diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 33a0817..47e7b3d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -351,6 +351,11 @@ to the expected behavior.
 
 ## Release Notes
 
+### v1.0.10 (wip)
+
+* Bugfix for ([#9](https://github.com/gulrak/filesystem/issues/9)), added
+  missing return statement to `ghc::filesystem::path::generic_string()`
+
 ### [v1.0.8](https://github.com/gulrak/filesystem/releases/tag/v1.0.8)
 
 * Bugfix for ([#6](https://github.com/gulrak/filesystem/issues/6)), where
diff --git a/filesystem.h b/filesystem.h
index 2b4dc42..5e1d5b5 100644
--- a/filesystem.h
+++ b/filesystem.h
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@
 #define LWG_2937_BEHAVIOUR
 
 // ghc::filesystem version in decimal (major * 10000 + minor * 100 + patch)
-#define GHC_FILESYSTEM_VERSION 10008L
+#define GHC_FILESYSTEM_VERSION 10009L
 
 namespace ghc {
 namespace filesystem {
@@ -2018,7 +2018,7 @@ inline std::u32string path::u32string() const
 template <class EcharT, class traits, class Allocator>
 std::basic_string<EcharT, traits, Allocator> path::generic_string(const Allocator& a) const
 {
-    detail::fromUtf8<std::basic_string<EcharT, traits, Allocator>>(_path, a);
+    return detail::fromUtf8<std::basic_string<EcharT, traits, Allocator>>(_path, a);
 }
 
 inline const std::string& path::generic_string() const