What We’re Reading This Summer

A Place For Us tells the story of complicated family dynamics as the blend of present culture clashes with traditional values. Set in California, we follow the lives of an Indian-American family who have been brought back together to celebrate the wedding of the eldest daughter, Hadia - a love match rather than an arranged marriage. The parents - Rafiq and Layla - want to pass on their culture and traditions to their children. The children are contending with embracing this alongside their own upbringing and modern life. 

Originally published in 2018, A Place For Us is an emotive story of family love and a need for belonging. 

Other similar reads: A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, Ayesha At Last: A Novel by Uzma Jalaluddin, and Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi. 

Our non-fiction top pick is all about mental health and self-help. Bessel Van Der Kolk has dedicated his life to researching the impact of traumatic stress and how the brain processes this trauma. He did the first studies on the effects of SSRIs on PTSD, and effective treatments to help heal. This book takes his scientific findings across three decades and explores how trauma literally reshapes the body and brain, in a digestible way. It goes without saying that this recommendation came from our Head of People, Rourke, who even said herself that this “is exactly the book you’d expect HR to be reading”. 

Other similar reads: When The Body Says No by Gabor Mate, What My Bones Know by Stephanie Foo, and Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker.

From Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn, Dark Places is a fiction that revolves around Libby Day. As a child, she was a witness to her family's brutal murder - a massacre, and her older brother was the killer. Back then, her evidence helped put her brother away. Now, 25 years later, a group of true-crime obsessives called The Kill Club believes he is innocent. 

This book is suspense-packed and thrilling, drawing upon the “social misfit” trope that was connected to the satanic panic era. Did he do it? Our Social Media Coordinator, Natalia, noted the depth of characters and philosophical-themed dialogue. 

Other similar reads: Any other Gillian Flynn books, The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, and Richard Osman.