A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll review – haunting gothic tale with a heady whiff of Daphne du Maurier

The award-winning Canadian graphic novelist’s account of a young woman whose widower husband has a dark secret about his first wife is vividly drawn and masterfully plotted

Mortification by Mark Watson review – why disappointment shouldn’t get you down

The standup’s amusing, sometimes dark reflections on eight personal setbacks shine a light on the comedy business and give succour to people who feel like a failure

Lie With Me review – French Brokeback Mountain has impeccable manners

Jean-Paul Belmondo’s grandson Victor is uncanny in a supporting role to Guillaume de Tonquédec’s uptight novelist, whose return to his provincial home town stirs up memories of his first love

Aliens: The Chequered History of Britain’s Wartime Refugees by Paul Dowswell – review

Fascinating material casts light on some of the less familiar stories of those who settled in Britain during and after the second world war, from ‘Casanova’ Poles to Waffen SS

Waiting to Be Arrested at Night review – the Uyghurs’ fight for survival in a society where repression is routine

The very fact of being a Uyghur in China turns everyday life into a political act, as this memoir by renowned poet Tahir Hamut Izgil recounts

In brief: Take What You Need; Walking the Bones of Britain; The Flow – reviews

A daughter mourns her stepmother in a profound family novel, a reluctant geology fan tours the isles and a nature writer dives deep into water and loss

Normal Rules Don’t Apply by Kate Atkinson review – food for thought but such small portions

While brimming with ideas, the Life After Life author’s 11 interlinked stories aren’t given the legs they need to resonate

Wifedom by Anna Funder review – Mrs Orwell comes up for air

The Stasiland author re-examines the short life of George Orwell’s first wife, Eileen O’Shaughnessy, in an effort to give her a voice

Losing Our Religion review: Trump and the crisis of US Christianity

Russell Moore, formerly of the Southern Baptist Convention, thinks evangelicals have come dangerous adrift of morality

Code of Conduct by Chris Bryant review – a parliamentary pedant’s plan for fixing Britain’s politics

The Labour chair of the standards committee can rub people up the wrong way with his pomposity, but his manifesto for restoring decency to parliament is nothing if not reasonable

Alone by Daniel Schreiber review – me, myself and I

A moving insight into the joys and anguish of solitude – and the value of friendship

The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien audiobook review – The Lord of the Rings’ mythical forerunner

Actor Andy Serkis narrates the posthumously published prelude to Tolkien’s epic masterpiece – a dense yet rich compendium of meticulously crafted lore

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

Bridge by Lauren Beukes; The Kindness by John Ajvide Lindqvist; Mister Magic by Kiersten White; Pink Slime by Fernanda Trías; The Finery by Rachel Grosvenor

Hangman by Maya Binyam review – a debut to keep you guessing

A man returns to his African country of origin in a brilliantly surreal story of exile and homecoming

The Last Voyage of the Demeter review – Dracula horror is lost at sea

A chapter from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, set upon a ship, is expanded to a gory 2-hour film, an idea that works better in theory than in practice