The best translated fiction – review roundup

Glorious People by Sasha Salzmann, Your Utopia by Bora Chung, The Time of Cherries by Montserrat Roig and Her Side of the Story by Alba de Céspedes

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar review – an antihero in search of meaning

The Iranian-American poet’s debut novel tells the tale of a bereaved writer – but struggles with too much angst

Heresy by Catherine Nixey review – book of revelations

From Herod as the Messiah to a virginity test for Mary – the Christian story, but not as you know it

Appreciation by Liam Pieper review – a tart satire of cancel culture and the art world

This comedy centred on an artist who loses everything after a drug-fuelled rant about Aussie myth-making is let down by its narcissistic protagonist

Literary Theory for Robots by Dennis Yi Tenen review – the deep roots of AI

A secret history of machine intelligence, from 14th-century horoscopes to 1930s ‘plot genies’ for coming up with storylines

Choice by Neel Mukherjee review – parables for our times

A bleak, brilliant moral maze of a novel about ethical dilemmas, from global poverty to the climate crisis

Mothers’ Instinct review – Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain in 60s-set operatic melodrama

Thriller about rich suburban housewives whose picture-perfect lives belie past traumas lacks the self-awareness needed to prevent it from being utterly absurd

Practice by Rosalind Brown review – tea, yoga and sonnets

The minutiae of a day in the life of a mostly happy student are brilliantly conveyed in this wryly comic debut

The Price of Life by Jenny Kleeman review – what’s it worth?

A riveting examination of the value we place on human life – from healthcare to hitmen

Thanks for Having Me by Emma Darragh review – why would a mother leave her daughter?

This debut novel tries to grapple with motherly abandonment over three generations of women in one family, but it feels underdeveloped

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel review – tale of teenage girl boxers scores a knockout

The US author’s impressive first novel, a forceful and involving tale of eight young female fighters, punches above its weight

Byron: A Life in Ten Letters review – dispatches from a lusty life

Andrew Stauffer conveys the vigour and pace of the poet’s escapades with brio, but stumbles when he suggests Byron anticipated modern celebrity

How to Win an Information War by Peter Pomerantsev review – the radio host who beat Goebbels at his own game

This compelling study of 1930s journalist Sefton Delmer reveals how he used ‘grotesque cabaret’ as propaganda to undermine the Germans’ faith in nazism – and how such methods could be used against today’s tyrants

The Russian Detective by Carol Adlam review – exquisitely illustrated celebration of early crime fiction

This richly evocative tale – part of a project drawing on the work of long-forgotten contemporaries of Dostoevsky – bears repeated readings

All Things Are Too Small by Becca Rothfeld review – bracing and brilliant essay collection

The iconoclastic US author’s intellectually poised critique of minimalism boasts scintillating writing of breadth and power