In Bloom by Liz Allan review – an electric debut of grunge and teen spirit

Four fatherless girls in a band set out to escape their deprived Australian coastal town, in a dark, raw tale of friendship and abuse

Why Populists Are Winning and How to Beat Them by Liam Byrne review – a surprisingly original prescription

A former New Labour minister tackles the question of our times with rigour and verve – but blindspots remain

Do Not Go Gentle by Kathleen Stock review – the case against euthanasia

The philosopher offers a measured and reasonable argument against assisted dying

A Pale View of Hills review – two-stranded adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro novel in the shadow of the A-bomb

Kei Ishikawa’s take on Ishiguro’s first published work is frustrating and bland, undermining its fascinating characters’ emotional truths

Project Hail Mary review – Ryan Gosling’s charm carries unserious last-ditch space mission

Tale of a brilliant molecular biologist cast into outer space with only a helpful alien for company is a bit silly, but Gosling’s charisma keeps it watchable

Big Nobody by Alex Kadis review – groovy and Greek in 70s London

A teenage girl dreams of escaping her controlling father, in this sparkling coming-of-age romp haunted by trauma

Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! by Liza Minnelli review – a heady brew of gossip, glamour and defiance

Lady Gaga and David Gest are among those who get ferocious dressings-down in this brutally candid memoir

Scarlet review – Mamoru Hosoda turns Hamlet into tale of prowling knights and deep ‘nothingness’

The normally great director misses the mark with a wonderfully animated but narratively clunky retelling of the Shakespearean staple

Love Magic Power Danger Bliss by Paul Morley review – Yoko Ono before the Beatles

A vivid celebration of the artist covers her childhood and breakthrough in New York – while sidelining ‘that other business’

Look What You Made Me Do by John Lanchester review – a battle between millennials and boomers

There are sharply observed pleasures to be found in this black comedy of infidelity, revenge and intergenerational tension – but the plot is both implausible and predictable

A Beautiful Loan by Mary Costello review – a profound exploration of the inner life

How are we to account for things that lie outside ordinary language? A woman’s emotions are precisely observed in a novel that brilliantly captures what it means to be human

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Gravity Archives by Andrew Motion; Rabbitbox by Wayne Holloway-Smith; Strange Architectures by JL Williams; I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken

The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski review – a delicious comfort read

A decaying gothic mansion tells the story of the family who once lived there, in this pitch-perfect debut of disappearances, betrayal and despair

The Manningtree Witches review – Ava Pickett’s gripping follow-up to Tudor hit 1536

The targets of the infamous 17th-century ‘witchfinder general’ narrate a powerful play based on AK Blakemore’s novel

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley audiobook review – a topical time-hopping romance

Actor Katie Leung narrates this genre-bending debut in which an Victorian Arctic explorer is catapulted into our brave new world