BOOKMARK September 2024 Book recommendations
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September titles
All books are available from Waterstones in Perth and Adventure Into Books in Blairgowrie.
The Winds from Further West by Alexander McCall Smith
(Polygon, 2024)
Fiction
The Winds From Further West by Alexander McCall Smith (ISBN: 9781846976698, hardback). A story of how small events can change our lives, and how the past never quite disappears. As always, McCall Smith writes with huge observational empathy and humour.
The Glassmaker by Tracey Chevalier
(The Borough Press, 2024)
Historical Fiction
The Glassmaker by Tracey Chevalier (ISBN: 9780008153861, hardback). Set in Murano, in 1486, this is the story of Orsola Rosso. To save her family, she flouts convention to work with glass, working secretly to perfect her craft. But time flows differently here, and the story follows Orsola through war and plague, tragedy and triumph, love and loss.
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden
(Viking, 2025)
Fiction
The Safekeep by Yael Van Der Wouden (ISBN: 9780241652305, hardback), which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. Set in 1961 in the rural Dutch province of Overijssel, all looks at peace in Isabel’s quiet home – a welcome respite after the war and the reconstruction that followed. But the arrival of her brother’s girlfriend, Eva, disrupts this fragile calm, fuelling paranoia and desire.
What a Way to Go by Bella Mackoe
(HarperCollins, 2025)
Fiction
Bella Mackie, What a Way to Go (ISBN: 9780008365950, hardback). Mackie had a hit with her debut, How To Kill Your Family, which had the ring of the classic film Kind Hearts and Coronets, and What a Way to Go promises another spiky tale. To set the scene, we have a dysfunctional family, four-inheritance obsessed children, and wealthy patriarch who dies at an ‘obscenely opulent’ party: a cast of dastardly characters and a deliciously poisonous plot.
Death at the Sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
(Transworld Publishers Ltd, 2024)
Fiction
Kate Atkinson’s Death At The Sign Of The Rook (ISBN: 9780857526571, hardback). The story starts out in a classic Agatha Christie setting: a country hotel, hosting a Murder Mystery weekend, and a cast of aristocrats, old friends, an army officer and a vicar. From the many reviews, you can expect to be entertained by Atkinson’s signature wit, rich character development and superb, twisty plot.
The Voyage Home by Pat Barker
(Hamish Hamilton, 2025)
Historical Fiction
Pat Barker’s The Voyage Home (ISBN: 9780241568248, hardback), the follow up to The Silence of the Girls and The Women of Troy. Troy is in ruins, and the conquering Greeks have filled their ships with loot and enslaved Trojan women, including the prophetess Cassandra, taken by King Agamemnon as his concubine. At home is Agamemnon’s heart-broken queen, Clytemnestra, vengeful and seething after the sacrifice of her daughter. The king’s home-coming changes everyone’s fates.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
(Sceptre, 2014)
Historical Fiction
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell (ISBN: 9780340921586, paperback 2014): We first meet Jacob de Zoet in 1799 as a newcomer to the tiny Dutch trading post, Dejima, off the coast of Nagasaki. A clerk to the Dutch Trading Company, Jacob is smart and ambitious. Despite tight trading and cultural controls, Dejima is rife with corruption, schemes and jealousies. Tasked with rooting out some of these plots, Jacob becomes vulnerable when he loses his heart. Adventure, intrigue, love and Japan – it has it all.