Songwriters on the Run by Robert Forster review – Go-Betweens frontman hits a dud note

There’s little melody or rhythm in Forster’s prose, while the dialogue is plodding and full of exposition

Fatherland review – Sandra Hüller brings a bayonet of intelligence to Paweł Pawlikowski’s taut return

Cannes film festival: Hanns Zischler stars as Thomas Mann on his 1949 tour of Germany, contending with political barbs, personal tragedy and his daughter, played by an extraordinary Hüller

Seascraper by Benjamin Wood audiobook review – a shore thing

A wannabe folk singer’s humdrum life as a shrimp catcher is upended by the arrival of a mysterious American stranger in the Booker-listed tale

Sherlock Holmes review – the game is afoot, a stone’s throw from Baker Street

The detective and his sidekick return for a new case by Joel Horwood in an alfresco setting that playfully refers to nearby attractions

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans review – immensely enjoyable return of the epistolary novel

This moving work about an irascible woman in her 70s who conducts her most intimate relationships through letters has been shortlisted for the Women’s prize

Weimar by Katja Hoyer review – the town that changed Germany

It was the birthplace of the liberal tradition, but also the incubator for Nazism – what can this historic city tell us about democracy?

Vocal Break by Lauren Elkin review – a celebration of the female voice

From Édith Piaf to Charli xcx, a moving study of the ways women express themselves – and the obstacles they face

Uprising by Tahmima Anam review – a fiery novel of female rebellion

Radical hope and rage combine in this tale of ecological precarity and resistance among sex workers on a brothel island

High and Low by Amanda Craig review – will Britain boil over?

A north London cafe is under siege in a state-of-the-nation satire that brings together the haves and have-nots

The Savage Landscape by Cal Flyn review – a carnival of a book about Earth’s wild places

An extraordinary exploration of wilderness and its meaning that takes us from the ocean floor to volcanic peaks

John of John by Douglas Stuart review – will a father and son come out to each other?

The Booker winner’s epic tale of gay love and loneliness in the Hebrides charts an uneasy homecoming against a backdrop of repression

Israel: What Went Wrong? by Omer Bartov review – the long view

An erudite account of the foundation of the state and its subsequent moral and political decline

The best recent science fiction, fantasy and horror – review roundup

The Republic of Memory by Mahmud El Sayed; The Rainshadow Orphans by Naomi Ishiguro; No Ghosts by Max Lury; Palaces of the Crow by Ray Nayler; Moon Over Brendle by Jeff Noon

The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher review – Hilary Mantel tale is provocative, powerful theatre

Beginning as a culture clash comedy with cups of tea and deadly intent, this two-hander becomes boldly arresting

This Book May Cause Side Effects by Helen Pilcher review – can you think yourself sick?

Fearing the worst can lead to physical changes, according to this fascinating study of a strange medical phenomenon