The Quality of Love by Ariane Bankes review – delicious portrait of the Paget twins

This evocative account of the author’s mother and aunt – identical twin sisters who stole the hearts of London’s 1930s intelligentsia – captures their closeness and lust for life

Night Train to Odesa by Jen Stout review – from Ukraine with love

Ordinary Ukrainians and their haunting stories are the heroes of the Scottish reporter’s wonderful hymn to an embattled nation

Francis Bacon: A Self-Portrait in Words by Michael Peppiatt review – glimpses of a demon-driven genius

Despite the painter’s lack of ‘epistolary fluency’, this collection of his writings – from drunken interviews to begging letters – offers some insight into his working methods and private life

May Contain Lies by Alex Edmans review – fake news rules… and that’s a fact

In our age of misinformation, this unsparing study of the many ways in which we can be deceived and how to counter the pernicious effects couldn’t be more timely

Sufferance by Charles Palliser review – a well-crafted, slow-burning novel

The Quincunx author’s sixth book, the story of a family in crisis under an tyrannical regime, is exquisitely plotted and satisfying

Track Record by George the Poet review – Black artistry and home truths

The spoken word artist and podcaster’s hybrid of social history and rallying cry is heartfelt, if occasionally hectoring

Glass Houses; The Paris Trilogy; How to Build Impossible Things – reviews

Love, class and Welsh nationalism fuel a menacing literary romance; Colombe Schneck’s meditations on womanhood and teenage pregnancy are electrifying; and an elite craftsman is full of great advice

Minority Rule review: rich history of America’s undemocratic democracy

From an absurd Senate where California and Wyoming are equal, to Republican voter suppression, Ari Berman covers it all

The Lost Love Songs of Boysie Singh by Ingrid Persaud review – an epic novel of life and death in 1950s Trinidad

Four women tell of the rise and fall of a notorious real-life mobster in this evocative second novel from the Costa prize winner

The Searchers by Andy Beckett review – the leftists who took their lead from Tony Benn

An absorbing study of the radical left makes a convincing case for their cultural victories but romanticises the Jeremy Corbyn years

The Wolves of K Street review: how lobbying swallowed Washington

Brody and Luke Mullins offer an exhaustive, telling, mesmerising chronicle of the biggest business in US politics

The Book-Makers by Adam Smyth review – bound to be brilliant

From calfskin to cut-and-paste, a tribute to the graft and craft that goes into books

The best recent poetry – review roundup

Come Here to This Gate by Rory Waterman; Are You There by Samantha Fain; Silver by Rowan Ricardo Phillips; All the Good Things You Deserve by Elaine Feeney; Poems 2016-2024 by JH Prynne

What by John Cooper Clarke review – sharp social commentary from the Bard of Salford

With subjects ranging from Elvis to bubble and squeak, the poet’s unmistakable delivery elevates his satirical verse to the realms of high art

Brotherless Night by VV Ganeshananthan review – heartbreak in war-torn Sri Lanka

Shortlisted for the Women’s prize, this epic account of a country and a family torn apart combines the intimacy of a memoir with the urgency of reportage