My Five Favourite September 2021 Reads

I read seventeen books in September and, no, I don’t know how I managed that either! I loved so many of the books I read last month it was really, really difficult to whittle it down to just five.  So I’ve cheated a bit this month and added a couple of ‘honourable mentions’. Links from each title will take you to my review. You can find a list of all the books I’ve read so far in 2021 here.  If we’re not already friends on Goodreads, send me a friend request or follow my reviews.

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed (Viking) – on the shortlist for this year’s Booker Prize, a compelling story based on a real-life miscarriage of justice in 1950s Cardiff
Blasted Things by Lesley Glaister (Sandstone Press) – a powerful and moving story of love and loss set during the First World War and its aftermath
The Improbable Adventures of Miss Emily Soldene by Helen Batten (Allison & Busby) – the real-life story of a remarkable Victorian actress, singer, writer and journalist
The Redeemed by Tim Pears (Bloomsbury) – the final book in the author’s West Country trilogy and shortlisted for The Walter Scott Prize for Historical Fiction 2020
Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers (Wieldenfeld & Nicolson) – a tender, moving and beautifully written story (review to follow)

Honourable mentions

Splinter on the Tide by Phillip Parotti (Casemate) – a terrific naval adventure set aboard a US Navy subchaser in WW2
Three Words for Goodbye by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (William Morrow) – a sweeping emotional story that you’ll be sad to say goodbye to

What books were your favourites in September? Have you read any of my picks?