ADMIRATION SOCIETY

We asked novelists to tout their September must-reads—and indulge in a little peer promotion

V.F. RECOMMENDS: Transcription by Kate AtWnson

her signature humor and versatility in her highly anticipated 10th novel, Transcription (Little, Brown), which centers on a young British woman entrenched in counter-fascist espionage at the beginning of W.W. II.

KATE RECOMMENDS: French Exit

Bunuel film as, one after another, eccentric characters enter an ever more claustrophobic apartment. DeWitt surprises at every turn. —K.A.

PATRICK RECOMMENDS: The Reservoir Tapes by Jon McGregor

A young tourist goes missing in a small English village, and an interviewer arrives to interrogate the locals: the bulk of the novel is made up of their stories. McGregor has an uncanny ear, and such an elegant way with words—P.D.

JON RECOMMENDS: When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

It shouldn't need demonstrating, yet again, that the dehumanization of people is wrong, but Otsuka's masterful 2002 novel—with its family separations and internment camps—does just that.—J.M.