Penguin The Summer Switch-Off Reekles Beth

1960s Rural Ireland. Greta Cahill must abandon her quiet village to follow her fearless sister Johanna onto a ship bound for New York • It's here that she steps out of her sister's shadow and into a life of her own, rich with love, work and family • As the years pass Greta longs to revisit the past - to see her mother, to show her what she has made of herself • But she must protect a family secret, decades old • So when her children conspire to unite the worlds she's kept so carefully apart, Greta fears she could lose it all • A profoundly moving, compassionate story of self-discovery, The Walking People is a powerful and compelling story about our connection to the past

When Alice Hopkins' husband dies in a tragic accident, she returns to the small Essex town of Manningtree, where her brother Matthew still lives • But home is no longer a place of safety. Matthew has changed, and there are rumours spreading through the town: whispers of witchcraft, and of a great book, in which he is gathering women's names • To what lengths will Matthew's obsession drive him? • And what choice will Alice make, when she finds herself at the very heart of his plan?

Birdy just got her dream job • The problem is, it's not hers • Have you ever imagined running away from your life? • Well Birdy Finch didn't just imagine it. She did it. Which might've been an error. And the life she's run into? Her best friend, Heather's • The only problem is, she hasn't told Heather. Actually there are a few other problems • Can Birdy carry off a summer at a luxury Scottish hotel pretending to be her best friend (who incidentally is a world-class wine expert)? • And can she stop herself from falling for the first man she's ever actually liked (but who thinks she's someone else)?

The Great Gatsby is a dazzling social satire, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece and a milestone in twentieth-century literature, now beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range • 'There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.' • Everybody who is anybody is seen at the glittering parties held in millionaire Jay Gatsby's mansion in West Egg, east of New York. The riotous throng congregates in his sumptuous garden, coolly debating Gatsby's origins and mysterious past. None of the frivolous socialites understands him and among various rumours is the conviction that 'he killed a man'. A detached onlooker, Gatsby is oblivious to the speculation he creates, but always seems to be watching and waiting, though no one knows what for

The greatest expression of his talent for witty, observant explorations of what it means to 'live well', Henry James's The Ambassadors is edited with an introduction and notes by Adrian Poole in Penguin Classics • Concerned that her son Chad may have become involved with a woman of dubious reputation, the formidable Mrs Newsome sends her 'ambassador' Strether from Massachusetts to Paris to extricate him. Strether's mission, however, is gradually undermined as he falls under the spell of the city and finds Chad refined rather than corrupted by its influence and that of his charming companion, Madame de Vionnet, and her daughter, Jeanne. As the summer wears on, Mrs Newsome concludes that she must send another envoy to confront the errant Chad - and a Strether whose view of the world has changed profoundly

The Colour of Milk is the new novel by Orange longlisted author and playwright Nell Leyshon • 'this is my book and i am writing it by my own hand' • The year is eighteen hundred and thirty one when fifteen-year-old Mary begins the difficult task of telling her story. A scrap of a thing with a sharp tongue and hair the colour of milk, Mary leads a harsh life working on her father's farm alongside her three sisters. In the summer she is sent to work for the local vicar's invalid wife, where the reasons why she must record the truth of what happens to her - and the need to record it so urgently - are gradually revealed

The bestselling author of Getting Rid of Matthew and My Sweet Revenge tells the story of a woman living in her sister's shadow • When it comes to genes, life is a lottery • Abi knows that all too well, having spent her life in the shadow of her beautiful, glamorous older sister Cleo • Headhunted as a model at sixteen, Cleo has been all but lost to Abi for twenty years. So when Abi is invited to spend the summer with her sister's perfect family, she says yes. Maybe Cleo is finally as keen as Abi to regain their childhood closeness? • But Abi is in for a shock. Soon she's left in charge of her two spoilt nieces and her handsome, unhappy brother-in-law. As she moves into her sister's life, a cuckoo in the nest, Abi wrestles with uncomfortable feelings

One hot summer, first love and so many buried secrets • Senara has never been in love before. She's not done anything exciting before. Always the sidekick . . . Until the summer that changes everything • Cliff House is closed off for most of the year until its rich Londoner owners come down to Cornwall for the summer. This year, despite herself, Senara finds herself pulled into this world of wealth and ease, sunbathing and beautiful people. She even finds herself falling in love for the first time • But Cliff House and its owners are hiding things. They've been hiding things for too long and now, despite all their efforts, their secrets are coming out . . . Secrets that involve Senara's friends and her family in a way she could never have imagined

Emily is happy with her life just as it is • She loves her career as a midwife, and enjoys living on her own - but can't help but feel like it’s time for a change • So when her best friend Rebecca asks whether she’d like to spend the summer cooking on a ‘puffer’ boat just off the Scottish coast, she jumps at the chance • But it's far from easy. Rebecca is heavily pregnant and is thrilled to have her friend on board doing most of the work. Then there’s Emily’s competitive and jealous kitchen assistant, who thinks she should be head cook • And there’s Alasdair, the handsome local doctor who Emily is desperately trying not to notice • Because if she falls in love with him, as he appears to be falling for her, will she ever want her old life back again?

A witty, moving philosophical novel, Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums is a journey of self-discovery through the lens of Zen Buddhist thought. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Ann Douglas • Following the explosive energy of On the Road, the book that put the Beat Genration on the literary map - and Jack Kerouac on the bestseller list - comes The Dharma Bums, in which Kerouac charts the spiritual quest of a group of friends in search of Dharma, or Truth. Ray Smith and his friend Japhy, along with Morley the yodeller, head off into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude and experience the Zen way of life. But in wildly Bohemian San Francisco, with its poetry jam sessions, marathon drinking bouts and experiments in 'yabyum', they find the ascetic route distinctly hard to follow

Connie McCabe longs for the summer where she spends the days leading tours across the continent • But it's on the glamorous shores of Lake Como where she is truly swept away, when Jared, a much younger man, falls for her • Despite resisting his advances, Connie finds that he's got under her skin • And so begins a long, hot, intoxicating summer where Connie succumbs to temptation - breaking her marriage vows • At the end of the season, Connie returns home to her husband, ready to put this affair behind her • But Jared has other ideas

Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl is an inspiring and tragic account of an ordinary life lived in extraordinary circumstances that has enthralled readers for generations. This Penguin Classics edition is edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler, translated by Susan Massotty, and includes an introduction by Elie Wiesel, author of Night • 'June, 1942: I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.' • In Amsterdam, in the summer of 1942, the Nazis forced teenager Anne Frank and her family into hiding. For over two years, they, another family and a German dentist lived in a 'secret annexe', fearing discovery. All that time, Anne kept a diary