CONTEMPORARY   | Daily Mail Online

A WEDDING AT THE BEACH HUT

by Veronica Henry (Orion £7.99, 400 pp)

Pre-pandemic I couldn’t have imagined the nostalgic joy of reading about family and friends who think nothing of getting together, hugging and kissing with abandon. This book made me wistful for the old normal and desperate to visit Devon.

Robyn and Jake are having a baby and planning a wedding in a month in a beach hut which needs some TLC — but that’s the least of their problems.

First up is adopted Robyn’s desire to reconnect with her birth mother while avoiding causing pain to the parents who raised her so lovingly.

Dare she read the information left in the back of a drawer since her 18th birthday?

Meanwhile, Jake is hoping the still-frosty atmosphere between his own long-divorced mum and dad won’t overshadow his big day. Wonderful.

FIVE HUNDRED MILES FROM YOU

by Jenny Colgan (Sphere £12.99, 512 pp)

This is Colgan’s third novel set in the village of Kirrinfief on the banks of Loch Ness, so charmingly described that it made me want to hot-foot it to the Scottish Highlands.

After seeing a child die in a hit-and-run, tough London nurse Lissa is not coping.

Her bosses send her on a three-month job swap to Kirrinfief, which is so different from her usual beat it might be on a different planet. Lissa swaps with Cormac, a former army medic with post-traumatic stress disorder. On the face of it, they couldn’t be more different, but they bond from a distance and slowly help each other face the most difficult aspects of their pasts.

It’s beautifully written, emotionally intelligent and poignant to read about the many ways health workers help their communities. I adored this gentle love story.

SET MY HEART TO FIVE

by Simon Stephenson (4th Estate £14.99, 464 pp)

This funny, original, thought-provoking debut is set in 2054 after humans have locked themselves out of the internet due to so many wrong password attempts. Bitcoin is the only currency, Elon Musk has ‘accidentally incinerated the moon’, North Korea has blown up New Zealand and ‘biological computers’ — aka bots — have replaced much of the human workforce.

Narrator-protagonist Jared is one such bot, who has a malfunction which lets him break scientific rules and develop feelings. Diagnosed with depression, Jared views classic movies as part of his cure. The movies inspire even more feelings, good and bad, all of which Jared positively luxuriates in.

After his own awakening, Jared sets out to convince humans that his kind should be allowed emotions, too. It’s wistful and sharp, particularly on what it really means to live.