Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton review – hippies v billionaires

In her third novel, the Booker winner captures our collective despair about an unequal world in a finely spun web of misunderstandings

Funny Ethnics by Shirley Le review – a second-generation migrant wrestles with longing and belonging

This wry debut novel follows a young western Sydney woman who muddles between pleasing her Vietnamese family and finding contentment

The Deluge by Stephen Markley review – apocalypse in slow motion

This bleak vision of ecological and technological turmoil in the coming decades is mesmerising and compassionate

The State of Us by Jon Snow review – why we’re not all in it together

The news reader tackles privilege and politics in this personal exploration of inequality

Tell Her Everything by Mirza Waheed review – under the knife

The moral downfall of a surgeon who assists with hand amputations in a Gulf state is explored in a powerful tale of guilt and betrayal

The Earth Transformed by Peter Frankopan review – history through a different lens

From volcanoes to man-made climate change, the author of Silk Roads shows how closely our environment shapes civilisation

Quartet by Leah Broad review – Britain’s great female composers

A welcome celebration of four brilliant and colourful contributors to the 20th-century classical scene

Queen K by Sarah Thomas review – among the oligarchs

A private tutor to Russian billionaires observes their lives of ostentation, wealth and withheld love in a compulsive debut

Transitional by Munroe Bergdorf review – trauma and resilience

The model and trans activist writes movingly on prejudice, navigating controversy and personal growth

Old Babes in the Wood by Margaret Atwood review – tales of love and age

Dedicated to her late partner, these reflections on marriage, mortality and many-tentacled aliens show Atwood’s mastery of the short form

Flies review – the effects of the male gaze on adolescent girls

The new work by Charlie Josephine gives us teenagers’ thoughts about objectification, shame, body image and sex

We’re All Just Fine by Ana Penyas review – home truths in a tyrant’s reign

Rich in detail, this award-winning debut explores the evolution of Spanish womanhood through drudgery, dictatorship and liberation

War Diary of the Ukrainian Resistance review – extremely loud and incredibly close

The young reporters at the Kyiv Independent – Ukraine’s fledgling online English-language newspaper – have produced courageous journalism of frightening urgency

Old God’s Time by Sebastian Barry review – a cop you can’t trust

A murder investigation leads a retired policeman to confront his past in a stately, often dreamlike novel about the impact of trauma on memory

Hags by Victoria Smith review – welcome to the age of rage

This rigorous defence of middle-aged women, who are ignored and vilified, is an often painful read and a future classic