A book about the border crisis and cartel violence might not ordinarily top your beach read list, but 2020 is no typical year, and the hyper-timely and gorgeously written American Dirt deserves a spot on your beach towel. Trust us, you will not be able to pull yourself away.

An immigration story that has the propulsive energy of Run Lola Run, Jeanine Cummins’s tale concerns bookshop Lydia owner and her eight-year-old son Luca. When a family barbecue in Acapulco becomes a horrendous murder scene, the two survivors have no chance to mourn or make sense of what happened. Instead, they immediately set off for the American border, running for safety before the drug traffickers who claimed the lives of the rest of their family find them. This book is a heartbreaking high-wire act that you’ll never forget.