May is the month for long weekends with an e-book, holidays with a suitcase full of paperbacks, and everyday journeys made better with an audiobook. Our shelves are brimming with recommendations, but we’ve narrowed it down to just nine of the very best books to read this month.
As we edge closer to summer, you’ll notice brighter, bolder covers taking over bookshop tables and your online scroll, but it’s not all light reads. There are plenty of gripping thrillers, thought-provoking non-fiction, and standout audiobooks that deserve a place on your list, too.
With the help of Zoe, our books editor, we’ve curated a selection of book club picks and future talking points. These are the titles everyone will be discussing this month. So, make yourself a cup of tea, find a comfortable spot, and settle in.
The best books to read in May - from fiction through to audiobooks
Our books editor, Zoe, raves about Yesteryear as "bold and addictive." The debut novel follows Natalie Heller Mills who wants to live and promote the "tradwife" life on social media. Or at least until she wakes up in 1805 trapped in the shockingly raw reality of being "traditional." This original story has already proven itself, with Anne Hathaway set to produce and star in a major adaptation. Zoe predicted that it would be one of the year's most talked-about books and it is already everywhere.
In this Sunday Times' bestseller, Liza Minelli shares dazzling memories which feature star-studded anecdotes with Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Gene Kelly to name just a few. She describes navigating divorces, addiction, and loss in a memoir that's "thrilling and utterly unforgettable" - a firm favourite of our book editor, Zoe.
"Glamour, duty, and desire collide in this exuberant reimagining of the moment Queen Elizabeth II and Marilyn Monroe meet in the glare of a London premiere," says Zoe. It's a novel that switches between the two icons public and private lives as they navigate fame in a brutal, man's world.
This gripping revenge thriller is impossible to put down. Zoe describes it as "a story of awful people doing awful things," as we follow Kate in her grief. Following the death of her husband, Kate discovers he was having an affair with a colleague and sets about exacting revenge, but there are twists and hidden motivations that gradually unsurfaced as she gets her twisted justice.
Charlie Jones arrives on the remote, quaint Isle or Orner to begin a new life running a farm shop. At the same time, another person with exactly the same name arrives to do the very same thing. The rivalry between both Charlies is set against an undeniable love-hate romantic tension. It's classic Beth O'Leary - the perfect light read.
Our book editor, Zoe, has highlighted this as one of the bets books of the year - sure to go down as a modern classic. She describes it as "heart-breaking yet hopeful and a mesmerising meditation on the consequence of power and human connection. This is set against the vast unforgiving landscape of 1950s Australia. We are immersed in the lives of the MacBridge family who's world is shattered by a moment's misjudgement and the consequences and secrets that unravel.
Set in 1930s Mississippi, The Calamity Club is a fiercely uplifting story about what happens when women refuse to stay small. At its heart is Meg, an eleven-year-old orphan who’s learned to survive on grit alone, until she crosses paths with Birdie, a young woman beginning to question the polished life her sister has built. As the Great Depression deepens, their lives intertwine with others on the margins, including Charlie, a woman carrying her own quiet devastation.
From the Author of Adults and Animals, this hilarious new novel is a sharp, darkly funny exploration of how the labels we pick up in our youth can cling on far longer than we’d like. We first meet Sarah as a reckless, thrill-seeking teenager in the 90s, obsessed with sex, chaos, and pushing boundaries. Years later, she’s still chasing that same high, but at 41, the party is beginning to feel hollow, and the version of herself she’s been performing no longer quite fits.
The mystery around the princes in the tower never seems to go to bed. In The Pretender, the mystery arises brilliant irreverence. John Collan, a peasant boy with no business being anywhere near a throne, is suddenly thrust into a dangerous game of power, politics, and survival. His choices are stark: claim the crown, or lose everything trying. What follows is a fast-paced, sharply observed tale of ambition and identity, told with a wink of humour and a surprising amount of heart.
Addictive Audiobooks for your Ears This May
Everyone's talking about Butter. Multi-award winning, it's a treat for the ears. The novel follows gourmet cook and serial killer, Manako Kajii, and Rika a journalist who wants to find out more about whether Kajii is guilty. Rika finds her way to the chef's confidence if through food, but as she cooks recipes and learns more about the indulgences of food in a world of rationing, she begins to feel that she is the one changing.
What would happen if, one day, you simply stopped caring about what you said? Olivia Greenwood has been a chronic people pleaser until one, wild night. When she wakes up, she loses her filter, telling everybody what she thinks rather than what they want to hear. The sometimes hilarious and sometimes heartfelt results make for a wonderful listen. It's a true treat.
If you have Audible, this is available for free, as is Aciman's other book, Call Me By Your Name. The love story of Paul and Katherine, bought together by a novel follows the middle-aged couple on a sultry summer's week. It's a quick listen that can be a light, listenable love story as much as a deep philosophical thought piece on fate and second chances.
All of these books come highly recommended from the woman&home team. I’ve already speed read and listened to the audiobooks of these nine (and may more that missed the list), so you have my word that they’ll all grip you. However, if you read something worthy of our next roundup or of a shoutout in our book club newsletter, don’t hesitate to email us. I’m a book worm with an insatiable appetite for bookish chat.
