The Trial of Josie K review – kidding around with Kafka

Inspired by the classic novel, this play for children leads its young heroine through surreal encounters with bureaucracy – and a giant rabbit

And Then What? by Catherine Ashton review – frank admissions from the former EU chief diplomat

A candid memoir of a fraught time in office provides a useful record of high level negotiation in Iran and Ukraine

If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery review – dazzling debut of racial identity

Eight linked short stories, set mostly in Miami, vividly evoke the experiences of a young Black man in search of a sense of belonging

My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor review – the priest who defied Nazis

A polyphonic retelling of how an Irish priest set out to rescue resistance fighters, PoWs and Jews from Nazi-occupied Rome

Brutes by Dizz Tate review – adolescent agony in fame-hungry Florida

The lives of teenage girls are expertly evoked in this horror-infused novel about the disappearance of a TV preacher’s daughter

Red Memory by Tania Branigan review – the toxic afterlife of Mao’s Cultural Revolution

The Guardian’s former China correspondent assembles a cast of eye-witnesses to tell a story now being suppressed once more

Victory City by Salman Rushdie review – a lavish fairytale

Completed before he was attacked last year, Rushdie’s magic realist epic about a 15th-century Indian empire has an infectious sense of fun

Justice for Animals by Martha C Nussbaum review – how we became the tyrants of the animal kingdom

A scholarly look at how badly we treat other species employs moral principles to shame us into acknowledging their rights

Sword Art Online Progressive: Scherzo of Deep Night review – dungeon-crawler drama

The latest outing from the multimedia franchise finds its heroes still trapped inside an RPG, where they learn lessons about cooperation

Why Don’t You Love Me? by Paul B Rainey – a marriage made in hell veers into the unknown

In this clever and savage tale about a horribly miserable couple, redemption comes with a sci-fi twist

Red Memory by Tania Branigan review – the Cultural Revolution up close

In gathering histories from one of the country’s darkest, most divisive periods, the former Guardian China correspondent has created a gripping and important document

In brief: Signal Fires; If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal; Love Marriage – review

A thoughtful novel about a family secret, an insightful investigation into animal intelligence and Monica Ali’s clever comedy of manners

Brutes by Dizz Tate review – a whip-smart and warped coming-of-age Florida fairytale

A schoolmate’s disappearance is the hook for a slippery debut novel exploring the friendships and futures of a gang of eighth-grade girls

M Degas Steps Out: An Essay by Philip Hoy review – an artistic encounter across a century

A nine-second 1915 film of the painter Edgar Degas inspires a beguiling meditation on life in Paris during the first world war

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana review – bold, funny and gloriously flawed voices of New York

Fofana’s bravura debut collection of short stories brings the lives of marginalised city folk to life