At the bookend of summer, here are September’s best reads

These are the fiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.The Birthing Tree, by Amanda Peters (Penguin Random House)Thirty-something city dweller Aliet – raised by her midwife grandmother Kiju and their extended Mi’kmaw community – returns to rural Nova Scotia after learning of Kiju’s passing. Inheritances, both official and intangible, await: the now-ramshackle cabin, well-worn recipes, as well as Kiju’s despair over the government-enforced abandonment of traditional birthing practices. As Aliet rebuilds the property and faces her own aches – a mother who died giving birth to her, an unknown father, a relationship cut short – she finds strength and new purpose. It’s a warmhearted story that embraces the bumpy, invigorating path of preservation and repair. – Erin Douglass Exit Party, by Emily St. John Mandel (Penguin Random House)Emily St. John Mandel’s speculative tale, rejecting the proverbial “road not taken,” posits a world in which characters can indeed travel two diverging paths. Here, differing future visions of the United States unfurl: one authoritarian and monolithic, surveilling, subduing, and corralling its citizens; the other fractured, with militias, city-states, and pockets of fragile calm. Ari Waker, fresh out of prison and living in Los Angeles circa 2031, realizes something is amiss when she attends a party where someone disappears and someone else ... seems to be in two places. Mysterious, somber, or maybe just sober, the book has a thoughtful, shivery vibe. – Erin DouglassThe Pirate Queen, by Ariel Lawhon (Penguin Random House) Clear the decks – or at least find a long weekend – for Ariel Lawhon’s historical adventure. A fictional imagining of the very real 16th-century Irish sailor, leader, and liberator Grace O’Malley, this rip-roaring tale interweaves the three chapters of her never-dull life: maiden, mother, and matriarch. Lawhon does her research and has a ball with her characters. Full of big feeling and brisk banter, it’s another winner from the bestselling author. – Erin DouglassThe Oxford Guide to Scandal & Lies, by Kate Westbury (Minotaur Books)This rollicking historical mystery presents two collegians hired by British Intelligence to ferret out a Soviet spy responsible for poisoning an MI5 agent at Oxford University. Debutante Ginevra Bishop enthusiastically matches wits with pensive ex-soldierSidney Braithwaite, both deftly sidestepping romantic attraction. They dodge danger and swap banter while attempting to unknot the tangle of possible culprits. The novel delivers high-spirited fun with charm to spare. – Stefanie MilliganAmerican Hagwon, by Min Jin Lee (Cardinal)Min Jin Lee digs into work – the work of learning, the toil of earning, and the persistent effort of immigrants navigating unfamiliar landscapes and altered expectations. But “American Hagwon” is no chore. This richly told, wise book is also a blast to read. The successful Koh family of five, with roots in Australia, the United States, and South Korea, leaves Sydney for Seoul. In mere months, a shocking event sets the father, John, reeling and their finances tumbling. Committing to a new start in Orange County, California, in the midst of the late ’90s Asian financial crisis, the family members transform. Page after page illuminates innovation, loyalty, and steadfastness, yet Min Jin Lee saves her strongest grilling for education itself: Is it a means to material wealth? A pressure cooker for children? A tool for self-knowledge? It’s an enormous, embracing book well worth the time. – Erin Douglass We’re So Lucky to Live Here, by Rachel Pastan (Delphinium Books)Rachel Pastan’s life-affirming novel revolves around young Pittsburgh theater director Gwen Rivlin’s journey through grief. After her mother’s death, Gwen returns to the rambling, turreted house where she grew up. She discovers that her mother took out a second mortgage, so the property might be unaffordable for Gwen to keep. She takes in an assortment of housemates, who help her stage a production of Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” inside the home. The themes of chosen family and the power of creativity to conquer grief are threaded through Pastan’s story. – Stefanie MilliganSisters of the Midnight Sun, by Fiona Valpy (Penguin Random House)On the Shetland Islands in northern Scotland in 2001, an older woman, Hanna, and her younger companion, Ruby, find sanctuary in friendship. Each is grieving a lost twin sister. One woman’s twin died long ago; the other’s died more recently. This dual-timeline World War II historical novel highlights Norwegian resistance against the Nazi occupation, as well as the existence of light and delight in the darkest times. For both women, discovering a kindred spirit and embracing hope inspires strength and renewal. – Stefanie MilliganPly, by Hernan Diaz (Penguin Random House) Set in a post-apocalyptic future, a young woman survives as a “pincher,” someone who steals electricity off the power grid to sell on the black market. Her work is dangerous, but it immerses her in the nascent music scene as she powers underground concerts, revealing that societal institutions might have collapsed, but the arts have endured. With insight and artistry, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Hernan Diaz explores a futuristic society and the evolving place of technology. Even readers who usually don’t care for sci-fi or futuristic plots might find themselves enjoying this novel. – Joan GaylordThese are the nonfiction titles our reviewers liked best this month.Receipts From the Bookshop, by Katie Clapham (Harper Collins)In the spirit of Shaun Bythell’s “The Diary of a Bookseller,” Katie Clapham takes us through a year in the life of the bookstore she and her mother operate in coastal England. Clapham’s stiff upper lip in the face of sometimes comical travails is quintessentially British, as is this narrative’s wet and windy setting. For readers who will never visit Clapham’s shop in person, this diary is perhaps the next best thing to being there. – Danny HeitmanThe Butterfly Season, by Lea Korsgaard (Penguin Random House)Danish journalist Lea Korsgaard’s lovely, inspirational book documents her self-imposed challenge to see all of Denmark’s 64 butterfly species in a single year. The result is much more than an account of her search for the elusive, increasingly rare lepidoptera. Korsgaard spreads her wings in “The Butterfly Season” to encompass an overview of butterflies in history, art, and literature along with a meditation on beauty, transformation, and spirituality. – Heller McAlpin True North: On the Road in Canada, by Paul Theroux (Harper Collins)“True North” is Paul Theroux’s expansive, topical, and sympathetic account of the many months he spent driving thousands of miles in Canada. His French-born ancestor, Antoine Theroux, landed in Quebec City in 1693 as a teenage military recruit to defend New France for King Louis XIV. Centuries later, Theroux asks farmers, truckers, wait staff, fellow diners, writers, and bystanders – many of them immigrants and Indigenous people – about what it is to be Canadian, and their opinions of U.S.-Canada relations. – Heller McAlpinVoice of a Century: The Life and Artistry of Marian Anderson, by Anthony Tommasini (Penguin Random House)Marian Anderson is best known for her triumphant 1939 concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, organized after the Black contralto was barred from performing at the city’s Constitution Hall. In his illuminating biography, Anthony Tommasini covers both Anderson’s groundbreaking accomplishments and the racial discrimination she confronted throughout her career. Most notably, the author, former chief classical music critic for The New York Times, crafts an insightful and authoritative appreciation of Anderson as a musical artist. – Barbara Spindel Deepen your worldviewwith Monitor Highlights.Politics with respectGet political stories with respectful analysis.There‘s a world of new ideas in everyBooks newsletter.There‘s more to life, enrich yours withCulture & Learning weekly.Follow humanity‘s discoveries withScience & Nature stories in your inbox.Gain a spiritual perspectivefrom the stories in your inbox.Want to understand the deeper impact of critical events? Learn the Monitor‘s insight.Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads. Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea: Journeys Through Ancient Literature, by Emily Wilson (W.W. Norton)The essays in classicist and translator Emily Wilson’s new book provide an absorbing investigation into the art of translation and the pleasures of reading the classics. Noting that the ancient and modern worlds intersect, Wilson brings in Leonard Cohen, Erica Jong, and Cardi B. to join the familiar figures from the past. Wilson analyzes various translations of “The Odyssey,” including her own, and includes a lengthy, fascinating exegesis on her translation of a single word in the opening line of the poem. – David Conrads ALREADY A SUBSCRIBER? LoginReal news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.The Christian Science Monitor was founded in 1908 to lift the standard of journalism and uplift humanity. We aim to “speak the truth in love.” Our goal is not to tell you what to think, but to give you the essential knowledge and understanding to come to your own intelligent conclusions. Join us in this mission by subscribing.