‘I’ve seen so many people go down rabbit holes’: Patricia Lockwood on losing touch with reality

The Priestdaddy author on quitting social media, Maga conspiracies and how her second novel grew out of a period of post-Covid mania

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

The Naked Light by Bridget Collins; Exiles by Mason Coile; Alchemised by SenLinYu; Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei; Big Time by Jordan Prosser

Desolation by Hossein Asgari review – an accomplished exploration of love, truth and the cruelty of fate

A storyteller who lies in service of truth meets a writer who doesn’t believe in true stories in this sophomore work set in Adelaide and post-revolutionary Iran

No Friend to This House by Natalie Haynes review – a thrilling take on the Golden Fleece myth

Medea tells her side of the story in a reimagining of the ancient Greek stories that puts women centre stage

‘It was a fair shot’: Anna Wintour belatedly gives her verdict on The Devil Wears Prada

The formidable Vogue boss said Meryl Streep’s subtle performance as a fictional fashion editor ‘had a lot of wit’ – adding that she attended the premiere wearing Prada without knowing its theme

A Splintering by Dur e Aziz Amna review – a woman’s ambitions in Pakistan

This novel fizzes with energy as it follows the parallel lives of two siblings and exposes the crushing divides of gender and class

The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown review – weapons-grade nonsense from beginning to end

Code-breaking hero Robert Langdon is back for another conspiracy thriller, featuring underground laboratories and new thoughts on the nature of consciousness

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai review – a dazzling epic

Longlisted for the Booker, this capacious story of love, work and family set between India and the US is both dizzyingly vast and insistently miniature

‘Looks so sizzling they could fry an egg!’ How the BBC’s Pride and Prejudice adaptation changed my life

The 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic, starring Colin Firth, has its own fan group, has inspired university courses and was even featured in the Barbie movie. What’s behind its enduring appeal?

Bunny author Mona Awad: ‘I’m a dark-minded soul’

The author’s surreal, satirical breakout novel won her awards and tattooed superfans. As she releases a follow-up, she talks about growing up as an outsider – and the best advice she received from Margaret Atwood

Slow Horses author Mick Herron: ‘I love doing things that are against the rules’

As the hit thriller returns to our screens, its creator talks about false starts, surprise inspirations – and why he never looks inside Jackson Lamb’s head

Tenderfoot by Toni Jordan review – coming-of-age tale has the makings of a classic

A 12-year-old girl from a family of gamblers and greyhound racers grapples with adulthood as her home life disintegrates in this sharp and empathetic novel set in 1970s Brisbane

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan review – behind the American dream

This luminous and tender 20th-century saga of wounded souls and small-town secrets has a deep melancholy

Kathleen Folbigg’s memoir, an ode to condiments and ‘a work of art’: the best Australian books out in September

Each month Guardian Australia editors and critics pick the upcoming titles they have devoured – or can’t wait to get their hands on

Shamiso by Brian Chikwava review – a globe-trotting coming-of-age story

Though audaciously told, this portrait of a young woman’s twisty journey from Zimbabwe to Brighton doesn’t quite hang together