My Week in Books – 6th September 2026

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On the blog last week

Monday – I published my review of Conqueror by Simon Turney, the fourth and final book in the Agricola series.

Tuesday – This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was Books With Nationalities in the Title. I also shared my final update for the 20 Books of Summer 2026 reading challenge. Plus I shared my review of historical mystery Seething Lane by Jack Jewers.

Wednesday – As always #WWW Wednesday is a weekly opportunity to share what I’ve just read, what I’m currently reading and what I plan to read next… and to take a peek at what others are reading.

Thursday – I shared my August 2026 Wrap-Up. I also published my review of spy thriller Cold Sunset by William Boyd.

Saturday – I joined other gardeners for #SixonSaturday sharing six things from my garden this week. The first Saturday of the month means it’s time for another #6Degrees of Separation. My chain took me from Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams to Lost Property by Helen Paris.

New on my shelves

Two books that couldn’t be more different. The first a book club pick, the second a book on the Booker Prize longlist…

Three Summers by Karen Swan (Penguin)

Italy, 1957: The summer of innocence
Amongst the lemon trees, Rafaella Parisi impatiently waits for the summer visitors to arrive in her small fishing village on the coast of Puglia. She may be dating Fon Giannelli, but there is one person she longs to see: Cosimo – son of the wealthy Franchetti family.

1958: The summer everything changes
After a devastating accident at the lavish Franchetti villa, Rafa makes a vow that changes the course of all their futures…

1961: The summer they meet again
When Rafa and Cosi’s worlds collide, Rafa faces an agonizing choice. Is she willing to risk the life she has for the future she once dreamed of?

The Disappearers by Marlon James (Review copy, Hamish Hamilton)

The Disappearers is Marlon James’s triumphant return to the Jamaica of A Brief History of Seven Killings – a place of heat and chaos, and of danger for anyone outside the heteronormal.

So when eight gay men meet for the first time, in Kingston in 1988, answering the casting call for an openly queer play, they are already taking a big risk. But that is nothing compared to what rains down on them when a mob descends on one of their rehearsals.

By the end of this night, one man is dead, all are injured, and two subsequently disappear. As the survivors heal, each man finds he must confront the bigotry and homophobia that the attack laid bare. Some try to forget; some embrace their rage; and some simply vanish – but all are forever scarred.

As one of the victims puts it, ‘there’s a difference between when something ends and when something stops’. And this story won’t stop until both the disappearers and the perpetrators have been tracked, along trails both hot and cold, and an ending reached.

Epic and intimate, violent and forgiving, The Disappearers is a tour de force which only Marlon James could have written – both an unflinching portrait of the hatred and shame faced by gay men in a society which refuses to accept them, and a deeply human story of acceptance and insight.

What I’m currently reading

I’m reading The Newer World by Sebastian Barry from my NetGalley shelf and Miss Veal and Miss Ham by Vicki Heywood, a book purchased after hearing the author speak at Winchester Books Festival in April.

Look out for…

  • Book Review: Farewell to Eden by Sebastian Faulks
  • Book Review: Our Noble Selves by Kate Atkinson
  • Book Review: A Thought Without Collision by Adrian Duncan

#6Degrees of Separation – A book chain from Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams to Lost Property by Helen Paris

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It’s the first Saturday of the month which means it’s time for 6 Degrees of Separation.

Here’s how it works: a book is chosen as a starting point by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best and linked to six other books to form a chain. Readers and bloggers are invited to join in by creating their own ‘chain’ leading from the selected book.

Kate says: Books can be linked in obvious ways – for example, books by the same authors, from the same era or genre, or books with similar themes or settings. Or, you may choose to link them in more personal or esoteric ways: books you read on the same holiday, books given to you by a particular friend, books that remind you of a particular time in your life, or books you read for an online challenge. Join in by posting your own #6Degrees chain on your blog and adding the link in the comments section of each month’s post.   You can also check out links to posts on X using the hashtag #6Degrees.

This month is slightly different because we’re asked to make the starting book our book group’s current pick (or alternatively the book we’re currently reading.) My book club’s pick for September is Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams which I’ve already read but won’t review until after my book club meeting. (Spoiler: I had mixed feelings about it.) Links from each title will take you to my review or the book description on Goodreads.

Careless People is the author’s expose of her experiences working for Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckenberg, and her increasing concern about its operating methods. A billionaire technology entrepreneur also features in The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks, one who plans to stretch the boundaries of ethics. Can’t think what made me come up with that connection…

One of Sebastian Faulks’ most well-known novels is probably Birdsong. Inverting that title takes me to Songbirds by Christy Lefteri. Set in Cyprus, one of the characters is a poacher who hunts the tiny songbirds who make their way to Africa each winter.

In The House of Birds by Morgan McCarthy the walls of a room in an old house are decorated with blue wallpaper covered in exotic birds. 

In The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a woman suffering from what we would now recognise as post-natal depression is confined to her bedroom by her husband on the advice of a doctor who has prescribed a period of ‘complete passivity’. The room is decorated with a faded yellow wallpaper whose hypnotic pattern the woman finds strangely repulsive.

Set partly in the 1950s, The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn also involves a woman suffering from post-natal depression who is committed to an asylum by her husband, her condition being considered a form of madness. Many years later a cache of letters is discovered.

From forgotten letters to forgotten objects. In Lost Property by Helen Paris, Dot Watson works in Baker Street’s Lost Property office diligently cataloguing the items handed in.

My chain has taken me from a technology company who seemingly couldn’t care less to items lost through carelessness. Where did your chain take you?