Ukrainian Lessons by Charlotte Higgins review – when art and war collide
A vivid and hopeful study of how culture endures in the midst of extreme violence
Robot helpers and flying houses: Edinburgh fringe tips for families
From wacky versions of The ABC Song to Quentin Blake’s eccentric Mrs Armitage, these five shows offer fun for young audiences
The Ego Trip by Kimon de Greef review – a bizarre tale of psychedelic toads and hair-raising treatments
A journalist investigates the unsettling world of a charismatic shaman and the people who trusted him
A Rimbaud review – legendary poet’s unlikely transformation into entrepreneur is as odd as ever
Australian actor Blake Draper delivers a committed one-man performance tracking the writer as he morphs from enfant terrible to merchant
Agrippa by Robert Harris review – persuasive portrait of rivalry in ancient Rome
This fictional memoir by Octavius’s right-hand man shows us bloodshed, betrayal and hectic jockeying for power
Borges and Me review – a sweetly imagined literary odyssey through the Highlands
Luis Gnecco brings warmth, wit and quiet melancholy to Jorge Luis Borges in this gently enchanting adaptation of Jay Parini’s semi-fictional memoir
The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup
The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian; Claws Out! by Bella Mackie; Plant Lady by Minyoung Kang; Children of Wolves by Lawrence Osborne; Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
The Beverly Hills Housewife by James Cahill review – a trip inside Hockney’s world
Muse Betty Freeman sits at the centre of this sun-drenched book about art, eccentricity, and the spirit of Los Angeles
Mine by Adam Ouston review – novel told in a single sentence is a hallucinatory reading experience
Ouston’s second novel follows a poet who is trapped in an abandoned mine in Tasmania while searching for inspiration for his ‘last great work’
Universality by Natasha Brown audiobook review – a sparkling multi-voiced satire
A magazine article about stolen gold sparks a culture war between a cast of politically polarised characters
Can Nothing Save Us? by Irvine Welsh review – US family saga is a late-career triumph
The Scottish author focuses on gun culture and generational conflict in this darkly satirical tale about a great power in decline
Death Note: The Musical review – wildly popular manga mystery is a killer night out
The multi-platform phenomenon makes its way to the stage, with all the supernatural hijinks, J-horror tropes and emotional intensity intact
Something Like Happiness by Tom Newlands review – a tender take on hard times, anger and autism
A twentysomething Scottish couple care for their autistic son in the bleak follow-up to Only Here, Only Now
A History of the Novel in Britain by Philip Hensher review – a masterpiece of criticism
This joyous book takes readers on a literary adventure across 300 years of fiction, from Defoe to Zadie Smith
Mayflies review – Manchester’s Haçienda roars back to life in an Edinburgh warehouse
Two men look back on their hedonistic past from a sobering present in Grid Iron’s adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel