Private equity professionals are some of the busiest people in the finance world, but many have squeezed in time for some summer reading. Financial News has compiled a list of the books that some of the most senior figures in the industry in Europe will be reading in the holiday season.

Jon Moulton, chairman of Better Capital, is reading 'Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man' by Hugh Sebag-Montefiore, 'Through Russian Snows: A Story of Napoleon's Retreat from Moscow' by G.A. Henty and 'The Black Death: An Intimate History' by John Hatcher. Moulton said of his reading list: "All good books and much more cheerful than the economic news - and all books at least have endings."