In Memory of Us by Jacqueline Roy review – a twisty tale of twins
The lives of two sisters growing up in south London in the 1950s and 60s are disrupted by a charismatic stranger in this pacy novel
Come and Get It review – Kiley Reid’s sophomore satire misses the mark
In her follow-up to the Booker-longlisted Such a Fun Age, the American author tackles the money worries of young women, but her observations too often feel like farce
Quarterlife by Satya Doyle Byock review – too little, too late for young adults
For all her empathy, the psychotherapist doesn’t offer much insight or research into the demands of twentysomething life
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue review – colonialism as a bloody heist comedy
The Mexican writer’s imaginative riff on the conquest of the Aztecs is an enigmatic, drily funny farce
The Picnic: An Escape to Freedom and the Collapse of the Iron Curtain by Matthew Longo review – a break for the border
The US academic has written a thoughtful and vividly realised account of the extraordinary chain of events around a summer party in Hungary that precipitated the end of Soviet power in central Europe
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon review – classical tragedy as a Celtic caper
This clever debut uses a modern Irish vernacular for the tale of mismatched buddies staging Medea with Athenian prisoners in ancient Syracuse
Unruly by David Mitchell review – a Horrible Histories with added swearing
Tales of familial hatred, infidelity, murder and spectacular incompetence, in a joyfully narrated history of England’s kings and queens
The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World by Bettany Hughes review – wonder lust
From the Great Pyramid at Giza to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a thrilling journey in the footsteps of the ancients
The best recent poetry – review roundup
Rapture’s Road by Seán Hewitt; God Complex by Rachael Allen; How Fire Descends by Serhiy Zhadan; The Many Hundreds of the Scent by Shane McCrae; Eleanor Among the Saints by Rachel Mann
Ava Anna Ada by Ali Millar review – at the end of the world
Fraught themes of maternal ambivalence and ecological crisis are explored in this intense apocalypse story
Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie review – an optimist’s guide to the climate crisis
This book is full of pragmatic, hopeful solutions to environmental challenges. But is there something missing?
The Wizard of the Kremlin by Giuliano da Empoli review – a tsar is born
The imagined life story of a shadowy Kremlin insider offers a chilling perspective on Putin’s Russia
A Century of Labour by Jon Cruddas review – what does the party stand for?
The MP and former policy chief sets out the battle of ideas that has shaped Labour from Attlee to Starmer
Hyper by Agri Ismaïl review – the tidal forces of money
A Kurdish family is uprooted and blown around the globe in this flinty and ambitious debut of big, heady ideas
Magus by Anthony Grafton review – spellbound
A serious yet accessible history of learned magic, from Ficino to Faustus