Shirley by Ronnie Scott review – finally, a male author who brilliantly writes women
The author’s second novel is impressively constructed, following a young woman who was raised by a group of men beholden to her celebrity mother
Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius review – the reindeer murders
The award-winning author’s story of a young Sami girl in Sweden explores prejudice and dark secrets
The Big Con by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington review – how consultancy firms cash in
From Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy to Britain’s Covid contracts, the private firms taking over public life
This Other Eden by Paul Harding review – paradise lost
A Pulitzer winner returns with a masterful story of a marginalised American community under threat, which has much to say to our times
Hungry Ghosts by Kevin Jared Hosein review – lyrical Trinidadian saga
The spectres of war and social injustice hang over a community battling the inexorable forces of change
Sarn Helen by Tom Bullough review – notes from a small country
Wales is the measure of all things in this timeshifting story of ecological change
A Small Town in Ukraine by Bernard Wasserstein review – on the border and at the centre of history
In this touching account, the author traces his ancestors’ terrible ordeal while living in an ‘insignificant place’ that became a battleground for more than a century of conflicts
Was It For This by Hannah Sullivan review – a poem for Grenfell
Sullivan ponders tragedy and the homes she has known in a collection full of insightful observation and anguished comedy
Anaximander and the Nature of Science by Carlo Rovelli review – the ancient master of the universe
In Rovelli’s formative book, now published in English for the first time, he argues that a little-known Greek philosopher invented the idea of the cosmos
In brief: If I Survive You; The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes; Home/Land – review
An impressive novel about a Jamaican family’s escape to the US; a fascinating investigation of a Victorian scrapbook; and a memoir about a post-Trump move to London from New York
Last House Before the Mountain by Monika Helfer review – as tumultuous as the family it depicts
The first world war’s impact on an Austrian clan is a charmingly told, chaotic story rooted in the author’s own history
My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor review – a literary thriller of the highest order
Based on real events, this beautifully crafted novel follows an Irish priest smuggling allied troops and Jews out of Italy in 1943
Foolproof by Sander van der Linden review – how to defuse fake news
A Cambridge professor makes a fascinating case for counteracting the ‘misinformation virus’ through psychological inoculation
Untouchable review: Trump as ‘lawless Houdini’ above US justice
Elie Honig offers a powerful indictment of the former president and those who have failed to bring him down
Two Sisters by Blake Morrison review – siblings fatally wounded by childhood
Having written about his father and then his mother, the poet and writer now turns to his sisters in a heartfelt and delicate memorial