10 books by New England authors to read this summer

When the college students leave town and you’re lugging a box fan out of storage, do you long for fall football and leaf peeping? Or are you diving into summer travel plans and trips down memory lane? Whether you’re looking for a splashy beach read or you’re eager to learn something new on vacation, these books by New England authors might satiate your thirst.

A friendship saga spanning decades and political turbulence. Told in alternating perspectives, “The Lion Women of Tehran” follows Ellie and Homa from their childhoods in 1950s Iran through adulthood. Author Marjan Kamali captures an intimate portrait of how our families and circumstances shape our worldview, and what other relationships and outside forces might change your perspective. Kamali lives in the Boston area. Her 2013 debut novel “Together Tea” was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award.

Marjan Kamali will discuss “The Lion Women of Tehran” at Belmont Books on Tuesday, July 2, at 7 p.m. This event is free and tickets are not required. 

In this sweet memoir, an amateur maple syrup maker starts running a 1,000-tap sugaring operation in Vermont. It doesn’t take long before Peter Gregg’s empty nest hobby balloons into a quest to produce a professional quantity of syrup — the lofty “five pounder.” With Gregg’s humor narrating battles with logistics and climate change, “The Sugar Rush” is a compelling story of a man making the most of what the great outdoors has to offer. Gregg is the publisher of The Maple News, the largest maple syrup trade magazine in North America.

Is history doomed to repeat itself? In this novel, Kokui refuses to follow in the footsteps of her parents’ marriage. But despite her best efforts to manifest a different future for her relationship, including emigrating from Ghana to America, Kokui finds that she and her husband are treading familiar tempestuous paths. Will returning to Ghana in the wake of her father’s death allow her to break the cycle? Author Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond was a 2015 Rhode Island Writers Colony Writer-in-Residence.

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s first novel “Catalina” is the irreverent journey of an undocumented student during her senior year at Harvard University. But for all the elite internships and networking opportunities the titular Catalina has access to, what does her future hold in a country where she’s not legally allowed to work? Navigating final exams, grandparent care and a budding romance alongside the flawed immigration system, Catalina reveals the raw human experience behind the tidy “Dreamer” label. Villavicencio, who is also author of the nonfiction book “The Undocumented Americans,” was one of the first Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act recipients to graduate from Harvard. She currently lives in Connecticut.

Karla Cornejo Villavicencio will discuss “Catalina” at Harvard Book Store on Wednesday, July 31, at 7 p.m. This event is free and tickets are not required.

In 1904, Mary McLeod Bethune started a school for Black girls that later became Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida. She was a pioneer in education and civil rights who mobilized newly eligible Black voters to the polls and advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Author Noliwe Rooks, department chair of Africana Studies at Brown University, captures the towering legacy of Bethune’s impact in this stunning biography.

When Estela survives the train accident that claims her parents’ lives, she believes there’s more to the story than “gas leak.” In an effort to outrun her guilt and get a grip on reality, she absconds to Spain to live with an estranged aunt in an ancestral castle that Estela never knew existed. This atmospheric gothic romance rattles family skeletons in the closet and unearths ghostly paramours. Can she trust what anyone says and what she sees when the stakes are life and death? Romina Garber is a graduate of Harvard College.

The art and work of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders should be celebrated all year round, not just the month of May. This vibrant poetry collection forces the reader to reckon with the many beautiful specifics that underscore how AAPI identities are not a monolith. Franny Choi, one of the collection’s four editors, is the current Poet Laureate of Northampton, Massachusetts and serves on Bennington College’s faculty. Choi’s 2019 poetry collection “Soft Science” was a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award. Contributors include Marilyn Chin, a Hong Kong-born University of Massachusetts alumna; Vietnamese American Joshua Nguyen, a lecturer at Tufts University; Native Hawaiian scholar Haunani-Kay Trask; and other poets from the South Asian, Southeast Asian and Polynesian diaspora.

Sparks fly in this soaring romance by University of Massachusetts Amherst alumna Noué Kirwan. Lanie Turner is returning home for a wedding where she’ll be both the maid of honor and best "mate,” which wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that the bride’s fiancé is Lanie’s lifelong crush. As she racks up miles between New York and London, she meets the handsome Ridley Aronsen — is he the perfect distraction, or imperfectly distracting? Are Lanie and Ridley ready to embark on a romantic adventure, or will everything crash and burn?

A football murder mystery written by Elizabeth Staple, who previously worked in media relations for the New England Patriots. It’s not easy for a woman ​​to claw her way up the ladder in the NFL, an industry where women are infamously reduced to the role of “Wives and Girlfriends” (or “W.A.G.S.”). As Media Relations Director of the fictional Syracuse Bobcats, Poppy Benjamin relies on the emotional support from a different group of W.A.G.S. — Women Against Groping Shitheads. But when the Bobcats’ legendary head coach is found dead and Poppy’s group of W.A.G.S. is not as secret as she believed, will she be able to spin the story? Author Elizabeth Staple currently lives in Connecticut.

This collection of essays envisions climate solutions at the intersection of science, policy and justice. Based on interviews with more than two dozen climate advocates, “What If We Get It Right?” uses data, poetry and art to illustrate an optimistic outlook for our planet’s future. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson co-authored the Blue New Deal, a climate policy roadmap for the ocean. Johnson studied both environmental science and public policy at Harvard University and currently teaches at Bowdoin College.