At the start of the month, I declared it to be Big Books Summer in my world. You see, one of my original reading resolutions was to prioritise reading the 500+ page books that were already on my shelves, and reducing the total number of books read as a result. I’d felt intimidated by these chunky tomes and, on the surface, 2025 felt like a good time to cosy up and focus on big books and long stories: my boyfriend and I were moving in together, and we’d have more time and less money for other activities.

Yet, as with every resolution ever made in the world, I let this goal completely pass me by for the first six months of 2025. I tackled Samantha Shannon’s completely incredible The Priory of the Orange Tree in January, then pretty much called it a day on this reading resolution! Now, I’m going to focus on my big books again.

July reads

The Palace on the Higher Hill by Karim Kattan
The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley (ARC)
Seascraper by Benjamin Wood (ARC)
Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel
The Other Wife by Jackie Thomas-Kennedy (ARC)
A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

In review

The Palace on the Higher Hill by Karim Kattan

Rating: 5 stars

We have a five-star read, people!

An own-voices novel, Kattan brings to life Faysal, who has recently learned that his aunt – whom he can’t remember – has passed away. He travels from his exile in Europe back home to the titular ‘palace on the higher hill’ – their now-crumbling family home on the West Bank – recounting ghosts of his and his family’s past and, all the while, learning of his people’s story. There’s a sense of push and pull, urgency and disillusionment, exile and home, throughout the story, and Kattan explores identity and a truly unique, lived perspective of Palestine in this offbeat family saga.

Kattan’s turns of phrase are gorgeously translated into a trailing first-person perspective that magnetises you from the first page. The way that it’s told solely in Faysal’s voice adds a surreal, solitary layer to the story which really emphasises how Palestinians feel – alone, displaced, unbelieving. I completely loved this book and think you should all read it as well. (Plus, I LOVE these Foundry Editions?! Must seek out more!)

The Girls Who Grew Big by Leila Mottley

Thanks Penguin and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!

Rating: 4 stars

When Adela falls pregnant as a teenager, her parents ferry her to Florida to stay with her grandparents. The Girls Who Grew Big is a raw and unflinching portrait of three teenage mothers, their naïveté, building a community or ‘village’, motherhood, friendship and teendom. Slow to start, you’ll quickly warm to Adela as she navigates her pregnancy and forms a close bond with fellow young mothers.

Mottley writes each character so precisely that they practically lift from the page; you’re in the room with them. While the subject matter is difficult, Mottley treats each girl’s story with care and a genuine, heartfelt hope that runs throughout. Our protagonists, Adela, Simone and Emory are at different stages of motherhood and this creates a well-rounded picture of their young motherhood and how a friendship connected in this way works. There’s certainly a negative image painted in modern society about teenage mothers, but also about ‘older mothers’ – this novel humanises women again and puts them first, something that felt refreshing and needed in these times.

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood

Thanks Penguin and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!

Rating: 3.5 stars

When life is really busy, I love nothing more than escaping with a slow and unfurling, atmospheric novel. And that’s exactly what Seascraper is. Set in a coastal North East England town, Wood engulfs us in the quietude and simplicity of Thomas Flett’s life as a shanker in the 1960s. I loved the perfectly wrought language that Wood chooses here: his writing is rich, calm and simple at the same time, suffusing the story with a curious eeriness and that unsettling feeling in your stomach that comes with any coming-of-age story. I highlighted endless quotes and many of my book notes remark how human and compelling Thomas’ interactions are with filmmaker Edgar Atcheson, who acts as our stark antagonist. What occurs over a few days in this book feel like they’ll stay with me for a long time. This won’t be for those that want action and a solid ending.

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

Rating: 3.5 stars

Baby’s first Mantel! And, unfortunately for me, it’s the one that everybody collectively dislikes. In Beyond Black, we meet Alison, a medium that unlike her peers can actually communicate with the afterlife. She’s accompanied by assistant Colette, who is an almost completely abhorrent person, hellbent on embarrassing Al and fat-shaming her to the point that I nearly DNF’d this book in its first chapter. A slow-moving story, it unfolds that Alison has some unfinished business too. Alison and Colette trudge from bleak and dreary English town to bleak and dreary English town, accompanied by a ‘spirit guide’ as she’s tormented by the men that her mother brought home during her childhood. Turns out, her spirit guide is hanging out with these very men.

This was a darkly funny book and I’m not sure whether I enjoyed it or whether I’m just proud that I finished it at all. I’ll warn you now that this is a bleak and pretty depressing book where there isn’t a single through plot; just a series of connected events written in brilliantly prosaic form. This is my first Mantel and I loved how she manages to cast a glow on what is otherwise a fairly mundane story. She weaves in splashes of dark humour and writes some incredible paragraphs, but I can’t decide if I could call this ‘enjoyable’. I’ve rated it 3.5 stars for Mantel’s writing alone.

The Other Wife by Jackie Thomas-Kennedy

Thanks Vintage Books, Penguin and NetGalley for my advanced reader copy!

Rating: 2 stars

Unfortunately, I ended up marking this one as a DNF at 22%. While I enjoy books that go nowhere, they must at least feel immersive and feature rich characters. The Other Wife sort of hovered in the middle with nothing that drew me in, and I found I had to keep rereading pages as I’d misted over them.

As she approaches her forties, Zuzu has everything she’s ever wanted. Yet she can’t shake the feeling that something is missing. A tragic event brings her home, where she begins contemplating all of the decisions that’ve brought her to her ‘now’, including the decision to marry her wife Agnes, despite having unresolved feelings for her best friend.

This felt like an extreme slow burn with not much to show for it during the pages that I did read. Like I say, it hovered around the middle and Zuzu was an unlikeable character to read. (Unreadable character, perhaps?)

A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

Rating: 2 stars

One of the least enjoyable books I’ve read in years, A Room With A View is another of E.M. Forster’s literary class examinations. Unlike Howard’s End, which I actually did enjoy, this is an almost entirely superficial, flowery and misogynistic 256 pages. When Lucy and Charlotte visit Florence, their rigid and uptight middle-class lifestyles are thrown out of kilter. The story moves on as they meet a cast of flamboyant, equally unlikeable, people at their Italian hotel. It felt like not a lot happens in this book: Lucy surmises the differences between life in Italy and life at home in Edwardian England. Perhaps it’s because I’m reading this in 2025, where class divides are still great and Lucy’s non-problems feel more out of touch than ever against today’s societal backdrop.

What was your favourite book from July? And, please share your own monthly bookish wrap-ups in the comments.