The best books out in paperback in September 2026

A fresh month means another crop of brilliant books arriving in paperback. This time, there are big names everywhere, from Margaret Atwood’s sprawling memoir and Kiran Desai’s long-awaited novel to Anthony Horowitz’s latest playful mystery. Add a history of the World Wide Web from its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee, darkly inventive fiction and plenty of gripping crime, and there is no shortage of reasons to make room on your shelves. Here is our pick of the best… A Deadly Episode by Anthony Horowitz When an actor is stabbed on the set of an adaptation of The Word Is Murder, Horowitz’s first novel featuring himself and private investigator Daniel Hawthorne, the pair are drawn into another murder case. A clever, playful meta-mystery. Penguin, £9.99 We Love You, Bunny by Mona Awad Awad’s brilliantly strange Bunny introduced Sam and the terrifyingly sweet clique of MFA students who drew her into their surreal world. Here, after Sam writes about them in a successful novel, the furious Bunnies kidnap her and insist on telling their side. Scribner, £9.99 Shorts Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister A road trip across America is meant to bring Simone closer to her teenage daughter, Lucy. Instead, she wakes in a Texan desert cabin to find Lucy missing – and a phone containing instructions that will force her to commit a terrible crime. Penguin, £9.99 The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai Desai’s first novel in two decades follows aspiring writer Sonia and journalist Sunny, whose families once tried and failed to arrange their marriage. A chance encounter draws them together years later in this sweeping story of love, family and expectation – worthy of its Booker shortlist nomination last year. Penguin, £12.99 The Wax Child by Olga Ravn In 1620, Christenze Krukow fashions a small human figure from beeswax. Narrated by the watching, listening wax child, Ravn’s eerie historical novel follows suspicion of witchcraft as it gathers around Christenze and her friends, drawing on a real 17th century Danish trial. Viking, £14.99 Pastures New by Clare Balding The broadcaster’s warm debut novel centres on Alex, who, approaching 40 and adept at avoiding responsibility, unexpectedly inherits a crumbling sheep farm in rural Wales. Armed with a farming guide and a stubborn Welsh terrier, she must work out why the farm was left to her – and whether to stay. HarperCollins, £9.99 Everyone in This Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson Ernest Cunningham has solved his share of murders over the course of previous books, but being taken hostage in a bank is new territory. When someone inside is killed, every hostage becomes a suspect – and it soon emerges that the gunman isn’t the only person who came to steal. Penguin, £9.99 Middleland by Rory Stewart The former MP and Rest Is Politics co-host spent a decade living in Cumbria, the constituency he represented. Drawing on his encounters there, this affectionate portrait explores its people and landscapes alongside the tensions shaping farming, conservation and rural politics. Vintage, £12.99 Berwick by LJ Ross DCI Ryan’s world implodes when his wife, Anna, is arrested for the murder of a well-known author. The evidence is mounting, and the fact that her father was a killer who taught her to shoot leaves even Ryan questioning how well he knows her. Penguin, £9.99 Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood The literary titan looks back on an extraordinary life, from an unconventional childhood spent partly in the Canadian wilderness to literary fame and political activism. Expansive, funny and characteristically clear-eyed, her memoir connects the experiences of her life with the books they helped inspire. Vintage, £12.9 This is for Everyone by Tim Berners-Lee Berners-Lee recounts how he invented the World Wide Web and shared it without seeking a commercial windfall, before watching it transform modern life. Alongside the story of the internet’s rise, he considers its darker consequences and the choices posed by AI. Pan, £11.99 I Shop, Therefore I Am by Mary Portas Portas revisits the 1990s and the years in which she helped transform Harvey Nichols into one of British fashion’s defining destinations. Taking readers behind the displays and campaigns, she recalls the creativity, personalities and excess at the time. Canongate, £10.99 Look Closer by Robert Douglas-Fairhurst Drawing on more than two decades teaching English literature, the Oxford professor explores how paying closer attention can make reading more rewarding. From Wuthering Heights to Normal People, he shows what noticing language, structure and detail can reveal about familiar books. You’ll never look at them in the same way. Vintage, £12.99 Fahrenheit-182 by Mark Hoppus The blink-182 bassist and vocalist traces his journey from punk-obsessed teenager to member of one of the biggest pop-punk bands in the world. Alongside the chaos of fame and the band’s turbulent history, he writes candidly about anxiety and his experience of cancer. Sphere, £12.99