July's Features
This month’s features are South Asian Heritage Month, Book-to-Film Adaptations, and Nature Reading. We have books that tell important stories, offer new perspectives, or simply entertain! Whether you're an avid reader wanting a new recommendation or are looking to get into reading, we hope you find a new story to dive into this month.
South Asian Heritage Month
These stories explore the human impact of the Partition of India and Pakistan through unforgettable characters and deeply personal narratives, inviting readers to learn, reflect, and connect with the experiences that continue to shape generations.
- The Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra - When their beloved city is ravaged by Partition, two lovers find themselves on opposite sides, their love now forbidden.
- The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India by Urvashi Butalia - The partition of India into two countries, India and Pakistan, caused one of the most massive human convulsions in history. Yet, more than half a century later, little is known of the human dimensions of this event. Urvashi Butalia fills this gap by placing people—their individual experiences, their private pain—at the centre of this epochal event.
- The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh - Opening in Calcutta in the 1960s, Amitav Ghosh's radiant second novel follows two families—one English, one Bengali—as their lives intertwine in tragic and comic ways.
- Mottled Dawn: Fifty Sketches and Stories of Partition by Saadat Hasan Manto - A collection of Saadat Hasan Manto's most powerful pieces on the Partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1947, bringing alive the most tragic event in the history of the Indian subcontinent.
Book to Film Adaptations
In collaboration with Broadway Cinema & Theatre, delve into the best literary film adaptations. Why not read the book and then go and see the film?
- The Odyssey by Homer - The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature.
- The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton - Joe, Beth and Frannie find the Enchanted Wood on the doorstep of their new home, and when they discover the Faraway Tree they fall into all sorts of adventures!
- Emma by Jane Austen - Beautiful, clever, rich - and single - Emma Woodhouse is perfectly content with her life and sees no need for either love or marriage. Nothing, however, delights her more than interfering in the romantic lives of others.
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day - A brand-new compact edition spotlighting one of the most celebrated modern chapters in Spider-Man's history!
Nature Reading
A selection of books that are right up your street and feature nature heavily in their themes and stories.
- Good Nature by Kathy Willis - A groundbreaking exploration from Professor Kathy Willis exposing the causal relationship between nature and our health - making you experience the world in a new light.
- Losing Eden by Lucy Jones - Delicately observed and rigorously researched, Losing Eden is an enthralling journey through this new research, exploring how and why connecting with the living world can so drastically affect our health.
- Rooted by Lyanda Lynn Haupt - Cutting-edge science supports a truth that poets, artists, mystics, and earth-based cultures across the world have proclaimed over millennia: life on this planet is radically interconnected.
- The Nature Fix by Florence Williams - From forest paths in Korea to islands in Finland to eucalyptus groves in California, Florence Williams investigates the science at the confluence of environment, mood, health and creativity.
- Land Beneath the Waves by Nic Wilson - A moving, honest and revealing memoir of living with chronic illness, and an examination of the ways a relationship with the natural world can affect us, from local debut author and nature writer Nic Wilson.
- On Gallows Down by Nicola Chester - From the girl catching the eye of the ‘peace women’ of Greenham Common to the young woman protesting the loss of ancient and beloved trees, and as a mother raising a family in tied and tenanted farm cottages on grand, country estates, this is the story of how Nicola came to write – as a means of protest.
- Drystone: A Life Rebuilt by Kristie De Garis - When Kristie moved to rural Scotland, she hoped to find peace. Instead, in the space and silence, she was forced to confront everything she had tried to escape. Then, in the land around her – and in the slow, stubborn craft of drystone walling – she began to see a different life. One that was quiet, deliberate, and her own.
- The Flow by Amy-Jane Beer - On New Year's Day 2012, Amy-Jane Beer's beloved friend Kate set out with a group of others to kayak the River Rawthey in Cumbria. Kate never came home, and her death left her devoted family and friends bereft and unmoored. Returning to visit the Rawthey years later, Amy realises how much she misses the connection to the natural world she always felt when on or close to rivers, and so begins a new phase of exploration.
Recommend a Book
Do you have a fantastic recommendation you'd love to share with others? We're compiling new reading lists each month and we want your help!
Tell us what you love to read and why - and you may see it featured on a future reading list. Take a look at the upcoming themes by clicking on the images below.
Gallery
Check out our past reading lists
June 2026
June's Features
This month’s features are Graphic Novels, Refugee Week, and Pride Month. We have a selection of books that feature diverse experiences, important topics, and stories full of heart. So whether you're looking for a new recommendation in a genre you already love, or want to try something new, we hope you find a book that takes your fancy this month!
Graphic Novels
Comic Con comes to Letchworth Garden City this June, so we're sharing some of our favourite graphic novels!
- Ghost World by Daniel Clowes - The story of Enid and Rebecca, teenage friends facing the unwelcome prospect of adulthood, and the uncertain future of their complicated relationship.
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi - The intelligent and outspoken child of radical Marxists, and the great-grandaughter of Iran's last emperor, Satrapi bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country.
- Sabrina by Nick Drnaso - WHERE IS SABRINA? The answer is hidden on a videotape, a tape which is en route to several news outlets, and about to go viral.
- The Sculptor by Scott McCloud - David Smith is giving his life for his art – literally. Thanks to a deal with Death, the young sculptor can sculpt anything he can imagine. But with only 200 days to live, deciding what to create is harder than he thought, and discovering the love of his life at the eleventh hour isn't making it any easier.
Refugee Week
To celebrate Refugee Week, each of these books provides an insight to destigmatise the rhetoric around immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
- Alpha, Adijan to Gare du Nord by Bessora and Barroux - A powerful graphic novel depicting Alpha’s arduous journey leaving the Ivory Coast to follow his wife and child, with the intention to reunite at Paris’ Gare du Nord.
- Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah - Caught in the middle of a dangerous conflict between Ethiopia and Eritea, Alem's father brings him to England to escape the dangers at home. At first, Alem is delighted to be having a holiday with his dad, until he wakes up one morning to find his father has left him in England alone. Borrow online.
- The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri - Nuri is a beekeeper; his wife, Afra, an artist. They live a simple life, rich in family and friends, in the beautiful Syrian city of Aleppo - until the unthinkable happens. When all they care for is destroyed by war, they are forced to escape. Borrow online.
- The Lonely Londoners by Sam Selvon - Moses Aloetta arrives at Waterloo station with other hopeful new arrivals from the West Indies, ready to start fresh in 1950s London. Instead of a prosperous future in the "glitter-city", they have to face the harsh realities of living hand to mouth, of racism, of bone-chilling weather and bleak prospects. YouTube audiobook.
Pride Month
Discover some of our favourite books and graphic novels featuring LGBTQIA+ stories and characters. Whether you're part of the community or an ally, these reads offer opportunities to learn, connect, and celebrate the diversity of LGBTQIA+ experiences.
- Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid - An epic novel set against the backdrop of the 1980s space shuttle program about the extraordinary lengths we go to live and love beyond our limits.
- Marsha by Tourmaline - The first definitive biography of revolutionary activist Marsha P. Johnson—an iconic and trailblazing figure in LGBTQIA+ history—unveiling her life, profound impact, and enduring legacy.
- The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller - Achilles, "the best of all the Greeks," is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince, exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond, despite risking the gods' wrath.
- The Girls I've Been by Tess Sharpe - As an ex con artist, Nora has always got herself out of tricky situations. But the ultimate test lies in wait when she's taken hostage in a bank heist. And this time, Nora doesn't have an escape plan...
Pride Month Graphic Novels
- Bloom by Kevin Panetta - Though he loved working there as a kid, Ari cannot fathom a life wasting away over rising dough and hot ovens. But while interviewing candidates for his replacement, Ari meets Hector, an easy going guy who loves baking as much as Ari wants to escape it.
- Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh - Clementine is a junior in high school who seems 'normal' enough. When her openly gay best friend takes her to a gay bar, she becomes captivated by Emma, a punkish, confident girl with blue hair, an event that leads Clementine to discover new aspects of herself.
- Welcome to St Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure by Lewis Hancox - Lewis has a few things to say to his younger teen self. He knows she hates her body. He knows she's confused about who to snog. He knows she's really a he and will ultimately realise this... but she's going to go through a whole lot of mess (some of it funny, some of it not funny at all) to get to that point.
- Stone Fruit by Lee Lai - Bron and Ray are a queer couple who enjoy their role as the fun weirdo aunties to Ray’s niece, six-year-old Nessie. Their playdates are little oases of wildness, joy, and ease in all three of their lives, which ping-pong between familial tensions and deep-seated personal stumbling blocks.
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