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Seasons are changing and publishing's biggest month of the year is here – the month when we see the industry's big ticket items take centre stage! It's a big release smorgasbord and we're so on.

From erotic fantasies to mega-bestseller sequels, dystopian fiction and moreish crime thrillers, Charley (@book_smut) has the biggest new releases of September 2026 covered for you.

Life of M by Rachel Cusk.

Out now.

It's an odd experience to dig into the latest book from a literary icon whose cult status has been eclipsed by the pop culture furore over the 'alleged inspo' behind Life of M; one Natalie Portman.

Cusk, for me, has always been either a huuuge hit or an insufferable flop. This is bang in the middle. Starts meh and ends strong. Her writing is clean and crisp and impressive as ever and the added celeb storm behind it added juice. And I love juice. I had so, so many conflicting questions as I read: who gives a shit if it's drawing on a celeb's life story? Isn't that just what fanfic is? How did this come to be!? Is Cusk a stalker? Was Portman given an early copy? Did she deny Cusk a profile piece and this is her vengeance in printed form? Was the publisher the first to sow the seeds of the celebrity parallel?

Cusk is making no attempt to disguise who is this about so all of this is intentional and siding us, the readers, with the narrator as we watch the persona come together.

Is this a brilliant piece of performance art that's turned a private piece of writing into a public statement? Am I going insane and reading way too much into this? Is Cusk rubbing her hands in glee watching us twist ourselves into knots?

Reducing this to fan fiction, celeb chasing or exploiting is to deride what Cusk is commenting on: what it is to be a woman in the public eye and everything she is subjected to. IT'S FICTION. And it's mesmerising.

Hanging out to get deep in the myriad discussion pieces that will come out about Life of M. My incredibly helpful contribution to that is the story itself is quite 'meh' but the amount of time I've spent thinking about it is extremely 'woah'. So that's fun.

Big Little Truths by Liane Moriarty.

Out now.

She's been smashing bestsellers out of the park forever, but our golden girl Aussie domestic noir is back with her first ever sequel. If you loved Big Little Lies (and who didn't) you are going to lose it for this.

And if you have only the vaguest recollection, melt into the Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon TV series, fear not, she's got you covered.

When we last saw the mums of Pirriwee. The kids are older and, shockingly, neither the parenting, family lives or friendships are any calmer. A decade after 'that trivia night', a grisly package arrives at the local high school and a serious mystery ensues. Great fun, perfect to escape into all weekend long.

We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman.

Out Sept 1.

This hit the spot I didn't know needed hitting. Genuine lols, tears, strong women, weak men, appreciation of brilliance – all of it.

Richard Osman is a giant (in all senses) and if you're a fan of The Thursday Murder Club you'll already be all over this. If not, this is the second in a new Osman series and it is evvvverything. Still very good-vibes-crime, but fresher, funnier and less twee. Obsessed with every single character and relationship. Wish it was 1000 pages long.

In a nutshell: a private security officer and the famous novelist in her charge pair up to uncover an impossible case that sprawls from the Italian hills to Palm Springs and a sleepy British pub. If you need a slice of joy and utterly inhale-able warmth, you've found it.

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin.

Out September 1.

Last time I felt this floored by a completely unique, wildly clever, epically ambitious novel was Shipstead's Great Circle, years ago. And I was completely bug-eyed for all 500 pages of Chloe Benjamin's Under Story. Still now, I am struggling to grasp the depth and research and mind-bending 'what if's' that a single brain has created.

We meet Laurel, a brilliant scientist hiding from everything and everyone in an isolated Antarctic research station. When her ex-husband shows up at the same station and a chance scientific discovery ensnares them both, they're faced with a 'what if' moment… what if they could turn back time and have a second chance at it all?

If you're thinking "but I'm not into time travel, sci-fi love stories and quantum physics" – you're wrong.

I'm going to struggle to say more without taking away the magic of this reading experience, but what Benjamin has achieved here has completely scrambled my brain. The science did get heavy in moments, and there is pruning that could have been done, but this is the slowest I've read a book all year, savouring every page.

I'm a sucker for a BIG concept novel and I LOVVVVVED this. Like, lovvvved it. I will be thinking about this for years and years.

Exit Party by Emily St John Mandel.

Out September 15.

It's no coincidence that given the state of the world, and the US political cesspool, fiction feels ladened with alternate universe/time jump stories right now. I love Emily St John Mandel (of Station Elevn fame) and I squealed when this arrived at my door but holy hell, halfway through I had absolutely no idea what was going on.

I love a dystopian militia meets art history set up as much as the next escapist, speculative fiction reader, but this missed for me.

Taipei Story by Rebbeca Kuang.

Out September 15.

R.F. Kuang's TAIPEI STORY is super hotly anticipated because she's a literary powerhouse who has been a bestseller of every book, and genre, she's explored.

Her latest is out September 15 and is billed as 'her most personal yet'. Fab cover but I was absolutely swayed in my reading by a review that simply read "this book could've been a substack post tbh" and honestly, not wrong, but I did have a good time and was made really hungry.

We follow Lily from Yale to Taipei where she spends a gruelling summer immersing herself in her heritage, struggling with brutal language classes and classmates and questions about the culture she inherited.

Not the page-turner I'd hoped for but plenty to sink into and a perspective I really appreciated. Good on her for turning her publishing-poster-child-status to something so unique and (dare I say) uncommercial. And now I absolutely have Taipei on my travel list.

More , collected by Gillian Anderson.

Out September 8.

The follow-up instalment to the collection Want, that came out last year, More is a collection of hot, heavy, mind-blowing, heartbreaking anonymous fantasies from around the world.

And honestly, there's nothing I could say that would do this justice. It is five stars; it is seared in my brain; it is the book I hope my kids will secret away with their mates off my bookshelf when they're teenagers. This is 'real life is always stranger than fiction' in a bound book.

100 points to every woman who submitted their stories to this. You are heroes.

The Long Cloud by Hector Mackenzie.

Out September 1.

If you were wondering what Bret Easton Ellis would write if he was a jock-turned-male-model who returned to his small home town in NZ, The Long Cloud is for you. I love an eternally embarrassed, uncertain, unsettled male protagonist who cries constantly, makes endless fake phone calls and is equally jealous and reluctant towards his upbringing.

I loved Xander and this book. The pacey, funny, choppy, diary-esque chapters were brilliant. And really, if your favourite indie film isn't Twilight, you should rethink everything too.

It's an absolute winner. Only bug bear was the lack of capitalisation throughout, which was surely a stylist/character choice, but it did do my head in.

The World Beneath Her Feet by Holly Ringland.

Out September 1.

Ringland's The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart was a runaway success when it came out a nearly a decade ago and now one of Australia's first ladies of lit fic is back!

As ever, the writing and imagery is absolutely spellbinding. Here we meet Maggie, who is working at the Natural History Museum in London until she is called back home, to Queensland, forced to revisit her past in all its glory and shame.

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This does everything you think it will and will be a book club fave in no time.

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Feature image: Supplied.