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UK Book Releases: August
August's new releases are less a theme and more a mood swing — grief-soaked family dramas sitting next to a myth-retelling romance, a knife-sharp domestic thriller next to a Big Little Lies sequel a decade in the making. If your TBR needs a shake-up before autumn, this is the month to do it. Something for a plane, something for a beach towel, something to read with the lights on.
Here’s where we think you should start.
A Heartbeat at My Feet — Kristin Judd — August 1
After discovering her husband’s affair on the eve of their Sorrento trip, Josie heads to Italy alone — and adopts Cicero, a scruffy street dog nursing his own grief after his owner’s death. Told from both their perspectives, it’s a warm, funny journey from Sorrento to Capri about starting over, with a bookshop owner and a lot of gelato along the way. Think Under the Tuscan Sun with a canine narrator who has opinions.
When She Was Ours — Anna Nordberg — August 1
On the night of her daughter’s wedding, surgeon Thea Erickson is dealing with joy and a terminal diagnosis at once — and makes a secret arrangement that will ripple through her family for years. Years later, her younger daughter Astra is still grappling with the accident that changed her life and the mother she lost, until a stranger surfaces with a piece of Thea’s past. A quietly devastating debut about grief, sisters, and what mothers leave unsaid.
Where Her Secrets Lie — Katie Tallo — August 1
Seventy-year-old Lenny Bird has spent fifteen years locked away with her secrets — including a body in her backyard — after her daughter’s murder and her husband’s suicide. When her estranged grandson is forced back into her life along with his twin daughters, his crime-family troubles come crashing through her door too. A gripping, twisty thriller with a beer-drinking, kickboxing septuagenarian at its centre — not your average protagonist.
Fields of Asphodel — Callie Rowland — August 1
Asphodel, the free-spirited daughter of Hades and Persephone, has spent her life avoiding her mother’s fate — until her parents arrange her marriage to Thanatos, god of death. So she kidnaps her groom-to-be, only to discover that without him doing his job, the realms spiral into chaos. A lush, romantic debut retelling for fans of mythology-flavoured romantasy.
Tuesdays are for Oversharing — Bella Osborne — August 6
After her brother’s sudden death, Louisa inherits his house in a picture-perfect village and plans to keep her head down — until her nosy neighbour drags her to the local café’s Tuesday club, a group built around saying the unsayable. As long-buried truths about her brother surface, Louisa has to decide whether hiding is really working for her. A warm, funny read about grief sneaking up on you at the worst — or best — moments.
In Meadowlight — Sussie Anie — August 6
After a no-fault eviction leaves her without a home of her own, Mercy has built a quiet livelihood housesitting for others, moving through borrowed lives and borrowed rooms. Her latest gig, in a striking house in the countryside, promises rest — until the house’s own history starts to surface. From the author of To Fill a Yellow House, this is a novel about instability, belonging and what it means to make a home when you keep having to leave one.
Netherwood — Jake Arnott — August 25
Justine and Adam move to Hastings hoping a fisherman’s cottage by the sea will fix what’s broken in their marriage after Adam’s stalled art career and a recent miscarriage. Instead they find a bolted door, a hidden cave and a witch bottle — and the shadow of the town’s most notorious former resident, occultist Aleister Crowley. A gothic swerve from the author of The Long Firm, this one’s for readers who like their seaside towns unsettling.
Sophie, Standing There — Meg Mason — August 27
Four months after her marriage ends, Sophie Pattison is unmoored — estranged from her best friend, avoiding her brother, about to lose her job — with only books left to hold her together. When she rediscovers a novelist she loved in her twenties, the obsession that follows becomes both a lifeline and a problem. The follow-up to the Women’s Prize-shortlisted Sorrow and Bliss, this is sharp, sad and very funny on loneliness and the strange intimacy of reading someone else’s mind.
Claws Out! — Bella Mackie — August 27
Diana has buried three husbands and has her sights on a fourth — until his suspicious daughter starts digging into her track record. It’s black comedy at its sharpest: to lose one husband is unlucky, to lose two is careless, but three is starting to look like murder. From the author of How to Kill Your Family, expect wicked wit and zero remorse.
The Rejection Cure: Overcome the Fear, Boost Your Confidence, Transform Your Life — Sophie Jones — August 27
Content creator Sophie Jones turned a viral 30-day rejection challenge into a movement, and this is the practical, mindset-shifting book that follows — on ditching people-pleasing, building real confidence, and treating “no” as data rather than disaster. Not fiction, but a solid antidote if any of the above books hit a little close to home.
Big Little Truths — Liane Moriarty — August 27
A decade after the quiz night that ended in death, Madeline, Celeste, Jane, Renata, and Bonnie are back — older, warier, and dealing with teenagers instead of toddlers. When the school receives a package containing a severed finger, old tensions and new secrets collide. Moriarty’s first-ever sequel, and just as gossipy and sharp as the original.
Life of M — Rachel Cusk — August 27
A famous actress known only as M lets a writer into her orbit, hoping to be understood — or at least seen accurately. What unfolds across olive groves, beaches and the backs of limousines becomes less a portrait of celebrity than an interrogation of image, truth and who gets to tell whose story. Said to be Cusk’s sharpest work since the Outline trilogy, it is stripped down and unflinching.
Want even more reading inspiration?
We hope you’ve found something that piques your interest! Let us know in the comments. And be sure to download the Novellic app to peruse all of our curated collections.
Happy reading, book friends!