The Lost Spells review – enchanting musical has an abundance of magic
A cockney fox and a preening jackdaw open our eyes to the wonders of nature in this charming show based on Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris’s book
Illuminations by Alan Moore audiobook review – mind-bending tales
The creator of From Hell’s first short story collection is marked by tales of revenge, a visit from the Messiah, and a swipe at the comics industry
Bardskull by Martin Shaw review – a mystical voyage
The oral storyteller’s autofictional account of inner and outer journeys blends memory, myth and nature
Collected Works by Lydia Sandgren – an outstanding debut
The passing of youth is vividly drawn in this epic tale of a Swedish publisher whose wife mysteriously goes missing
Searching for Juliet by Sophie Duncan review – the many faces of a heroine
An engaging guide to Shakespeare’s most famous female role – and how it has been misread and misplayed for centuries
Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary review – good friends in hard times
The relationship between two outcast teenagers in 1980s Dublin is evoked with humility and beauty
Crack-Up Capitalism by Quinn Slobodian review – zoning out
How the special economic areas championed by rightwing radicals undermine democracy
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead review – a magnificent Complicité creation
Simon McBurney directs a toweringly innovative adaptation of the eco-thriller by Nobel-winner Olga Tokarczuk
The Night of the 12th review – gripping true-crime drama breaks with convention
A young woman is murdered in this unnerving, fictionalised version of a real case that haunts the police officers unable to solve it
Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women by Victoria Smith review
A compelling account of ageism and misogyny that overemphasises feminism’s generational divide
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad review – Hamlet in Palestine
The author’s compelling second novel sees an actor return to the birthplace of her ancestors, only to discover the pieces of herself that were missing
Beyond the Wall by Katja Hoyer review – overturning cliches of East Germany
A revisionist history that adds stability, contentment and women’s rights to the familiar picture of authoritarianism
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey review – who is this mysterious artist?
An impressive and enchantingly strange novel plays with genre, identity and politics in an alternate America
Touching Cloth by Fergus Butler-Gallie review – the pratfalls and pitfalls of priesthood
Butler-Gallie’s wry memoir of his work as a Church of England priest is warm and rewarding, if tinged with disappointment
Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad review – drama in the West Bank
An actor returns to Palestine and joins a local production of Hamlet in this richly layered and elegant examination of memories and oppression