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The best recent poetry – review roundup

The Bonfire Party by Sean O’Brien; Plastic by Matthew Rice; Retablo for a Door by Michelle Penn; Jonah and Me by John F Deane; Intimate Architecture by Tess Jolly

Blank Canvas by Grace Murray review – a superb debut from a 22-year-old author

In this energisingly original novel, an emotionally detached English student at college in New York tells a big lie

The Bright Side by Sumit Paul-Choudhury review – a hymn to positivity

The science writer pragmatically shows how optimism can bring about real improvements in everyday life and change in the wider world

Googoosh: A Sinful Voice by Googoosh with Tara Dehlavi review – the extraordinary story of an Iranian icon

Her songs soundtracked the 60s and 70s, but the revolution silenced her. The legendary artist finally has her say, in this uneven memoir

The Master of Contradictions by Morten Høi Jensen review – how Thomas Mann wrote The Magic Mountain

A vivid account of the creation of one of literary modernism’s greatest achievements

The Dead Don’t Bleed by Neil Rollinson review – a gripping tale of family and forbidden love

Two brothers attempt to escape their father’s gangland past in a tense, tender debut that moves between Thatcher-era Northumberland and southern Spain

Cape Fever by Nadia Davids review – a power struggle between mistress and maid

Set in a colonial city after the first world war, this story of a battle of wills between an elderly widow and her young servant is deftly told

The Zorg by Siddharth Kara review – scarcely imaginable horrors at sea

A vivid and chilling account of the deadly voyage that triggered the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade

The English House by Dan Cruickshank review – if walls could talk

A deep dive into the creation of eight buildings from the 1700s to the 1900s tells some very human stories

This Is Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin – set to be a standout novel of 2026

From an acclaimed short-story writer, this epic of power and class across generations in Pakistan is brutal, funny and brilliantly told

The Cat by Georges Simenon review – Maigret author’s tale of a toxic marriage

The Belgian author’s genius comes to the fore in a dark domestic drama

The best recent crime and thrillers – review roundup

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy; Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan; The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace by RWR McDonald; Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino; Your Every Move by Sam Blake

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell audiobook review – the life and loss of the woman behind the Bard

The wife of William Shakespeare takes centre stage in a rich, sensitive examination of parental grief, sensitively narrated by Jessie Buckley

Ice by Jacek Dukaj review – a dazzling journey to an alternate Siberia

The 1908 Tunguska comet changes the direction of history and gives rise to a weird new reality in this acclaimed epic from the Polish author

Converts by Melanie McDonagh review – roads to Rome

A thought-provoking examination of the literary stars who became Catholic – from Evelyn Waugh to Muriel Spark

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  • How our list of the 100 best novels became a page turner
  • Are ‘mind children’ the future of reproduction?
  • Sajid Javid says backing Liz Truss to lead Tories was his ‘biggest political mistake’
  • ‘I am very serious about being silly’: children’s illustrators on the art of storytelling
  • Submissions open for 4thWrite short story prize
  • Why I’m grateful to the Pope for his encyclical on AI
  • Virginia Evans: ‘I loved books about things that can’t exist’
  • The best recent translated fiction – review roundup
  • Prestige Drama by Séamas O’Reilly review – brilliant wry comedy of Derry and the shadow of the past
  • Obama’s former speechwriter Ben Rhodes examines the US through its 15 most defining speeches
  • ‘True trailblazer’: British author and activist Maureen Duffy dies aged 92
  • Capture by Amanda Lohrey review – a superb novel about a study of alien abductees
  • The Book of Birds by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris audiobook review – a love letter to our feathered friends
  • Whisper it: becoming a mum can make you a more productive writer
  • Kingfisher by Rozie Kelly review – lust at first sight
  • Escaping Babylon by Jesse Bernard review – an intimate history of Black British music
  • Peter Tolhurst obituary
  • Novel about ‘Disneyfication’ of nature wins climate fiction prize
  • Carlo Petrini obituary
  • The great Australian nightmare: how the housing crisis inspired a wave of brutal – and funny – pop culture
  • ‘Worry no longer, I am back’ – Tony Blair’s Why I Have Always Been Right About Everything, digested by John Crace
  • How Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury cartoons captured America: ‘One of our nation’s greatest journalists’
  • What We Ask Google by Simon Rogers review – the secrets of our search history
  • Fieldwork As a Sex Object by Meena Kandasamy review – story of a deepfake sex tape
  • ‘Writing is exactly like love – you need to do it in the dark’: novelist Leila Slimani on starting a new chapter in her life
  • Stripteases, ecstatic embraces and a dog in a dress: the full-on photos celebrating queer dancefloors worldwide
  • Leonora in the Morning Light review – pioneering British artist who fled convention for the surrealists
  • Fairyland review – moving memoir of queer parenting and new kinds of family in 70s San Francisco
  • Crossing the Wine Dark Sea by Emily Wilson review – a masterclass in translation
  • Medieval King Arthur manuscript could fetch £2m at auction

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