Books on Our Radar This October
Welcome to Books on Our Radar, your go-to guide for discovering stories that captivate, challenge, and inspire. Whether you’re looking for a fresh literary gem, a thought-provoking nonfiction deep dive, or something completely unexpected, this month’s curated selection promises to expand your reading horizons. From gothic reimaginings and sapphic romances to razor-sharp cultural critiques and tales of resilience, these titles are bound to spark conversations and linger in your thoughts long after the last page.
Highlights this October include Hungerstone, a sensual, atmospheric reworking of the classic Carmilla, set against the rugged backdrop of the Industrial Revolution. For nonfiction lovers, Sexy But Psycho delivers a bold and unflinching look at the ways society pathologizes and silences women. Meanwhile, The Coast Road offers a poignant exploration of freedom, family, and the cost of living authentically in a deeply judgmental community.
Whatever your taste, this list is designed to surprise and delight, encouraging you to step outside your comfort zone and discover stories and voices you might not have otherwise picked up. So grab a coffee (or a mimosa!) and dive into this month’s must-reads!
Hungerstone
FOR WHAT DO YOU HUNGER . . . ?
Lenore is the wife of steel magnate Henry, but ten years into their marriage the relationship has soured, and no child has arrived to fill the distance growing between them. Henry's ambitions take them from London to the Peak District, to the remote, imposing Nethershaw estate, where he plans to host a hunting party. Lenore must work to restore the crumbling house and ready it for Henry's guests - their future depends on it.
But as the couple travel through the bleak countryside, a shocking carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into Lenore's life. Carmilla, who is weak and pale during the day but vibrant at night, Carmilla who stirs up something deep within Lenore. And before long, girls from the local villages fall sick, consumed by a terrible hunger . . .
As the day of the hunt draws closer, Lenore begins to unravel, questioning the role she has been playing all these years. Torn between regaining her husband's affection and the cravings Carmilla has awakened, soon Lenore will uncover a darkness in her household that will place her at terrible risk . . .
Set against the violent wilderness of the Peaks and the uncontrolled appetite of the Industrial Revolution, HUNGERSTONE is a compulsive sapphic reworking of CARMILLA, the book that inspired DRACULA: a captivating story of appetite and desire.
Everyone is devouring HUNGERSTONE . . .
Sexy But Psycho
Out Now
Angry, opinionated, mouthy, aggressive, hysterical, mad, disordered, crazy, psycho, delusional, borderline, hormonal . . . Women have long been pathologized, locked up and medicated for not conforming to whichever norms or stereotypes are expected of them in that time and space. Sexy But Psycho is a challenging and uncomfortable book which seeks to explore the way professionals and society at large pathologize and sexualise women and girls.
Utilising decades of research, real case studies and new data from her own work, Dr Taylor’s book will critically analyse the way we label women with personality disorders. Why are women and girls pathologized for being angry about oppression and abuse? How have so many women been duped into believing that they are mentally ill, for having normal and natural reactions to their experiences? Sexy But Psycho argues that there is a specific purpose to convincing women and girls that they are mentally ill, as the world avoids addressing violence against women and their centuries of ignored trauma.
The Coast Road
Out Now
It's 1994 in County Donegal, Ireland, and everyone is talking about Colette Crowley – the writer, the bohemian, the woman who left her husband and sons to pursue a relationship with a married man in Dublin. But now Colette is back, and nobody knows why.
Returning to the community to try and reclaim her old life, Colette quickly learns that they are unwilling to give it back to her. The man to whom she is still married is denying her access to her children, and while the legalisation of divorce might be just around the corner, Colette finds herself caught between her old life and the freedom for which she risked everything. Desperate to see her children, she enlists the help of Izzy, a housewife and mother of two, and the women forge a friendship that will send them on a spiralling journey – one toward a path of self-discovery, and the other toward tragedy.
Brilliantly observed from a sharp new literary talent, The Coast Road is a novel about a closed community and the consequences of daring to move against the tide.
Though the Bodies Fall
Out Now
Micheál Burns lives alone in his family’s bungalow at the end of Kerry Head in Ireland. It is a picturesque place, but the cliffs have a darker side to them: for generations they have been a suicide black spot. Micheál’s mother saw the saving of these lost souls – these visitors – as her spiritual duty, and now, in the wreckage of his life, Micheál finds himself continuing her work. When his sisters tell him that they want to sell the land, he must choose between his siblings and the visitors, a future or a past.
Be Gay Do Crime
Released 06/03/2025 NB: Currently only available in the US
A follow-up to their runaway success Peach Pit: Sixteen Stories of Unsavory Women, editors Molly Llewellyn and Kristel Buckley return with Be Gay, Do Crime, a celebration of queer chaos from an all-queer author lineup featuring Myriam Gurba, Emily Austin, Alissa Nutting, and Francesca Ekwuyasi
A trans woman makes increasingly frequent hoax calls to a business where she's had a negative experience, watching the consequences with perverse joy. A group of aging queers turns to bank robbery to stop the sale of their bungalow complex to a development company. As the president prepares to give a speech, two women lurk among the journalists, ready to shoot him. And an aspiring author takes to stealing items from strangers’ homes in a kind of cosmic redistribution each time one of her relationships fail.
In sixteen brilliant, wild-eyed stories, Be Gay, Do Crime delivers a celebration and reckoning of why queer people turn to crime–unintentionally, as a means of survival, as protest, as rescue, or to right injustices big and small.
Money Mentor
Out Now
Welcome to money made simple. This is your invitation to transform your finances and create the life you really want.
If you're feeling broke, stressed and fed up of living pay cheque to pay cheque then you're in the right place. Anna Brading was in your position once too, but now she's changed her life, and her finances. She is here to help you do the same.
Let Anna walk you through the 10 Steps to mastering your money as you learn how to piece together your own financial plan, step by step, and track your progress as you go. (Spoiler alert: it's really not that hard – we were just never taught this stuff in school!)
Money Mentor is the must-read, non-judgemental guide for anyone who feels they should be doing more with their money but doesn't know where to start. Treat yourself to learning the tools you need to make your money grow – you deserve this.
