Over the past few years, I have always devoted two columns annually to books, compiling a list of summer and winter reads to share with all of you. This year, I decided to do something different. Given that summer holidays tend to be rather active periods when you are busy exploring the mountains or the beach, I decided that a reading list wasn’t really required at this time. Instead, I would offer my best reads when the monsoon set in, so that you could enjoy the books I have loved with a side order of tea and pakoras.
So, here goes my list of monsoon reads, which should keep you happily engaged on the days when the rains are keeping you housebound:
Departure(s) by Julian Barnes
This book, released to mark the author’s 80th birthday, is the last one he will ever write – so that is reason enough to read it. But mostly, you should pick this up because this is Julian Barnes writing at the peak of his powers. Part memoir, part fiction, this book is pitch-perfect in its depictions of departures; the endings that come with every life, both in fiction and in reality. Barnes, who has been diagnosed with blood cancer, reflects on the nature of life and mortality through a mixture of personal essays and the fictional story of a couple who break up in their youth and then unexpectedly reconnect in their sixties, with a piercing tenderness that left me quite tearful.
All In by Claire Powell
To call this a family drama would be accurate but also very misleading. This is a tragi-comedy in a domestic setting, with a plot so propulsive, and characters so compelling that the story will live with you long after you have finished the book in record time. Jo and Dave, whose marriage is on rocky ground after many years of failed IVF, are invited to a luxury weekend (all expenses paid) by Teddy, Dave’s older, flashier and richer brother. Also in attendance are Dave’s glamorous girlfriend and the boys’ father, Alan. As family dynamics play out among the sun and sand, nobody emerges from the story as entirely the same person.
Secret Service by Tom Bradby
I came to this book rather late – and then, only because it was made into a TV series starring Gemma Arterton. But intrigued by the first episode of the show, I downloaded the book and raced through it in a day’s time. Set in the murky environment of Whitehall and the shadows of the spy world, the action kicks off when the British Prime Minister resigns because of ill-health. Two candidates emerge from the party for the top job but one of them is a Russian asset – and it is up to Kate Henderson (our heroine) to discover which one of them is the guilty party. The investigation will end up upending not only her professional world, but also her personal life, in a twist that you will never see coming.
From HT Brunch, July 11, 2026
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