Book Club Favourites for September

Winter, 1561. Lucrezia, Duchess of Ferrara, is taken on an unexpected visit to a country villa by her husband, Alfonso. As they sit down to dinner it occurs to Lucrezia that Alfonso has a sinister purpose in bringing her here. He intends to kill her. Lucrezia is sixteen years old, and has led a sheltered life locked away inside Florence's grandest palazzo. Here, in this remote villa, she is entirely at the mercy of her increasingly erratic husband. What is Lucrezia to do with this sudden knowledge? What chance does she have against Alfonso, ruler of a province, and a trained soldier? How can she ensure her survival. 'The Marriage Portrait' is an unforgettable reimagining of the life of a young woman whose proximity to power places her in mortal danger.

In the golden city of Amsterdam, in 1705, Thea Brandt is turning eighteen, and she is ready to welcome adulthood with open arms. At the city's theatre, Walter, the love of her life, awaits her, but at home in the house on the Herengracht, all is not well - her father Otto and Aunt Nella argue endlessly, and the Brandt family are selling their furniture in order to eat. On Thea's birthday, also the day that her mother Marin died, the secrets from the past begin to overwhelm the present. Nella is desperate to save the family and maintain appearances, to find Thea a husband who will guarantee her future, and when they receive an invitation to Amsterdam's most exclusive ball, she is overjoyed - perhaps this will set their fortunes straight. And indeed, the ball does set things spinning: new figures enter their life, promising new futures. But their fates are still unclear.

Following their father's death, Cass and her sister Sid will do whatever it takes to keep their family's dive school afloat. It used to be the go-to destination in Cornwall for those keen to explore the ocean's hidden depths. But when Cass returns from a long trip, she's shocked to discover how bad things have become. The business is in decline. Sid's new boyfriend has far too much control over the accounts - and her sister. Then, Cass discovers a body in the water. And as more girls go missing, she wonders just how far someone will go to keep their secrets buried.

At first glance, Jellicoe Close seems to be a perfect suburban street - well-kept houses with pristine lawns, neighbours chatting over garden fences, children playing together. But there are dark secrets behind the neat front doors, hidden dangers that include a ruthless criminal who will stop at nothing. It's up to DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent to uncover the truth. Posing as a couple, they move into the Close, blurring the lines between professional and personal as never before. And while Maeve and Josh try to gather the evidence they need, they have no idea of the danger they face - because someone in Jellicoe Close has murder on their mind.

One house. Nine guests. Endless motives for murder. In the seaside town of Hamlet Wick, nine guests assemble for a New Year's Eve party to remember. The owner of Hamlet Hall has organised a murder mystery evening with a 1920s twist, and everyone has their own part to play. But the game has barely begun when one guest is found dead - killed by a fatal injury to the head. With no phone signal and no way out of the house, the others are trapped with a killer in their midst. Someone is playing by their own rules. And in a close-knit community, old rivalries run deep.

Summer, 1995. On her tenth birthday, July's teacher sets the class a project to find out about a relation they don't know. It's easy for July to choose her subject. She doesn't remember her mother, who died when she was small, and her father refuses to talk about her. Ever. The only memories she has of her are flashbacks from the accident that claimed her mother's life. But then she receives the note: 'She didn't die in a car accident'. Determined to discover what really happened, July begins to investigate, cycling around the street where her family used to live and questioning the neighbours. When she is caught snooping round a crumbling house at the end of the road, she learns that the man living there was the last person to see July's mother alive.

Among the cobbled streets of the Somerset town of Frome, Lou is embarking on the start of something new. After the death of her beloved mother, she takes a deep breath into the unknown and is opening her own vintage clothes shop. In upstate New York, Donna has just found out some news about her family which has called into question her whole upbringing. The only clue she has to unlock her past is a picture of a yellow dress, and the fact it is currently on display in a shop in England. For Maggy, she is facing life as a 70-something divorcee and while she got the house, she's not sure what to fill it with now her family have moved out. The new vintage shop in town sparks memories of her past and reignites a passion she's been missing. Together, can these three women find the answers they are searching for and unlock a second chance at a new life? It's never too late to start again.

Athena Liu is a literary darling. Juniper Hayward is literally nobody. When Athena dies in a freak accident, Juniper steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name June Song. But as evidence threatens Juniper's stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves. What happens next is entirely everyone else's fault.