Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange review – tapestry of colonial trauma is harrowing yet healing

Survivors’ stories provide gritty testament to the moral confusion of life in the aftermath of atrocity in the Pulitzer-nominated Native American’s eye-opening second novel

Before the Queen Falls Asleep by Huzama Habayeb review – a memory palace built in exile

The Palestinian author’s second novel in translation is an affecting portrait of one displaced family’s inescapable relationship with the past

In brief: The Divorcées; Romantic Comedy; Unearthing – review

Soon-to-be ex-wives kill time in Reno in an evocative period tale; a TV writer ponders beauty and attraction in a nuanced romance; and a woman uncovers her family history through gardening with her mother

Memory Piece by Lisa Ko review – anxiety hums off the page in dystopian New York story

Three girlhood friends grow into the worlds of art, tech and activism and on towards a divisive, fascist-run nightmare in the American writer’s ambitious follow-up to The Leavers

One Way Back review: Christine Blasey Ford faces down Brett Kavanaugh again

The professor who accused a US supreme court nominee of sexual assault uses her memoir to restate her case

Caledonian Road by Andrew O’Hagan review – the Dickens of our post-Brexit pandemic age

A north London man of letters slides down the social ladder in the novelist’s pitch-perfect tragicomedy of manners whose cast list connects the capital’s many worlds, from a hip-hop-loving hacker to a wealthy activist

The Exvangelicals review: fine study of faith under fire in the age of Trump

Sarah McCammon of NPR brings personal experience and reportorial rigor to her portrayal of a growing Christian crisis

Code Dependent by Madhumita Murgia review – understanding the human impacts of AI

Daunting tales of how everyday algorithms are changing us

A Very Private School by Charles Spencer – a history of violence

Spencer’s shocking and moving account of abuse at a boarding school combines righteous anger with therapeutic honesty

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton; Moral Injuries by Christie Watson; The Hunter by Tana French; How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin; Every Move You Make by CL Taylor

The Rising Down by Alexandra Harris review – the joy of Sussex

Returning to her native soil, the historian unearths stories from the second world war, the days of the French revolution and the prehistoric era

Headshot by Rita Bullwinkel review – brilliant debut of teenage boxers

Young women come together in Nevada for a tournament where ambition and self-expression clash with brutal reality

One Another by Gail Jones review – a writer’s obsession with Joseph Conrad

Jones’s latest novel is complex and delicate, charting echoes in the lives of a PhD student in 90s Cambridge and the Heart of Darkness author, who she is fascinated by

Cuckooland by Tom Burgis review – reputation management

A work of investigative reporting whose very existence proves that the rich don’t always have the last word

Grow Where They Fall by Michael Donkor review – sex education

The author’s second novel considers a gay teacher’s struggles with intimacy and heritage