The Land Trap by Mike Bird review – ground down
A masterful introduction to the economics of land ownership
Palaver by Bryan Washington review – a remix of the author’s greatest hits
From exile to family dysfunction, street food to sex, this stylish novel about a mother visiting her estranged gay son in Tokyo explores familiar themes
Children and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Anointing a new Santa; a child refugee’s tale; a dangerous journey across frozen wastes; a YA roadtrip romance and more
Making Mary Poppins by Todd James Pierce review – the musical brothers behind the movie magic
Bob and Dick Sherman take centre stage in this well-researched account of how Walt Disney created a classic
A Mind of My Own by Kathy Burke audiobook review – an honest and hilarious memoir
The no-nonsense comic actor and author further cements her status as a national treasure with her trademark gobby one-liners
Freezing Point by Anders Bodelsen review – a prescient classic of cryogenics
This resurrected Danish novel about a man who is ‘frozen down’, awaking in an Orwellian dystopia two decades later, is inventive, funny and all too timely
Bog Queen by Anna North review – a tale that could dig deeper
This story of a teenage druid whose body is discovered in a peat bog has memorable moments – but its evocation of time and place is unconvincing
The Divided Mind by Edward Bullmore review – do we finally know what causes schizophrenia?
A brilliant history of psychiatric ideas suggests we are on the cusp of a transformation in our understanding of severe mental illness
The Housemaid review – Sydney Sweeney takes the job from hell in outrageous suspense thriller
Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar co-star as Sweeney’s secretive bosses in an upstate New York mansion, and director Paul Feig ramps up the sexual tension with evident gusto
The Innocents of Florence by Joseph Luzzi review – how abandoned babies spurred a flowering of Renaissance art
The precarious, cruel but dazzling world of a foundling hospital is brought wonderfully to life by the author of Botticelli’s Secret
Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson review – startlingly original
The Indigenous Canadian author brilliantly captures the interdependence of humans and the natural world, in a darkly satirical critique of colonialism
Tell Me Softly review – high-school romance of bad boys and blurred boundaries
Social-media fame and sexual intrigue collide in this part-Twilight, part-OC romantic drama whose provocative dramatic set-ups feel as glib as porn scenes
Christmas Carol Goes Wrong review – a Dickensian disaster to savour
Mischief Theatre return to the am-dram battlefield, turning the Victorian tale into a blizzard of bruised egos and expertly timed farce
Pulse by Cynan Jones review – short stories that show the vitality of the form
The Welsh author vividly captures the solitude, hard labour, dramas and dangers of rural life
William Golding: The Faber Letters review – the making of a masterpiece
Correspondence between the Lord of the Flies author and his editor reveals one of the great literary collaborations of the age