TBR Special: Eight #3rdSeptembers On My TBR List!

I don’t normally do TBR posts, but with so many fantastic books coming out on 3rd September, I wanted to highlight a few that I am particularly excited about! I’ve got a thread pinned on my Twitter page @EHawkes13 for any bloggers who want to share reviews or posts or just general excitement about 3rd September releases – feel free to add/share/have a browse and see what grabs you!

There are SO many great books coming out, it was hard to narrow down my list, but here are eight #3rdSeptembers that I can’t wait to read:

For When I’m Gone by Rebecca Ley

Blurb:

Because there’s never enough time to say goodbye…

Sylvia knows that she’s running out of time. Very soon, she will exist only in the memories of those who loved her most and the pieces of her life she’s left behind.

So she begins to write her husband a handbook for when she’s gone, somewhere to capture the small moments of ordinary, precious happiness in their married lives. From raising their wild, loving son, to what to give their gentle daughter on her eighteenth birthday – it’s everything she should have told him before it was too late.

But Sylvia also has a secret, one that she’s saved until the very last pages. And it’s a moment in her past that could change everything…

Why I can’t wait:

I am lucky enough to have an advance copy of this book, and I’m planning on diving in after I finish my current read. The premise sounds brilliant: heartbreaking and mysterious, with hints of the story being more complex than it first seems. This is Rebecca Ley’s debut novel, and I’m always excited to discover new writers. Look out for my review in the next few weeks!

For When I’m Gone by Rebecca Ley is published by Orion Fiction and is available to preorder here.

The Night of the Flood by Zoë Somerville

Blurb:

An atmospheric literary thriller set during the devastating North Sea flood of 1953, in which a love triangle turns murderous.

Her heart beat hard. There was a crazed beauty to the storm. It was almost miraculous, the way it took away the mess of life, sweeping all in its path…

No-one could have foreseen the changes the summer of 1952 would bring. Cramming for her final exams on her family’s farm on the Norfolk coast, Verity Frost feels trapped between past and present: the devotion of her childhood friend Arthur, just returned from National Service, and her strange new desire to escape.

When Verity meets Jack, a charismatic American pilot, he seems to offer the glamour and adventure she so craves, and Arthur becomes determined to uncover the dirt beneath his rival’s glossy sheen.

As summer turns to winter, a devastating storm hits the coast, flooding the land and altering everything in its path. In this new, watery landscape, Verity’s tangled web of secrets, lies and passion will bring about a crime that will change all their lives forever.

Why I can’t wait:

This debut novel sounds utterly gripping. I love an atmospheric setting, and I’m expecting plenty of dramatic natural descriptions of the flooded landscape, which sounds like the perfect backdrop for this story to play out. I’m also intrigued by the post-war era in which the novel is set.

The Night of the Flood by Zoe Somerville is published by Head of Zeus and is available to preorder here.

A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington

Blurb:

A lyrical and atmospheric homage to the strange and extraordinary, perfect for fans of Angela Carter and Erin Morgenstern.

This is the story of The Greatest Funambulist Who Ever Lived…

Born into a post-war circus family, our nameless star was unwanted and forgotten, abandoned in the shadows of the big top. Until the bright light of Serendipity Wilson threw her into focus.

Now an adult, haunted by an incident in which a child was lost from the circus, our narrator, a tightrope artiste, weaves together her spellbinding tales of circus legends, earthy magic and folklore, all in the hope of finding the child… But will her story be enough to bring the pair together again?

Beautiful and intoxicating, A Girl Made of Air brings the circus to life in all of its grime and glory; Marina, Manu, Serendipity Wilson, Fausto, Big Gen and Mouse will live long in the hearts of readers. As will this story of loss and reconciliation, of storytelling and truth.

Why I can’t wait:

The blurb had me at “fans of Angela Carter”. This sounds deliciously reminiscent of Nights at the Circus, one of my all-time favourite books. It also comes highly recommended by @DMan1504 who has never steered me wrong with his recommendations, and whose beautiful book photos have almost convinced me to join the ‘Gram. I can’t wait to meet the dazzling cast of characters this book promises, and follow their adventures.

A Girl Made of Air by Nydia Hetherington is published by Quercus and is available to preorder here.

Daddy by Emma Cline

Blurb:

An absentee father collects his son from boarding school after a shocking act of violence. A nanny to a celebrity family hides out in Laurel Canyon in the aftermath of a tabloid scandal. A young woman sells her underwear to strangers. A notorious guest arrives at a placid, not-quite rehab in the Southwest.

In ten remarkable stories, Emma Cline portrays moments when the ordinary is disturbed, when daily life buckles, revealing the perversity and violence pulsing under the surface. She explores characters navigating the edge, the limits of themselves and those around them: power dynamics in families, in relationships, the distance between their true and false selves. They want connection, but what they provoke is often closer to self-sabotage. What are the costs of one’s choices? Of the moments when we act, or fail to act? These complexities are at the heart of Daddy, Emma Cline’s sharp-eyed illumination of the contrary impulses that animate our inner lives.

Why I can’t wait:

I really enjoyed Cline’s novel The Girls a few years ago, and I was delighted to spot this short story collection among the upcoming releases (thanks @Bibliotreasures for your excellent list!) I have banged on many times about how much I love the short story form, and it’s always exciting to find a collection by an author you have previously enjoyed.

Daddy by Emma Cline is published by Chatto & Windus and is available to preorder here.

The Girl From The Hermitage by Molly Gartland

Blurb:

It is December 1941, and eight-year-old Galina and her friend Vera are caught in the siege of Leningrad, eating soup made of wallpaper, with the occasional luxury of a dead rat. Galina’s artist father Mikhail has been kept away from the front to help save the treasures of the Hermitage. Its cellars could now provide a safe haven, provided Mikhail can navigate the perils of a portrait commission from one of Stalin’s colonels.

Nearly forty years later, Galina herself is a teacher at the Leningrad Art Institute. What ought to be a celebratory weekend at her forest dacha turns sour when she makes an unwelcome discovery. The painting she embarks upon that day will hold a grim significance for the rest of her life, as the old Soviet Union makes way for the new Russia and Galina’s familiar world changes out of all recognition.

Warm, wise and utterly enthralling, Molly Gartland’s debut novel guides us from the old communist world, with its obvious terrors and its more surprising comforts, into the glitz and bling of 21st-century St Petersburg. Galina’s story is at once a compelling page-turner and an insightful meditation on ageing and nostalgia.

Why I can’t wait:

This debut novel sounds right up my street, and I jumped at the chance to take part in the blog tour – look out for my review on 20th Sept! The dual timeline and the Russian setting has me chomping at the bit to follow Galina’s story, and I love the mixture of excitment and reflection that the blurb promises.

The Girl From The Hermitage is published by Lightning Books and is available for preorder here.

Love Orange by Natasha Randall

Blurb:

An extraordinary debut novel by Natasha Randall, exposing the seam of secrets within an American family, from beneath the plastic surfaces of their new ‘smart’ home. Love Orange charts the gentle absurdities of their lives, and the devastating consequences of casual choices.

While Hank struggles with his lack of professional success, his wife Jenny, feeling stuck and beset by an urge to do good, becomes ensnared in a dangerous correspondence with a prison inmate called John. Letter by letter, John pinches Jenny awake from the “marshmallow numbness” of her life. The children, meanwhile, unwittingly disturb the foundations of their home life with forays into the dark net and strange geological experiments.

Jenny’s bid for freedom takes a sour turn when she becomes the go-between for John and his wife, and develops an unnatural obsession for the orange glue that seals his letters…

Love Orange throws open the blinds of American life, showing a family facing up to the modern age, from the ascendancy of technology, the predicaments of masculinity, the pathologising of children, the epidemic of opioid addiction and the tyranny of the WhatsApp Gods. The first novel by the acclaimed translator is a comic cocktail, an exuberant skewering of contemporary anxieties and prejudices.

Why I can’t wait:

This debut novel sounds fiercely original: fresh, funny and uncompromising. I am really looking forward to getting mixed up in this delicious-sounding “cocktail” and burrowing into the secrets of this American family.

Love Orange is published by riverrun and is available to preorder here.

Bringing Up Race by Uju Asika

Blurb:

You can’t avoid it, because it’s everywhere. In the looks my kids get in certain spaces, the manner in which some people speak to them, the stuff that goes over their heads. Stuff that makes them cry even when they don’t know why. How do you bring up your kids to be kind and happy when there is so much out there trying to break them down?

Bringing Up Race is an important book, for all families whatever their race or ethnicity. Racism cuts across all sectors of society – even the Queen will have to grapple with these issues, as great grandmother to a child of mixed ethnicity. It’s for everyone who wants to instil a sense of open-minded inclusivity in their kids, and those who want to discuss difference instead of shying away from tough questions. Uju draws on often shocking personal stories of prejudice along with opinions of experts, influencers and fellow parents to give prescriptive advice making this an invaluable guide.

Bringing Up Race explores:
– When children start noticing ethnic differences (hint: much earlier than you think)
– What to do if your child says something racist (try not to freak out)
– How to have open, honest, age-appropriate conversations about race
– How children and parents can handle racial bullying
– How to recognise and challenge everyday racism, aka microaggressions

A call to arms for ALL parents, Bringing Up Race starts the conversation which will mean the next generation have zero tolerance to racial prejudice, and grow up understanding what kindness and happiness truly mean.

Why I can’t wait:

I’ve already preordered this book as it sounds brilliant and deeply important. I’ve been trying to educate myself on anti-racism, and I still have a long way to go, but it seems as if the next logical step is to try and learn how I can help my kids to grow up with a better understanding of these issues. I love the sound of the practical advice offered in this book, and I am excited to think of the conversations it will spark.

Bringing Up Race by Uju Asika is published by Yellow Kite and is available to preorder here.

Charlotte by Helen Moffett

Blurb:

For fans of Longbourn and The Other Bennet Sister, this beautifully told story of marriage, duty and friendship follows Charlotte’s story from where Pride and Prejudice ends.

Everybody believes that Charlotte Lucas has no prospects. She is unmarried, plain, poor and reaching a dangerous age.

But when she stuns the neighbourhood by accepting the proposal of buffoonish clergyman Mr Collins, her fortunes change. Her best friend Lizzy Bennet is appalled by her decision, yet Charlotte knows this is the only way to provide for her future.

What she doesn’t know is that her married life will propel her into a new world: not only of duty and longed-for children, but secrets, grief, unexpected love and friendship, and a kind of freedom.

Why I can’t wait:

I’ve always had a soft spot for Charlotte Lucas, and her awareness of her predicament as an unmarried woman in a patriarchal society. Her practicality in accepting Mr Collins’ proposal always struck me as poignant, and I can’t wait to see how she fares in life after marriage. Not everyone can get the fairytale ending of Elizabeth and Mr Darcy – and what happens after the “end”?

Charlotte by Helen Moffett is published by Zaffre and is available for preorder here.

So there we go – a round-up of eight out of many books that I am excited about for September! I’d love to hear what upcoming releases you are most looking forward to, and I’d be particuarly interested to hear about books by Black or POC authors, as well as short story collections and non-fiction books, as I am sure I am missing news of lots of amazing books, and I would love to do a few more spotlight posts! Comment on here or find me on Twitter @EHawkes13 and use my pinned thread – let’s get excited about all the brilliant books coming our way!

Ellie x x