A luminous tale about borders, bodies and a sense of belonging alternates between 1960s Italy and 2020s Ireland
A real-life family tragedy is the basis for this International Booker-shortlisted fable of duty, attachment and mental illness
Lydia Millet’s collection explores the malaise among the different generations of two LA families
This acutely observed memoir of postwar England might be the highlight of the writer’s illustrious four-decade career
Panic about the demise of book reading is overblown — across genres, formats and devices, young people are finding and creating their own storytelling communities
Patrick Wallis’s authoritative account of apprenticeships in early modern England has important lessons for our own time
As a cultural figure, Stein has too often been relegated to the margins. This beguiling biography reasserts her legacy
The Prix Goncourt-winning author’s newly translated novel explores the abandonment and violence wrought by conflict in Europe
A timely argument that AI, geopolitical tensions and global production networks demand a new statistical infrastructure
Plus Karin Slaughter, Vaseem Khan, Alex North, SJ Parris and Taku Ashibe — it’s a bumper crop
Our hunger for the Earth’s natural riches drives both political power and immense destruction. Two new books call for a reappraisal of the wealth beneath our feet
The novel explores the idea of the self through the character of Kinga, a woman with dissociative identity disorder who has seven ‘alters’, one for each day of the week
The Austrian-German writer’s new novel The Director explores totalitarianism through a fictionalised account of the Nazi-era filmmaker GW Pabst. It couldn’t be more timely
Daniel Kehlmann on his novel The Director and Nazi totalitarianism; Geoff Dyer is Cheltenham’s answer to Proust; a beguiling biography of Gertrude Stein; is GDP still fit for purpose?; a luminous Sarah Moss novel on two stages of a woman’s life; how apprenticeships drove England’s economic growth; subversive wit in a short-story collection; an International Booker-shortlisted study of intense friendship — plus Barry Forshaw’s pick of crime fiction
Why some people take extraordinary risks to save others
As Bath celebrates Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary, Jemima Kelly dons bonnet and bows to join devotees on a Regency-themed tour
A living critique of censorship, containing everything from ‘Mein Kampf’ to ‘Tintin in the Congo’, which can sometimes leave visitors in tears
René Girard is best known for his theory of ‘mimetic desire’. Now Peter Thiel and the vice-president are among his fans
Why did a Reuters reporter in Russia decide to write a cookbook?
The second novel by the celebrated poet returns to themes of loss, poverty and unlikely friendship
A pithy and passionate book looks beyond class, clichés and megaphones to scrutinise how we engage with the UK countryside
From Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater to Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye: Owen Hopkins reflects on the home as catalyst for progress
Greg Grandin’s superb, punchy account of the deep ties between the US and Latin America forms a powerful case for closer ties in the present
Tiffany Watt Smith’s fascinating book asks why friendships are less valued by society than conjugal or familial relationships
The celebrated historian of Vichy France recalls her closest relatives’ collaboration with the Nazis in a harrowing but elegant fictional debut
Donald H Chew takes a timely look at the benefits the US has reaped from an open and competitive system
Funmi Fetto’s tales of nine African women; Issa Quincy’s haunting vignettes; Louise Hegarty’s sparkling yet sad crime novel; Alexander Sammartino’s black comedy; and Saba Sams’ tender take on the messiness of life
The prizewinning witty chronicler of middle-class life claimed writing was her ‘salvation’
Three books offer a guide to shifting power in the region and what it means for the US and Europe
Selena Wisnom walks the shelves of King Ashurbanipal’s library, revealing what the books tell us about the ideas circulating in 7th-century BC Mesopotamia
Christopher Clarey traces how the Spaniard came to dominate the French Open, among his 22 Grand Slam titles
The German writer’s first novel to be translated into English tackles young hopes, lives lived online — and the angst of turning 30
A first-hand account from the UAE’s longest-serving female minister about hosting the World Expo and transforming the emirate into an aspirational destination
The author’s archly modulated, precise prose has lost none of its power in this immensely readable collection of short stories
The Canadian author’s marvellous epic novel leaps back and forth through history to reinvent great lives
The story of a quirky design choice that turbocharged user-generated content — and is now clicked 160bn times a day
The American writer follows the misadventures of a prince, a trans teen, an undercover cop and more in this tightly wound tale
