This book, set in the rarefied world of professional ballet, is unlike anything I’ve never read in form and content. Spanning 30 years, told from four different viewpoints, this novel sweeps you into the world of classical ballet—a world you didn’t know you’d been longing to enter. Some of the flashbacks are wobblier than others, but the richly drawn characters and powerful storytelling keep you turning the pages, The Times hated it, but nevermind that. (A warning: check all your preconceptions about good girl ballerinas. There’s lots of language, and so much cocaine.)

Seating Arrangements is the stunning debut by Maggie Shipstead, author of former Summer Reading Guide pick Astonish Me. From the publisher, "an irresistible social satire... hilarious, keenly intelligent, and commandingly well written, Shipstead’s deceptively frothy first novel is a piercing rumination on desire, on love and its obligations, and on the dangers of leading an inauthentic life."

An epic dual timeline tale with complex characters. Marian Graves, daredevil aviatrix, had an unconventional life from the start. She and her twin are rescued as infants from a sinking ship in 1914, then raised by their disreputable uncle. By 14, she drops out of school to pursue her dream of flying by way of unconventional means and a dangerous patron. Her career builds until she finally gets to attempt to circumnavigate the globe by flying over the North and South Poles—but she disappears in Antarctica. In the present day, actress Hadley Baxter is tasked with playing Marian in a biopic. She sees this role as her chance to show Hollywood what she can do, not realizing how much she has in common with Marian. Content warnings apply.