Books to Look Out For in September 2026: Part Two

The second instalment of September’s new fiction begins with one by an author I’ve been a fan of since her debut in the mid-1990s. Set in 1951, Kate Atkinson’s Our Noble Selves follows Harry Flynn who becomes involved in the organisation of the Festival of Britain. Despite his unassuming manner, Flynn is a magnet for female admirers, one of whom invites him for a drink before disappearing after rudely walking out on him leaving Flynn flummoxed, drowning his sorrows and wondering why he has a black eye the next day. Before long, he’s drawn into a labyrinthine intrigue which sees him a frequent visitor to Bow Street police station and in bed with an MI5 agent. I loved this one which seemed to me to fit somewhere between Lissa Evans and Jonathan Coe’s novels. Review shortly…

A. Rushby’s All Her Beautiful Deaths follows Minnie who becomes a companion to Edith in 1865, and Hadley, a young twenty-first century artist whose work has been derailed by grief. Minnie is horrified when she sees Edith photographing a young woman together with a swan, both apparently dead. Many years later, Elke buys four Victorian memorial portraits in a house clearance in Australia. She and Hadley adore these works of art whose history neither knows. When Elke dies, the photographs become Hadley’s but one is missing, at which point the novel becomes a thriller leading to a surprising and satisfying reveal There were a few jarring notes, but I found Rushby’s novel compulsive, enjoying its art world backdrop, and the subject is a fascinating one. Review to follow…

I’ve read a couple of Dorthe Nors’ books my favourite of which is Mirror, Shoulder Signal. In Range, her new one, a professor of astrophysics returns to where she was brought up, observing the clear night sky unobscured by city lights, and hoping for solitude but finding that her neighbours have other ideas not least Gable Woman who’s furious at Gunn’s incursions onto her property. ‘Reaching from the everyday to the infinite, from seasons, stars, memories, and the sensory details of rural life, Range is a gripping exploration of the distances we cross through time and human connection’ says the blurb somewhat opaquely. Very keen to read this one.

Renowned Norwegian artist Lars Elling’s debut, The Princes of Pauper’s Pond, sees two brothers fending for themselves in a forest in 1913 with Europe on the brink of war. Their father wants to toughen them up, sending them to live among travellers and log drivers where they survive by fishing and hunting, forming a fiercely loyal bond. Seven decades later, nineteen-year-old Filip lives with his grandparents, the atmosphere poisoned by a rift between his grandfather and his great-uncle. ‘The cause appears trivial, an apple tree dropping fruit across a boundary fence, but the bitterness between the brothers speaks of something far older and deeper says the blurb. Very much like the sound of this one, translated by Don Bartlett a name I’ve learnt to look out for.

From the ever-reliable Peirene Press, Anne Pauly’s Before I Forget sees a bereaved daughter sorting through her father’s belongings discovering how complicated a character Jean-Pierre was, from the man who kisses his dead wife’s portrait every evening to the violent alcoholic whose bullying ruined their family life. Anne tries to come to terms with her loss hampered by others’ expectations and her brother’s rage, finding that she has more in common with her father than she thought even though she’s spent her adult life trying to escape her childhood. ‘Told with a quick wit and deep tenderness, Before I Forget is a tragicomic portrait of loss and a novel for anyone who’s ever loved a so-called monster’ says the blurb of what may be a piece of autofiction given the shared first name.

I dithered about reading Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs but ended up enjoying it making me swallow my doubts about Earth Angel, her reissued short story collection, which sounds distinctly wacky. ‘Blending reverence and ridicule, the stories that make up Earth Angel are bizarre, playful, inextricably linked, hyper-modern yet timeless. What shines through is Cash’s undeniable affection for the denizens of this strange and surreal world – a place that is at times dark, but not without hope for the future’ says the blurb promisingly.

That’s it for September’s new fiction. As ever, a click on a title will take you to a more detailed synopsis should you want to know more, and if you’d like to catch up with part one it’s here. Paperbacks soon…