Kala, by Colin Walsh

Irish writer Walsh's debut novel is a fierce, sharp ride through Kinlough, past and present, centering on the disappearance of the eponymous Kala. While the narrative's surface is all pints and smiles, something darker--the parts of life people there never speak of--shimmers beneath, making the book a multilayered literary thriller where Walsh plays with memory and shows how our younger and older selves overlap. Brimming with heart and a sweetness honed to a razor's edge, this may be the read of the summer!