The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry review – fast and loose on the frontiers of America

The Irish novelist turns his hand to the western in an atmospheric tale of romantic runaways from a 1890s US mining town that has an epic feel despite its brevity

Viola’s Room review – Punchdrunk’s gothic tale of puzzling wonder

Helena Bonham Carter narrates as a bare-footed audience explore exquisite rooms in this unsettling, grief-soaked journey into the night

You Burn Me review – Sappho and suffering in a macabre meditation on desire and death

This hour-long reverie from Argentinian film-maker Matías Piñeiro offers chilling insight into the agonies of unrequited love

All That Glitters by Orlando Whitfield review – how to make an exhibition of yourself

The former best friend of convicted fraudster Inigo Philbrick turns the exciting world of art into a series of gauche boasts in this story of their career as dealers

My First Book by Honor Levy; Brat: A Ghost Story by Gabriel Smith reviews – audacious darlings of the digital age

Pitch-dark cynicism meets a spooky coming-of-age story in these promising debuts by two ‘alt lit’ proteges

Kabul: Final Call by Laurie Bristow; The Afghans by Åsne Seierstad reviews – how the west abandoned Afghanistan… and what happened next

An ex-UK envoy’s compelling account of the chaotic military withdrawal from the country is full of telling details, while Seierstad’s latest work drives home the cruel reality of women’s lives after the return of Taliban rule

The Incarcerations: BK-16 and the Search for Democracy in India by Alpa Shah – review

This disturbing study of individuals imprisoned without trial for being part of a ‘Maoist conspiracy’ illustrates Modi’s autocratic rule and the plight of minorities and dissenters

Private Rites by Julia Armfield review – familial conflict before the final days

Three sisters attempt to deal with their father’s death as the end of the world draws near in an evocative novel about sibling rivalry

If You Live to 100, You Might As Well Be Happy by Rhee Kun Hoo review – life begins at 80

Korea’s bestselling and relentlessly upbeat guide to getting old

In brief: Lifting Off; The Fellowship of Puzzlemakers; Hungry Heart – review

A flight attendant’s atmospheric memoir about forbidden love; the beguiling tale of a young fogey’s search for his parents; and food writer Clare Finney’s life in recipes

Spoilt Creatures by Amy Twigg review – haven and hell in the countryside

A compelling debut novel set on an all-female commune in rural Kent explores how cults ensnare vulnerable people

The Roads to Rome by Catherine Fletcher; Italy Reborn by Mark Gilbert reviews – the long path to prosperity

Fletcher’s epic and witty study unearths the history of the Roman roads and their hold on our imagination, while Gilbert celebrates Alcide De Gasperi, the postwar Christian Democrat politician whose passion for democracy energised a country scarred by war and Mussolini

Bad Habit by Alana S Portero review – hard times in Madrid

A vivid debut of trans life in Spain after Franco observes a world of violence and petty cruelties with compassion

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Them! by Harry Josephine Giles; Still City by Oksana Maksymchuk; Conflicted Copy by Sam Riviere; The Collected Poems by Roger McGough; Sleepers Awake by Oli Hazzard

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett audiobook review – Meryl Streep narrates a bittersweet tale of first love

A mother reveals her mysterious past in a tale of choice and the roads not taken