Summer books preview: 12 must-reads for the beach

A visit to the beach is not complete without a good book.

THE ART SPY: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland, by Michelle Young

This debut nonfiction work from Young, a Setauket native and Ward Melville High School salutatorian in 2000, is a gift to history buffs and art mavens. Here, Young reveals the previously untold story of Rosa Valland, curator of the Jeu de Paume museum at the time the Nazis invaded Paris. By the time they got there, she had sent all the major artworks into hiding, and posing as a lowly administrator, coordinated a tracking scheme that enabled the recovery of tens of thousands of looted pieces after the war. (HarperOne, out already)

IT'S A LOVE STORY by Annabel Monaghan

Monaghan returns to her fictional East End town of Oak Shore (you know it's fictional if a middle-class family has a beach house) for a heart-melting story about a child star turned Hollywood exec and a local boy turned cinematographer who have a crazy plan to get a movie made. Their scheme involves cornering a rock star at a music festival and — well, you'll see. A Taylor Swift title + a summery Long Island setting + a creamy, dreamy romance plot = heart emojis galore! (Putnam, out already)

THE END IS THE BEGINNING: A Personal History of My Mother, by Jill Bialosky

Because her mother died in a care home in Cleveland in March 2020, this beloved Long Island author could not attend the funeral. Instead, Bialosky spent the months of lockdown reimagining the story of her mother's life, starting at the end and working back through the losses and triumphs to Iris' birth in 1933. The gorgeously detailed narrative will resonate with every daughter and mother who reads it. (Washington Square Press, out already)

SONGS OF SUMMER, by Jane L. Rosen

Rosen, a columnist for the Fire Island News and the author of a Long Island Reads book selection, proudly struts her knowledge of her hometown. When 23andme provides record shop owner Maggie May Wheeler with the name of her birth mother, and that woman turns out to be headed to a wedding on Fire Island, a journey of self-discovery begins. With every chapter named after a hit song, you'll have as much fun building the playlist as reading the book. (Berkley, out already)

ATMOSPHERE: A Love Story, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The storytelling phenom who gave us “Daisy Jones and the Six” and “The Seven Husbands of Eleanor Hugo” has gone into outer space — literally — with a propulsive novel set at NASA in the 1980s. Combining the riveting drama of a deadly accident on the shuttle with the backstory of the astronauts involved — among them, two women who have fallen in love — Reid’s latest is tense, tender and terrific. (Ballantine, June 3)

Bug Hollow, by Michelle Huneven

This brilliantly structured family drama follows the Samuelson family from the 1970s to the near present, set largely in California but with interludes in Saudi Arabia and Oaxaca. After their golden boy is killed in a freak accident, leaving a pregnant girlfriend, his parents and two sisters struggle to repair their connections and find solace. Trust Huneven to bring the juice to this character-driven, endlessly surprising plot. (Penguin Press, June 17)

Claire McCardell, The Designer Who Set Women Free, by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson

She developed leotards and leggings, brought hoodies, denim and leather into womenswear, ushered the swimsuit into its contemporary form, included pockets in her clothes, and made the wrap dress a wardrobe staple. So how is it possible most of us don't even know her name? Dickinson's engaging discovery of the woman Calvin Klein credits with inventing sportswear is the perfect bio to read in your swimsuit. (Simon and Schuster, June 17)

A MARRIAGE AT SEA: A True Story of Love, Obsession,and Shipwreck, by Sophie Elmhirst

Here’s the perfect story for a sailing buff. In 1973, British couple Maurice and Maralyn Bailey set out to sail around the world. They were somewhere in the Pacific when a collision with a whale sank their craft. Elmhirst’s vivid and enthralling account of how they survived 117 days at sea until they were rescued and nursed back to health by the crew of a South Korean fishing boat is based partly on their own writings. (Riverhead, July 8)

CULPABILITY, by Bruce Holsinger

The Cassidy-Shaw family is speeding down the road in their autonomous minivan when they have a fatal collision with a car coming in the other direction. Behind the wheel is their 17-year-old son, a lacrosse phenom on his way to college. Is he responsible? His mother, an expert on the ethics of artificial intelligence, has some insight into the problem, but so do all the other family members, each of whom has a secret. "Culpability" is the thinking man's page-turner, absolutely of the moment. (Spiegel & Grau, July 8)

VERA, OR FAITH, by Gary Shteyngart

Shteyngart fans ("Lake Success," "Super Sad True Love Story") are blessed this summer with a skinny little dream of a book from the comic master. Set in a cleverly constructed near future with self-driving cars and smart chessboards and a proposed constitutional amendment that favors citizens with WASP ancestry, the novel centers on 10-year-old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin — half Jewish, half Korean and trying desperately to hold her fraying family together. (Random House, July 8)

OPEN WIDE, by Jessica Gross

Socially awkward radio producer Olive is pretty sure her dog Felix is her life partner until she meets Theo, a surgeon who is a perfect match for her alarmingly low boundaries. Just how close can two people get? Port Washington native Jessica Gross’ unnerving answer to that question places her squarely in the current crew of thrillingly weird and funny women writers like Ottessa Moshfegh, Raven Leilani, and Miranda July. (Abrams, Aug. 5)

TOO OLD FOR THIS, by Samantha Downing

“The last thing I do before going to bed is plug in my rechargeable chainsaw.” Now what is a sweet, 75-year-old churchgoing bingo player doing recharging her chainsaw? If only that annoying documentary producer hadn’t knocked on her door to announce she’d be digging up Lottie’s past for a new series. Can’t have that. But can Lottie possibly get away with murder… again? You’ve never rooted harder for a serial killer. (Berkley, Aug. 12)