ShortBookandScribes August 2026 Reads, Book Post and Stats

Posted on 3rd September 2026 By Nicola

Welcome to my August round up. I had a couple of weeks off work last month, one of them spent at the seaside which was lovely, a nice break before the weather turned on us. I rather optimistically took six books with me and rather disappointingly only read one (although I did finish two other books as well). This means that, yes you’ve guessed it, I read eight books again, but what a cracking reading month I have had with all 5* or 4.5* reads. Here they are:

The Railway Girls by Maisie Thomas

This is the first in a new (to me) series about a group of women, and three in particular, who worked on the railways during WWII. I really loved this story and the characters.

Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal

For a while I put off reading this because I didn’t think it was one I would enjoy but I was wrong and I really enjoyed this story of a vet going to live on a very remote island and all the things that happen to her there.

The Airline Girl by Lizzie Page

Lizzie Page is one of my favourite authors and I loved this story of Audrey, who gets a job as one of the first commercial flight attendants. It’s a fabulous story and I appreciated the dry humour.

An Ocean and a Day by Hannah Richell

This is the utterly heartbreaking memoir of writer Hannah Richell, whose beloved husband Matt died in a surfing accident. I was struck by the eloquent writing on loss, grief and love.

My Name is MacKenzie Bly by Lissa Evans

MacKenzie, or Philip to call him by his real and very ordinary name, is 14 and this is a series of accounts about his life. He’s rather hapless and very funny.

A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger

A fictional retelling of the case of Ruth Ellis, who killed her lover and became the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Beautifully written and impeccably researched.

On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love by Louise Doughty

I haven’t read a memoir in ages and then, like buses, two come along at once. I absolutely adored this evocative book which is a daughter’s love letter to her parents and also tells of their own love story.

The Phoenix by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles

This is book 35 and the penultimate book in the Morland Dynasty series. Normally I would have read two of them in a month but I wanted to take my time and eke out the last instalments. In this one, Polly Morland has returned from America determined to restore Morland Place and the estate to its former glory.

Book post received in August with thanks to the named publishers and authors:

Most Ardently Yours by Freya Sampson (sent by Renegade Books)

The Day Our Lives Collided by Laura Pearson (sent by Boldwood)

The Domino Man by Helen Jones (sent by The Likely Suspects/Simon & Schuster)

On This Spot Fell One Tear of Love by Louise Doughty (sent by Phoenix)

In Her Defence by Philippa Malicka (sent by Hodder & Stoughton)

The High Island by Lin Anderson (sent by Book Break/Pan Macmillan)

The Tango Chain by Linda MacDonald (sent by the author)

The Ruins by Becky Docton (sent by HQ)

A Fatal Love by Louisa Treger (sent by Bloomsbury)

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin (sent by Tinder Press)

Outside by Charlotte Levin (sent by One World Publications)

I also bought:

Quite a few 😬🤦‍♀️

The Girl Who Took Flight by Lizzie Page

For Thy Great Pain Have Mercy on My Little Pain by Victoria MacKenzie

If I Were You by Helen Matthews

The Derbyshire Detective by Peter Yates

Swept Away by Beth O’Leary

May We Feed the King by Rebecca Perry

The Countdown Killer by Sam Holland

Island Calling by Francesca Segal

Unseen by Heather Critchlow

Crime on the Fens by Joy Ellis

And I took a fancy to the Mermaid Collection, books published by Penguin Michael Joseph to champion forgotten voices. I picked these two up from Vinted and have another on the way.