopsis reads: “It’s 1850, and in the powerful spirit of true Victorian melodrama a newborn baby girl is abandoned one wild winter’s night in a London park. Saved by a young constable and taken to the London Foundling Hospital, Lily is lucky enough to be placed with Nellie Buck, a kind and motherly woman. However, her rustic idyll with Nellie at Rookery Farm ends as she turns six and by law she must return to the Foundling Hospital."

Finnegan said of Lily: “The sheer cruelty of Lily’s gradual realisation that she will never see Nellie again is heartbreaking. I was utterly mesmerised by this beautiful book… I simply couldn’t put it down.” 

Concluding the Summer Book Club collection is How To Kill Your Best Friend, by author Lexie Elliott. Its synopsis reads: “Lissa is dead, drowned in the feared Kanu cove off the remote island where she and her husband own a fabulous luxury resort. Locals won’t swim there because of an ancient legend. Visiting the island for Lissa’s memorial service, Georgie and Bronwyn, along with her grieving widower and other friends, join a strained atmosphere where everyone is on edge. Everyone is hiding something, but was Lissa’s death really an accident, or could she have committed suicide? Even worse, was she murdered?”