Matrescence by Lucy Jones review – smashing motherhood myths
A thrilling examination of what it means to become a mother challenges assumptions in bravura fashion
Bee Gees: Children of the World by Bob Stanley review – very high and mighty
The author and musician’s engaging biography of the Gibb brothers explores their idiosyncrasies as well as musical brilliance
Thomas Girtin: The Forgotten Painter by Oscar Zarate review – enriching tale of the power of art
Using two time frames, this engrossing book flits between three modern admirers of the groundbreaking artist and the man himself wandering Europe
Rural by Rebecca Smith review – a personal study of working-class life in the countryside
Her timely defence of blue-collar rural communities works best when the Cumbrian author explores how urban money severs the links between locals and their landscape
In brief: Tell Me What I Am; The Language of Trees; The Book of Minds – review
A profoundly poignant novel about family ties and grief, a collection of topical and urgent essays celebrating all things arboreal and a compelling study of consciousness
Kala by Colin Walsh review – vanishings, betrayals and friends reunited in rural Ireland
This confidently plotted debut novel from the award-winning short story writer has a strong cast and vivid dialogue
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese review – an epic tale of people and place
Curses and catastrophes power this immersive, if uneven, story of an Indian family in the 20th century
Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies review – in search of the bard
Diligent scholarship meets provocation and irreverence in Elizabeth Winkler’s highly entertaining quest to uncover the ‘real’ Shakespeare
Fighting for Life by Isabel Hardman; Critical by Dr Julia Grace Patterson reviews – is the NHS really on its last legs?
The triumphs and the tribulations… former health secretary Alan Johnson on two very different books seeking to take the pulse of our national health service on its 75th anniversary
Decades of Decadence review: Marco Rubio joins publishing’s motley Republican crew
The Florida senator was the future once. Now, he struggles to muster the shamelessness or swagger of a Hawley or a Cotton
Fighting for Life by Isabel Hardman; Our NHS by Andrew Seaton review – the NHS at 75
Two books chart the chequered life of Britain’s health service from birth to old age
When We Were Sisters by Fatimah Asghar review – a poetic tale of familial grief
The emotional journey of three orphaned Muslim American siblings is evoked with heart-rending precision
Sleeping with the Ancestors review: slavery and the fight for Black history
Joseph McGill Jr tells a fascinating, necessary story of his direct engagement with truths many Americans would rather ignore
Children’s and teens roundup – the best new picture books and novels
Dreams of Bollywood; awkward questions about the British Empire; a haunted school trip; and a riotous YA horror-comedy
A Pocketful of Happiness by Richard E Grant audiobook review – laughter, loss and love
The actor warmly recalls the time he shared with his wife during her last year and their past encounters with glitz and glamour